Field Trip: Day II

We had another great day for dragonflies on Saturday, October 6.  The weather was perfect, the dragonflies were active, and the company to share it with was wonderful.  Thanks to all who joined us for making it a memorable field trip.

Here's the species list for the day:

Northern/Boreal Bluet

Pacific Forktail

Blue-eyed Darner

Paddle-tailed Darner

Shadow Darner

Variable Darner

Autumn Meadowhawk

The Autumn Meadowhawks are the red ones, the ones who love to land on people.  Remember the haiku for these guys, which you can see here:

http://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2012/09/autumn-has-arrived.html

Also, results from day one can be found here:

http://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2012/10/field-trip-day-i.html

The photos below show the lovely weather, and the great dragonfly interactions we enjoyed.

Enjoying the company of an Autumn Meadowhawk.

A photographic moment.  She had just lifted this Autumn Meadowhawk from its perch on the fencepost.

Getting a good close look.  So nice to be able to interact with these wonderful creatures.

Thanks also to Jerry Eisner for sharing some of his photos from the day with us.  Here they are:

With a little dragonfly whispering, this Autumn Meadowhawk was convinced to spend some time perched on a friendly finger.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

This is a female Autumn Meadowhawk.  Notice the large "egg scoop" projecting downward from near the tip of the abdomen.  The scoop is used to hold a drop of water into which the female deposits her eggs.  For more on the egg-laying process, see the last two photos below.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

Time for a good look.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

The red dragonflies really do perch on shoulders.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

Beautiful flight shot of two darners.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

Another great flight photo.  It's wonderful how photographs can capture a moment in time like this.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

A pair of darners hooking up into the wheel position in mid flight.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

A painterly photo showing a pair of Autumn Meadowhawks in tandem.  The female's abdomen is dipped into the water to acquire a drop of water.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

After the female gets a nice drop of water, the pair hovers for about a second while she lays eggs into it.  The pair then smashes into the shoreline vegetation to dislodge the drop, with the eggs it contains, and ready themselves to repeat the process.  (Photo by Jerry Eisner.)

Field Trip: Day I

Today was the first of our two field trips to see late-season dragonflies at Cranberry Lake.  It's a great time to see darners and Autumn Meadowhawks.  Lots of activity of various types, and beautiful weather and scenery to boot.

For example, we had some very good views of the Happy-face Darner (Paddle-tailed Darner) perched in the bushes.  We also saw perched Shadow Darners and Variable Darners.  They looked great through the spotting scope, and lots of good pictures were taken as well.

In addition, we saw 10 splash-dunk events, most of them followed with a nicely visible spin-dry.  In some cases we could see droplets shooting off during the spin-dry, in other cases we saw the droplets spraying across the smooth surface of the lake.  It was such a warm, toasty day that we envied the dragonflies, and were tempted to so a little splash-dunking of our own.

The Autumn Meadowhawks were their usual friendly selves, perching on just about everyone at one point or another.  Even people just out for a walk found themselves in the midst of dragonfly appreciation day!  Here are a couple shots of Libby with a male Autumn Meadowhawk on her hat and just taking flight.

A male Autumn Meadowhawk basks in the sun on Libby's hat.

A little while later he decided to take off, probably to look for a mate.

Thanks to all who attended.  Betsy and I had a great time sharing our love of dragonflies.

Happy Dragonflying,

Jim & Betsy Walker

P. S.  Ronan Ellis was kind enough to share some of his pictures from this field trip with us.  Thanks, Ronan!  Here they are:

Red dragonfly on a shoulder.  (Photo by Ronan Ellis.)

Red dragonflies like hats as well.  (Photo by Ronan Ellis.)

Nice place to bask in the sun.  (Photo by Ronan Ellis.)

Giving a dragonfly a hand.  (Photo by Ronan Ellis.)

Paddle-tailed Darner, also known as the Happy-face Darner.  (Photo by Ronan Ellis.)

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.

Field Trip, Cranberry Lake, Friday & Saturday October 5 & 6, noon to 2:00 pm both days

Did you think dragonfly season was over?  Well, not so fast.  They're still out and about, bringing enjoyment and delight to those who look for them.

In fact, this is the prime time to see Happy-face Darners and to observe splash-dunk/spin-dry behavior.  And the prime location for both of these activities – dragonfly central, if you will – is Cranberry Lake in little old Anacortes.

To take advantage of this opportunity, Betsy and I are offering a field trip this Friday and Saturday (October 5 & 6) at Cranberry Lake.  The way it will work is as follows:

Betsy and I will be at Cranberry Lake, adjacent to the parking lot, from noon to 2:00 pm on Friday and Saturday.  If you would like to join us and our dragonfly friends, just drop by any time during those hours – we'll be in the same location the entire time.  Feel free to arrive and depart whenever you like.

We'll be looking for perching dragonflies (often 3 – 5 will be perched at a time), and thus binoculars, cameras, and spotting scopes will be most advantageous.  We'll also be scanning the lake for splash-dunk events and the spin-dry that follows.  Lately, we've been seeing one event roughly every 5 to 6 minutes, though it varies from day to day.  A few days ago we saw a record of 8 splash-dunks in a row, followed by a nice spin-dry with water droplets flying off in all directions.

To get to Cranberry Lake (in Anacortes), head toward the San Juan ferry terminal.  About halfway between downtown Anacortes and the terminal turn onto Georgia Street.  A couple blocks up the hill you'll see a gravel road on the right.  That road takes you directly to the parking area.  Here's a map:

What dragonflies are flying this time of year?  The most numerous are Paddle-tailed Darners (Happy-face), but we're also seeing Shadow Darners and Variable Darners.  In addition, Autumn Meadowhawks are showing up in increasing numbers.  Here's a link to a haiku about the Autumn Meadowhawk: http://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2012/09/autumn-has-arrived.html.

Below are photos of the dragonflies mentioned above, along with captions pointing out the field marks that are useful for identification.

A male Autumn Meadowhawk.  Notice the prominent hamules at the base of the abdomen.  This individual still has traces of yellow because it is just past its teneral stage where it was all yellow.  When fully mature it will be almost solid red, with virtually no distinguishing stripes or spots.

A female Autumn Meadowhawk.  The female is a brownish red, not as bright as the male.  Notice her prominent "egg scoop" near the tip of the abdomen.  This is a distinguishing feature for this meadowhawk.

A male Paddle-tailed Darner (Mr. Happy-face).  Notice the blue spots on the abdomen that go all the way to the last segment.

The Paddle-tailed Darner (Mr. Happy-face) has beautiful blue eyes, and a charming face.

A male Shadow Darner.  Notice that the blue spots on the abdomen get smaller near the tip, vanishing completely on the last segment.  The front stripes on the thorax are a bit greenish, compared with the yellowish front stripes on the Paddle-tailed Darner.

The Shadow Darner has a bit of a happy face himself.

A male Variable Darner.  Notice that the side stripes on the thorax are very thin, and even break off into two segments.  The front stripes are quite small.  Also, notice that the last segment of the abdomen has cream-colored spots, and that the appendages are not paddle shaped.

The Variable Darner is clearly related to the Happy-face Darner.

That's it for now.  We hope to see you there!

Happy Dragonflying,
Jim and Betsy Walker

1.5 Damselflies – Darner Predation In Action

Strange things happen in nature – things you might never predict in advance.  No one predicted superconductivity, for example, even though it's a direct consequence of well-known physics.

Here's an example from biology.  Once in a while you look in the bushes and see something like the following:

1.5 dameslflies – a female Tule Bluet plus the abdomen of her former mate.

What's going on here?  At first it looks like some sort of strange creature with a weird body plan, but then you realize it's a female damselfly with the abdomen of a male attached behind her head.  That's strange alright, not something you might have predicted in advance, but then you ask yourself, "How did that come about?"

The first thought is generally that it's the result of a pair of damselflies in tandem being attacked by a bird that makes off with part of the male.  That's certainly reasonable, and probably happens a lot, though it does beg the question of why the bird doesn't finish off the job since the female with the attached abdomen is an easy catch.

The explanation is quite different in this case, however.  I was observing a male California Darner on the shore of Cranberry Lake – California Darners like to perch on the ground, as compared with Paddle-tailed Darners, Blue-eyed Darners, and Shadow Darners that prefer to perch in bushes about chest high.  In any case, the darner took off and I watched as it flew over the water.  In a second it attacked a pair of Tule Bluets that were flying in tandem.  The darner had quite a struggle on its hands, and it flew toward some bushes on the shore.  I followed, expecting it to land and process its catch.  Instead, something fell from the darner into the bushes, and it continued flying.  When I looked in the bush I saw the 1.5 damselfly pictured above.  The darner had snipped off the male at the base of its abdomen, and continued in flight to eat the nice, meaty thorax.

Since that time we've observed similar types of darner attacks a number of times.  One of the most common happens near the end of the season, when Paddle-tailed Darners and Autumn Meadowhawks are particularly numerous.  We've seen several instances of a darner grabbing a pair of Autumn Meadowhawks in tandem.  The darner sometimes snips off the abdomen of the male meadowhawk, eats the thorax, and leaves the female with an abdomen attached.  Sometimes the darner eats the entire male while it is still attached to the female.  When it gets most of the way through the abdomen the female is released, and she rests in the vegetation before flying off as the darner finishes its meal.

Yes, strange things happen in nature.

Autumn Has Arrived!

One of my favorite examples of dragonfly haiku is the following:

Red dragonfly on my shoulder,

calls me his friend.

Autumn has arrived.

The sentiment of this haiku was played out in real life today at Cranberry Lake, where Autumn Meadowhawks (red dragonflies) are showing up in numbers and perching on shoulders, hats, and any other available surface.

In our area, if you see a red dragonfly this time of year you've already identified it – it's an Autumn Meadowhawk.

Here are a few pictures from Cranberry Lake showing the subject of the haiku:

Red dragonfly on Betsy's shoulder – and hat.  Autumn Meadowhawks really are the friendliest dragonfly.

Autumn Meadowhawks enjoy basking in whatever sunlight is available.

Autumn Meadowhawks in the wheel position.

Black Meadowhawks At Barnaby Slough: Another County Record, This Time In Skagit County

It's been an unusual year for dragonflies – at least in our area.  The activity level has been low overall, and what we're seeing is often quite out of the ordinary.

For example, the activity at Cranberry Lake has been so low that I haven't given a late-season field trip there as I would have liked. Even so, we saw many American Emeralds at Cranberry Lake earlier this year, compared to just one seen there over the previous five years.  We went from almost nothing to a population just like that.

Next, I went to Thunder Lake in July and saw an incredible number of Chalk-fronted Corporals.  Before that, Betsy and I had seen a single individual at Barnaby Slough, which was a record for Skagit County.  Again, we went from almost nothing to a roaring population.

Then, about a week ago, we went to Lake Terrell in Whatcom county and found Black Meadowhawks in an area where we had never seen them before.  That was a record for Whatcom County, as detailed previously here: http://thedragonflywhisperer.blogspot.com/2012/09/black-meadowhawks-at-lake-terrell.html.

A few days ago we went to Barnaby Slough.  We're checking things out, seeing the usual suspects, and then all of a sudden I spot a small, dark dragonfly landing on the walking path.  I check it with my binoculars and it's a Black Meadowhawk!  I can hardly believe it.  This time it's a county record for Skagit County.  Several more males were seen to flush from the trail and fly to a sunken pond nearby.  We haven't been looking for county records, but for some reason they've been coming to us.  As I said, this has been an unusual year for dragonflies in our area.

Here are some photos of a Black Meadowhawk at Barnaby Slough:

A male Black Meadowhawk putting on a pose for me at Barnaby Slough.

This is a relatively young individual.  It will darken with age.

Notice the bi-colored eye and the face that is dark in front and light-colored on the sides.