Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Dragonfly Whisperer and the Happy-face Dragonfly:

In addition, Happy Valentine's Day wishes from the Calico Pennant, which has a series of heart-shaped spots on its abdomen.  Here it is:

A beautiful dragonfly, and very much in the Valentine's Day spirit.  Perhaps it's name should be changed to the Valentine's Pennant.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Happy-face!!

An important day in my development as a Dragonfly Whisperer was October 22, 2006, when I took the first photo of the Happy-face Dragonfly at Cranberry Lake in Anacortes, WA.  I was just trying to get a good macro shot of the Paddle-tailed Darner's head, and had no idea what a delightful happy face it has until I brought the photo home and viewed at it on my computer.  That was eight years ago, and was the impetus for my continuing interest in dragonflies.

Here's the original Mr. Happy-face, still my favorite:

Here's another version of the Happy-face Darner, this one sitting happily on my finger:

Here's another view of a Happy-face Dragonfly.  This guy is smiling up at me from the bushes – so fascinating to look at a dragonfly and see this smiling face looking back at you!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Happy-face.

Common Dragonflies of Anacortes: The Three Amigos!

Anacortes is a great place to dragonfly.  It's where the Happy-face Darner was discovered – at Cranberry Lake on October 22, 2006 – and where splash-dunking was first filmed.  In addition, the previously-unknown phenomenon of spin-drying was also discovered at Cranberry Lake.  All told, something like 25 species of dragonflies and damselflies have been seen in Anacortes.

If you see a red dragonfly in Anacortes, you know for sure that you've just seen a meadowhawk.  Similarly, a yellow dragonfly is a freshly-emerged – that is, a teneral – meadowhawk.  To summarize:

red dragonfly = meadowhawk

       yellow dragonfly = teneral meadowhawk

There are three meadowhawks that are most common in Anacortes – the three amigos.  They are, in order of flight date, the Cardinal Meadowhawk, the Striped Meadowhawk, and the Autumn Meadowhawk.  The meadowhawks and their flight seasons are shown below:

The above histograms show the flight season of each meadowhawk in terms of the percentage of observations.  For example, roughly 40% of all observations of Cardinal Meadowhawks occur in July, and about 20% occur in August.

From these histograms, you can conclude that if you happen to see a red dragonfly in May, it is a Cardinal Meadowhawk.  A red dragonfly in June is almost certainly a Cardinal Meadowhawk.  In July and August, a red dragonfly could be either a Cardinal Meadowhawk or a Striped Meadowhawk.  In October and November, red dragonflies are almost certainly Autumn Meadowhawks.  In general, the shift in flight season is quite apparent from the shift in the peaks of the histograms.

There is a similar shift in the range maps of these species as well.  This can be seen in the maps shown below:

Notice that the Cardinal Meadowhawks are primarily a western species.  The Striped Meadowhawk go roughly from the west coast to the Rockies.  On the other hand, the Autumn Meadowhawk is primarily as eastern species, with just a relatively small enclave on the west coast.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from the Happy-face Darner!

A Happy-face Rogues' Gallery

Over the years I've taken literally thousands of photos of the Happy-face Darner (aka, the Paddle-tailed Darner).  Here's a small sampling:

The two photos on the bottom right of the grid were taken on the deck in our backyard.  All of the rest were taken at Cranberry Lake, where we see the Happy-face Darner all the time in the late summer and early fall.

The photo in the center is still my favorite.  In fact, it was the first one I ever took of the Happy-face Darner, on October 22, 2006.  I reached into the bushes with my camera and took a shot of a dragonfly perched there without even looking at the viewfinder.  When I loaded the photo onto my computer at home I was amazed, and I called to Betsy.  "Take a look," I said, "this dragonfly has a happy-face!"  This discovery launched my interest in dragonflies, which has given me great pleasure ever since.

The following quote from Henri Poincaré summarizes my feelings about science and nature quite well.

I might add to this thought, however, that the scientist also delights in nature because it is infinitely intriguing and surprising – just take the Happy-face as an example!

Christmas Is Coming!

We've started receiving Christmas cards, so I thought it would be a good time to send out greetings of the season from the Happy-face Darner to the readers of "The Dragonfly Whisperer" blog.  Happy Holidays!

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!

The Case Of The Constipated Darner

The story of the Constipated Darner is an interesting one for a number of reasons, not least of which is how it illustrates the deep connection I've developed over the years with the Happy-face Darner (Paddle-tailed Darner).  I first interacted with this dragonfly as a child, when I brought a live one into the house.  More recently, at Cranberry Lake, I discovered its delightful happy-face, and its method of cleaning by splash-dunking into the water and then spin-drying at 1,000 rpm in mid flight.  I've rescued a  number of them that got stuck when they splash-dunked, and have also gotten good at lifting them up from a perch onto my finger for a little visit.  I've even had a Happy-face come to my deck for a house call.  They've brought out the "dragonfly whisperer" within me.

This story begins at Cranberry Lake.  Betsy and I were observing male Happy-face Darners as they flew about the lake searching for mates and interacting with one another.  Suddenly, we saw one begin a series of splash-dunks.  We counted them out as they progressed:  "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8".  Wow, eight in a row.  That was a record!  Below is a table of the number of splash-dunks per event versus the number of events for the last two years – including this new observation.  We've seen a total of 265 splash-dunk events, with an average number of 2.31 splash-dunks/event.

Splash-Dunks per Event               Number of Events

1                                                        94

2                                                        65

3                                                        60

4                                                        28

5                                                        13

6                                                        4

7                                                        0

8                                                        1

After completing its 8 splash-dunks, and a nice spin-dry, the darner flew to a cedar tree near the shore to perch.  We could see it clearly, though it was fairly high up.  We noticed something attached to its abdomen, trailing off the back end.  Was something stuck to the darner?  Apparently so.  It was about the length and color of a pine needle.  Did this account for its record number of splash-dunks, as the darner attempted to dislodge whatever this was?  In fact, as we watched, it flexed its abdomen and tried to remove the material by rubbing it against a leaf, but was unsuccessful.

I reached up and grabbed the lowest branch of the cedar tree, and was able to pull down enough to bring the darner closer for better observation.  We saw that it was distressed over this attachment to its abdomen, and that flies were attracted to it.  We began to realize it might be a string of excrement still attached to the unfortunate creature.

At this point I realized that I could now reach up and grab the next higher cedar branch, and bring the darner even closer.  I did so, and got it close enough that I was able to reach up and lift it onto my finger.  Now we could examine it in detail.  Indeed, it had a long string of excrement attached to its abdomen that it was trying to remove.  I took hold of the far end of the string, which was dry and a light tan color, and pulled.  The string separated cleanly from the darner, and it seemed relieved.  I took a few pictures of it on my finger, and then placed it back on a cedar branch where it rested for several more minutes before flying off.

I wonder how the problem developed in the first place?  Or perhaps the better question is: Why doesn't this sort of thing happen more often, given that dragonflies have no fiber in their diet?  Whatever the case, I never imagined my connection with the Happy-face Darner would extend to a situation like this.  I was happy to help, though, and I hope it was able to continue its dragonfly pursuits in a more regular fashion.

Here are a couple photos from this adventure:

The darner perched in the cedar tree with the attachment to its abdomen.  Notice the fly, whose presence is not a coincident.

After pulling the cedar branch down I was able to reach the darner and lift it onto my finger.

So is this why he splash-dunked eight times in a row?  It seems quite likely.

I was able to pull off the attachment and make a clean break.

My friend the Happy-face Darner seemed pleased with the result.

Happy-Face Makes A House Call

A couple days ago we had a hard rain overnight, but the clouds began to part a bit the next morning.  Betsy went out into the backyard to feed the birds.  A few minutes later she was tapping on my office window.

"Come take a look," she said, pointing toward the deck.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's a darner perched out here."

"There is? Which one is it?"

"I think it's a Happy-face," she said.

I quickly got up and looked out, and sure enough, there was a Happy-face Darner just outside my office window.  Here are a couple photos.  See if you can spot the darner in the first photo before you look at the next ones.

Our deck after an all night rain.  Can you spot our visitor?

Here's a closer look at our house guest:

The Happy-face Darner rests on one of the posts of our deck.  You can see droplets and small puddles of water from the recent rain.

A closer look at our visitor.  He's an older individual, with worn and tattered wings.  Also, notice the drops of water clinging to his body from the rain.

It was fun to have one of our favorite animals come to visit in our backyard.  We sometimes see a darner patrolling along the cliff during the summer, and I had been pretty sure they were Happy-face Darners, but this was the first time I had seen one perched.

Here's a closer look at this friendly little guy:

There's Mr. Happy-face.  Still smiling, though sitting in the shade and covered with raindrops.

The sun was starting to burn through the clouds, but our friend had perched on the shaded side of the post, and was still covered in raindrops.  He was starting to lose his grip, so I lifted him up and placed him on top of the deck rail.  Here he would get what sun could manage to break through the clouds.  He seems to be enjoying his new perch.

A better place to wait for the sun.

He still has some raindrops on his face, but he's starting to dry out and warm up.  In the next photo you can look deep into his eyes.

Look deep into my eyes.

You can also see the individual ommatidia in his compound eyes.  They are hexagonal close-packed, just like a honeycomb.

The individual eyes of his large compound eye form a honeycomb lattice.

Eventually the sun came out a bit, and he dried off and warmed up.  Here, he's scratching his head, and enjoying the improved day.  Soon he whirled his wings to warm up his flight muscles, then he took off for parts unknown.  Such a fun visit while it lasted.  I'm so lucky to have a visitor like this come right to me as I work in my office!

Toggle back and forth between these last two photos to see him scratching his head.

Splash-Dunk Data For 2011 And 2012

Well, splash-dunking is just about over for this year – though there could be a few more splash-dunks if we get a nice couple days soon.  So far, though, the data for the last two years looks as follows:

In these last two years we've seen 265 splash-dunk events.  Each event consists of 1 to 8 separate splash-dunks, with an average number of splash-dunks per event of 2.31.  The case of 8 splash-dunks, seen just once this year, is an interesting case in its own right.  A later post titled "The Case Of The Constipated Darner" will tell that story in detail.  Here's the link:

http://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-case-of-constipated-darner.html

The drop off in the number of splash-dunks in an event is roughly exponential, indicating that splash-dunks are approximately independent of one another.  Roughly speaking, each time a dragonfly dunks there is about a 67% chance it will splash-dunk again.

Most of the splash-dunks were performed by Happy-face Darners (Paddle-tailed Darner).  Here's one of them that was at Cranberry Lake just a few days ago:

A male Happy-face Darner (Paddle-tailed Darner) at Cranberry Lake recently.  What a treat to go to the lake and see these wonderful creatures.

A Darner In The Bush Is Worth Two In The Hand

A couple days ago there was a brief break in our autumnal rains, and I took advantage of it by zipping up to Cranberry Lake for a few minutes.  It was cool there, 55 ˚F, and breezy – only a bit of sun filtered through the clouds.  Still, five or six darners were flying over the water and checking for females along the shoreline.  In addition, six or seven darners were perched in the bushes, perhaps hoping for a little more sun, and a few Autumn Meadowhawks were perched on the ground.

I decided to do some dragonfly whispering.  I went up to one of the Happy-face Darners (Paddle-tailed Darner) in the bushes and lifted him onto my finger.  Remember that this was a "free-range dragonfly", completely free to take wing at any time.  It had never been caught or manipulated in any way – I simply lifted it up on my finger, which took the place of a branch.  Here's what he looked like as he sat happily on my hand.

A male Happy-face Darner (Paddle-tailed Darner) resting on my hand.  Such a charming fellow.  (The white spots on the eyes are reflections of the Sun.)

Here are a couple more photos of him.  If you toggle back and forth between the photos you'll get an idea of what it looks like as he cocks his head.

After the darner flew off to go about his busy day, I decided to lift another Happy-face Darner onto one finger, and then while he was going along for the ride, lift a Shadow Darner onto a second finger.  This makes for a nice comparison between these two similar species.  Again, remember these are "free-range dragonflies".

A male Happy-face Darner (Paddle-tailed Darner) on the left, and a male Shadow Darner on the right.  The Happy-face has blue on the tenth segment of its abdomen, but the Shadow Darner's tenth segment is black.  In addition, the blue spots are large, and actually get a bit larger, as you go toward the end of the Happy-face abdomen.  In the Shadow Darner, the blue spots get smaller and eventually disappear altogether.

Here's another view.  In this case, notice the top of segment 2 of the abdomen.  For orientation, segment 3 is the one that is narrow – almost like a wasp waist.  Segment 2 is the large, bulbous segment that is closer to the thorax.  On the top of this segment, the dorsal surface, there is a blue stripe in both species.  The blue stripe on the Happy-face Darner is thin and uniform in width.  In contract, the blue dorsal stripe on the Shadow Darner is broad and nonuniform.  It looks a bit like a chess piece, or the profile of a tree.

Happy-face Darner (left) and Shadow Darner (right).  Notice the difference in the blue dorsal stripe on segment 2 of the abdomen.  It is thin and uniform in the Happy-face, broad and nonuniform in the Shadow.

The blue dorsal stripe on segment 2 is a field mark that I haven't seen mentioned in any of the field guides, but I find it quite helpful.  I often see a darner in the bushes, and a leaf blocks a view of the tip of the abdomen.  No worry – if I can see segment 2 I'm in business.

Happy-face Haiku

The Happy-face Dragonfly (Paddle-tailed Darner) is very common this time of year – often the most common dragonfly at a given location.  That's certainly the case at Cranberry Lake, where we saw a nice male looking up at us from the bushes.  He inspired the following haiku in his honor:

Perched in the bushes,

smiling up at me,

the Happy-face Dragonfly.

Mr. Happy-face, with his infectious smile.

Notice that his wings are a bit grubby, with foreign material adhering to them.  Perhaps he's thinking about doing some splash-dunks!

Splash-Dunk (x2) + Spin-Dry Video

Here's one of my favorite splash-dunk/spin-dry videos.  It was taken at Cranberry Lake in Anacortes, WA.

The dragonfly in this video, most probably a male Paddle-tailed Darner, makes two nice splash-dunks.  It then takes a long, smooth glide toward the water as if it might dunk again.  At the last moment it changes its mind (apparently) and decides to head upward for a spin-dry.  The resulting spin sheds a large number of water droplets.

Check out the post "How Slow Is Slow" to get a feeling for how slowed down this video really is.
http://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-slow-is-slow.html

Also, recall the following overview that gives a good idea of what's going on in splash-dunk/spin-dry behavior:

Extreme Maneuver

Dragonflies are well know for their acrobatic abilities in flight.  Here's an extreme example:

This dragonfly, as you might have guessed, is a male Happy-face (Paddle-tailed Darner).  It was patrolling back and forth along its territory, a walking path in front of some bushes near a water-filled ditch.  Most of my shots show him in normal flight, but in this shot he is apparently making an extreme turn to the right.  I think fighter jets would have a hard time keeping up with this guy.

Here's what he looks like most of the time.  Notice the heavy eyebrows of the "happy face," and the fact that the front two legs are tucked up behind his head.

The Happy-face Dragonfly

This is the first picture I took of a Happy-face Dragonfly.  When I took the picture, on October 22, 2006, I had no idea its face looked like this – it wasn't until I got home and viewed the picture on the computer that I realized what I had discovered.  This picture is what really "hooked" me on dragonflies.

The official common name of this dragonfly is the Paddle-tailed Darner.