Oak Flat Mine Pond

Before leaving Arizona, Betsy and I visited one of our favorite locations—Oak Flat. This is a nice wildlife area, with a couple ponds and a campground. There is also some mining going on at Oak Flat—in fact, one spot we like a lot is the Oak Flat Mine Pond. We worry that this pond will vanish one day, as a result of the mining operations, but so far it has survived, and always provides lots of odonate activity.

Here's the location of Oak Flat, just a bit north and east of the town of Superior:



The pond is smallish and shallow, with lots of shoreline vegetation. Here's a view of it:



On this trip, we had a nice view of a Roseate Skimmer:



What a beautiful dragonfly. The skimmer was fighting over the perch with a Variegated Meadowhawk, who also thought that this was an ideal perch for surveying the shoreline. Here's the meadowhawk on the same perch, after displacing the skimmer:



They took turns displacing one another.

There were lots of Variegated Meadowhawks at Oak Flat. They really are a prolific species. Here's another one at Oak Flat.



They generally perch above the ground on vegetation, but are comfortable with landing on bare spots on the shore as well. In this view, you can really appreciate the color pattern of the abdomen, as well as the yellow color along the leading edge of the wings.

One final treat from Oak Flat on this visit was a Plateau Dragonlet. We've only seen this species a couple times before, and at only one location—Tortilla Flat—so it was completely unexpected to see one here. Here's a view of the one individual we saw:



Notice the dark head and thorax, in addition to the blue abdomen with a dark tip.

This individual was vying with other insects for perching sites. Take a look at the dragonlet in the following photo:



Do you see two other insects on either side of the dragonlet, perched atop their own stems? The next photo points them out:



In addition, there are a couple of these insects below the dragonlet on the same stem. The dragonfly and these other insects were constantly interacting with one another, though, of course, the dragonfly was always the one to get his way.

Eclipse Odonata

After the eclipse, which occurred shortly after 10:00 am, we went dragonflying at a pond right next to our hotel. It's in a business park in Salem, OR, and in the past we've seen River Jewelwings there. None were seen this time, but it was a nice place for dragonfly observing in any case.

When we first got there we saw a number of Vivid Dancers. This is a lovely damselfly, with intensely (vivid) blue colors. Here's one that perched for a few photos:



Notice the black "arrowheads" on the side of the abdomen, within the blue bands, that point toward the rear—this is a key field mark for this species. As with other dancers, it holds its folded wings above the abdomen.

We also saw the following species: Variegated Meadowhawk, Black Saddlebag, Flame Skimmer, Widow Skimmer, Blue-eyed Darner, Common Green Darner, Twelve-spotted Skimmer. We even saw a Blue-eyed Darner do two splash-dunks.

A Variegated Meadowhawk perched in a bush near us, posing for pictures, it seemed. Here are a few:



Notice the variegated pattern along the abdomen, and the white stripes on the side of the thorax with a yellow spot at the base. The white will fade with time, leaving just the yellow spots in older individuals.

Here's a closer look:



Lovely lavender colors in the eyes. This fellow is looking directly at us—curious about us, I suppose, like we're curious about him. Notice also the yellow stripe along the length of the legs.

A couple more photos of this attractive individual:



The side view shows the white "portholes" on the side of the abdomen. Notice also the rough surface on the lower side of the abdomen, and the variegated, two-toned, stigmas near the tips of the wings.

The final photo shows details of the structure of the eyes:



You can see the granularity of the compound eyes here, as well as a reflection of the sun—which was past eclipse phase at this time!

One further note: Traffic and crowds were significant, but not totally terrible. We didn't drive home on the 21st, right after the eclipse, so we don't know how the traffic was at that time. We went home on the 22nd after some more birding and dragonflying, and the driving was fine for a few miles.

Then we hit heavy traffic, well before reaching Portland, and were traveling at about 10 to 20 mph for long distances. This continued on and off well into Washington. We stopped at a Rest Area in Washington, and it was packed—every parking spot was filled and people were parking along the side of the road. We continued on, sighting a fire along the side of the road that was being fought by lots of fire trucks. Finally, a bit north of Tacoma, the traffic lightened up for the rest of the trip home. Overall, it took us 9 hours to get home, when it usually takes 6 hours.

We saw some campers along the way that were headed home after the eclipse. One, in fact, had a sign saying "Eclipse Or Bust" on its back window. Another trailer had the following sign on the back: "I go wherever I'm towed to."

A Visit To Heart Lake

Yesterday, Betsy and I went to Heart Lake after lunch. It was a beautiful day, temperatures in the 70s and not a cloud in the sky. Nice and calm too. We were glad we went because the dragonfly activity was high.

Here's the location of Heart Lake. It's within the city limits of Anacortes, and also a part of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands.



The first thing we noticed as we got out of the car was an abundance of Pacific Forktails. They were all over the place. Every step you took in the grass flushed a small cloud of them. Most were immatures, and many were females.

The females are quite striking in this species. Here are a couple examples:





Notice the single blue segment at the tip of the abdomen (males have two) and the stripes on the top of the thorax (males have spots).

Here's a look at the ovipositor of this species—the "bulge" at the tip of the abdomen. The female uses this to cut a slit in a stem in which to deposit her eggs.



Here's the male Pacific Forktail for comparison:



As mentioned above, he has two blue segments at the tip of the abdomen, and blue spots on top of the thorax.

We also saw lots of Dot-tailed Whitefaces. They love lily pads, but there were so many of them that they were perching all over the place.



Notice the chalk-white face, and the yellow "dot" on the abdomen.

Western Pondhawks were also numerous. Many were quite young and fresh in appearance, like the female shown below.



Here's a male showing off his blue color, and his "Groucho Marx" mustache.



Cardinal Meadowhawks were common, as well. Notice the red wing patches near the base of the wings, the bright red face, and the intense red dorsal fovea on the top of the eyes. In contrast, you can see one of the white dots on the side of the thorax.



We also saw Variegated Meadowhawks, which seemed to prefer perching on the ground near the shore of the lake. Notice the complex pattern on the abdomen. Just barely visible is one of the yellow dots this species has on the sides of the thorax.



Of particular interest was a single Four-spotted Skimmer. It was the first of its species to be observed at Heart Lake (though they are common at Cranberry Lake).



All in all, it was a beautiful day at Heart Lake, and a sure indication that dragonfly season is well underway.

It's Still Dragonfly Season!!!

Well, when the sun comes out, so do the dragonflies. Betsy and I went to Cranberry Lake today around noon, and were greeted by a nice group of dragonflies—even though it was quite breezy. The temperature was delightfully mild too; in the mid 60s.

We immediately saw lots of Autumn Meadowhawks. This species has a beautiful red color, and is so friendly that they land on you if you stay put for more than half a minute or so. Here are a couple that visited with us:

We also saw a single Variegated Meadowhawk, which we've never seen at Cranberry Lake before. This species can pop up just about anywhere, just about any time of the year:

We also saw the usual darners for this time of year—the Shadow Darner and the Paddle-tailed Darner. Here's a Paddle-tailed Darner, resting in the bushes, soaking up the sun:

Here's another:

What a lovely day at the lake, made even more so by the presence of our friendly neighborhood dragonflies.

Variegated Meadowhawks at Bosque Del Apache

Last week, my wife and I visited Bosque del Apache for the first time.  It's quite a delightful place, especially for birdwatchers.  There were a few dragonflies there, as well, including Common Green Darners and Blue-eyed Darners.

We also saw a number of Variegated Meadowhawks, which are wonderfully photogenic.  Here are a few pictures from April 5 this year.



This was the first Variegated Meadowhawk we saw at Bosque.  It perched nicely for us on its favorite perch over the water.

After a while it moved to a closer perch.  Here it is coming in for a landing:



The next shot shows it after its pinpoint landing:



Later we saw another individual, this one much younger:



Notice that the side of the thorax has white stripes, ending in yellow dots at the bottom.  As the meadowhawk matures, the white stripes fade away, leaving just the yellow dots.  This is the case with the first individual, show above, where we see just a faint remnant of the white stripes.

Roseate Bay at the Gilbert Water Ranch

Another place we like at the Gilbert Water Ranch is what we call Roseate Bay, so named because Roseate Skimmers are so abundant there.  It's located at the northern end of Pond #5 in an area that stays wet all the time, while most of the pond dries up.  Its location is indicated on the map below:

There's also a nice shaded viewing blind at Roseate Bay.  It's a great place to see 3 or 4 Roseate Skimmers perched at a time, while in the background all sorts of ducks and shorebirds are feeding.

Here are a couple shots of a Roseate Skimmer at Roseate Bay.  They're very active right now, and often just perch for a few seconds before taking off again, but every now and then one rests for long enough to get some good shots.

Roseate Skimmer, at Roseate Bay, Gilbert Water Ranch.

The same individual.  Notice how the front two legs are tucked up nicely behind its head.  This is where they hold the front legs during flight as well.  Once the rear four legs capture an insect, the front two legs come into play as they manipulate the prey item for processing.

Also observed at Roseate Bay were a couple Variegated Meadowhawks.  Here's one on a stem, watching for something to take off and chase.

Variegated Meadowhawk, Roseate Bay, Gilbert Water Ranch.

The same individual from a different angle.  Notice the two yellow spots on the thorax.  When it was younger, there would have been two white stripes on the thorax, with yellow spots at the bottom.  With age, the white fades away, leaving just the yellow spots.  Notice also the intricate pattern on the abdomen, the reason for its name.

Dragonflying at the Gilbert Water Ranch

A few days ago, Betsy and I went to the nearby Gilbert Water Ranch (in Gilbert, AZ) for some birding and dragonflying.  Even though it's still early in the season for dragonflies, we observed lots of activity, and a fair number of species to boot.

We also had nice views of a number of birds.  Here are a couple shots of the Ring-necked Duck, which one would think should be called the Ring-billed Duck.  This is the male, and he certainly is a handsome bird, with a ringed bill outlined in white at the base, and a striking golden eye.

In the shot on the right you can see the reddish ring at the base of the neck that gives him his name.  You don't always get to see this feature, but when the lighting is just right it can make an appearance.

We also saw a Great Blue Heron fishing right next to us on one of the ponds.  He was nice enough to pose for a photo.

The Water Ranch is an important birding site, but they also recognize the presence of dragonflies, as attested to by their "Welcome" sign:

The dragonfly activity was constant – everywhere we looked we saw them on the wing or perched.  Quite a few species, too.  Here's our odonate list for the day:

Damselflies
Familiar Bluet
Rambur's Forktail

Dragonflies
Common Green Darner
Variegated Meadowhawk
Roseate Skimmer
Red Saddlebags
Wandering Glider
Spot-winged Glider

The Red Saddlebags were particularly abundant, and some were even flying in tandem over the water, though we didn't see them actually lay eggs.  Here are a couple shots of the Red Saddlebags:

A Red Saddlebags from below.  The hamules (downward projections) at the base of the abdomen make it evident this is a male.

The same individual from the side.  The saddlebags are intensely red, and quite visible in flight.

Here's a shot of one of the Variegated Meadowhawks we saw.  On some of the ponds we saw pairs in tandem tapping the water to lay eggs.

A Variegated Meadowhawk on the shore of one of the ponds at the Gilbert Water Ranch.

Variegated Meadowhawk

The Variegated Meadowhawk is an interesting species for a number of reasons.  First, it's color pattern, particularly on the abdomen, sets it apart from all our other meadowhawks and is the reason for its name.  Second, it is one of a small number of dragonflies known to migrate.  Large flights heading south in the fall have been observed along the west coast.  Betsy and I have seen mature pairs laying eggs as early as March 9 in southern Oregon, when no sign of emergence was apparent.  These individuals had probably migrated north from overwintering sites in the southwest.

Here in the Anacortes area, we see Variegated Meadowhawks on a hit-or-miss basis.  We never know where one will show up, and there is no location in our area where they are seen consistently.  We've seen them in a variety of different situations, including Washington Park in mid November.

Yes, the Variegated Meadowhawk is an oddball – but it's always a delight to see with its wonderful colors and patterns.  This summer we saw one at Smiley's Bottom for the first time.  It was a young male that was still mostly yellow – it will become reddish with age.  Also note the white stripes on the side of the thorax, with a yellow dot at their lower end.  With age these stripes will fade away, but the yellow dots will remain.  Also, notice the lavender color of the eyes.  The eyes will turn increasingly reddish with age, but there will always be a lavender component to the color.

A young Variegated Meadowhawk at Smiley's Bottom.

Here the meadowhawk tilts its head to point the dorsal fovea to the left for a better view in that direction.  Notice the lavender color of the eye, and the nice array of pseudopupils.