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05 Jul Today's "catch" w/my camera. [May ] 4 Jul Pale Bluets, gomphids, Conway, SC [1 Attachment] [Chris Hill ] 4 Jul Donnelley & Bear Island WMAs, Colleton County, SC ["SL Brown" ] 03 Jul Croatan NF odes today [] 3 Jul Burke County, GA ["Lois Stacey" ] 02 Jul check this out [Alex Netherton ] 1 Jul Aiken St. Natural Area, SC ["Lois Stacey" ] 1 Jul Re: Scarlet Skimmer [Dennis Paulson ] 1 Jul Thanks Re: Ode ID help with this bluet [Nate Dias ] 1 Jul Scarlet Skimmer [1 Attachment] [Jeff Hooks ] 30 Jun Snarge [6 Attachments] [Chris Hill ] 30 Jun Re: Ode ID help with this bluet [Chris Hill ] 30 Jun Ode ID help with this bluet [Nate Dias ] 29 Jun 3 different sanddragons in one week! [] 28 Jun I saw it again today [May ] 28 Jun night flyer [Gary Phillips ] 28 Jun Highland County Virginia Odes [Allen Bryan ] 27 Jun Re: general questions ["SL Brown" ] 26 Jun Re: Re: general questions [Dennis Paulson ] 26 Jun Re: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) [Joshua Rose ] 26 Jun Re: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) [Chris Hill ] 26 Jun Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) ["jedwardcoreyiii" ] 26 Jun Re: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) ["Lois Stacey" ] 26 Jun Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) ["SL Brown" ] 26 Jun E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No. ["Corey, Ed" ] 26 Jun Gray Petaltail (Tachyopteryx thoreyi) [Greg Dodge ] 25 Jun odes from weekend in upper east TN: Carter Co [] 24 Jun Caw Caw County Park - near Ravenel, SC ["SL Brown" ] 24 Jun Washington County, NC -- 19Jun2009 ["Corey, Ed" ] 23 Jun Re: Enallagma sulcatum and E. minisculum -- Habitat preferences? [] 23 Jun Enallagma sulcatum and E. minisculum -- Habitat preferences? ["jedwardcoreyiii" ] 22 Jun clouds of skimmers [Chris Hill ] 21 Jun Edisto Beach, Colleton County, SC ["SL Brown" ] 21 Jun Southampton County, Virginia- Bluets [Allen Bryan ] 17 Jun Fwd: Blackwater State Forest Clubtail IDs (links work now) [Joshua Rose ] 15 Jun Re: Red-tailed Pennant, Scarlet Skimmers [Dennis Paulson ] 15 Jun Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow ["Marion Dobbs" ] 15 Jun Ode increase (was Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow) [Nate Dias ] 15 Jun Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow [Chris Hill ] 15 Jun Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow [Dennis Paulson ] 15 Jun Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow [Chris Hill ] 15 Jun Georgia gomphids and slideshow [] 14 Jun Red-tailed Pennant, Scarlet Skimmers ["vldeloach" ] 14 Jun Re: Burke County GA ["SL Brown" ] 13 Jun Ayrmont Park Odes Orange County, NC [] 13 Jun Burke County GA ["Lois Stacey" ] 12 Jun Re: NC Orange County odes [Chris Hill ] 12 Jun White Lake, NC [Gary Phillips ] 12 Jun Re: i confess [Joshua Rose ] 11 Jun Re: Re: NC Group [Harry LeGrand ] 11 Jun NC Orange County odes [] 11 Jun i confess [tony gallucci ] 11 Jun Re: NC Group ["jedwardcoreyiii" ] 11 Jun Re: NC Odes listserv? [Glenn Corbiere ] 11 Jun Re: Little Bluet question ["jedwardcoreyiii" ] 12 Jun Re: NC Odes listserv? ["Marion Dobbs" ] 11 Jun Re: Pondhawks and fun with spreadsheets ["SL Brown" ] 11 Jun Fwd: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) [Chris Hill ] 11 Jun Pondhawks and fun with spreadsheets [1 Attachment] [Chris Hill ] 11 Jun Re: Little Bluet question [Dennis Paulson ] 11 Jun Re: Little Bluet question [Joshua Rose ] 11 Jun Re: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) ["SL Brown" ] 11 Jun Little Bluet question [Dennis Paulson ] 11 Jun Re: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) [Dennis Paulson ] 11 Jun Re: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) [Chris Hill ] 11 Jun Re: Re: NC Group [Joshua Rose ] 10 Jun Re: Listserver issues [Alex Netherton ] 10 Jun Listserv Observation [Allen Bryan ] 10 Jun Re: Re: NC Group [Alex Netherton ] 10 Jun Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC ["SL Brown" ] 10 Jun Re: NC Odes listserv? ["SL Brown" ] 10 Jun Re: Listserver issues ["jedwardcoreyiii" ] 10 Jun Listserver issues [Chris Hill ] 10 Jun Re: Re: state ode groups [] 10 Jun Centralizing Data Re: Re: NC Group [Nate Dias ] 10 Jun Re: Re: NC Group [Chris Hill ] Subject: Today's "catch" w/my camera. From: May <inkslinger AT bellsouth.net> Date: Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:18:08 -0500 I got an American Rubyspot and the BLACK AND WHITE UNKNOWN DAMSEL. I will post them in my album on the site. Please forgive me for not being at my best. I was squarely in the current, the current moved me, the Spanish moss and the branches. The flash didn't matter, and the camera in the waterproof case was fogging up because of the heat and then the cool and I was getting condensation on the lens of the waterproof box. Then there were the water drops. I was wet so had nothing dry to clean it with and I was nearly up to my neck, straddling a submerged log. My adventure for the day. But I captured it anyway for your review. It has a very limited range. I went out this morning to the creek and found it almost immediately where I have seen it the past two summers. Just the one. The flash shows it yellowish on the segments and the legs in some shots, but I assure you, the legs are black and so are the segments and the veins on the wings. It is not a spreadwing. It flew from the overhanging branch to the trailing Spanish moss - maybe a ten foot flight. It is large, about the length of the Rubyspot but its head isn't as large. Photos were taken at Pitts Spring, Southport (or Youngstown), Fl in the panhandle, across Econfina creek from the little dock at the spring. I don't have a GPS reading. I'm thinking it may be some kind of bluet, but I can't find it. I was using the Stokes Beginners Guide. The stream is slightly tannin stained, and was running moderately. Sand bottom, lots of cypress, alder, oak, native palm, ferns, magnolia, swamp azalea, dogwood, longleaf pine, nut trees line the banks. Please help me ID this damsel. I would so appreciate it. MaySubject: Pale Bluets, gomphids, Conway, SC [1 Attachment] From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 15:45:40 -0400 I got to visit a couple rivers this week. I stopped for 20 minutes at the Pee Dee River at a boat ramp, I canoed an hour and a half with my six-year-old son on the Waccamaw River, and I hiked in to Simpson Creek, all in Horry County, SC. On the Waccamaw I saw 8-10 Pale Bluets, Enallagma pallidum, around various patches of lilypads. That will be approximately the 87th species for the Horry County list. Also saw: Two-striped Forceptail, Aphylla williamsoni - one at the Pee Dee Black-shouldered Spinyleg, Dromogomphus spinosus - half dozen on the Waccamaw Dragonhunter, Hagenius brevistylus - a couple at Simpson Creek Russet-tipped Clubtail, Stylurus plagiatus - common flying over the Waccamaw, one perched at the Pee Dee I know none of those are particularly unusual species, but it took me years to find the first three of those in this area, and although I was seeing the last one quite regularly, it took me years and years to figure out what the heck it was (they're always flying over the Waccamaw, but never close enough to net). So it's nice that they've all been rather routine this year, along with Gray-green, Ashy, Lancet, Cobra and Common Sanddragon. A Russet-tipped even broke with tradition and landed right next to a dock and sat for a photograph. CH ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm "Truth is born into this world only with pangs and tribulations, and every fresh truth is received unwillingly. To expect the world to receive a new truth, or even an old truth, without challenging it, is to look for one of those miracles which do not occur." - Alfred Russel Wallace Stylurus plagiatusSubject: Donnelley & Bear Island WMAs, Colleton County, SC From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 17:57:00 -0400 It was a beautiful day.
I decided that I cannot count odes, particularly not Blue Dashers at Donnelley
or Four-spotted Pennants at Bear Island! Way too much work! Again, I saw an
increase in Hyacinth Gliders at Donnelley. At the second impoundment on the
main road (coming from hwy. 17), they were kiting face-into the wind in
formation like an aerial odonate flotilla ("aerilla?").
B=Bear Island
D=Donnelley
Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) - BD
Rambur's Forktail (Ischnura ramburii) - B
Common Green Darner (Anax junius) - B
Cyrano Darner (Nasiaeschna pentacantha) - D
Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) - D
Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) - BD
Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice) - B
Hyacinth Glider (Miathyria marcella) - D
Four-spotted Pennant (Brachymesia gravida) - B
Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) - B
Marl Pennant (Macrodiplax balteata) - B*
Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) - D
Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) - B
Bar-winged Skimmer (Libellula axilena) - D
Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) - BD
Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami) - BD
* Giff, since this was my first day ode-ing at Bear Island, I was looking for
verification of the Marl Pennants (which I ended up photographing a number of
individuals and which were fairly common at Bear Island) and was reminded that
your book does not include them! If you do an update, this would sure be a
species to add for coastal SC. Just where I was parked in one spot, there were
6 within about 30 feet of road length, and I saw them all along that one
particular dirt road, which was about 3/4 mile long. Definitely not uncommon in
the right places.
Sharon L. Brown
http://SLBrownPhoto.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
"The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."
Robert Louis Stevenson
A Child's Garden of Verses
Subject: Croatan NF odes todayFrom: birdcr AT concentric.net Date: Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:28:36 -0400 Folks, Roger Rittmaster and I visited Croatan National Forest in Craven County today. We had a pretty good day but wondered where the faded and Amanda's Pennants were. I new site Flanner's Beach on the Nuese River allowed us to see and photographbabout every form of Seaside Dragonlets one could see, even ones with 4 slight markings on the wings, I'll post them to my blog in the next day or so. Ebony Jewelwing, Calopteryx maculata 1 male Blue-tipped Dancer, Argia tibialis 8 Attenuated Bluet, Enallagma daeckii 3 Citrine Forktail, Ischnura hastata 2 Fragile Forktail, Ischnura posita 1 Rambur's Forktail, Ischnura ramburii 2 Swamp Darner, Epiaeschna heros 4 Amanda's Pennant, Celithemis amanda 2 Flanners Beach only Halloween Pennant, Celithemis eponina 1 Eastern Pondhawk, Erythemis simplicicollis lots Seaside Dragonlet, Erythrodiplax berenice 16 Little Blue Dragonlet, Erythrodiplax minuscula 30 Golden-winged Skimmer, Libellula auripennis 35 Bar-winged Skimmer, Libellula axilena 12 Slaty Skimmer, Libellula incesta 20 Common Whitetail, Libellula lydia 3 Painted Skimmer, Libellula semifasciata 25 Great Blue Skimmer, Libellula vibrans 60 Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis lots Wandering Glider, Pantala flavescens 4 Spot-winged Glider, Pantala hymenaea 1 Carolina Saddlebags, Tramea carolina 3 Black Saddlebags, Tramea lacerata 1 Cheers, Randy Emmitt http://rlephoto.blogspot.com/ Rougemont, NCSubject: Burke County, GA From: "Lois Stacey" <croakie AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:00:35 -0400 I spent a couple of hours this morning at Yuchi WMA in Burke County, GA. I did drive up and down the roads and stopped briefly at a small swamp but mostly I spent some time along the river. I gave up counting the Eastern Pondhawks and Powdered Dancers, I just couldn't keep up with them. There were a lot of Great Blue Skimmers as well. There were a few other species around but nothing really in numbers. There was a huge emergence of dancers going on though with tenerals of all stages and immatures everywhere. I'm not great at identifying immature/female dancers so totals below are for males seen. Species: Powdered Dancer Argia moesta Tons! Blue-tipped Dancer Argia tibialis 1 Blue-fronted Dancer Argia apicalis 2 Blue-ringed Dancer Argia sedula 2 Variable Dancer Argia fumipennis 5 Fragile Forktail Ishnura posita 1 Macromia sp. 2 Prince Baskettail Epitheca princeps 3 Swamp Darner Epiaeschna heros 1 Common Green Darner Anax junius 1 Black-shouldered Spinyleg Dromogomphus spinosus 3 Blackwater Clubtail Gomphus dilatatus 2 Halloween Pennant Celithemis eponina 1 Amanda's Pennant Celithemis amanda 1 Eastern Pondhawk Erythemis simplicicollis Tons Slaty Skimmer Libellula incesta 3 Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis 3 Common Whitetail Plathemis lydia 4 Great Blue Skimmer Libellula vibrans 55 Yellow-sided Skimmer Libellula flavida 8 Lois Stacey North Augusta, SC (Aiken Cnty) www.augustaaikenaudubon.orgSubject: check this out From: Alex Netherton <danetherton AT charter.net> Date: Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:24:49 -0400 http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8116000/8116692.stm -- Alex Netherton Asheville, NC http://blueridgediscovery.com http://blueridgediscovery.blogspot.comSubject: Aiken St. Natural Area, SC From: "Lois Stacey" <croakie AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 17:43:18 -0400 I spent Sunday looking for Odes at Aiken State Natural Area in Aiken County, SC. The list is below. I was especially excited to see the Red-veined Pennants as they are one I've been looking for and really didn't expect. It was also surprising to see the Comet Darners as all 4 small ponds I know about in the park have fish in them, in fact one of the darners was in the 'Fishing Pond'. I watched that one dive into tandem Carolina Saddlebags pairs trying to break them up. He finally managed that and grabbed one of the saddlebags and headed high into the trees to feed. Cool! An nteresting note; I spent Saturday bugging in Columbia County, GA and in McCormick County, SC in the piedmont (Aiken is in the sandhills). The ode of the day Saturday was Widow Skimmer, they were everywhere in numbers, and I didn't have a single individual Sunday in Aiken. Sunday list: Sparkling Jewelwing Calopteryx dimidiata 1 Ebony Jewelwing Caolopteryx maculata 8 Fragile Forktail Ischnura posita 4 Lestes sp. 3 Variable Dancer Argia fumipennis 47 Blue-tipped Dancer Argia tibialis 16 Powdered Dancer Argia moesta 2 Seepage Dancer Argia bipunctulata 2 Southern Sprite Nehalennia integricollis 2 Amanda's Pennant Celithemis amanda 32 Banded Pennant Celithemis fasciata 38 Calico Pennant Celithemis elisa 3 Red-veined Pennant Celithemis bertha 2 Regal Darner Coryphaeschna ingens 2 Comet Darner Anax longipes 2 Golden-winged Skimmer Libellula auripennis 10 Yellow-sided Skimmer Libellula favida 3 Eastern Pondhawk Erythemis simpliccicollis 26 Carolina Saddlebags Tramea carolina 10 Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis 71 Bar-winged Skimmer Libellula axilena 1 Slaty Skimmer Libellula incesta 7 Little Blue Dragonlet Erythrodiplax minuscula 1 Black-shouldered Spinyleg Dromogomphus spinosus 2 Blackwater Clubtail Gomphus dilatatus 2 Dragonhunter Hagenius brevistylus 1 Lois Stacey North Augusta, SC (Aiken Cnty) www.augustaaikenaudubon.orgSubject: Re: Scarlet Skimmer From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 08:46:48 -0700 Hi, Jeff. You can't distinguish between young male and female Scarlet Skimmers by color pattern, but all odonates can be identified to sex by their structure. Your photo is a female, with two short appendages (cerci) projecting from the end of the abdomen. A female has three such appendages (2 cerci and an epiproct below them), and the cerci are larger and closer together, forming sort of a point at the rear rather than the blunt end of the female abdomen. Also, females usually have a slightly broader abdomen than males, and in side view, you can see a bump under the second abdominal segment of males where the secondary genitalia are. As immatures of both sexes look alike in many, many species, and mature adults look similar in some species, it's good to be able to distinguish the sexes by shape and structure. PInellas County is still the northernmost record for the species on the Gulf Coast. Dennis On Jul 1, 2009, at 3:49 AM, Jeff Hooks wrote: > [Attachment(s) from Jeff Hooks included below] > > Hello, > > I'm new to this group & new to observing Dragonflies although I've > been a birder for some time. > > Are there any field marks to distinguish between the female and > young male Scarlet Skimmer. The attached photo was taken at > Abercrombie Park in St. Petersburg, Florida on June 29th. > > Thanks, > > Jeff > jeffhooks23 AT yahoo.com > > > ----- Dennis Paulson 1724 NE 98 St. Seattle, WA 98115 206-528-1382 dennispaulson AT comcast.netSubject: Thanks Re: Ode ID help with this bluet From: Nate Dias <offshorebirder AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 06:48:37 -0700 (PDT) Thanks a bunch Chris for that helpful info. I'll work on better photos for submitting to Ode Central. For what it's worth, the habitat was not "snargy" but it was not a pristine swamp or bay either. It was in improved suburban habitat - with a small pond (well-aerated, with duckweed, Lizard Tail, Pickerel Weed, a small Water Willow and a nice type of floating-pad wetland plant I transplanted from Colleton County wetlands) and a wet-most-of-the-year drainage ditch + adjacent shallow wetland (Frogfruit, duckweed, that wetland plant whose name escapes me, Button Bush, etc.) I raise lots of (frog and toad) tadpoles and Odes in the pond and the water is very clean - not a soup of cyanobacteria and algae... Common Odes at the location are Needham's Skimmer, Great Blue Skimmer, Blue Dasher, Roseate Skimmer, Common Whitetail, Carolina Saddlebags, multiple kinds of Damselflies, the occasional Eastern Pondhawk and others. Nate Dias - Charleston, SC ----- Original Message ---- From: Chris HillSubject: Scarlet Skimmer [1 Attachment] From: Jeff Hooks <jeffhooks23 AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 03:49:34 -0700 (PDT) Hello,
I'm new to this group & new to observing Dragonflies although I've been a
birder for some time.
Are there any field marks to distinguish between the female and young male
Scarlet Skimmer. The attached photo was taken at Abercrombie Park in St.
Petersburg, Florida on June 29th.
Thanks,
Jeff
jeffhooks23 AT yahoo.com
Subject: Snarge [6 Attachments]From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:08:19 -0400 Hi All, Off the list, I got this question: "Chris - what in the world is a "snargy" pond? That's a new one by me." Sorry for inflicting my slang on the list. Snargy ponds: those like the cement and lawn and parking-lot lined, festering pool of algae and cyanobacteria in the first two pictures below. Home to many happy Pondhawks and Blue Dashers. 99.3% of ponds in SC fall roughly into that category. Note that we also have snargy lotic (moving-water) habitats, like the waterway in the next two photos (home to some happy Common Whitetails, Plathemis lydia). After inflicting the first two on your eyes, I included a well- vegetated beaver pond nestled in the woods of Little Pee Dee State Park (non-snargy). Easier on the eyes, home to Attenuated Bluets, Swamp Spreadwings, Mantled Baskettails etc. Chris Conway, SC walmart pond wal-mart mosquito fish ditch, conway ditch, conway Beaver Pond, LPDSP Beaver Pond, LPDSPSubject: Re: Ode ID help with this bluet From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:12:00 -0400 Nate, Familiar and Atlantic are very very similar. A look at the cerci through a handlens (or binoculars turned backwards, or a dissecting scope) is necessary for a certain ID. A really sharp really closeup photograph of the terminal appendages would do it, too. Both Giff Beaton's book (Dragonflies and Damselflies of Georgia) and Ed Lam's book (Damselflies of the Northeast) have illustrations of the terminal appendages from the side. Giff's also has a top view. However, having said that, my money's on Familiar for your bug. Your bug has two teardrop shaped eye spots of moderate size, which works well for Familiar. Atlantic would have thinner eyespots connected by an occipital bar (usually). And from this view, you can see enough of the terminal appendages to suggest Familiar - the appendages on an Atlantic are shorter, almost not there at all. Your guy has a bit of the appearance of a black "C" turned on its side (opening towards the back). So, informally, I'd say I think it's Familiar. If I were collecting documentation for county lists, I'd send you back out for a better photograph that shows the relevant parts. There are others better qualified than me to comment - maybe they'll chip in. Habitat-wise, Familiar is common in snargy retention ponds, associated with common coastal skimmers (4-spot, pondhawk, blue dasher, whitetails), Atlantic (around me) tends to be in nicer places (Lewis Ocean Bay, Clear Pond), in places where you are likely to see Comet Darners, Celithemis pennants, Golden-winged Skimmers. There's overlap, but habitat is a clue. Chris On Jun 30, 2009, at 1:48 PM, Nate Dias wrote: > > I think it's a Bluet - but which one? Familiar? Atlantic? Can't tell > from photo? > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/35387016 AT N06/3676026820/sizes/o/ > > -- I am trying to fill in the list of species (on Odonata Central) > for my home county (Charleston) and since few damsels and no bluets > are listed, this one will be a new addition... > > Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC > > ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm It's not a question of where he grips it, it's a simple question of weight ratios. A five ounce bird cannot carry a one pound coconut. - Monty PythonSubject: Ode ID help with this bluet From: Nate Dias <offshorebirder AT yahoo.com> Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:48:18 -0700 (PDT)
I think it's a Bluet - but which one? Familiar? Atlantic? Can't tell from
photo?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35387016 AT N06/3676026820/sizes/o/
-- I am trying to fill in the list of species (on Odonata Central) for my home
county (Charleston) and since few damsels and no bluets are listed, this one
will be a new addition...
Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC
Subject: 3 different sanddragons in one week!From: birdcr AT concentric.net Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:15:38 -0400 Folks, We returned from a 7 day trip to Yosemite and vicinity on Wednesday. On Monday we found a creek in the forest that had lots of Grappletails (Octogomphus specularis), 1 Olive Clubtail (Stylurus olivaceus) and 1 Gray Sandragon (Progomphus borealis) all were new to me yet I missed getting photos of the Gray Sanddragon! Lots of other common western odes were seen and photographed I have yet to sort though them. The Grappletail can be seen on my blog at http://rlephoto.blogspot.com/ the Sanddragons will be posted on my blog when I get time hopefully later today. Ok back to Southeastern Odes. Today Meg and I braved the heat and hit the road and landed at Bay Tree Lake State Preserve to find the rare Bells Sanddragon. As soon as we approached the lake I spotted a Belle's Sanddragon (my first ever!) and photographed it right away. The rest of the Belle's were trouble even get close to them. Given we saw at least 12 Belle's along about 200 yards of sandy shore and there was at least a mile or more of sandy shores there could have been hundreds of these guys. The NHP lists the 28th as the late date, yet all we saw yesterday were flying stongly and could be on the wing for weeks longer. Here is the list from Bladen County, NC. The list would have been longer if the heat had not sent us home early. Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis) 6 Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) 2 Blue-tipped Dancer (Argia tibialis) 8 Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus) 1 on the South River Belle's Sanddragon (Progomphus bellei) 12 all along the sandy shores see blog photo Common Sanddragon (Progomphus obscurus) 2 along the South River Amanda's Pennant (Celithemis amanda) 20 mostly new Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa) 1 male Banded Pennant (Celithemis fasciata) 20 Ornate or Faded Pennant (Celithemis ornata) 15 all faded out Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) 25 Golden-winged Skimmer (Libellula auripennis) 20 Bar-winged Skimmer (Libellula axilena) 8 Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) 20 Common Whitetail (Libellula lydia) 20 Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) 8 Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) 45 Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) 3 Spot-winged Glider (Pantala hymenaea) 2 over lake shore Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) 15 Cheers, Randy Emmitt Rougemont, NCSubject: I saw it again today From: May <inkslinger AT bellsouth.net> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:38:46 -0500 I went to Econfina Creek today (Southport, FL - panhandle). Last year I wrote here about a startlingly white and black damsel. I saw another one today. It is so bright white you can't miss it, and you can't believe your eyes, either. I was so startled to see it on the same overhanging branch, it flew. Dorsal - head and face is unmarked chalk white. Thorax is also white. The legs and tail segments are black. Coal black. I left my camera in its Pelican Case home because I'm an idiot. But I'll go back again this week with it and try to get a photograph. This baby is beautiful. MaySubject: night flyer From: Gary Phillips <carolinensis AT yahoo.com> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:34:23 -0700 (PDT)
hi y'all,
in the wee hours (~1 a.m.) this morn while looking for moths and such, i was
quite surprised to find a fem. Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) hunting by
the back porch light. she was around for ~30 mins., once becoming entangled in
a cobweb from which i freed her (i thought those genes should stay in the
pool.)
obviously there wasn't alot of moth activity...
Gary Phillips
Conway, SC
"A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton." - Darwin
Subject: Highland County Virginia OdesFrom: Allen Bryan <nshrike1 AT yahoo.com> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:52:00 -0700 (PDT) I visited Highland County, Virginia yesterday and enjoyed both good weather and
odes. Species have really emerged in the two weeks since I last visited.
Photographs of some of the species can be found at:
http://www.visitingnature.com/highlandcountyouting27june09.htm
Superb Jewelwing (Calopteryx amata) 14 (photographed)
Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) 24
Eastern Red Damsel (Amphiagrion saucium) 1
Blue-fronted Dancer (Argia apicalis) 2
Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis) 10
Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) 12
Aurora Damsel (Chromagrion conditum) 4
Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum) 2
Hagen's Bluet (Enallagma hageni) 18
Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) 8
Common Green Darner (Anax junius) 2
Unicorn Clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes) 16
Lancet Clubtail (Gomphus exilis) 8
Harpoon Clubtail (Gomphus descriptus) 5 (photographed)
Riffle Snaketail (Ophiogomphus carolus) 1 (photographed)
Least Clubtail (Stylogomphus albistylus) 18
Brown Spiketail (Cordulegaster bileneata) 4
Beaverpond Baskettail (Epitheca canis) 1 (photographed)
Baskettail species 1
Hudsonian Whiteface (Leucorrhinia hudsonica) 4 (photographed)
Dot-tailed Whiteface (Leucorrhinia intacta) 3 (photographed)
Chalk-fronted Corporal (Libellula julia) 5 (photographed)
Common Whitetail (Libellula lydia) 9
Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) 10
Enjoy each day,
Allen Bryan
Richmond, Va.
www.visitingnature.com
Subject: Re: general questionsFrom: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:23:17 -0400 What a wealth of information! Thank you all so much for the detailed responses! :) My biggest mistake was not making the trip last summer to the sandhills to see how you experts do things. I love skimmers, but . . . am so eager to see (and photograph) something different. I'm guessing that my counting/listing efforts are pretty much worthless/meaningless. Sharon L. Brown http://SLBrownPhoto.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson A Child's Garden of VersesSubject: Re: Re: general questions From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:45:35 -0700 Much as I usually agree 100% with Chris's proclamations on odonates, I'll argue on the opposite side on both of these. 1) I think a net will allow you to *find* additional odonate species as well as identify them. There are many situations in which a similar-looking uncommon species might occur that won't necessarily be distinguishable at any distance from the common species. I know Chris conceded that there were such pairs or groups of species, but there really are quite a few. E.g., how many baskettails have you caught, Chris, to proclaim that there are only Common and Mantled in your area? Can you distinguish Slender in flight from Common? What if a Robust Baskettail appeared flying back and forth in a clearing? Could you pick that out? What if a Florida or Sepia Baskettail wandered up from Georgia? Etc. Female Eastern, Fragile, and Citrine Forktails can look very similar, and if I'm trying to survey an area, I often just keep catching those little critters to see which of the three are present. I know, it's easier to look for the males, but in all three of those species, females are often more common and more visible than males. Clubtails are notoriously hard to identify in the field, and if you're not photographing much of what you see at a locality, the only way to figure out what's there is to catch a bunch of them and examine them in the hand. I find that I often guess what species an individual is, get photos of it, and then try to confirm or refuge my original ID when I look at the photo. I'll do this on numerous individuals (I admit it, I love photographing them). If clubtails are in flight over a stream, even the most experienced among us often has trouble determining which species are out there, but you can wade out if it's shallow enough and might be able to satisfy your curiosity. Obviously the suite of species potentially present depends very much on where you are, and there are plenty of places where you can sample (= catch) a particular genus over and over again, and all you find are, for example, the two species of baskettails that Chris mentioned. So you probably would be safe calling any individual you saw one of those two species, depending on its wing markings. But I would still maintain that when you stop catching them, you have probably given up the chance of finding another species. A good example of these difficulties in my home state is the genus Aeshna. There are 11 species of Aeshna and Rhionaeschna, the big mosaic (blue) darners, in Washington. I probably know them as well as anyone, but I still find there are many times that I can't identify them in flight - usually when I confidently point out one to a group of people and then catch it and find that I was wrong! 2) I think I find many more odonates, both species and individuals, by getting my feet wet as often as possible. As Chris says, there are many to be seen at the water's edge or away from it, but I have visited place after place at which the only individuals of certain species that I saw were when I was wading, whether at a pond or a stream. I'm not happier with wet pants and muddy feet than anyone else, but I know that cost usually reaps a benefit. As Ed wrote, you often have to go to the outer edge of a vegetation belt to see the species that live only along that edge. Of course many of them can be identified with binoculars, even if they're 30 feet away. But if you want photos, you may have to get wet to get them, as a lot of species perch over the water but not especially near shore. I just spent a week in Missouri, and a lot of that time was spent wading in creeks and rivers. Perhaps because of heavy rains and flooding, there weren't a whole lot of dragonflies on the rivers, but I usually saw at least a few clubtails. I saw not a single clubtail in sunny clearings near the rivers, perhaps because it was so hot that the dragonflies away from the water sought out the forest interior. But this was a prime case in which I had to get my feet wet to see anything, as steep and/or shrubby or wooded banks prevented me from seeing stuff at the water while I was on land. I had to wade to find anything at all. Certainly on other occasions I have found all kinds of odonates common in upland areas near water bodies, and I think that those times were usually in the morning when it was still fairly cool, and the dragonflies were feeding and sunning themselves before they came to the water. Nevertheless, Sharon, there is no doubt you can have plenty of wonderful experiences with odonates without carrying a net and without getting your feet wet. I have done so many, many times! Dennis On Jun 26, 2009, at 7:12 PM, Chris Hill wrote: > > > > On Jun 26, 2009, at 12:48 PM, SL Brown wrote: > > When you get big lists like this, is it through just observing, or > > are you netting too? > > > > If you are netting, do you have any idea (even a rough guesstimate) > > of what percentage of the total species you see that are from > > netting - ie, how many you'd have missed if not for using a net? > > > > Also, do folks typically get out into the water? (And if you do - > > how do you manage that in the land of alligators?) > > > > I wonder how much I am missing as a passive-only observer who > > doesn't put her feet in the water - am sure that I am missing some - > > or maybe even a lot of species. > > I don't think using a net helps me find any more odes, it just lets me > identify more of them. If you're letting lots of mysterious odes go > unidentified, then a net helps sort out that diversity. I doubt that > applies to your situation. > > I have a net handy almost always in case that Pale Bluet or Blackwater > Clubtail or other new-to-me or new-to-the-county species flies by. > But I really don't use it much. I can identify almost everything > (except young female bluets!) by eye pretty easily. A net helps me > sort out > > Atlantic vs. Familiar Bluet (I can be 90% certain without a net, but > if I need to be 100% certain...) > Various spreadwings > Taper-tailed vs. Harlequin Darner > species that are still new to me. > > ... and that's about it around here. (experience and previous netting > has established that the only Somatochlora around here seems to be > Fine-lined Emerald; only Baskettails seem to be Common and Mantled; > and every River Cruiser on the Waccamaw is Royal) I guess if I a saw > something I thought might be a Regal Darner, I'd sure want to take a > swing as it flew by. A net's great for speeding up the ID learning > curve, but as I said I don't think it helps me *find* much new stuff. > Well, actually, the female Furtive Forktail I found this spring (first > for me and for the county) was the exception to that rule. I didn't > know it was a new species for me - just said "that female damsel looks > a little funny," and netted it and took it back to ID it (and without > the bug in hand and a microscope, I could never have ID'd that > individual). But that rarely happens. > > As for wading, I don't know that that's such a big factor either. > When I've been in the field with real experts, who would find six > species of bluets (or gomphids) at the same lakeshore (or stream) > where I was finding one or two, those sages were finding damselflies > in the grassy field away from the pond, gomphids sunning in bushes, > hanging from tree branches, spotting them flying by - finding them > all over, but feet wet or dry wasn't the key. > > If you're finding a limited diversity, I bet it's just because you're > in spots with limited diversity. Just like birding - you can hammer > that marsh all month, but you're still going to keep finding common > yellowthroats and marsh wrens (and not finding cerulean or chestnut- > sided warblers). > > My 2 cents, > > CH > > ********************************************************************** > ** > Christopher E. Hill > Biology Department > Coastal Carolina University > Conway, SC 29528-1954 > chill AT coastal.edu > http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm > > "Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our > errors > of youth for those of age." > - Ambrose Bierce > > . > > ----- Dennis Paulson 1724 NE 98 St. Seattle, WA 98115 206-528-1382 dennispaulson AT comcast.netSubject: Re: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) From: Joshua Rose <opihi AT rgv.rr.com> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:48:48 -0500 I heard a story that the one Texas state record of Atlantic Bluet came about because Sid Dunkle netted 500 bluets and ID'd them all in the hand, 499 Familiar and 1 Atlantic.... Josh Rose McAllen TX On Jun 26, 2009, at 9:12 PM, Chris Hill wrote: > A net helps me > sort out > > Atlantic vs. Familiar Bluet (I can be 90% certain without a net, but > if I need to be 100% certain...) > >Subject: Re: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:12:44 -0400
On Jun 26, 2009, at 12:48 PM, SL Brown wrote:
> When you get big lists like this, is it through just observing, or
> are you netting too?
>
> If you are netting, do you have any idea (even a rough guesstimate)
> of what percentage of the total species you see that are from
> netting - ie, how many you'd have missed if not for using a net?
>
> Also, do folks typically get out into the water? (And if you do -
> how do you manage that in the land of alligators?)
>
> I wonder how much I am missing as a passive-only observer who
> doesn't put her feet in the water - am sure that I am missing some -
> or maybe even a lot of species.
I don't think using a net helps me find any more odes, it just lets me
identify more of them. If you're letting lots of mysterious odes go
unidentified, then a net helps sort out that diversity. I doubt that
applies to your situation.
I have a net handy almost always in case that Pale Bluet or Blackwater
Clubtail or other new-to-me or new-to-the-county species flies by.
But I really don't use it much. I can identify almost everything
(except young female bluets!) by eye pretty easily. A net helps me
sort out
Atlantic vs. Familiar Bluet (I can be 90% certain without a net, but
if I need to be 100% certain...)
Various spreadwings
Taper-tailed vs. Harlequin Darner
species that are still new to me.
... and that's about it around here. (experience and previous netting
has established that the only Somatochlora around here seems to be
Fine-lined Emerald; only Baskettails seem to be Common and Mantled;
and every River Cruiser on the Waccamaw is Royal) I guess if I a saw
something I thought might be a Regal Darner, I'd sure want to take a
swing as it flew by. A net's great for speeding up the ID learning
curve, but as I said I don't think it helps me *find* much new stuff.
Well, actually, the female Furtive Forktail I found this spring (first
for me and for the county) was the exception to that rule. I didn't
know it was a new species for me - just said "that female damsel looks
a little funny," and netted it and took it back to ID it (and without
the bug in hand and a microscope, I could never have ID'd that
individual). But that rarely happens.
As for wading, I don't know that that's such a big factor either.
When I've been in the field with real experts, who would find six
species of bluets (or gomphids) at the same lakeshore (or stream)
where I was finding one or two, those sages were finding damselflies
in the grassy field away from the pond, gomphids sunning in bushes,
hanging from tree branches, spotting them flying by - finding them
all over, but feet wet or dry wasn't the key.
If you're finding a limited diversity, I bet it's just because you're
in spots with limited diversity. Just like birding - you can hammer
that marsh all month, but you're still going to keep finding common
yellowthroats and marsh wrens (and not finding cerulean or chestnut-
sided warblers).
My 2 cents,
CH
************************************************************************
Christopher E. Hill
Biology Department
Coastal Carolina University
Conway, SC 29528-1954
chill AT coastal.edu
http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm
"Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our errors
of youth for those of age."
- Ambrose Bierce
Subject: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.)From: "jedwardcoreyiii" <ed.corey AT ncdenr.gov> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:14:45 -0000 I do occasionally use nets for ID, particularly if I am going after gomphids, emeralds, or bluets. As for getting in the water, I spent most of yesterday thigh-deep in the lakes. It's easier to check the maidencane (Panicum hemitomon) from the water. Just my personal opinion of course. Ed --- In se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com, "Lois Stacey"Subject: Re: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) From: "Lois Stacey" <croakie AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:29:02 -0400 For me, whether or not I net depends on where I am. I go bugging in some places that nets are not allowed (state lands). In the cases of skimmers and some damselflies I can identify them without a net usually. Some clubtails too although many clubtails and cruisers I can't identify without a net. Those species I will net though in those areas that allow it but otherwise they will go without a positive id. As for getting in the water, I've never had a single problem with alligators. I've been in areas of known habitation but have never seen one in the water with me. I am more careful about the fact that I'm usually alone and without cell phone reception and worry much more about not falling into a hole or tripping over something I can't see and needing help I can't get. Lois Stacey North Augusta, SCSubject: Re: general questions (was E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No.) From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:48:53 -0400 Ed, thank you for posting your list - which looks like wonderful diversity to me (down here in south coastal SC - the land of skimmers, skimmers, and more skimmers). I am curious about something - this question is directed to everyone (not just Ed). When you get big lists like this, is it through just observing, or are you netting too? If you are netting, do you have any idea (even a rough guesstimate) of what percentage of the total species you see that are from netting - ie, how many you'd have missed if not for using a net? Also, do folks typically get out into the water? (And if you do - how do you manage that in the land of alligators?) I wonder how much I am missing as a passive-only observer who doesn't put her feet in the water - am sure that I am missing some - or maybe even a lot of species. Sharon L. Brown http://SLBrownPhoto.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson A Child's Garden of VersesSubject: E. minusculum and E. sulcatum? No. From: "Corey, Ed" <ed.corey AT ncdenr.gov> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:36 -0400 Yesterday was a long day, in bright sunshine, staring out over large bay lakes. While I was able to identify 33 species in two different counties, Little and Golden Bluets were not among them. Had a personal high count of Progomphus bellei (14 individuals) at Bay Tree Lake, as well as a first-of-the-year Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus). (C=Columbus; B=Bladen) Swamp Darner - Epiaeschna heros [C/B] Harlequin Darner - Gomphaeschna furcillata [B] Black-shouldered Spinyleg - Dromogomphus spinosus [B] Belle's Sanddragon - Progomphus bellei [B] Royal River Cruiser - Macromia taeniolata [B] Prince Baskettail - Epitheca princeps [B/C] Amanda's Pennant - Celithemis amanda [B] Red-veined Pennant - Celithemis bertha [B] Halloween Pennant - Celithemis eponina [C] Banded Pennant - Celithemis fasciata [B/C] Ornate/Faded Pennant - Celithemis ornata [B] Eastern Pondhawk - Erythemis simplicicollis [B/C] Little Blue Dragonlet - Erythrodiplax minuscula [B] Golden-winged Skimmer - Libellula auripennis [B/C] Bar-winged Skimmer - Libellula axilena [B/C] Slaty Skimmer - Libellula incesta [B/C] Great Blue Skimmer - Libellula vibrans [B/C] Blue Dasher - Pachydiplax longipennis [B/C] Wandering Glider - Pantala flavescens [B] Eastern Amberwing - Perithemis tenera [B/C] Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia [B/C] Carolina Saddlebags - Tramea carolina [B] Black Saddlebags - Tramea lacerata [B] Blue-fronted Dancer - Argia apicalis [B] Variable Dancer - Argia fumipennis [B] Blue-tipped Dancer - Argia tibialis [B/C] Familiar Bluet - Enallagma civile [B] Big Bluet - Enallagma durum [C] Pale Bluet - Enallagma pallidum [B] Citrine Forktail - Ischnura hastata [B] Fragile Forktail - Ischnura posita [B] Rambur's Forktail - Ischnura ramburii [B/C] Southern Sprite - Nehalennia integricollis [B] Hoping to find some cool Sandhills species this weekend, around Richmond, Moore and Scotland counties. Ed Corey Raleigh, NC -------- Ed Corey Inventory Biologist NC Division of Parks and Recreation Yorkshire Center Office 305 12700 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, NC 27614-9633 Office: 919-841-4037 Cell: 919-208-7864 Fax: 919-870-6843 Please note that my email address has changed to Ed.Corey AT ncdenr.gov. Please change this in your contact lists. E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties ________________________________ Email correspondence to and from this sender is subject to the N.C. Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.Subject: Gray Petaltail (Tachyopteryx thoreyi) From: Greg Dodge <grdodge AT embarqmail.com> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:01:22 -0400 A Gray Petaltail (Tachyopteryx thoreyi) was seen at around 6:30 PM at Few's Ford, Eno River State Park (NE of Durham, NC). Not there to ode, but to splash around in the water, I also noticed several other odes. Of course, you can't go to Few's Ford at this time of year without seeing a Dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus) or two, or many Powdered Dancers (Argia moesta) ovipositing. Dusky Dancers (Argia translata), Stream Bluets (Enallagma exsulans), and other odes that I just didn't have the time to investigate (splashing around with the kids time) were present on the warm but pleasant afternoon/evening of 25 June. Greg Dodge Hillsborough, NC http://www.brownbagproductions.com www.ncmls.org/learn-about/dodgejournal grdodge AT embarqmail.comSubject: odes from weekend in upper east TN: Carter Co From: Rconnorsphoto AT aol.com Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:35:55 EDT odes from weekend in upper east tn: I spent the past weekend in upper east TN, mostly in Carter Co, and am sharing my list of odes seen and photographed. Thanks to Marty Silver, naturalist at Warriors Path SP for showing me Cherokee Clubtail, a new bug for me. Also new for me was Southern Pigmy Clubtail, seen at two sites, one pair on small feeder stream at Hampton Creek Cove State Natural Area. List below all Carter Co. except for G. consanguis in Sullivan Co. Violet Dancer Argia fumipennis violacae Aurora Damsel Chromagrion conditum Turquoise Bluet Enallagma divagans Fragile Forktail Ischnura posita Gray Petaltail Tachopteryx thoreyi Swamp Darner Epiaeschna heroes 1 Cyrano Darner Nasiaeshna pentacantha 1 Cherokee Clubtail Gomphus consanguis 8 total Warriors Path SP, Sullivan Co. Lancet Clubtail Gomphus exilis Ashy Clubtail Gomphus lividus Southern Pigmy Clubtail Lanthus vernalis 5 total Carter Co. Brown Spiketail Cordulegaster bilineata Prince Baskettail Epitheca princeps Common Baskettail Epitheca cynosura emerald sp. (possible Somatochlora elongata ) Eastern Pondhawk Erythemis simplicicollis Slaty Skimmer Libellula incuta Widow Skimmer Libellula luctosa Twelve-spotted Skimmer Libellula pulchella Common Whitetail Plathemis Lydia Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata Richard Connors Nashville _www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto_ (http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto) _http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/tennessee_odonata_ (http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/tennessee_odonata) _http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/clubtails_etc_ (http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/clubtails_etc) **************Shop Popular Dell Laptops now starting at $349! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222031056x1201446063/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.dou bleclick.net%2Fclk%3B215910283%3B38350812%3Ba)Subject: Caw Caw County Park - near Ravenel, SC From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:59:25 -0400 In Charleston County. I was with a birding group, so could not count individuals - but I saw sizeable numbers of everything I did _not_ post a number by, especially the first four species (all listed from most numerous to least). Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) Bar-winged Skimmer (Libellula axilena) Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami) Roseate Skimmer (Orthemis ferruginea) - no adult males yet Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) - 6 Rambur's Forktail (Ischnura ramburii) - 2 Yellow-sided Skimmer (Libellula flavida) - 1* * A female - this was a lifer for me. One of the birders pointed it out and asked what it was and I had "Needham's" half out of my mouth (out of habit and habitat) when my eyes focused on the side of the thorax! :) Many, many Swamp Darners were in feeding swarms in several locations with Wandering Gliders trying to feed on the periphery and being attacked by the very large and aggressive Swamps (which were also attacking each other - like sharks in a feeding frenzy!) Sharon L. Brown http://SLBrownPhoto.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson A Child's Garden of VersesSubject: Washington County, NC -- 19Jun2009 From: "Corey, Ed" <ed.corey AT ncdenr.gov> Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:40:35 -0400 Last Friday, I made a trip out to Lake Phelps and Pettigrew State Park, in the far-fetched hopes of finding Belle's Sanddragons (Progomphus bellei). With visions of grandeur running through my head, I found my way to the south side of the lake, near Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge. While no Progomphus sp. were to be found, I did find 21 other species, some of which were either new to the park, new to the county or both! Swamp Darner - Epiaeschna heros (2) Two-striped Forceptail - Aphylla williamsoni (4) - New County Record/New for Park Lancet Clubtail - Gomphus exilis (1) Four-spotted Pennant - Brachymesia gravida (20) - New County Record/New for Park Red-veined Pennant - Celithemis bertha (1 male) - New County Record/New for Park Halloween Pennant - Celithemis eponina (6) Eastern Pondhawk - Erythemis simplicicollis (85) Golden-winged Skimmer - Libellula auripennis (50, I was scanning really hard for L. needhami) Bar-winged Skimmer - Libellula axilena (5) Slaty Skimmer - Libellula incesta (25) Painted Skimmer - Libellula semifasciata (2) - New for Park Great Blue Skimmer - Libellula vibrans (3) Blue Dasher - Pachydiplax longipennis (100) Eastern Amberwing - Perithemis tenera (6) Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia (4) Black Saddlebags - Tramea lacerata (2) Blue-tipped Dancer - Argia tibialis (20) Big Bluet - Enallagma durum (8) New for Park Citrine Forktail - Ischnura hastata (20) Fragile Forktail - Ischnura posita (2) Rambur's Forktail - Ischnura ramburii (40) I was particularly excited about the Aphylla and the Brachymesia. It was the first and second time (respectively) that I had seen these species. I hope to have some good species to report after tomorrow, in Bladen and Columbus counties. Ed -------- Ed Corey Inventory Biologist NC Division of Parks and Recreation Yorkshire Center Office 305 12700 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, NC 27614-9633 Office: 919-841-4037 Cell: 919-208-7864 Fax: 919-870-6843 Please note that my email address has changed to Ed.Corey AT ncdenr.gov. Please change this in your contact lists. E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties ________________________________ Email correspondence to and from this sender is subject to the N.C. Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.Subject: Re: Enallagma sulcatum and E. minisculum -- Habitat preferences? From: dennispaulson AT comcast.net Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:54:05 +0000 (UTC) Ed, I have found E. sulcatum in Florida in sandy lakes, very often with an abundance of water lilies on which they perch. I've also found them very often in tall grasses along the shore of such lakes. They seem more willing to be out all through the day than the very similar-looking E. vesperum. Easily recognized by heavier black stripes on the thorax. E. minusculum lives in open lakes, perching on shore vegetation such as grasses, in New England. It was very common at White Lake, Bladen Co., 40 years ago, and I hope you find it again! Dennis ----- Original Message ----- From: "jedwardcoreyiii"Subject: Enallagma sulcatum and E. minisculum -- Habitat preferences? From: "jedwardcoreyiii" <ed.corey AT ncdenr.gov> Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:19:24 -0000 I'm going to be heading down to Columbus and Bladen counties on Thursday, in hopes of surveying for rare odes at several state parks in the area. Can anyone give me some clues as to the habitat preferences for either of these two species? I'd be very appreciative. Ed Corey Raleigh, NCSubject: clouds of skimmers From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:44:30 -0400 Hello Bug Botherers, Anecdotally, it had seemed to me this year I was seeing lots of individuals of some species that while common, hadn't been *this* common in at least a few years (Great Blue Skimmer, Libellula vibrans, for example). This morning I did a quick count on the retention pond near my office building. I''ve probably done a similar walk-by about 60 times over the last few years. Today not only set a record for the number of species in one visit (15 species in 20 minutes), but also for the number of individuals seen (120, previous high was about 75, "normal" for this time of year seems to be about 20-50). Actually, on one previous count a year or two ago I had 130 or so individuals, but that included a temporary swarm of about 100 Wandering Gliders over the lawn by the pond, so that's hardly comparable. So maybe there really are more of the common dragonflies around this year. Or maybe it was time of day or just luck - last week I had counts of individuals that were in the normal range: 35-50 individuals of about 8-10 species. 10:02AM-10:22AM, about 80F, sunny. The list: Familiar Bluet, Enallagma civile - 1 Rambur's Forktail, Ischnura ramburii - 1 4-spotted Pennant, Brachymesia gravida - 18 Halloween Pennant, Celithemis elisa - 1 Eastern (Common) Pondhawk, Erythemis simplicicollis - 18 Slaty Skimmer, Libellula incesta - 5 Widow Skimmer, Libellula luctuosa - 1 Needham's Skimmer, Libellula needhami - 13 Great Blue Skimmer, Libellula vibrans - 11 Roseate Skimmer, Orthemis ferruginea - 1 Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis - 45 Wandering Glider, Pantala flavescens - 1 Carolina Saddlebags, Tramea carolina - 1 Black Saddlebags, Tramea lacerata - 1 ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm "Society is a wave. The wave moves forward, but the water of which it is composed does not..." R.W. EmersonSubject: Edisto Beach, Colleton County, SC From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:34:49 -0400 A very hot hour on the beach in late morning yielded only a few species: Common Green Darner (Anax junius) - 7 Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice) - 4 Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) - 2 Four-spotted Pennant (Brachymesia gravida) - 1 Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami) - 1 Sharon L. Brown http://SLBrownPhoto.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson A Child's Garden of VersesSubject: Southampton County, Virginia- Bluets From: Allen Bryan <nshrike1 AT yahoo.com> Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:21:04 -0700 (PDT) I visited Southampton County, Virginia on Saturday. The conditions were hot,
humid with high overcast for much of the day. Observed species were as follows:
Blue-ringed Dancer 3
Blue-tipped Dancer 6
Atlantic Bluet 1
Pale Bluet 8
Slender Bluet 4
Blackwater Bluet 1
Citrine Forktail 2
Lilypad Forktail 1
Fragile Forktail 5
Swamp Darner 2
Black-shouldered Spinyleg 1
Halloween Pennant 4
Banded Pennant 2
Eastern Pondhawk 22
Bar-winged Skimmer 16
Spangled Skimmer 6
Slaty Skimmer 30
Widow Skimmer 8
Common Whitetail 6
Painted Skimmer 1
Blue Dasher 40
Eastern Amberwing 8
Photographs of the Pale Bluet, Blackwater Bluet and Atlantic Bluet can be found
at:
http://www.visitingnature.com/southeasternvirginiaouting20june09.htm
Enjoy each day,
Allen Bryan
Richmond, Va
Subject: Fwd: Blackwater State Forest Clubtail IDs (links work now)From: Joshua Rose <opihi AT rgv.rr.com> Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:59:12 -0500 Hey all - forwarded at the request of a Texan who just visited Florida - Josh Begin forwarded message: > From: "Troy, Marla, & Cheyenne Hibbitts"Subject: Re: Red-tailed Pennant, Scarlet Skimmers From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:57:14 -0700 Hi, Vicki. To add to your list, I have seen the following on Sanibel at one time or another: Citrine Forktail Ischnura hastata Common Green Darner Anax junius Phantom Darner Triacanthagyna trifida Eastern Pondhawk Erythemis simplicicollis Great Pondhawk E. vesiculosa Wandering Glider Pantala flavescens Carolina Saddlebags Tramea carolina Black Saddlebags T. lacerata All these are of course common and widespread species in Florida. Are you certain about the Red Saddlebags? That's actually a quite uncommon species in Florida north of the extreme southern tip (mostly the Keys and Miami area), certainly possible anywhere (and recorded from Lee County) but far less common than Carolina. Dennis On Jun 14, 2009, at 8:18 AM, vldeloach wrote: > We just returned from a trip to Captiva and Sanibel Islands in SW > Florida. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has ode checklists > for the islands. Ding Darling NWR did not have ode nor butterfly > checklists available. > > Freshwater is not easy to come by on the islands. All of the odes > down there were new to me except for the Eastern Amberwings and > Rambur's Forktails. > > Red-tailed Pennant (from Captiva) and Scarlet Skimmer(from both > islands) photos are in a new album entitled "SW Florida Odes". The > Red-tailed Pennant is also on my Flickr site: > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/vickisnature/3618962743/ > > CAPTIVA: > Red-tailed Pennant, male (Brachymesia furcata)- might this be a > county record? > Scarlet Skimmer, male (Crocothemis servilia) - looks like it was > dipped in red paint > Four-spotted Pennants (Brachymesia gravida) - common > Roseate Skimmer, male (Orthemis ferruginea) > Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera) > Rambur's Forktails (Ischnura ramburii) - lots and the only damsels > > SANIBEL: > Scarlet Skimmer, imm male (Crocothemis servilia) - looks like it > was dipped in bright yellow paint ... wonder what he will look like > changing to adult red? > Seaside Dragonlets - male, female, male-like female shown in Giff's > guide (Erythrodiplax berenice) - the only ode at Ding Darling NWR > Four-spotted Pennants (Brachymesia gravida) - common > Marl Pennants (Macrodiplax balteata) - two locations > Red Saddlebags (Tramea onusta) - seen on two occasions at same > location > Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera) > > I'll post another report soon from my yard and short trips here in > Giff-land. > > Vicki DeLoach > Woodstock, Georgia > > > ----- Dennis Paulson 1724 NE 98 St. Seattle, WA 98115 206-528-1382 dennispaulson AT comcast.netSubject: Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow From: "Marion Dobbs" <pond_damsel AT comcast.net> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:05:05 -0400 One might think mimicry were at play if one could think of some distasteful bug
they were impersonating. I was a bit surprised to see the wings consumed so
readily; I don't recall seeing that, and, in fact, I seem to remember seeing
wings discarded during predation but maye I don't stick around for the full
meal often enough. I run across little sets of odonata wings from time to time
and had always assumed they were cast off by the predator, but perhaps they are
left by ants.
Marion Dobbs
Rome (Floyd Co.) GA
----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Paulson
To: Chris Hill
Cc: pond_damsel AT comcast.net ; se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 10:54 AM
Subject: Re: [se-odonata] Georgia gomphids and slideshow
Hi, all.
Chris, just to relieve your mind, dragonflies (and I assume other predatory
insects) eat lots of insects that are distasteful to birds. So Dragonhunters
eating demoiselles (the French name for Calopteryx, and don't dragons always
threaten demoiselles?) doesn't mean they aren't distasteful to birds. I don't
have time right now to find and check Kennedy's paper on dragonfly-eating
birds, but that might contain something of interest.
Kennedy, C. H. 1950. The relation of American dragonfly-eating birds to their
prey. Ecol. Monogr. 20: 103-142.
Dennis
On Jun 15, 2009, at 5:47 AM, Chris Hill wrote:
Interesting! There goes another 10 minutes I should have been working
on other things. :-)
I've often thought to myself that Ebony Jewelwings in particular, and
all the Calopteryx in general, *must* be nasty tasting. Anything that
colorful, obvious, and (relatively) slow moving must be advertising to
predators to stay away. I even had floating around in my head some
confirmatory experiments, grinding up some calopteryx and other
insects, making pellets of food from them, and convincing birds to eat
the various pellets and watching the reactions. Seems that, as is
generally the case, my flights of hypothesizing were flat out wrong,
at least where that Dragonhunter is concerned.
I had to remove the underscore to get the site to load (as below).
Just driving and walking around yesterday, and taking the kids for a
bike ride at a riverfront park it was amazing the sheer numbers of
odes flying. I don't know if it's like this every June, or if we're
finally seeing the effects of coming out of a droughty three years,
but heck, you have to dodge them as you drive down the road. I don't
care if it's 90% skimmers - it's great! (and even if the clubtails,
cruisers, emeralds and darners are only 10% of the total, there are
still enough of them to show up).
Chris
>
> http://web.me.com/ecurlew/Site/Dragonhunter.html
************************************************************************
Christopher E. Hill
Biology Department
Coastal Carolina University
Conway, SC 29528-1954
chill AT coastal.edu
http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm
Copyright infringement is the sincerest form of flattery. - Toby Hanson
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Subject: Ode increase (was Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow)From: Nate Dias <offshorebirder AT yahoo.com> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:34:32 -0700 (PDT) Chris, I don't know if Horry County has made similar changes, but for the past 2 summers here in Charleston County the Mosquito Abatement department has greatly scaled down / eliminated the practice of aerial spraying of pesticides. This aerial spraying (from trucks and planes) was allegedly to control the Mosquito population - even though it is not effective compared to more benign larval control methods. More of a "public complaint" remedy, than a science-driven strategy... The scaling-back is due to budgetary reasons, I am told... In my neighborhood, this has had a CLEARLY beneficial effect on moths, butterflies, Odes, spiders, and more. So perhaps it is twofold - end of drought + greatly reduced (or ended) aerial pesticide spraying. Another effect of the return of normal rains is a "return to normal levels" this year of deer flies and other Ode prey that need good rains for reproduction. Question for the experts: do increased prey levels lead to more productive adult female Odes? Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC ----- Original Message ---- From: Chris HillSubject: Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:09:48 -0400 Dennis,
Good point, and thanks for the pointer to the article. My ignorance
of the odonate literature is nearly unbounded.
If vertebrates responded the same as invertebrates to chemicals, my
neighbor, with the garden next to mine, every plant liberally dusted
with Sevin and who knows what else, wouldn't still be walking around.
Of course I'm probably still wrong... :-)
Chris
On Jun 15, 2009, at 10:54 AM, Dennis Paulson wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> Chris, just to relieve your mind, dragonflies (and I assume other
> predatory insects) eat lots of insects that are distasteful to
> birds. So Dragonhunters eating demoiselles (the French name for
> Calopteryx, and don't dragons always threaten demoiselles?) doesn't
> mean they aren't distasteful to birds. I don't have time right now
> to find and check Kennedy's paper on dragonfly-eating birds, but
> that might contain something of interest.
>
> Kennedy, C. H. 1950. The relation of American dragonfly-eating birds
> to their prey. Ecol. Monogr. 20: 103-142.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> On Jun 15, 2009, at 5:47 AM, Chris Hill wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Interesting! There goes another 10 minutes I should have been working
>> on other things. :-)
>>
>> I've often thought to myself that Ebony Jewelwings in particular, and
>> all the Calopteryx in general, *must* be nasty tasting. Anything that
>> colorful, obvious, and (relatively) slow moving must be advertising
>> to
>> predators to stay away. I even had floating around in my head some
>> confirmatory experiments, grinding up some calopteryx and other
>> insects, making pellets of food from them, and convincing birds to
>> eat
>> the various pellets and watching the reactions. Seems that, as is
>> generally the case, my flights of hypothesizing were flat out wrong,
>> at least where that Dragonhunter is concerned.
>>
>> I had to remove the underscore to get the site to load (as below).
>>
>> Just driving and walking around yesterday, and taking the kids for a
>> bike ride at a riverfront park it was amazing the sheer numbers of
>> odes flying. I don't know if it's like this every June, or if we're
>> finally seeing the effects of coming out of a droughty three years,
>> but heck, you have to dodge them as you drive down the road. I don't
>> care if it's 90% skimmers - it's great! (and even if the clubtails,
>> cruisers, emeralds and darners are only 10% of the total, there are
>> still enough of them to show up).
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> >
>> > http://web.me.com/ecurlew/Site/Dragonhunter.html
>>
>> ************************************************************************
>> Christopher E. Hill
>> Biology Department
>> Coastal Carolina University
>> Conway, SC 29528-1954
>> chill AT coastal.edu
>> http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm
>>
>> Copyright infringement is the sincerest form of flattery. - Toby
>> Hanson
>>
>>
>>
>
> -----
> Dennis Paulson
> 1724 NE 98 St.
> Seattle, WA 98115
> 206-528-1382
> dennispaulson AT comcast.net
>
>
>
************************************************************************
Christopher E. Hill
Biology Department
Coastal Carolina University
Conway, SC 29528-1954
chill AT coastal.edu
http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm
I've long thought that too much systematic work somehow blunts the
faculties. - Charles Darwin
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Subject: Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshowFrom: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:54:05 -0700 Hi, all. Chris, just to relieve your mind, dragonflies (and I assume other predatory insects) eat lots of insects that are distasteful to birds. So Dragonhunters eating demoiselles (the French name for Calopteryx, and don't dragons always threaten demoiselles?) doesn't mean they aren't distasteful to birds. I don't have time right now to find and check Kennedy's paper on dragonfly-eating birds, but that might contain something of interest. Kennedy, C. H. 1950. The relation of American dragonfly-eating birds to their prey. Ecol. Monogr. 20: 103-142. Dennis On Jun 15, 2009, at 5:47 AM, Chris Hill wrote: > > > Interesting! There goes another 10 minutes I should have been working > on other things. :-) > > I've often thought to myself that Ebony Jewelwings in particular, and > all the Calopteryx in general, *must* be nasty tasting. Anything that > colorful, obvious, and (relatively) slow moving must be advertising to > predators to stay away. I even had floating around in my head some > confirmatory experiments, grinding up some calopteryx and other > insects, making pellets of food from them, and convincing birds to eat > the various pellets and watching the reactions. Seems that, as is > generally the case, my flights of hypothesizing were flat out wrong, > at least where that Dragonhunter is concerned. > > I had to remove the underscore to get the site to load (as below). > > Just driving and walking around yesterday, and taking the kids for a > bike ride at a riverfront park it was amazing the sheer numbers of > odes flying. I don't know if it's like this every June, or if we're > finally seeing the effects of coming out of a droughty three years, > but heck, you have to dodge them as you drive down the road. I don't > care if it's 90% skimmers - it's great! (and even if the clubtails, > cruisers, emeralds and darners are only 10% of the total, there are > still enough of them to show up). > > Chris > > > > > http://web.me.com/ecurlew/Site/Dragonhunter.html > > ********************************************************************** > ** > Christopher E. Hill > Biology Department > Coastal Carolina University > Conway, SC 29528-1954 > chill AT coastal.edu > http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm > > Copyright infringement is the sincerest form of flattery. - Toby > Hanson > > > ----- Dennis Paulson 1724 NE 98 St. Seattle, WA 98115 206-528-1382 dennispaulson AT comcast.netSubject: Re: Georgia gomphids and slideshow From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:47:36 -0400 Interesting! There goes another 10 minutes I should have been working on other things. :-) I've often thought to myself that Ebony Jewelwings in particular, and all the Calopteryx in general, *must* be nasty tasting. Anything that colorful, obvious, and (relatively) slow moving must be advertising to predators to stay away. I even had floating around in my head some confirmatory experiments, grinding up some calopteryx and other insects, making pellets of food from them, and convincing birds to eat the various pellets and watching the reactions. Seems that, as is generally the case, my flights of hypothesizing were flat out wrong, at least where that Dragonhunter is concerned. I had to remove the underscore to get the site to load (as below). Just driving and walking around yesterday, and taking the kids for a bike ride at a riverfront park it was amazing the sheer numbers of odes flying. I don't know if it's like this every June, or if we're finally seeing the effects of coming out of a droughty three years, but heck, you have to dodge them as you drive down the road. I don't care if it's 90% skimmers - it's great! (and even if the clubtails, cruisers, emeralds and darners are only 10% of the total, there are still enough of them to show up). Chris > > http://web.me.com/ecurlew/Site/Dragonhunter.html ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm Copyright infringement is the sincerest form of flattery. - Toby HansonSubject: Georgia gomphids and slideshow From: pond_damsel AT comcast.net Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:12:36 +0000 (UTC) I'll forego the pond report for stream observations instead. Yesterday, 13 June, I visited a small, sand-bottomed, sunny stream that runs right through the middle of downtown Clayton, GA, to see what I could see. I saw a few, very few, skimmers, even fewer damsels, excepting Ebony Jewelwing (Calopterxy maculata), which were present in fair numbers. The stars of the show were the gomphids, of which there were at least five species: Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus) - one Dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus) - two or three Piedmont Clubtail (Gomphus parvidens) - three or four Sable Clubtail (Gomphus rogersi) - one Common Sanddragon (Progomphus obscurus) - ten-ish I've not been to this precise location before, but did find Eastern Least Clubtail (Stylogomphus albistylus) at another stretch of the stream earlier this year. And last year, I had a Laura's Clubtail (Stylurus laurae) attempting to oviposit on a motel sidewalk just across the street from there - presumably that's where she came from (the stream, not the motel!). I was fortunate to get a series of images of Dragonhunter consuming an Ebony Jewelwing. I've posted them, and they can be viewed at the link below, either individually or as a slideshow. http://web.me.com/ecurlew/Site/Dragonhunter_.html Yes, Chris, I have a fourth website. Marion Dobbs Marion Dobbs Rome (Floyd Co.) GA spreadwing AT mac.com pond_damsel AT comcast.net http://www.mamomi.net http://albums.phanfare.com/ponddamsel http://mariondobbs.smugmug.com/Subject: Red-tailed Pennant, Scarlet Skimmers From: "vldeloach" <VLDELOACH AT aol.com> Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:18:56 -0000 We just returned from a trip to Captiva and Sanibel Islands in SW Florida. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has ode checklists for the islands. Ding Darling NWR did not have ode nor butterfly checklists available. Freshwater is not easy to come by on the islands. All of the odes down there were new to me except for the Eastern Amberwings and Rambur's Forktails. Red-tailed Pennant (from Captiva) and Scarlet Skimmer(from both islands) photos are in a new album entitled "SW Florida Odes". The Red-tailed Pennant is also on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vickisnature/3618962743/ CAPTIVA: Red-tailed Pennant, male (Brachymesia furcata)- might this be a county record? Scarlet Skimmer, male (Crocothemis servilia) - looks like it was dipped in red paint Four-spotted Pennants (Brachymesia gravida) - common Roseate Skimmer, male (Orthemis ferruginea) Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera) Rambur's Forktails (Ischnura ramburii) - lots and the only damsels SANIBEL: Scarlet Skimmer, imm male (Crocothemis servilia) - looks like it was dipped in bright yellow paint ... wonder what he will look like changing to adult red? Seaside Dragonlets - male, female, male-like female shown in Giff's guide (Erythrodiplax berenice) - the only ode at Ding Darling NWR Four-spotted Pennants (Brachymesia gravida) - common Marl Pennants (Macrodiplax balteata) - two locations Red Saddlebags (Tramea onusta) - seen on two occasions at same location Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera) I'll post another report soon from my yard and short trips here in Giff-land. Vicki DeLoach Woodstock, GeorgiaSubject: Re: Burke County GA From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:32:55 -0400 Lois, why not use both scientific and common names together? I know the scientific names of the odes I see regularly, but didn't recognize about half of the ones in your list. A time-saver: I typed up an email of all - Common Name (Scientific name) - odes in my area and sent it in an email to myself. To post, I copy the contents of that email, paste it into the new one and simply delete the species that I didn't see. It keeps me from having to type the names over & over. I always enjoy reading your reports, and would like to visit some of the areas you report from, as you're not terribly far from me, but you regularly see species I never see here on the coast. Sharon L. Brown (Charleston County, SC) http://SLBrownPhoto.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson A Child's Garden of VersesSubject: Ayrmont Park Odes Orange County, NC From: birdcr AT concentric.net Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:34:22 -0400 Folks, I had about two hours in Hillsborough, NC to look for Odes, so I visited Ayrmont park which borders the Eno River. I was able to check a small portion of the river and Ayrmont's small pond. The pond does have fish I saw lots of them. Can't believe my list made 29 species for such a short visit, a few were added from a brief look at my pond. Here is the list for Orange County, NC Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) 1 male Blue-fronted Dancer (Argia apicalis) 1 male Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) 15 Blue-ringed Dancer (Argia sedula) 5 Blue-tipped Dancer (Argia tibialis) 6 Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum) 1 my pond Double-striped Bluet (Enallagma basidens) 35 Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) 2 Slender Bluet (Enallagma traviatum) 40+ small groups depositing eggs Skimming Bluet, Enallagma geminatum 30 Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) 5 Common Green Darner (Anax junius) 2 my pond Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus) 2 Dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus) 1 Common Sanddragon (Progomphus obscurus) 2 Prince Baskettial, Epitheca princeps 3 Calico Pennant, Celithemis elisa 6 all males Banded Pennant, Celithemis fasciata 30+ Swift Setwing (Dythemis velox) 2 Eastern Pondhawk, Erythemis simplicicollis 30+ Blue Corporal (Ladona deplanata) 1 seems pretty late for the Piedmont Spangled Skimmer, Libellula cyanea 3 Slaty Skimmer, Libellula incesta 20+ Widow Skimmer, Libellula luctuosa 20+ Common Whitetail, Libellula lydia 12 Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis 40+ Eastern Amberwing, Perithemis tenera 20+ Carolina Saddlebags, Tramea carolina 1 Black Saddlebags, Tramea lacerata 3 Randy Emmitt Rougemont, NCSubject: Burke County GA From: "Lois Stacey" <croakie AT comcast.net> Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:32:51 -0400 I spent some time at Yuchi WMA and surrounding roads this morning. The sun was FINALLY showing through, at least a little, and the odes were flying. There still wasn't a whole lot of activity but it was better than last week when I didn't see a single ode. I also had what I thought was an unusual sighting. While coming up an old, decrepit boat landing road going around a long-standing puddle I stopped to check out an Argia apicalis. While looking at it a Lestes flew past. It would light for very short periods of time on foliage and move on and I lost it after just one good look. It was dark above, white on the sides of the thorax and had one blue segment with more dark abdomen between that and the appendages. What was odd was that I don't know of any pond or swamp close by. There may be streams around and I was just a few hundred yards from the Savannah River but this is a heavily wooded area and does not seem to fit the habitat requirements for Lestes. Unfortunately I couldn't catch nor photograph it and didn't see any others either. I'll keep my eyes out in that area going forward though. My list: Argia moesta 3 Tramea carolina 7 Calopteryx maculata 15 Plathemis lydia 3 Epiaeschna heros at least 3, probably all those dark, high flyers were as well. Argia apicalis 11 Pachydiplax longipennis 3 Progomphus obscurus 1 Erythemis simplicicollis 29 Libellula flavida 1 Libellula vibrans 20 Libellula incesta 3 Argia tibialis 1 Epethica princeps 1 Pantala flavescens 3 Perithemis tenera 1 Lestes sp. 1 (Hopefully I have them all right, I'm just starting to use the scientific names) Lois Stacey North Augusta, SC (Aiken Cnty) www.augustaaikenaudubon.orgSubject: Re: NC Orange County odes From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:06:53 -0400 On Jun 11, 2009, at 7:07 PM, birdcr AT concentric.net wrote: > Southern Spreadwing (Lestes dusjunctus australis) 2 > Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis) 4 > Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum) 50+ > Double-striped Bluet (Enallagma basidens) 2 mate pair > Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) 1 female photo > Slender Bluet (Enallagma traviatum) 100+ small groups depositing > eggs everywhere. > Skimming Bluet, Enallagma geminatum 30+ > Citrine Forktail (Ischnura hastata) 2 > Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) 5 > So that's where the damselflies are - you and Marion have all of them! Send some back, please? C ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm I've long thought that too much systematic work somehow blunts the faculties. - Charles DarwinSubject: White Lake, NC From: Gary Phillips <carolinensis AT yahoo.com> Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:45:58 -0700 (PDT)
hi y'all,
uhh, there's at least one marina at White Lake that provides public access to
the lake. as it's not such a large body of water, you could paddle all around
it. there were a couple of campgrounds there, whose owners might be amenable to
some gal or guy with a net looking for bugs. all the folks i came to know up
there were good people. in summer the lake can get pretty busy with
waterskiers, tourists, etc. when i was a kid we would spend a week up there in
summer camping and boating, then i lived there for a cpl years in the '80s
(working as a sales rep driving 50k+ mi./yr, i wasn't looking into natural
history much then.)
Gary Phillips
Conway, SC
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get
better. It's not." - The Lorax
Subject: Re: i confessFrom: Joshua Rose <opihi AT rgv.rr.com> Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:14:23 -0500 Hey Tony - I think you can ease off on the guilt. I think I've been with SE-Odes pretty much from its start, and never once did anyone ever suggest that founding TexOdes was a bad thing. While the Pineywoods region has a lot of overlap in species and phenology with states as far north and east as Virginia and maybe further, the communities of Hill Country, LRGV, and trans-Pecos may as well be from another planet. As Harry LeGrand suggested early on in this thread, most of Texas is different enough that it really is not relevant to the states to its east, so having a separate listserv for Texas makes sense and is entirely reasonable. The NC list is an entirely different issue. SE-Odes was founded by an NC resident, and most of the original subscribers were from the Carolinas. If you look back in the list archives to 2001, when it first transferred over from ListBot, myself, Harry, Randy Emmitt, Brian Bockhahn, and other NC residents were doing most of the posting (especially Randy). I am not sure how, when, or why things shifted such that NC odonate sightings started getting posted to CarolinaLeps and not SE-Odes, but I am glad that your discovery of the new NC-Odes list brought all of this to light and started this discussion, both so the role of the new list can be defined, and so participants in the older list can be made aware of the changes that have taken place. So no, do not hate you, do not hate Ed, do not hate anybody in the odonatology/ode-watching community, just am sad that I'm moving to a northern latitude and will only have odes to report 6 or 7 months out of the year... Have fun, Josh McAllen TX On Jun 11, 2009, at 5:28 PM, tony gallucci wrote: > to being guilty of two things here, and want to clear the air > some . . . > > first, i am the TexOdes owner/moderator and i was looking through > Yahoo Groups this week to see what was up for new ode listservs > (folks should check out the french Ode Photgraphers group!) and to > join NEOdes, which Josh Rose had just told me about (clueless how i > missed it before) . . . and of course i ran across both NC Odes and > NW Odes, both having few members, and i thought well i can help post > the word so maybe other Odistas (as we call them here in the > borderlands) can support them . . . so i posted a note to > TexOdes . . . little did i know what i was getting into! . . . and > Josh Rose, who's from NC, but here in Texas now (in fact was here > looking at odes with me last wekkend, and who i hope doesn't hate me > for posting that notice!) forwarded it anonymously to protect me > from the SE list . . . so i am the one who spread the word as it > were . . . send your hate mail to hurricanetg AT hotmail.com > > in the process of reading all the discussion, all well taken and > understood by me, i noted that TexOdes was caonsidered a split away > from SE Odes . . . i am sorry . . . i had no idea . . . did not know > Texas was ever considered a part of SE Odes territory or i might've > stayed away . . . i started the group out of a flash of ungenius > when Greg Lasley and i started scouring the state for new records > several years ago and i wanted a place to post those records AND to > hear about others' finds . . . at the time i looked for a Texas list > but was assured there wasn't one, and put ours together . . . only > later did i discover there was a SE Odes, which i thankfully joined > and love . . . i further confess to having encouraged people to post > notes from the states surrounding Texas (Louisiana, Oklahoma and New > Mexico) to the TexOdes listserv for the purposes of those of us who > will travel a ways, and to provide those states a repository of > sorts as well . . . i guess it's obvious to me now that LA at least > is part of SE Odes as well . . . and New Mexico is a SW Odes > territory, but that group started after TexOdes as i recall . . . > anyway, getting the mea culpas off my chest . . . in my defense i > have to say that i was born and raised and lived all my life in > Texas, including 15 years in deep east Texas and, with the folks i > know from here, never considered ourselves as being Southeastern > anything, and that's no slam, it's just nasty old blinding Texas > provincialism . . . > > so, i'm sorry, several years later, for having usurped some > territory that wasn't mine to usurp . . . > > tony gallucci > ingram/kerrville, texas > milk river film > hurricanetg AT hotmail.com > http://milkriver.blogspot.com > http://sevenbullsboy.deviantArt.com > http://YouTube.com/milkriverfilm > http://bugguide.net/user/view/4012 > Facebook, Myspace, Twitter > >Subject: Re: Re: NC Group From: Harry LeGrand <harrylegrand AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:38:15 -0700 (PDT) Well, Tom Howard and I did sit down with Duncan (Cuyler) a few years ago to get his approval for county data, to construct the county maps that you see on the website. Actually, Steve Roble in VA deserves the thanks for all that, as he gathered Duncan's species-county data and created a 2-field Excel file, and sent it to Tom. What is clearly missing, in terms of the website, are the dates of the records, in order for us to derive flight charts and periods of occurrence. Bill Mauffray informed me that all of Duncan's specimens are down there with him at the museum in Gainesville, FL. I'm not quite implying that Ed, Tom, or I need to drive to FL to get dates for his thousands of specimens, but ... without dates of specimens, our website isn't what it could be. Harry LeGrand NC Natural Heritage Program --- On Thu, 6/11/09, jedwardcoreyiiiSubject: NC Orange County odes From: birdcr AT concentric.net Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:07:38 -0400 Folks, Sorry i have not been chiming in with my reports on this list. I visited the private pond near me today, it was hopping to say the least. I have never seen so many exuvia in my life. I did note 3 Comet Darner exuvia and loads of Common Green Darner exuvia too. Here is the list for Orange County, NC Southern Spreadwing (Lestes dusjunctus australis) 2 Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis) 4 Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum) 50+ Double-striped Bluet (Enallagma basidens) 2 mate pair Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) 1 female photo Slender Bluet (Enallagma traviatum) 100+ small groups depositing eggs everywhere. Skimming Bluet, Enallagma geminatum 30+ Citrine Forktail (Ischnura hastata) 2 Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) 5 Swamp Darner, Epiaeschna heros 1 cruising my driveway Prince Baskettial, Epitheca princeps 3 Calico Pennant, Celithemis elisa 4 all males Banded Pennant, Celithemis fasciata 40+ Eastern Pondhawk, Erythemis simplicicollis 50+ Spangled Skimmer, Libellula cyanea 3 Slaty Skimmer, Libellula incesta 30+ Widow Skimmer, Libellula luctuosa 100+ everywhere!!! Common Whitetail, Libellula lydia 40+ Great Blue Skimmer, Libellula vibrans 1 Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis 40+ Eastern Amberwing, Perithemis tenera 50+ Carolina Saddlebags, Tramea carolina 1 Black Saddlebags, Tramea lacerata 4 Cheers, Randy Emmitt Rougemont, NC http://rlephoto.blogspot.com/Subject: i confess From: tony gallucci <hurricanetg AT hotmail.com> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:28:25 +0000 to being guilty of two things here, and want to clear the air some . . . first, i am the TexOdes owner/moderator and i was looking through Yahoo Groups this week to see what was up for new ode listservs (folks should check out the french Ode Photgraphers group!) and to join NEOdes, which Josh Rose had just told me about (clueless how i missed it before) . . . and of course i ran across both NC Odes and NW Odes, both having few members, and i thought well i can help post the word so maybe other Odistas (as we call them here in the borderlands) can support them . . . so i posted a note to TexOdes . . . little did i know what i was getting into! . . . and Josh Rose, who's from NC, but here in Texas now (in fact was here looking at odes with me last wekkend, and who i hope doesn't hate me for posting that notice!) forwarded it anonymously to protect me from the SE list . . . so i am the one who spread the word as it were . . . send your hate mail to hurricanetg AT hotmail.com in the process of reading all the discussion, all well taken and understood by me, i noted that TexOdes was caonsidered a split away from SE Odes . . . i am sorry . . . i had no idea . . . did not know Texas was ever considered a part of SE Odes territory or i might've stayed away . . . i started the group out of a flash of ungenius when Greg Lasley and i started scouring the state for new records several years ago and i wanted a place to post those records AND to hear about others' finds . . . at the time i looked for a Texas list but was assured there wasn't one, and put ours together . . . only later did i discover there was a SE Odes, which i thankfully joined and love . . . i further confess to having encouraged people to post notes from the states surrounding Texas (Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico) to the TexOdes listserv for the purposes of those of us who will travel a ways, and to provide those states a repository of sorts as well . . . i guess it's obvious to me now that LA at least is part of SE Odes as well . . . and New Mexico is a SW Odes territory, but that group started after TexOdes as i recall . . . anyway, getting the mea culpas off my chest . . . in my defense i have to say that i was born and raised and lived all my life in Texas, including 15 years in deep east Texas and, with the folks i know from here, never considered ourselves as being Southeastern anything, and that's no slam, it's just nasty old blinding Texas provincialism . . . so, i'm sorry, several years later, for having usurped some territory that wasn't mine to usurp . . . tony gallucci ingram/kerrville, texasmilk river film hurricanetg AT hotmail.com http://milkriver.blogspot.com http://sevenbullsboy.deviantArt.comhttp://YouTube.com/milkriverfilm http://bugguide.net/user/view/4012Facebook, Myspace, Twitter > Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:51:11 +0000 > From: se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com > To: se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com > Subject: [se-odonata] Digest Number 1103[1 Attachment] > > There are 25 messages in this issue. > > Topics in this digest: > > 1a. NC Group > From: Alex Netherton > 1b. Re: NC Group > From: jedwardcoreyiii > 1c. Re: NC Group > From: Nate Dias > 1d. Re: NC Group > From: Chris Hill > 1e. Re: NC Group > From: Alex Netherton > 1f. Re: NC Group > From: Joshua Rose > _________________________________________________________________ Lauren found her dream laptop. Find the PC that’s right for you. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/choosepc/?ocid=ftp_val_wl_290Subject: Re: NC Group From: "jedwardcoreyiii" <ed.corey AT ncdenr.gov> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:07:51 -0000 Josh, That is a good point. I may try to get the guys over there to see if they can run a simple search. I'll try to get up with Dave Stephan in the coming week. As far as filling in the gaps, this is exactly what the database can do! Duncan Cuyler did an amazing job in finding these animals, and Tom Howard (again, I deserve no credit; Tom and Harry did all the work!) did an EXCELLENT job compiling all this. Still, these were just records from one man. We are always happy to receive more data. I've even been lucky enough to add a few myself. It's kind of a personal challenge!! Thanks again for the tip on the collection! Ed --- In se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com, Joshua RoseSubject: Re: NC Odes listserv? From: Glenn Corbiere <gcorbiere AT dragonhunter.net> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:03:26 -0700 (PDT) Listen - I'm thinking of starting a listserve for the north part of my yard. If anyone wants to join, please let me know. :) Glenn (I was busy on 1 Apr.) Glenn Corbiere 100 Prospect St. Chester, MA. 01011-9657 www.dragonhunter.net ________________________________ From: Marion DobbsSubject: Re: Little Bluet question From: "jedwardcoreyiii" <ed.corey AT ncdenr.gov> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:02:06 -0000 Dennis, This is interesting, as I've been working quite a bit with both P. bellei and G. cavillaris brimleyi in the last two years. I've kept an eye out for other species (eg. Enallagma durum, Arigomphus pallidus). However, I've had no luck with E. minusculum. I had wondered originally if I was just looking in the wrong habitat, around Bay Tree (former Black), Jones/Salters, and Singletary. The one thing I have noticed about these lakes is that there is a lot of organic material on the bottom. White Lake apparently does not have this. Could this be a potential reason for E. minusculum's absence from the other lakes? I hope to get back down to the lakes in the next few weekends, and will try to keep an eye out for the little guys. Ed --- In se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com, Dennis PaulsonSubject: Re: NC Odes listserv? From: "Marion Dobbs" <pond_damsel AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:56:46 -0700 Coming rather late to the table on this issue, but I'm starting to feel that Georgia is under-represented in the discussion! I do a fair amount of mining for odonata in extreme northeast GA, in the corner that borders both NC and SC. Consequently, I make forays into both of those states and am always interested to hear what's going on in them. I spend a lot of time in my home county of Floyd, which borders on AL, and is only a few miles from TN, so I'm curious about those places as well. Then there's Florida where I visit frequently... You all get the idea. I'm interested in information from across the southeast and personally would prefer to access it from one discussion list. However, I would be more than willing to submit records from other states directly to the database managers in those states, with a copy post to se-odonata for anything that seemed noteworthy. That seems an efficient way of handling things to me - not necessarily to anyone else. And on the latter subject, I'm grateful to Chris Hill for recently alerting me to the existence of the NC odes database. My congratulations to Ed Corey for an excellent resource. Marion Dobbs Rome (Floyd Co.) GA pond_damsel AT comcast.net spreadwing AT mac.com http://mamomi.net http://mariondobbs.smugmug.com http://ponddamsel.phanfare.comSubject: Re: Pondhawks and fun with spreadsheets From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:10:58 -0400 Chris, I am already keeping records of sorts for myself, so learning ways to improve what types of records to keep (like Mike May's suggestions not long ago) are great, and certainly don't take much more effort than writing them on the back of the sheet I use to record bird sightings. I also don't need much convincing to "put it in an Excel spreadsheet." :} Thanks for the tips, via your screen shot, and for your kind comment about my photography, which remains a passion. My interest in odes began as a strictly aesthetic one. They are beautiful! I am by profession a graphic artist & photographer, and make jewelry as a hobby (I would love to see a revival of Art Nouveau plique-a-jour enamelling for rendering of insects in jewelry - think Rene Lalique & his dragonfly and wasp jewelry), but the more I learn about ode biology, the more interesting that aspect becomes . . . except that I find that the more I learn, the more questions I have, and hope I'm not too annoying with all the questions. It's wonderful seeing new books which address basic ode biology for beginners in that area, like me! Sharon L. Brown http://SLBrownPhoto.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson A Child's Garden of VersesSubject: Fwd: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:42:34 -0400 I originally sent this just to Dennis Paulson, but with the general consensus seeming to be nobody minds more dragonfly communication,* here it is for the list, too. * and everyone, so far, polite enough not to say "but we've heard enough from YOU!" Begin forwarded message: From: Chris HillSubject: Pondhawks and fun with spreadsheets [1 Attachment] From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:34:17 -0400 On Jun 11, 2009, at 10:50 AM, SL Brown wrote: > What I really need to do is go out and do nothing but > seriously count odes. It's difficult to count individuals while being > distracted by birds, hunter wasps, tiger beetles, leps, plants, etc. > Note > the RLS poemlet after my sig. :} > Well, I don't know that being obsessive/monomaniacal about counting odes is necessarily a good thing in the larger context of life. I found, though, that once I started doing that I do enjoy being able to look back at previous outings and see patterns - it's a great learning tool. But I don't come back from my outings with photographs like yours! I'm nerdy enough to put it all in an excel file (though not nerdy enough to go all the way to a database program!). Here's a screen shot of one part of that spreadsheet (mostly Clear Pond outings, as it happens): The key is just having a notebook and pencil in the pocket at all times. I can't possibly keep it all in my head for more than a few minutes, so it means every few minutes, I scribble a few tallies in the notebook. And I don't really sweat the details enough to interfere with enjoying what I'm doing. Hmm - I just noticed something - when sorted this way (by date, with earlier in the season to the left) it looks like the two Anax darners sort of separate out by season at Clear Pond - the Common Green Darner being there early, but not really overlapping much with the Comet Darners that are always there in the summer (and maybe coming back in the fall?). > The pondhawk hypothesis is interesting. Pondhawks are outrageous in > numbers > everywhere I've looked, and I believe their numbers are on the > increase. You > mention having seen 6? I can estimate between 30 & 40 just along the > road > crossing the first wetland coming in the hwy. 17 entrance yesterday > Yes, only 6 at Clear Pond, and likewise, I'd be in single digits at the other "special" ode places in Horry County (mostly running water). But Pondhawks are still generally almost everywhere. If I'm in "ordinary" still water habitats the pondhawks are much more numerous and widespread. And there are over 10,000 retention ponds in the coastal plain of SC, and only 1 Clear Pond :-( There's no doubt that pondhawks are increasing as watery habitats become more human- created than not. Let's see, going to my Horry County spreadsheet... Common Pondhawk does come in #1 in the number of times it appears, with the top 10 being: Common Pondhawk: 86 Blue Dasher: 83 Rambur's Forktail: 72 Eastern Amberwing: 48 Common Whitetail: 30 Carolina Saddlebags: 29 Fragile Forktail: 28 Familiar Bluet: 27 Common Green Darner: 24 Needham's Skimmer: 24 Calico Pennant: 23 Wandering Glider: 23 Pretty predictable list. Most of the entries in the spreadsheet are just 12 minute walks along the edge of a pond right outside my office, and you can see what dominates there, but those are also the most widespread species in the county. If I sort by number of total individuals counted, the list is a little different, with a couple early season species that are very abundant in my occasional forays to Clear Pond jumping up, but Pondhawk and Dasher still taking first and second place: Common Pondhawk -944 Blue Dasher- 693 Ornate Pennant - 687 Rambur's Forktail - 632 Blue Corporal - 546 Familiar Bluet - 368 Eastern Amberwing - 315 Little Blue Dragonlet - 309 Carolina Saddlebags - 234 Orange Bluet - 208 Amanda's Pennant - 188 Golden-winged Skimmer - 175 4 spotted Pennant - 150 etc. (of course the "interesting" insects come later down in this list!) ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm Always remember to pillage BEFORE you burn.Subject: Re: Little Bluet question From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:24:51 -0700 That's what Chris Hill found just a short while ago. I think it would be great if someone could go there and find lots that look as if they offer lake access and politely ask the owners if a brief survey would be possible. Hopefully one or more of them won't have a problem with it and might even be interested. Just in case the bluets are still at White even though absent from the other similar lakes; it would be very good to know, as this is such an isolated population. Maybe the NC government could declare the bluet an endangered species, condemn all the properties, and declare the lake a national wildlife refuge (yeah, right). Gomphus cavillaris brimleyi was also very common there, as it is at the other lakes. ----- Dennis Paulson 1724 NE 98 St. Seattle, WA 98115 206-528-1382 dennispaulson AT comcast.net On Jun 11, 2009, at 8:48 AM, Joshua Rose wrote: > Wasn't White Lake also the original location for Belle's Sanddragon > in NC? I tried to get in there once to look for the Progomphus, > maybe 5-6 years ago, but the lake was ringed completely by private > residences and yards, could not find any way to get near the water. > I'm suspecting that things in that area had changed profoundly > since 1966.... > Josh Rose > McAllen TX > > On Jun 11, 2009, at 9:36 AM, Dennis Paulson wrote: >> >> Hello, all. >> >> >> On 9 May 1965 and 8 May 1966, I found Little Bluets (Enallagma >> minusculum) common at White Lake, Bladen Co., NC. Duncan Cuyler >> had discovered them there some time earlier. >> >> I just looked on the NC state database website and found that this >> species has not been found in recent years. I know field workers >> have gone to nearby lakes (Jones, Singletary, Baytree) and found >> other species of interest, but perhaps minusculum doesn't occur at >> those lakes (I didn't find it at Jones Lake in 1965). I wonder if >> anyone has checked White Lake in recent years. >> > > .Subject: Re: Little Bluet question From: Joshua Rose <opihi AT rgv.rr.com> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:48:22 -0500 Wasn't White Lake also the original location for Belle's Sanddragon in NC? I tried to get in there once to look for the Progomphus, maybe 5-6 years ago, but the lake was ringed completely by private residences and yards, could not find any way to get near the water. I'm suspecting that things in that area had changed profoundly since 1966.... Josh Rose McAllen TX On Jun 11, 2009, at 9:36 AM, Dennis Paulson wrote: > > Hello, all. > > > On 9 May 1965 and 8 May 1966, I found Little Bluets (Enallagma > minusculum) common at White Lake, Bladen Co., NC. Duncan Cuyler had > discovered them there some time earlier. > > I just looked on the NC state database website and found that this > species has not been found in recent years. I know field workers > have gone to nearby lakes (Jones, Singletary, Baytree) and found > other species of interest, but perhaps minusculum doesn't occur at > those lakes (I didn't find it at Jones Lake in 1965). I wonder if > anyone has checked White Lake in recent years. > > ----- > Dennis Paulson > 1724 NE 98 St. > Seattle, WA 98115 > 206-528-1382 > dennispaulson AT comcastSubject: Re: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:50:06 -0400 Chris, thanks for reading. My posts are so 'unprofessional,' I always wonder if they are useful to anyone, but I'm never afraid to "go first" in the hopes that others will join in. ;) You wrote:Subject: Little Bluet question From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:36:29 -0700 Hello, all. On 9 May 1965 and 8 May 1966, I found Little Bluets (Enallagma minusculum) common at White Lake, Bladen Co., NC. Duncan Cuyler had discovered them there some time earlier. I just looked on the NC state database website and found that this species has not been found in recent years. I know field workers have gone to nearby lakes (Jones, Singletary, Baytree) and found other species of interest, but perhaps minusculum doesn't occur at those lakes (I didn't find it at Jones Lake in 1965). I wonder if anyone has checked White Lake in recent years. ----- Dennis Paulson 1724 NE 98 St. Seattle, WA 98115 206-528-1382 dennispaulson AT comcast.netSubject: Re: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:08:20 -0700 Chris, there are a lot of small, grassy, sand-bottomed pineland ponds in Florida that must be like Clear Pond, from your faunal list, and there was one of maybe a quarter-acre surface area in the Ocala National Forest that I visited twice a few years ago, both during good weather, and it's interesting to compare them: grassy pond 1 mi N Grasshopper Lake on Fla. 19, Marion Co., Florida June 2004, April 2005 Carolina Spreadwing - fairly com, com Atlantic Bluet - few, com Citrine Forktail - 0, com Rambur's Forktail - 0, few Southern Sprite - fairly com, few Comet Darner - 0, fresh exuvia Eastern Pondhawk - few, 0 Little Blue Dragonlet - few, com Blue Dasher - com, few Carolina Saddlebags - exuviae, few Note how 4 of the 5 damselflies were more common in April, although that wasn't the case for the sprites. I wish I had recorded numbers to compare with your counts, but there were certainly >25 individuals of everything that was common and probably >10 of those considered fairly common. "Few" would be <10, could be only a couple. And back to the sprites, there may have been very little difference in what I called "fairly com" in 2004 and "few" in 2005. I think this is a special type of pond, perhaps usually without fish. Does Clear Pond have fish? Amanda's Pennants and Golden-winged Skimmers often occur in these ponds, but I didn't see any at this one. I should add that I visited the same pond in April 2008, and it was dried up because of persistent drought. Any pond that dries up presumably lacks fish, and the species that live in these ponds must have great powers of dispersal. Well, I'll try again to see if the mail will get through (without Pony Express). Dennis On Jun 11, 2009, at 6:29 AM, Chris Hill wrote: > However, there are some damselflies left at my local non-snargy pond, > and I revisited it just to reassure myself of that. > > Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC 9 June 2009, 8:56-9:40 AM > > Atlantic Bluet - 4 > Citrine Forktail - 1 > Southern Sprite - 4 > Swamp Spreadwing - 3 > Unid. Bluet - 8 > Unid. Damsel - 5 > (there were lots of teneral female damselflies, and no matter how much > progress I've made on female damsels, tenerals are usually still out > of my league) > > Comet Darner - 2 > Amanda's Pennant - 68 (lots of tenerals, plenty of older ones, too) > Pondhawk - 6 > Golden-winged Skimmer - 9 > Blue Dasher - 2 > Carolina Saddlebags - 3 > Unid. darner - 1 (maybe comet, but poorly seen) > Unid. Dragonfly - 1 (looked like a largish clubtail - maybe Black- > shouldered Spinylegs - but flew on by) > > Hmm...only 4 confirmed damselfly species this time (compared to 8 when > Gary and I did our big day in May), but I only had time to walk about > 1/2 of the perimeter and didn't spend as much time - I'm sure there > were things I missed. Still, 25 individuals of 4+ species is a far > cry from the one lonely Rambur's Forktail I may or may not see when I > walk the pond on campus. 6 is a notably high count of Pondhawks for > Clear Pond. Maybe the new development right next door (in what used > to be pine forest) with its obligatory retention ponds, is allowing > some "leakage" of pondhawks to Clear Pond? Actually, to be honest, > it's usually things like Common Whitetail and Black Saddlebags and > Wandering Gliders (and Familiar Bluets by the truckload) that I see in > the newly dug retention ponds, not pondhawks. > > ----- Dennis Paulson 1724 NE 98 St. Seattle, WA 98115 206-528-1382 dennispaulson AT comcast.netSubject: Re: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC (and Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC) From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:29:59 -0400 On Jun 10, 2009, at 6:14 PM, SL Brown wrote: > Nothing new or exciting today, but after saying "I wish there were > more posts here," here's my list from today. As always, my order is > most-to-least numerous. > > Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) > Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) > Hyacinth Glider (Miathyria marcella) > Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) > Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) > Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) > Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice) > Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami) Rambur's Forktail (Ischnura ramburii) Interesting that Hyacinth Glider is all the way up at third place, since they've only been documented in the state for a few years. I see Rambur's Forktail brings up the rear - how many individuals do you think you saw? I'm interested in Hal White's and Dennis Paulson's observations that 1) there aren't as many damselflies around as their field notes say there were a few decades back, and 2) this is primarily a summer, southeastern phenomenon - there's good quantity and diversity in the spring, but the zygops disappear in June and July. I also subscribe to Dennis's hypothesis that maybe the ubiquitous (and increasing) Eastern Pondhawks may be responsible. At my local snargy pond, Rambur's Forktail numbers dropped right on schedule this spring, about when the pondhawks became common, just as they have the last two years. Now I can find maybe one forktail if I walk the edge of the pond, down from double digits in May. However, there are some damselflies left at my local non-snargy pond, and I revisited it just to reassure myself of that. Clear Pond, Horry Co., SC 9 June 2009, 8:56-9:40 AM Atlantic Bluet - 4 Citrine Forktail - 1 Southern Sprite - 4 Swamp Spreadwing - 3 Unid. Bluet - 8 Unid. Damsel - 5 (there were lots of teneral female damselflies, and no matter how much progress I've made on female damsels, tenerals are usually still out of my league) Comet Darner - 2 Amanda's Pennant - 68 (lots of tenerals, plenty of older ones, too) Pondhawk - 6 Golden-winged Skimmer - 9 Blue Dasher - 2 Carolina Saddlebags - 3 Unid. darner - 1 (maybe comet, but poorly seen) Unid. Dragonfly - 1 (looked like a largish clubtail - maybe Black- shouldered Spinylegs - but flew on by) Hmm...only 4 confirmed damselfly species this time (compared to 8 when Gary and I did our big day in May), but I only had time to walk about 1/2 of the perimeter and didn't spend as much time - I'm sure there were things I missed. Still, 25 individuals of 4+ species is a far cry from the one lonely Rambur's Forktail I may or may not see when I walk the pond on campus. 6 is a notably high count of Pondhawks for Clear Pond. Maybe the new development right next door (in what used to be pine forest) with its obligatory retention ponds, is allowing some "leakage" of pondhawks to Clear Pond? Actually, to be honest, it's usually things like Common Whitetail and Black Saddlebags and Wandering Gliders (and Familiar Bluets by the truckload) that I see in the newly dug retention ponds, not pondhawks. Other local notes: After only seeing one Dragonhunter in Horry County in my first four years of looking at odes, this year, I seem to see one every time I go to a river (still only 3 or 4, but that's a lot compared to previous years). Likewise, Gray-green Clubtails are out there consistently. Blackwater Clubtail adults are still eluding me (though I picked up an exuvia - I know you're out there!!). I finally stopped by the spot (New Road in Conway) where Gary Phillips discovered a population of Duckweed Firetails and I found 17 in about 15 minutes of looking. Thanks, Gary! They're still doing "salvage logging" of the big heritage preserve that burned in the 30,000 acre wildfire we had this spring, so I can't get in to check any spots in there. I'm kind of curious what effect the big fire had on the odes. That was also my only spot for small spreadwings (Southern and Carolina). And I keep hoping to pull something like a sedge sprite out of there. Oh, well. Oh, I almost missed this: > On the way home, we passed 2 guys with dragonfly nets working the > area around the south fork of the Edisto River along highway 17 just > north of Jacksonboro (SC). Was it anyone subscribed here? I believe the appropriate local salutation as you drive by in that situation is "Yall doin some fishin'?" :-) Chris ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm "Scientists are treacherous allies on committees, for they are apt to change their minds in response to arguments." - C.M. Bowra, 1898-1971Subject: Re: Re: NC Group From: Joshua Rose <opihi AT rgv.rr.com> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:14:40 -0500 Hey Ed - if you are trying to assemble a comprehensive odonate county inventory, be sure you check with the state insect collection at NC State. I somehow managed to stumble onto a county record that Duncan Cuyler had missed, Harlequin Darner for Dare, and even more improbably managed to keep a specimen (salvaged from the hood of my car). A photo is at http://web.duke.edu/~jsr6/Odepics/Gomphaeshfur.jpg I deposited the corpse at NCSU. Might be a few other goodies in there as well, though Duncan did not miss much.... Josh On Jun 10, 2009, at 10:16 AM, jedwardcoreyiii wrote: > > Hello all: > > I just wanted to introduce myself for a bit. My name is Ed Corey, > and I work for the NC Division of Parks and Recreation as the > Inventory Biologist for the entire state. I've been working with > odes for about 3 years now, and am still trying to learn as much as > I can about these animals. > > So why would I come up with a listserv specific to NC Odes? Because > recently, I became the administrator for the Odonates of North > Carolina database, a free database designed to track occurrences of > damsels and dragons throughout North Carolina. As of right now, very > few people are using this resource to enter records. I wanted to > stimulate interest in this tool, as well as to find out what other > NC natives (or near-NC enthusiasts) were around. > > I think what Alex has started here is an incredible thing, and I'm > glad to be apart of it. I have to admit, I was completely unaware > that a group like this existed until about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It's > great to see so many experts and interested parties exchanging this > information. So imagine my surprise when an innocent idea on my part > seemed to cause an uproar in the chicken coop. > > Let me say that I have no intentions of ever "stealing" people from > this user group. As far as redundancy, it's possible that at first > it may seem redundant, but my hope is that both groups can benefit > each other in the long run. > > Alex, thanks for urging people to join the NC list as well. > > Ed Corey > Raleigh, NC >Subject: Re: Listserver issues From: Alex Netherton <danetherton AT charter.net> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:27:04 -0400 > Some posts haven't been getting through Yahoo giveth, and yahoo taketh away. I guess I get what I pay for... Alex Netherton Asheville, NC http://blueridgediscovery.com http://blueridgediscovery.blogspot.comSubject: Listserv Observation From: Allen Bryan <nshrike1 AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:22:18 -0700 (PDT) SE Odonata Observation:
May 25th observation contributed
June 10th observation contributed
Approximately 15 days.
How much further diluted can observation sharing or ID assistance become with
the current limited body of active contributors? I know from discussion with
others that they are out "in the field", look at SE Odonata, yet choose not to
contribute their observations?
I, personally, do not desire to see Dennis Paulson, Ed Lam, et.al. not being
able to provide assistance with challenges we all encounter while in the field
because they must click through 5, 10, 20 listserv's, which have little to no
traffic, and pluck out the one challenge that shows up and then share their
response with/to a limited pool of individuals.
Until someone can challenge us into believing that they are overwhelmed reaping
the benefit from the minimum number of observations currently being shared here
or elsewhere lets try and limit the number of listservs created.
Just an observation.
Let's all get out in the field and start sharing/contributing and see if a true
challenge for data compilers can be created!
Enjoy each day,
Allen Bryan
Richmond, Va
www.visitingnature.com
Subject: Re: Re: NC GroupFrom: Alex Netherton <danetherton AT charter.net> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:16:48 -0400 > > That would degrade Carolinabirds for a narrow purpose. Somebody needs to degrade that bunch of stuff shirts. Glad I am that none of the groups I belong to or host are like that (since I unsubscribed from Cbirds, anyway...). Alex Netherton Asheville, NC http://blueridgediscovery.com http://blueridgediscovery.blogspot.comSubject: Donnelley WMA - Colleton County, SC From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:14:32 -0400 Nothing new or exciting today, but after saying "I wish there were more posts here," here's my list from today. As always, my order is most-to-least numerous. Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) Hyacinth Glider (Miathyria marcella) Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice) Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami) Rambur's Forktail (Ischnura ramburii) And in St. Paul's Parish, southern Charleston County, SC (near Meggett): Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) Roseate Skimmer (Orthemis ferruginea) Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) On the way home, we passed 2 guys with dragonfly nets working the area around the south fork of the Edisto River along highway 17 just north of Jacksonboro (SC). Was it anyone subscribed here? Sharon L. Brown http://SLBrownPhoto.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson A Child's Garden of VersesSubject: Re: NC Odes listserv? From: "SL Brown" <ictinia AT gmail.com> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:59:33 -0400 Cross-posting would be nice, but when lists get too local (like the NC bias
on carolinabirds), people start posting with local names that are
meaningless to anyone not familiar with that immediate area. I have enjoyed
all the SE Odes postings, and one of the reasons is that people here include
state and county along with more specific location information (most even in
the subject line), which makes their posts more meaningful to us all.
I have also greatly enjoyed the participation here by so many experts who
are so willing to share their knowledge! I will only get "up in arms" if we
lose any of you!
But as someone who does not travel to NC, I will not be joining that list.
June, my reaction to your mention of joining a pile of lists is identical to
your reaction to my preference of photos being attached to emails. ;)
Ed, I can appreciate wanting to do something to encourage more reports. I'd
like to see more reports here!
That's my two cents worth - not worth a penny more and undoubtedly biased as
I tend to be a lumper rather than a splitter.
Sharon L. Brown (Charleston, SC)
http://SLBrownPhoto.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
"The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."
Robert Louis Stevenson
A Child's Garden of Verses
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Subject: Re: Listserver issuesFrom: "jedwardcoreyiii" <ed.corey AT ncdenr.gov> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:44:44 -0000 I'm also having trouble sending them out. I've tried sending about 3 or 4 replies so far. Not sure what is going on. As for Dennis' reply, yes, we would love to have your records, especially if they are in an excel file! If anyone else has any NC records from days gone by that they would like to contribute, please let me know. Ed Corey Raleigh, NC --- In se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com, Chris HillSubject: Listserver issues From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:25:37 -0400 Some posts haven't been getting through - I only saw Dennis Paulson's long post on centralizing databases (with which I concur, and I know John Abbott works with other regional compilers to make it easy to share data), because I saw Nathan's reply to it. Here's another one that apparently only I got (and maybe Ed Corey, but not the full list): *****start Dennis Paulson post****** Ed, I'm sorry I didn't read Chris's message before I sent my last one. I hadn't seen the database either. You are doing a great job! And you're way ahead of me (embarrassed grin). Does your database just involve county records? I have quite a few specimens from NC, and I would be happy to send you an Excel database with all of these records. They are all incorporated into Donnelly's dot maps, but they would provide quite a bit of locality data from the 1960s, along with flight dates. Dennis ******end Dennis Paulson Post***** If anyone has any insight about why Dennis's posts aren't getting out to the list, let him or us know! That's a voice we don't want blocked! Chris ************************************************************************ Christopher E. Hill Biology Department Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 29528-1954 chill AT coastal.edu http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...' Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)Subject: Re: Re: state ode groups From: Rconnorsphoto AT aol.com Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:46:32 EDT Hi Folks, Interesting discussion. I'll add my two cents worth. Like Ed Corey in North Carolina, I am in a position with Tennessee State Parks and Natural Areas gathering avian and odonate data for our All Taxa Biodiversity Survey. Our work is going into a searchable database, soon to be open to the public. We may not be quite as far along with that as North Carolina seems to be. I'll get back to you on that later. To the point here, I believe there is room for both region-wide and local odonate listserves. This past winter I discussed having a TN odes chat group with a few of the hard core ode chasers in the state (and yes, you can count them on one hand) and the consensus was there were not enough people interested enough in odes to warrant that right now. But the number is growing, so we may re-visit that sometime in the future. We just started a state -wide leps listserve this year, and there is some "cross posting" going on there, with the occasional reference to odes. And our state bird line even gets the occasional dragonfly mention. There seems to be a natural progression of interest for many of us from birds to butterflies to dragonflies, but off-topic ramblings are understandably to be discouraged on those sites, so local ode groups are bound to emerge. I agree there need to be more postings to SE-odonata, not less, but I think a local listserve can be an intro into ode watching, and eventually add more members to SE-odonata. Rank beginners can be intimidated to post with a larger list, even though that's the best way to learn, where the real experts are, and where a number of experienced ode watchers can comment. Of course they can be encouraged to post to both. Being a member of several local groups and larger groups covering the same territory and subject matter, I've gotten used to multiple postings. I can see the duplication and simply read one and delete the duplicate. Too many lists? Pick and choose, choice is good, options are good. 'Will get back to you with a "good bug" sighting soon. In the meantime I will enjoy yours, even from far-off South Carolina, Florida, Virginia or Texas. RICHARD CONNORS All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) TN Dept. of Environment and Conservation Nashville TN email: Richard.Connors AT tn.gov **************Download the AOL Classifieds Toolbar for local deals at your fingertips. (http://toolbar.aol.com/aolclassifieds/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000004)Subject: Centralizing Data Re: Re: NC Group From: Nate Dias <offshorebirder AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:02:09 -0700 (PDT) Sounds like Odes need a more formal "Odonate Knowledge Network" - like birds have the "Avian Knowledge Network". AKN gets data feeds from eBird, International Shorebird Survey, Project Feederwatch, Great Backyard Bird Count, etc. So as Dennis mentions, using Odonata Central as the central repository makes sense - as does managers of smaller datasets (state databases for example) being sure to get regular data feeds into that repository worked out. This will require some coordination and cooperation, and probably slight changes to some local databases to satisfy Odonata Central's format/field structure/etc. But it's a simple matter to export comma-delimited text files and email them to Odonata Central on a monthy basis. It can be automated without much trouble. Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC ________________________________ From: Dennis PaulsonSubject: Re: Re: NC Group From: Chris Hill <chill AT coastal.edu> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:37:09 -0400 Hey, Ed, Anyone doing what you're doing deserves as much support as possible. For anyone who hasn't seen the NC odes database, check here: http://149.168.1.196/odes/a/accounts.php I wasn't aware of it until Harry LeGrand mentioned it to me in an email a few weeks ago. It's nicely set up, easy to use, very helpful for those of us like me who are in that intermediate stage where we're trying to soak up as much about odes as possible (and quite a tribute to Duncan Cuyler's superhuman legacy, as well). We don't have anything similar in SC - I tend to encourage people to use the Odonata Central database to log SC records. But the NC one is great. As I said, if a NC group gets going, I hope NC oders will cross-post to SE-odonata. And if there's a way to use SE-Odonata to encourage submissions to the NC database, let us know how. Chris On Jun 10, 2009, at 11:16 AM, jedwardcoreyiii wrote: > > > Hello all: > > I just wanted to introduce myself for a bit. My name is Ed Corey, > and I work for the NC Division of Parks and Recreation as the > Inventory Biologist for the entire state. I've been working with > odes for about 3 years now, and am still trying to learn as much as > I can about these animals. > > So why would I come up with a listserv specific to NC Odes? Because > recently, I became the administrator for the Odonates of North > Carolina database, a free database designed to track occurrences of > damsels and dragons throughout North Carolina. As of right now, very > few people are using this resource to enter records. I wanted to > stimulate interest in this tool, as well as to find out what other > NC natives (or near-NC enthusiasts) were around. > > I think what Alex has started here is an incredible thing, and I'm > glad to be apart of it. I have to admit, I was completely unaware > that a group like this existed until about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It's > great to see so many experts and interested parties exchanging this > information. So imagine my surprise when an innocent idea on my part > seemed to cause an uproar in the chicken coop. > > Let me say that I have no intentions of ever "stealing" people from > this user group. As far as redundancy, it's possible that at first > it may seem redundant, but my hope is that both groups can benefit > each other in the long run. > > Alex, thanks for urging people to join the NC list as well. > > Ed Corey > Raleigh, NC > > --- In se-odonata AT yahoogroups.com, Alex Netherton |