Tortilla Creek Is Hot As A Tamale

It was definitely hot and dry at Tortilla Creek the other day, with triple digit temperatures and single digit humidity.  Good dragonfly weather, though, and we saw lots of activity!

Here's the species list for our trip, showing damselflies and dragonflies:

American Rubyspot

Familiar Bluet

Rambur’s Forktail

Western Forktail

Desert Firetail

Amethyst Dancer

Giant Darner

Common Green Darner

Gray Sanddragon

Flame Skimmer

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Roseate Skimmer

Mexican Amberwing

Western Pondhawk

Plateau Dragonlet

Filigree Skimmer

Variegated Meadowhawk

Blue Dasher

Black Saddlebags

Wandering Glider

Constant activity everywhere we looked.  We had a great time.

It was fun getting to see the Plateau Dragonlet again, especially since this is the only location we've seen it so far.

We were also pleased to see the Amethyst Dancer, Giant Darner, Gray Sanddragon, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, and Black Saddlebags – all first sightings for the year.

Here are a few pictures from our day at the Tortilla Flat:

The town of Tortilla Flat.  Just behind me is Tortilla Creek, which most visitors to Tortilla Flat don't even notice.

Male Mexican Amberwing.

Male Flame Skimmer showing off for the camera.

Male Amethyst Dancer.

A Flame Skimmer (top) and a Western Pondhawk (below) share the same twig.

A Western Pondhawk (top) and a Plateau Dragonlet (bottom) enjoying the same favorite twig.

Cap Sante Hilltopping

In my hometown of Anacortes, there's a nice park on a hill called Cap Sante.  Looking to the west from the summit of Cap Sante you get a great view of downtown Anacortes and the Cap Sante marina, as shown below.  The marina services both pleasure boats and commercial fishing boats, many of which fish for crabs and salmon in Alaska.

Downtown Anacortes as seen from Cap Sante.

Cap Sante is also a great location for watching sunsets:

Sunset from Cap Sante, in Anacortes, WA.

In addition, if you look to the east from Cap Sante, you get a magnificent view of Mount Baker, a 10,781 ft high volcano in the Cascade Mountain range.  Here's Mount Baker as seen from Cap Sante:

Mount Baker in the North Cascades, as seen from Cap Sante Park in Anacortes, WA.

What does Cap Sante and its wonderful views have to do with dragonflies?  Well, Cap Sante is a good place to observe hilltopping – a behavior where a group of dragonflies (or other insects) gather in considerable numbers above a prominent feature in the landscape.  In some cases, hilltopping is said to be a reproductive behavior – a way for insects to find mates.  In the case of the dragonflies at Cap Sante, it appears to be a gathering of immature individuals who are feeding together in a loose swarm.

The dragonflies at Cap Sante are mosaic darners, and they are clearly feeding as they fly back and forth over the top of the hill.  The darners really don't interact with one another – they seem focussed on feeding and maturing, before going back to a lake or pond to find a mate.

Here's a compilation of some slow-motion videos showing darners hilltopping over Cap Sante with Mount Baker in the background.  The dragonflies fly and soar almost like hawks.  Notice the interesting flight maneuver at about 18 s, where a darner snags a meal.

The Whisperer Spoke!

Thanks to all who attended the Dragonfly Whisperer talk at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Saturday.  We had a great time, and we hope you did too!

After the talk we did a short dragonfly walk with Roger and Gale Racut.  We looked at a number of dragonflies and damselflies through a spotting scope, and had wonderful views of their colors, patterns, and wings.

Here's a list of the odonates we saw on Saturday, both at Ayer Lake and the Mini Oasis in the Demonstration Garden:

Damselflies
Familiar Bluet
Rambur's Forktail
Desert Firetail
Blue-ringed Dancer
Springwater Dancer

Dragonflies
Blue-eyed Darner
Flame Skimmer
Mexican Amberwing
Blue Dasher

Also, during the talk I mentioned that I would post information about some of the field guides and cameras I use.  Here's a link to this information, from a talk I gave earlier this year:

http://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-whisperer-spoke.html

Thanks again for attending and asking lots of great questions.

Happy Dragonflying

The Whisperer Speaks, Again!

I hope you can join us this Saturday, May 4, for a Dragonfly Whisperer presentation at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  The talk starts at 10 a.m., and will include a number of interesting dragonfly anecdotes, some basic dragonfly biology, an introduction to the Happy-face Dragonfly, and slow-motion videos showing dragonflies bathing and spin-drying (at 1,000 rpm!) on the wing.

Here's an ad from the Boyce Thompson Arboretum newsletter.  The homepage for the arboretum can be found at the following link: http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu.

I know I usually "whisper," but I'll limber up my vocal chords for the talk.  I'll also give tips on how you too can do some dragonfly whispering!  We look forward to seeing you there.

Unexpected Pleasures Of Dragonflying

About a week ago Betsy and I did some dragonflying in our local area here in Arizona.  At one point we ran across a Great Blue Heron rookery with 20 or more young birds in nests at the top of a tree.  Adults were making regular trips to feed their nestlings.  Here are a couple pictures of one such feeding trip:

An adult Great Blue Heron has just returned to the nest.  One of its young is visible below its neck.

It's interesting to see the adult raise its crest as it interacts with its young – the crest isn't normally so prominent.

Next, the young bird tries to induce the adult to regurgitate food.

A young heron (left) trying to induce an adult to regurgitate a meal.

Finally, the adult feeds the young bird.  It sure looks like a rough way to get a meal.

Ramming food down the throat is the heron way of feeding its young.

Happy-face Gets A Mug Shot

No, not that kind of mug shot.  The Happy-face Darner can now be found on a coffee mug, as shown below:

The Happy-face coffee mug.

I'm using the mug now on my desk as a pencil holder.  It's fun to see the happy face looking up at me all day!

You Can Be A Dragonfly Whisperer Too!

Yes, the dragonfly whisperer will be speaking again in the near future.  This is your opportunity to hear about some of the fascinating experiences the dragonfly whisperer has had with dragonflies, and to learn how to do some dragonfly whispering on your own.

The upcoming talk will be at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on the morning of May 4 (probably at 10 am in the Smith Building, but specific time and place still to be set).  A brief description from last year's talk is given below:

Here's a link to the arboretum website, where you can get the latest details on the time and location of the Dragonfly Whisperer talk, and also find out about the many great events offered by the arboretum:

http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu

I hope to see you there!