Dragonfly Field Trip, Saturday, August 9

Greetings Dragonfliers!

We hope you can join us at noon this Saturday, August 9, for a fun field trip to look for dragonflies and damselflies in Anacortes!  The weather looks favorable, and we expect to see a good number of species and individuals.

Here are the details:

Meet at Smiley's Bottom (directions below) at noon.  We'll gather in the parking lot next to the restrooms and picnic tables (you might want to have lunch there just before noon).  Later, we'll carpool to Little Cranberry Lake, which is just a mile or so away.  We'll probably finish up around 3:00 pm.

Bring binoculars and cameras.  Also, bring a spotting scope if you have one – they provide excellent views.

Here's how to get to Smiley's Bottom:

1.  Enter Anacortes from Hwy 20 at the traffic circle and go North on Commercial Avenue.

2.  Turn left onto 12th Street (at the Safeway).

3.  Turn left onto G Street.

4.  Go one block South to the parking lot at the baseball fields.  Enter the closest parking area and go to your right to the meeting point.

Below is a map showing the route to the Smiley's Bottom parking area, and to Little Cranberry Lake as well.

The ground could be a bit soggy in a few places at Smiley's Bottom, it is "bottom land" after all, but it probably won't be muddy.  The footing is fine at Cranberry Lake.

Here's a list of the species we're likely to encounter on our trip:

Damselflies
Spotted Spreadwing

Tule Bluet

Northern/Boreal Bluet
Pacific Forktail

Dragonflies

Paddle-tailed Darner (the Happy-face Dragonfly)
California Darner
Blue-eyed Darner
Variegated Meadowhawk
Cardinal Meadowhawk

Red-veined Meadowhawk
Striped Meadowhawk

Four-spotted Skimmer

Eight-spotted Skimmer
Blue Dasher

At Smiley's Bottom we should see Red-veined Meadowhawks, a fairly uncommon dragonfly that we've seen at this location but no others, and Paddle-tailed Darners hovering over the ditches.

At Little Cranberry Lake we should see lots of territorial interactions between the Four-spotted Skimmers and Eight-spotted Skimmers.  We should also see some splash-dunking and spin-drying.

Happy Dragonflying!