Late Season Observations

Yesterday, Betsy and I went to Cranberry Lake. It was a beautiful, sunny, calm day, with temperatures in the low 50s. It's kind of late to be looking for dragonflies, but we're nothing if not optimistic.

The most common dragonfly we saw was the Autumn Meadowhawk—as one might expect. There were several perched in the sun on the concrete dam. Here's an example:



Notice the hamules under segment 2 of the abdomen, showing that this is a male—which is also quite evident from its bright red color. Here's another view:



We saw one of these guys do a splash-dunk, as well. It will probably be the last splash-dunk of the season.

We also saw a few Shadow Darners, flying along the shore and perched in the bushes. Here's an example of this species:



Notice the broad blue stripe on the top of segment 2 of the abdomen, plus the broad front stripes on the thorax and the lack of blue on segment 10.

You can find more information about both of these species in Common Dragonflies and Damselflies of the Pacific Coast.