Latest Dragonfly—So Far!

We keep setting new records for the latest flight date of the season. A new record for the Shadow Darner was set just a few days ago, and yesterday a new record for any kind of dragonfly in our area was set with the observation of an Autumn Meadowhawk on December 9, 2019.

The temperature was a fairly mild 42 ˚F, and it was nice and sunny, with just a slight breeze. We checked all the likely spots—the benches, the fence, the face of the dam—but came up empty. It seemed that the recent string of cloudy and rainy days had terminated the dragonfly season in Anacortes. But then I noticed some motion on the trunk of a tree far back from the shore. Looking carefully, I spotted a male (of course) Autumn Meadowhawk basking in the sun. Here's a photo of him:



Getting a bit closer we can see him in detail:



I say 'of course' when referring to the fact that we saw a male, because we haven't seen a female for several weeks. It really seems that at the end of the season the population becomes asymmetric, with males far outnumbering females. This applies not only to the Autumn Meadowhawk, but to the darners we see at Little Cranberry Lake as well.

We returned home and enjoyed a lovely sunset:



The sunset was all the more satisfying knowing one of our friendly dragonflies was still alive and well at Little Cranberry Lake.

A Late Darner—Setting A New Record

I always keep track of the first and last flight dates for the various species in our area. Last week, November 22 to be precise, a Shadow Darner set a new record for the late date for that species. It was a cool day, only 41 ˚F, but nice and sunny. We saw only a single individual, a male, and it was flying near the treetops catching prey, landing for a while, then taking flight and catching more prey, and so on.

A week or so before that we had similar interactions with a Shadow Darner. We were at Little Cranberry Lake on a field trip for my dragonfly class. Here's what the lake looked like that day:



A Shadow Darner was seen perched in the bushes:

Notice the wide front stripes on the thorax, and the black tenth segment on the abdomen. I whispered it onto my finger to share with the group:



It has a bit of a happy-face appearance. In fact, here's one I saw later perched on the dam, giving a good view of its happy face:



Getting back to the one on my finger, as I was holding it Autumn Meadowhawks came in to land on me too:



Everyone had a good time taking pictures of the dragonflies—it was a true "Dragonfly Whisperer" experience for the class!

Immature Eight-spotted Skimmer

Here's a look at an immature male Eight-spotted Skimmer at Heart Lake in Anacortes:



Notice that the abdomen isn't pruinose bluish-white, as it is in adult males. In fact, at this age the male looks like a female, except for the white patches in the wing which are not present in the female.

In addition, the front legs are tucked up behind the head. This is a common way for dragonflies to relax when they are perched, and is also common in flying dragonflies.

Eight-spotted Skimmers are featured in my field guide, Common Dragonflies and Damselflies of the Pacific Coast. Check out the spread devoted to these beautiful dragonflies:



You can find the field guide at the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934199265/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i1?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=1934199265&pd_rd_r=4Q8FNWQMZKPZ7GYWQB31&pd_rd_w=c79uB&pd_rd_wg=lb3xg&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=038QHD1N13Z2D7NWAP1Q&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1cf9d009-399c-49e1-901a-7b8786e59436&pf_rd_i=desktop

This species is abundant at Heart Lake, and common at Little Cranberry Lake, as well.

ICO 2019: Five-striped Leaftail

Here's another species we saw on the trip to Texas for the International Congress on Odonatology (ICO) last July that we were not even aware before the trip—the Five-striped Leaftail. This male is perched on his favorite twig near the Guadalupe River in the town of Gonzales, TX:



The five stripes in the name refer to the five dark stripes on the side of the thorax, the fifth one being rather small and hard to see underneath the wings. The next photo shows the five stripes from a different angle:



The leaftail part of the name is more obvious, due to the shape of the tip of the abdomen. In the next picture, we see a male elevating his abdomen and expanding the "leaves" from either side of the abdomen.



Here's a closer look at this feature. Notice that the leaves were hanging downward in the first couple of photos.



This is an impressive dragonfly, especially when you consider that it has "moveable parts" on its abdomen—something you don't often see in dragonflies.

Popular Post

This post, about the Cherry Springs Nature Area, continues to be one of the most popular ones on this blog. Here it is again for those who might have missed it:

Not long ago, I was contacted by naturalist Sheri Covert at the Cherry Springs nature area near Pocatello, Idaho.  She was putting together an interpretive sign to inform visitors about some of the interesting insect life to be found there, and asked if she could use a couple of my dragonfly pictures.  I was happy to help with a project like that, and supplied her with pictures of the species she was looking for.  Here's a rough draft of the sign, which looks very nice.

Here's an enlargement of the dragonfly section:

I look forward to visiting Cherry Springs one of these days.  If any of my intrepid readers gets there first, please take a picture of the sign in place and we'll include it in the blog.

The Whisperer Speaks—This Time In Coupeville

Greetings fellow dragonfly enthusiasts. The Dragonfly Whisperer will speak on September 16, 2019 at 1:30 pm at the Coupeville Library in Coupeville, Washington. Here's a picture of the library:



And here's a picture of the Dragonfly Whisperer, just as a reminder:



I will be signing my book, Common Dragonflies and Damselflies of the Pacific Coast: A Life-Size Field Guide, after the presentation.

Happy Dragonflying!

The Whisperer Speaks—This Time on TV

Last year, Evening Magazine from King5 TV came to Anacortes to do an interview with the Dragonfly Whisperer. It was aired on September 11 at 7:30 pm. I just heard from them, and they plan to air the segment again tomorrow, Tuesday, September 10, 2019 at 7:30 pm.





They were getting some great shots with their video equipment. They could fill the entire frame with small damselflies, and get really nice close ups of dragonflies. Here's the cameraman getting a video of me taking a picture of him (notice the reflection of my hands holding my camera in the video lens):



We filmed at Cranberry Lake, where we took videos of damselflies, and at Heart Lake, where we concentrated on dragonflies. At Heart Lake we had a nice look at a female Cardinal Meadowhawk. They got great video of the dragonfly, as well as video of me taking pictures of it. They will then intersperse some of my still shots, like this one, in the finished segment:



We also saw several Eight-spotted Skimmers, again with the video camera getting great views, as well as shots of me taking pictures of the dragonflies. Some had quite a bit of wear on their wings, like this one:



One even had an entire wing missing. I've seen ragged wings, and wings with sections missing, but this was the first time I had seen a dragonfly with one wing completely gone.



As the cameraman for Evening Magazine said, "It's amazing it doesn't just fly around in circles." That's right, but in fact it was flying pretty much normally.

I think they did a very good job with the segment, and it's always fun to see some dragonflies on TV. If you're not able to see the broadcast, you can view a video of the entire segment at the following link:

https://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-dragonfly-whisperer-on-evening.html

More to come soon on dragonflies of the 2019 ICO.

ICO 2019: Eastern Amberwing

Another species we saw on our Texas trip, the Eastern Amberwing, was one we were familiar with from our visits to the east coast. Here's a male from the east coast:



Notice the hamules under the second segment of the abdomen. Also, note the appendages, which are small in this species, but larger in the male than in the female. Here's another look at an east coast male:



Again, take note of the appendages. Also, notice that the wings are basically uniform amber, and the stigmas are red.

For comparison, here's the female of the species from the east coast:





Notice the broad abdomen, the tiny, vestigial appendages, and the splotchy wings. We also see that the stigmas are brownish in the female.

In Texas, we saw only females, and they were all obelisking like crazy in the intense heat. Here's a side view:



Here's another obelisking female, this time from behind:



Note again the broad abdomen, and the tiny appendages.

As I said, we didn't see any males on this trip, and the females were all well away from the water perching in the vegetation.

ICO 2019: Thornbush Dasher

Here's a species whose name we weren't even aware of before running into one of them in Texas. We went to the Southeast Metro Park near the Austin Airport, where there's a nice pond populated with lots of dragonflies. We spotted a small, cute dragonfly, and immediately recognized it as a new species for us.

Heres' the individual we saw:



It looks a lot like an immature male Blue Dasher on the head and thorax, but the abdomen is quite different, with a distinctive row of cream spots, culminating in a pair of large spots on segment 7.

This species is known for drooping its wings and raising its abdomen in an obelisk pose when perched. Here he is taking a look at me from under his dorsal fovea.



This is a small dragonfly, and quite inconspicuous in the brush along the shore.



How nice to find a species we didn't even know existed before!

ICO 2019: Halloween Pennant

Another striking species we saw on the Texas trip was the Halloween Pennant. We've seen this species before, but it's always a treat to see it again.

Here's a male patrolling his territory:



Notice the beautiful coloration and bands in the wings. In addition, note the pink stigma near the tips of the wings.

Here we see a couple males vying for the same territory:



The female is a lighter-colored version of the male, with yellow stigma:



Next, we see a female Halloween Pennant perched near a Red Saddlebags, also a common species on the Texas ponds we visited.



We always enjoy seeing the Halloween Pennant.

The Whisperer Speaks!

The Dragonfly Whisperer will be speaking this evening at the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation in Everett, WA.



The talk will begin at 7:00 pm.



Here's a brief description of the talk:



I hope to see you there!

ICO 2019: Widow Skimmer

Another beautiful dragonfly we saw in Texas during the ICO meeting was the Widow Skimmer, so named for the dark patches in its wings that look a bit like mourning cloaks. We saw this species at both the retention pond in Austin, and at the Southeast Metropolitan Park south of Austin, near the airport.

The males are most commonly seen, since they are always on patrol to defend their territories and search for females. Here's a male at the retention pond:



The black patches on the wings were impressively deep and dark, in striking contrast to the white pruinosity.

Here's a side view of a male at the Southeast Metro Park:



Notice the prominent hamules on the underside of the abdomen, near where the abdomen joins with the thorax. The hamules are a sure sign we're looking at a male.

Now for a top view of a different male at this park:



Finally, we did manage to spot one female, resting inconspicuously in the bushes. Here she is:



Notice her tiny, well-separated appendages, wide abdomen, and pale dark patches.

We've seen this species before in a number of places, but I think the most strikingly beautiful individuals were the ones we saw in Texas.

ICO 2019: Four-spotted Pennant

We saw quite a few species of dragonflies in the Austin area, where the 2019 International Congress of Odonatology was held. Most of these species were ones that we would never see here in Anacortes. It was hot in Austin, usually around 99 ˚F, and very humid to boot. In short, it was cooking out there—but that was great as far as the dragonflies were concerned.

In the next few posts, I'll share with you some of the beautiful species we encountered on our trip, starting with dragonflies we saw in a storm retention pond near our hotel.

The first dragonfly we saw was the Four-spotted Skimmer. A dark dragonfly with prominent wing patches and white stigmas, it was very numerous at the retention pond. Here's a look at one of the males:



There was a lot of obelisking going on in these hot conditions. Here are some examples:







These last few shots are of a female, and it appears some eggs may be extruding from the tip of her abdomen.

The next shot shows some of the variation seen in the abdomen color, which darkens with age:



This was the most common species at the retention pond.

The Whisperer Speaks!

This coming week, July 14-19, the International Congress of Odonatology meets in Austin Texas. Here's a poster for the event:



Here's an overview of the schedule of events:



The dragonfly whisperer will be there. In fact, I'll be giving two separate talks on Tuesday morning. The talks will focus on the two species seen in the following photo, the Paddle-tailed Darner (right) and the Autumn Meadowhawk (left):



The Paddle-tailed Darner, the Happy-face Dragonfly, is featured in the first talk, Spin-Dry Dragonflies: Nature's Fastest Spinners. This talk explores the splash-dunk/spin-dry suite of behaviors, and includes many slow-motion videos.

The second talk, Egg Laying in Autumn Meadowhawks, describes the unique egg-laying behavior of Autumn Meadowhawks. Again, slow-motion videos show the behavior in full detail.

Stop by and say hello if you're in attendance.