Common Whitetail
Can you identify this extra close friend? Here we have the Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) dragonfly with this male being cooperative in hand for a moment as I took a look at those eyes and that face. Birds in hand look very much like…birds…you know, the ones we see from afar with our eyes, binoculars, and spotting scopes. Dragonflies often look so very different as the features we see while they are flitting through the air – stripes on the thorax or abdomen, colored wings, an overall body shade – are lost in the details of their complex face, head, and even...
Read MoreDragonfly Hike
Here is a short video of the dragonfly hike that I led last weekend at the Aspetuck Land Trust’s Trout Brook Valley Conservation Area, as filmed by trail steward Thomas Carter Jr. on a hot and sticky Saturday morning and afternoon. Fortunately we had some great finds, including the threatened Tiger Spiketail, and you can see me netting a Widow Skimmer. Our thanks to Thomas! Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreOdonate Walk
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...
Read MoreCommon Whitetail
Here’s the Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia), certainly one of the more common dragonflies found in ponds, lakes, and waterways at this time of the year. More and more species are being seen flying everyday in the Northeast and Sean will be trying to show you as many as he can in beautiful displays like this one. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Connecticut for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
Read MoreDragonflies and damselflies weekend
Twan and I spent the weekend searching for and netting various dragonflies and damselflies across Chautauqua County in a “divide and conquer” sweep of as many sites as we could hit. The number of natural areas we have to search is overwhelming. While surveying we also recorded birds, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians…you get the picture. It’s a sensory overload! Last year we added several new odonate county records in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Warren and more. This included the Delta-spotted Spiketail mere minutes from RTPI. I was able to find another population of the...
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