07 August 2008

Urban Portland Odes

Nannothemis and I are attending the AOU conference in Portland, OR. We are managing some time to look for insects, but with limited success.

Yesterday, we visited the Portland Audubon office/store in Forest Park. This park is the largest urban forest reserve in the US. The sanctuary near the Audubon facilities includes a pond next to Balch Creek.

We were immediately treate with a couple of male Cardinal Meadowhawks (Sympetrum illotum) fighting over their small territories.

Here's one obelisking.


We also saw several Pacific Forktails (Ischnura cervula).
Here are a couple photos of males.




...and a female

We also saw one or two darners patrolling the pond, but we never could get a decent look for an ID.

Tomorrow we should have time to check an area or two near the Columbia River. Hopefully, we'll find more species.

2 comments:

ADVENTURES IN NATURE said...

Your blog is so interesting - thank you for posting the pictures and information about beautiful species of urban insects. I'm glad to know there are others out there who care about urban wildlife and see what others miss in these developed (or over-developed) areas. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the nice comments, Adventures in Nature. We hope to share the wonder of insects and the beauty that can be found in our backyards.