Via the Aspetuck Land Trust with photos from ALT’s Jacquie Littlejohn: Over the weekend, Scott Kruitbosch of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History led an enthusiastic group of ALT members on a walk to see and learn about Odonata and Other Flying Objects in our Trout Brook Valley preserve. Among the various odonates (aka dragonflies and damselflies) we saw were: Widow Skimmer, Tiger Spiketail, Arrowhead Spiketail, Eastern Pondhawk, White-faced Meadowhawk, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Common Whitetail, Ebony Jewelwing and Eastern Forktail. Everyone got to see multiple Tiger Spiketails and then Arrowhead Spiketails and we talked a lot about their needs and how special TBV is for them. Scott netted a Widow Skimmer for close-up views. Jacquie keyed people in on a nicely perched Common Whitetail. There were plenty of Ebony Jewelwings showing off. Overall we talked about a lot of habitat and general conservation issues we face in Connecticut and what ALT is doing to address them plus how they can help. People seemed engaged and asked us all a lot of questions, and we had a wide range of ages.
