It is odonate season, finally! Our various dragonflies and damselflies are emerging and migrating our way now that there is plenty of food in the air. Here is an up-close look at the Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis).
While we at RTPI do not have any specific dragonfly monitoring programs underway this year we will be recording them during all of our other work in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey. This includes programs such as Project Wild America and Bridgeport WildLife Guards, from avian and reptile study sites, Natural History Atlas locations, at Stratford Point and on the grounds of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute – even our own yards or random roadside sightings! Spotting a spiketail along the side of a road in Chautauqua County is how our staff discovered the first county record of Delta-spotted Spiketail (Cordulegaster diastatops).
You never know what you may find, and we suggest utilizing Odonata Central which “is designed to make available what we know about the distribution, biogeography, biodiversity, and identification of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) world-wide,” and serves as the perfect place to log your sightings.
Good ode-ing!
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
