Dragonfly 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 MoreComet Darner
This is the Comet Darner (Anax longipes) that Twan recently netted before it went into the studio for its photo shoot – it certainly blends into the background beautifully!
Read MoreFamiliar Bluets
Here we have a pair of Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) damselflies in a “wheel”, a male and female joined together for mating. They are perched at a pond in this case but they can also fly this way. The male will likely remain with her until she lays the eggs. We are about to enter the prime flight time for our odonata – get out there to any local bodies of water to see what you can find. We will continue to survey for them across the Northeast to gain a greater knowledge of their distribution and abundance plus the health of our waterways.
Read MoreComet Darner (Anax longipes)
I was very happy to find a local breeding population of the spectacular Comet Darner (Anax longipes) during our ongoing assessment of the Chautauqua-Allegheny region’s dragonflies and damselflies. These are the 747s of the dragonfly world, but in fire truck red. What more could you want? Photographed for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Twan Leenders RTPI President
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