Yesterday we went to Little Cranberry Lake here in Anacortes. We weren't expecting much, since it had been rainy the last couple days. But the clouds cleared off by mid morning, and at noon it was a nice sunny day, with a temperature of 52 ˚F, so we decided to check out the lake just in case. I'm glad we did.
First, we saw a Tule Bluet, the first damselfly we've seen at the lake since October 9. Here it is:
Next, we saw Autumn Meadowhawks all over the place, with several tandem pairs laying eggs:
They would lay eggs for a bit, in their typical Autumn Meadowhawk way (see my field guide for more details), then they would land on the shore to rest in the sun. Often, this meant that they would land on me, which is always a treat!
Darners were also present—specifically, Shadow Darners. A female was laying eggs on the shoreline for quite some time, and then a male came along and attached to her. He tried to takeoff with her to mate, but she resisted. You can see the male attaching and attempting to takeoff in the pictures below:
Eventually the male gave up, and they separated. The female then landed on the shore to rest:
All in all, quite an active day, especially for so late in the year.
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