Fall's Bounty

Checking the weather on the morning of September 29th, I found the afternoon was to be sunny, 70F, with southerly winds. Southern species and late dates were on my mind, so I took a 1/2 day of vacation and headed to the Humbug Marsh Unit of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.

If you read the previous post, you already know of the highlight for the day.

However, there were many additional species flying, some of which represented late or near record late dates for Michigan.

This male Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa) must have perched below the roosting cormorants:

There were a few flying along the edges of the shadows.

A common species, but still a beauty is this female Common Green Darner (Anax junius):


A male Elusive Clubtail (Stylurus notatus) is a great, late season ode:

Read more about their identification here.

Female Eastern (Common) Pondhawks (Erythemis simplicicollis) are always nice:

Three or four were found in the upland areas.

Gliders and saddlebags were numerous. The southern winds of the previous days must have pushed some individuals north.

Here's a male Spot-winged Glider (Pantala hymenaea):


There were several reddish-colored saddlebags flying about.

Here's a male Red Saddlebags (Tramea onusta):


...and here's a female Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina):


Finally, this was my first sighting of a Striped Saddlebags (Tramea calverti):

Truly, the first evidence of this species in Michigan.

First state record: Striped Saddlebags

Striped Saddlebags (Tramea calverti) is a mostly tropical species that is typically resident only in the deep south, primarily Texas. They are prone to vagrancy, and Nick Donnelly's dot-map project shows a smattering of records from northern states:

Occasionally, Striped Saddlebags make a major movement; for instance, there were numerous records in New York and New Jersey in the late summer of 1992. In 2007, there were some northern records, including in Ohio. We made a purposeful effort to look for it, along with Band-winged Dragonlet, that year. We were successful in finding the dragonlet for Michigan's first state record at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Humbug Marsh Unit.

Striped Saddlebags has remained in the back of our minds ever since. In the last month, reports of this species have popped up all over: in Chicago at Montrose; Two Harbors, MN; a boatload at Cape May, NJ; Delaware, New Hampshire, and at least six on 24 September at Metzger Marsh in Ohio.

At the Humbug Marsh Unit, adjacent to the Detroit River, is a large open area with many scattered dogwood shrubs. Trameas, Common Green Darners, and Pantalas love perching and gathering in this area in autumn, making it an ideal location to look for Striped Saddlebags. If they had flown into Michigan on the strong south winds we had in late September, this would be the place to look.

Sure enough, on the warm sunny afternoon of 29 September, at least three or four Striped Saddlebags were present.

Darrin did all the heavy lifting, taking the afternoon off work to search, determined to find this species. My two hours joining him largely represented the dry spell for sightings for the afternoon. In fact, we were giving up and heading back to the car, discussing a return strategy for the next day, when one flew right in front of him, allowing him to snag it for the state voucher.

We also found several other red-colored Trameas, and were able to voucher both Carolina Saddlebags (T. carolina) and Red Saddlebags (T. onusta) which is quite rare in Michigan.

This is state record number 6 for the Urban Dragon Hunters. In 2007, we took a photo of a Band-winged Dragonlet -- not only a first state record, but the northernmost record for North America -- with the stacks of the power plant adjacent to Humbug in the background:

Thus, we thought it was fitting to do the same with the Striped Saddlebags:

We think it really represents the highly urban nature of our dragon hunting. There are nearly 100 species of dragonflies and damselflies now recorded for Wayne County, MI. We've seen all but about five of them in the last 10 years -- and were the first to verify over half. This shows what you can find in your own backyard, even if it is in the big city.


Donnelly, T.W. 2004. Distribution of North American Odonata. Part II: Macromiidae, Corduliidae and Libellulidae. Bulletin of American Odonatology 8(1):1-32.

Soltesz, K. 1992. An invasion of Tramea calverti on the Northeast coast. Argia 4(3):9-10.

It's a Smoky on the Rouge River ... this time it's not from a fire

I had a mission to find a new species on the Rouge River this year. The river's water quality has improved since the 1960s when the river actually caught on fire. Over the past few years we've found a couple of locations in Hines Park for species such as American Rubyspot (Hetaerina americana), Blue-tipped Dancer (Argia tibialis), and Blue-ringed Dancer (A. sedula).

Over the past few weeks, I've been checking suspected locations for Smoky Rubyspot (H. titia) along the Rouge River in Wayne County, Michigan. Today, under cloudy skies and a temperature of 60F, I finally succeeded at Levan Knoll!

The west end of this area has a one-lane bridge and is just downstream of a high quality water area identified by Friends of the Rouge. Upon arrival at the riverbank, three American Rubyspots (H. americana) flew up. Here is one of the males:


On the opposite bank, a downed tree and gravel bank provided good perching opportunities for more rubyspots. Then I saw saw the true habitat requirement for H. titia... a half-submerged barrel:


I turned around, walked a few feet, and flushed a male Smoky Rubyspot (H. titia) from a grapevine! It perched over the river on a leaf, just out of reach:


After some time, it moved back over to the grapevine:


This species has now been confirmed on three rivers in Wayne County, Michigan (Detroit River, Huron River, Rouge River).

Archilestes grandis still persist in MI

On September 6, 2010, I visited the creek that runs through the ever-developing business park between Haggerty Road and I-275 (E-W) and 6-Mile & 7-Mile Roads (N-S) in Wayne County. I wanted to confirm that the only known site in Michigan still had Great Spreadwings (Archilestes grandis).

Within a couple minutes I found this female:


Read more about this species and location here and here.

RFI: Russet-tipped Clubtail habitat requirements

Of the many new county records we have obtained, one of our favorites is the Russet-tipped Clubtail, Stylurus plagiatus. (When we found it in 2001, it was actually a first state record, but we've only just determined that what everyone thought was the first state record, from Alpena Co., was an error.) Darrin even adopted it as his nom de plume/avatar for this blog.

The areas where we have found adult S. plagiatus appear to have specific characteristics. We are interested in gathering more data about these characteristics. Ergo, this request for information on locations where verified (photograph or voucher) adult S. plagiatus have been found.

Where: We are concentrating on populations in MN, IA, MO and all states EAST of the Mississippi and north of (and including) TN and NC -- all the states shaded in yellow below; eastern Canadian provinces, too, although they are very rare in Canada.


What: We would like precise geo-coordinates of locations where you have seen adult Russet-tipped Clubtails, S. plagiatus.

• These should be verifiable sightings, documented by a photograph or voucher. We don't need a copy of the photo, but would like a link if it's online. We might ask to see an image, but we'll write to you if need be. If you have taken a voucher, let us know where it is archived and a specimen number, if applicable.
  
• We'd like a location within 20 meters if possible -- this precision usually easy to get on Google Earth by creating a placemark and then copying the coordinates in the Edit Placemark box. We'd prefer digital coordinates (e.g., 42.394098, -83.736619). Google Earth will display this if you choose "Decimal degrees" in the "Show lat/long" section of Google Earth Options. But we can convert if necessary.
  

When: Anytime within the last 10 years.

How: Fill out and submit our nifty online form at Wufoo. You can fill out one form per area, even if you've had multiple sightings over multiple years. Just let us know that in the Notes section of the form. In fact, since we're limited in the number of fields on the form, please provide as much detail as you like in the Notes section!

Why: We'd like to verify some of our suspicions regarding the apparently very specific habitat configurations and requirements of adult Russet-tipped Clubtails. In order not to bias any data submissions, we won't reveal our hunches here right now. If we are able to obtain a good sample, we'll compile our data and see what shakes out.

Our intention is to share this data, via publication and this blog, in order to help preserve and manage for populations. This is driven by our concern that this species may already have been extirpated from the spots where we originally found them. The reduction (or loss) of this population has prompted us to do some work on the requirements of this S. plagiatus, as it is a species of special concern in Michigan.

Here at the northern portion of the range of Russet-tipped Clubtails, peak flight time is mid- to late August, but they will be on the wing into September. So if you don't have any old records to provide us, now is a great time to get out and look for this handsome dragonfly and let us know where you found it!