Painted dragons!

Nannothemis and I performed another dragonfly survey at the Humbug Marsh unit of the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge near Trenton, Michigan.

With summer coming along, we knew we'd find greater variety. Soon after arriving I heard over the radio that Nannothemis was stalking a Painted Skimmer (Libellula semifasciata). This would be a new ode for me in the county, as my wife had found the first county record on June 16, 2005. I soon found her standing below a tall patch of phragmites with the skimmer perched at the top.

Here's a picture of this 2nd county record at a lower level.

Continuing the survey, we found many of the expected species such as this female Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella):

Female Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) -- note the urban/industrial sewer lid habitat:

Upon returning to the western end of the Chrysler property, I found a second Painted Skimmer (Libellula semifasciata) at the same wet spot that hosted the Band-winged Dragonlets (Erythrodiplax umbrata) last year. Here's the third county record .

and another look at the wet spot (as of last fall):

What will we find next week?