dragonflies
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Autumn Meadowhawk
Waited all through October for the sight of a Sympetrum vicinum. Three centimeters of fiery, late season dragonfly. Finally spotted one last Friday, when the temperature got into early 70s. Spotted at Sylvan Water in Green-Wood, the only one seen. Not many of these have been observed this fall in NYC, at least according to…
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Long-distance Flier
Glowing in the understory, a Wandering Glider. And then, two days later: Spotted another one perched, rather worse for the wear. Talk about the beat generation…
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Exuviae
The shed exoskeleton of a nymph dragonfly. I suspect this is Common Green Darner. Nearly 50% smaller, and more commonly found by your correspondent, this could be Amberwing or Blue Dasher, our two most common dragonflies. Both damselflies and dragonflies begin their lives in the water before emerging into the air and breaking out of…
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The Wanderer
A Wandering Glider, Pantala flavescens. Also known as the Globe Skimmer or Globe Wanderer, and one of two “rain pool gliders.” Considered the most-widespread dragonfly in the world, this species also has one of the longest multi-generational migrations in the insect world. “Basically a tropical species” says Paulson; individuals may migrate up to four thousand…
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Raptor Wednesday With Gliders
Two American Kestrel males in Green-Wood. Hunting must be good here, because I’ve seen kestrels in this area for years. There are some great perches, with meadow below. When I was there Saturday, both Spot-winged and Wandering Gliders, the orange-y dragonflies that seem to be constantly in the air, were flying at eye-level. Kestrels eat…
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Late Odonata
Dragonfly eating damselfly. Eastern Pondhawk female gobbling up one of the bluets. Familiar Bluet ungobbled. Common Green Darner male. Autumn Meadowhawk female. Autumn Meadowhawk male (probably). As their name suggests, these Sympetrum genus meadowhawks are one of the last species to fly during the Odonata year.
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BioBlitz Notes
Birds are hard to capture with phone cameras, the standard way people enter information on iNaturalist. I led two bird groups of Macualay Honors College students on the BioBlitz Saturday. This is the only picture of a bird I put into iNaturalist. We tallied birds seen the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil. Macaulay…
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Paulson on the Odonata
Dennis Paulson’s new Dragonflies and Damselflies: A Natural History‘s is a great introduction to odonating. Paulson has written the standard field guides to American/Canadian odes as well as dozens of journal papers on odonates. The pictures in his field guides are too small; that’s these guide’ principal fault. But consider: there are 461 species to…
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The Better To See You With
You may have noticed the long antennae of butterflies, or the sometimes very elaborate and feathery antenna of certain moths. Male moths especially, like this Chickweed Geometer (Haematopis grataria), pick up the scent of female pheromones from great distances. Some beetles also have long antenna; c.f. the “long-horned beetles.” But note how minor a dragonfly’s…
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Robber Flies & Dragonflies
A Holcocephala genus gnat ogre. Hey, I don’t make these names up, I just report them. Like the examples below, these are robber flies. Ommatius genus. Robber flies hunt and kill “insects of many orders” according to bugguide.net. In this case, a fly victim.Genus Efferia. Another captive fly.Here, the prey looks like a tiny wasp.…
Backyard and Beyond 