A Truly Tiny Urban Ode
This year Nannothemis and I have been keeping an eye on a corner Ford Motor Company property in our city of Dearborn. During spring migration, a couple species of shorebirds utilized this small wet spot along an edge of "no mow" zone that was planted with wildflowers a couple years ago.
I had observed Lyre-tipped Spreadwings (Lestes unguiculatus) at this location in early July. Returning on July 10th, I not only found the Lestes again, but to my surprise there were a few dozen recently emerged Citrine Forktails (Ischnura hastata). Here are a couple individuals:
...and the habitat...
closeup:
and surroundings:
The Ford World Headquarters is visible in the distance in the upper right of the photo above.
We initially found this species in Michigan back in 2002 and subsequently at several locations covering three counties, but not every year. This is the first time we've found this smallest damselfly of the US in our own city.
I had observed Lyre-tipped Spreadwings (Lestes unguiculatus) at this location in early July. Returning on July 10th, I not only found the Lestes again, but to my surprise there were a few dozen recently emerged Citrine Forktails (Ischnura hastata). Here are a couple individuals:
...and the habitat...closeup:
and surroundings:
The Ford World Headquarters is visible in the distance in the upper right of the photo above.We initially found this species in Michigan back in 2002 and subsequently at several locations covering three counties, but not every year. This is the first time we've found this smallest damselfly of the US in our own city.
posted by Darrin O'Brien. Permalink here
Nannothemis is an ecologist, whose research focus is on the importance and function of urban ecosystems.
Stylurus is the husband of Nannothemis. He is an engineer, talented birder, keen naturalist, and pretty good with an insect net when his "old soccer injuries" aren't bothering him.
1 Comments:
I hope that you don't mind my bookmarking your blog -- I'm another odophile who has worked at turning my urban Denver front yard into friendly habitat for a number of species, especially dragons and damsels. It's taken a lot of effort, but totally worth it when a flame skimmer lands on your hand!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home