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 MoreEastern Forktails
One of the first spring damselflies to be seen, and one of our most abundant: The Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis). As you can see the males and females can show a variety of coloration. Sean loves seeing fields and areas with water just filled with these jewels of all different colors. 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...
Read More
