With the slow warm up and excessive rain this spring, I was a
little concerned that there would be a dearth of dragonflies at the 2019 annual
meeting. However, we had quite a few
things flying around. Snaketails were
emerging as we were exploring the river banks.
We didn’t find many adults other than Rusty Snaketail, but Dan did
manage to find this Pygmy Snaketail emerging.
Jeff’s group also found a teneral St. Croix Snaketail.
There were swarms of baskettails (including Beaverpond and
Spiny), Cruisers were on the wing, and several other species of Clubtails made
appearances. We saw Skillet, Cobra,
Midland, Rapids, Dusky, and some beautiful Green-faced Clubtails.
We had several good educational moments. We discussed bluet identification, how to
differentiate Rapids from Green-faced (with both in hand), and discussed
Whiteface IDs. We also received a
dragonfly history lesson when we were able to visit the site where the St.
Croix Snaketail was first discovered. As
a topper we stopped at a site for the Karner Blue Butterfly…we appreciate all
our incredible insects!
I really feel that it went well. Thanks Jeff, Matt, and Dan for helping scout
and lead field trips. Also thank
everyone else who participated! I had to
leave before the cookout, so I am a little sad I missed out on the end of the
meeting, but I hope all that attended had a good time. Jeff was the point person for all the
organizing, so when you see him please say thank you.
Pygmy Snaketail |
Green-faced Clubtail |
Good times! |