Dragonfly Walks Resume in Spring, 2008
Intricate
patterns on dragonflies can be breathtaking. Blue-eyed Darners such as the
one pictured at right hover and hunt smaller bugs over Ayer Lake during Summer
months at the Arboretum, if one of these large dragonflies stops to perch
on a cattail focus your binoculars for a great look at the mosaic design of
blue and black along the abdomen -- and watch for the vivid purple of a Roseate
Skimmer.
Learn
about darners, skimmers, dashers and other dragonfly species on our guided
dragonfly walks, which resume in the Spring of 2008.
What species are you likely to see? Education
Coordinator Chris Kline reports that ""We had our final dragonfly
walk of the season October 6; initially it appeared it was going to be a total
bust! At the start of the walk it was 60 degrees and cloudy. The first half
of the walk netted us 2 Common Green Darners. Period. However, by the time
we got to the lake, the sun had come out and the temp was up to about 70 and
the odonates were a flyin'! So the list below reflects what we saw after 11:00
am from the lake down the main trail to the demonstration garden: a few Flame
Skimmers, one Neon Skimmer in the butterfly garden a few Blue Dashers, Roseate
Skimmers, Common Green Darners, Mexican Amberwings and Blue-eyed Darners at
Ayer lake; a Red Rock-skimmer in the rocks above Queen Creek
one Spot-winged Glider patroling the Demonstration Garden water features;
and a Familiar Bluet at the lake. Variegated Meadowhawks were everywhere --
the most common odonate on the walk. We also had one mystery forktail at the
lake. I didn't have my camera but several walk participants did so I'm hoping
someone will send me a picture."
Kline added "we had our first ever Bio-Blitz, a special biological survey
event, on Saturday September 15. Rich Bailowitz and Doug Danforth were kind
enough to come up to do the butterfly and dragonfly survey. Odonate results
were 25 species, and an impressive 224 individuals. Here's what they reported
finding: 3 Black Saddlebags, 1 Red Saddlebags, 1 *Black Setwing (new for our
checklist!); 2 Blue Dasher, 20 Flame Skimmer, 27 Mexican Amberwing, 4 Neon
Skimmer, 14 Roseate Skimmer, 8 Variegated Meadowhawk, 1 Straw-colored Sylph,
2 Spot-winged Glider, 4 Pale-faced Clubskimmer, 2 Blue-eyed Darner, 3 Common
Green Darner, 1 Giant Darner, 1 Arroyo Bluet, 39 Familiar Bluet, 3 Amethyst
Dancer, 7 **California Dancer (also exciting, this gives confirmation of a
previous observation); 30 Dusky Dancer, 10 Lavender Dancer, 5 Sooty Dancer,
20 Springwater Dancer, 8 Desert Firetail and 8 Rambur's Forktail 8. Kline
guides dragonfly walks here during Summer months, and welcomes visitors to
the "season finale" on October 6.
Early
summer walks produced some of these same varieties, and also Filigree Skimmer,
Variable Dancer, Springwater Dancer, Mexican Forktail, and Arroyo Bluet....
and older reports have included Black Saddlebags, Pond Damsel, Amethyst Dancer,
Sooty Dancer, Familiar Bluet, Arroyo Bluet and more.
The Arboretum offers our thanks to photographer and Arboretum tour guide Pete
Moulton for sharing several of the images on this page - and also Rich Bailowitz
and Doug Danforth for helping lead the walks and educating visitors about
native insects of the Odonate order. Dragonfly enthusiast and photographer
Peter Moulton was our guest tourguide for June, and pointed out colorful species
around Ayer Lake including the Rambur's Forktail, Blue-ringed Dancer, Mexican
Amberwing, Desert Forktail and the large blue-and-black Widow Skimmer (the
latter two species were first-ever records for the Arboretum). Large red Flame
Skimmers and also Blue Dasher were seen flying over both Ayer Lake and Queen
Creek, and the Dasher was also observed hunting smaller insects around the
Demonstration Garden water features. Species seen only along Queen Creek included
Red Rock-skimmer and Giant Darner, a magnificent insect and the largest dragonfly
in all of Arizona. Another exciting specie found around the Demonstration
Garden water feature was Desert Firetail.
The Arboretum is a great place to observe "watchable
wildlife" including birds, butterflies, lizards... and also the colorful,
charismatic and predatory dragonflies that strafe Ayer Lake and Queen Creek
in search of prey. Pete Moulon travels from his Phoenix home to photograph
dragonflies and butterfly species at the Arboretum -- and he shared two of
the colorful images on this page. The Arboretum is among Pete's favorite spots
for macro photography, and these images were captured during his rambles around
the trails here at BTA.
"When the temperature is a little warmer Ayer
Lake is a good place to start looking for both dragonflies and damselflies.
Some species breed in still water, and at the lake these include: Blue-eyed
and Common Green Darners, Flame and Roseate Skimmers, Mexican Amberwings,
and Blue Dashers.
"The little wet area just above the lake produced
what, at the time, was the first known record of Neon Skimmer for both the
Arboretum and Pinal County. Cynthia Donald found this spectacular bug, which
stayed just long enough for one not very good--but recognizable--photograph
before it disappeared.
"While some species prefer still waters for
breeding purposes, and are therefore found around lakes, ponds, and the like,
others favor flowing water. Queen Creek provides habitat for some of these
species, and the shady spot where the trail drops into the canyon and then
switches back to follow the creek downstream is excellent for both the Red
Rock Skimmer and the Springwater Dancer. I've also seen and photographed the
American Rubyspot here.
"A few species require open water only for breeding,
and may be found anywhere in the park, often far from water. The Wandering
Glider and Variegated Meadowhawk are two of these wide-rangers."
Pete photographed the beautiful blue Springwater
Dancer (the damselfly above) along Queen Creek, and the brilliant red skimmer
at right was also photographed here. To read other dragonfly reports posted
on the web and learn about other places to see them, visit the website
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SoWestOdes
Read more about Boyce Thompson Arboretum weekend
nature walks and EVENTS