A Pair of Saddlebags

Stylurus again.

Today I decided to check out three recently created ponds (2006 or 2007) at Lower Huron Metropark in Wayne County, Michigan to see if any mature meadowhawks (Sympetrum sp.) would be present.

Almost immediately I spotted a reddish-colored dragonfly over the largest of the ponds. I presumed it was a Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina), but I moved to one end of the pond to get a better view. While waiting, a large darner with a bright red abdomen appeared, Comet Darner (Anax longipes)!

The saddlebags decided to fly over my head, while I was calling Nannothemis on my cellphone with the news and with a one-handed swing, I nabbed the Carolina Saddlebags (T. carolina).
This male is one of several records for the county and one of only a couple dozen for the state.


Here's a male Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) for comparison.


After shooting these photos, I decided to look for the Comet Darner (A. longipes). Surprisingly, two or three individuals were present, but none of them accepted my offer for an in-the-hand photo. There are only a handful of records for this species in the state.

At one point, a darner flew by that may have had blue eyes. Could this have been a Spatterdock Darner (Rhionaeshna mutata)?

No meadowhawks today, but other excitement was substituted.
We'll see if we can make it back to this location in the next week or two.

No cobras, but another surprise

Stylurus here again.

Last weekend's weather was unpredictable and hampered our attempts to look for Cobra Clubtails (Gomphus vastus) at Humbug Marsh. We did make it out on Sunday afternoon, even though it was spitting rain here and there. Another problem was high water on the Detroit River. Thus, we didn't have shoreline to search for clubtails.

Very few dragonflies were flying due to the breeze and light rain in the Chrysler property.

One male Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera) was found in the grass. I am accustomed to seeing these out over the water.


It was also nice to find a female Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa).


We decided to check another area of the refuge near some old growth Hickory-Oak forest which includes a few open areas bordered by dogwoods. Immediately upon entering one open area I had a large, lighter-colored dragonfly flitter a few feet and land. I quickly thought this was a female Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) and called Nannothemis up to the location since she has the better camera for a photo. We saw one male at the refuge in 2007, but we were not able to obtain photograph of it.

We ended up capturing this skimmer and realized this was an immature male Great Blue Skimmer (L. vibrans).


Could this be evidence of L. vibrans overwintering in Michigan?

Cobra Clubtail: Unofficial county record

Last week, Stylurus asked what might we see on our next weekly survey of the Detroit River IWR. Our first new species for the Refuge was sort of pedestrian -- an Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata). After that, things were a little dull. We split up to each do a transect, and were nearing the end of our routes when I got a call on the radio. Stylurus told me he had a different sort of clubtail.

I looked over, and he was only 30 yards or so from me, standing about 20 yards from the Detroit River (which is just on the other side of the line of cottonwoods in the shot below). This spot is tall grass interspersed with clumps of Eupatorium altissimum (tall boneset) and encroaching dogwood shrubs (Cornus racemosa or drummondii) which grow thickly in front of the cottonwoods.

He called me over, telling me he thought he had a Cobra Clubtail (Gomphus vastus). This seemed highly unlikely, but whatever it was had to be interesting. Normally, we'd just go ahead and catch something like this. Gomphids can be hard to ID unless in hand, and almost any clubtail would be a new Refuge record. However, as he soon pointed out to me, it was perched in amongst a clump of dogwood. There was no chance for a swing. He had taken a couple of photos, since it had been sitting there for several minutes, and I also got the single shot below.

Indeed, a Cobra Clubtail! It flew, but not far, and we both went after it. Instead of cooperatively flying only a few yards and sitting in a low spot, it completely disappeared within a minute. We searched the whole area for nearly an hour, but never saw it again.

I'm glad we got diagnostic photos of this fresh female, but a voucher would have been made the record official when deposited in the collection at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, and made this rather unbelievable record more real for us! I suspect this species is probably not quite as uncommon as the sparse specimen record for the state reflects. There are only ten state specimens, and none from the southern half of the Lower Peninsula since 1917. And no records from Wayne County.

I have a feeling I know what we'll be doing next weekend.

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?

Early ode surveys

Last year we weren't able to start our odonata surveys to find the early species that are present at Humbug Marsh of the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge near Trenton, Michigan. This last weekend's survey on June 8th added one new species Dot-tailed Whiteface (Leucorrhinia intacta) for the refuge. More surprisingly, we had a new early date for Michigan of Spot-winged Glider (Pantala hymenaea) with several individuals being recorded. The photo below is from a previous season.


On the previous day, we ran a bird survey in the natural area at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, but enjoyed seeing many dragonflies. Several species were freshly emerged:

Slender Spreadwing (Lestes rectangularis)



Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis)



Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella)



For one species, we found the remains of its emergence from the water. This exuvia of a Common Green Darner (Anax junius) was found on a cattail.



Another species, Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis) was working on the next generation.



Finally, we saw an ovipositing Unicorn Clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes). She's facing us in the upper center of the photo above the submerged log.