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| A Brit abroad |
Georgia dragonsIt's hot here. Getting up and about early ensures reasonable temperatures (high 70s), but stifling humidity, while by mid-afternoon the humidity is tolerable but it's in the roasting upper 90s. Birding, understandably, is quiet, so I finally picked up my copy of Giff Beaton's 'Dragonflies and damselflies of GA and the southeast' to figure out some of the local odonates. The pond outside the ecology building is a good place to start. From early spring, damselflies were in evidence. I initially thought there were at least 2 species on the wing, but it turns out that I was just seeing the sexually dimorphic Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita). The male has obvious exclamation marks on the thorax; the female is a more subtle powdery blue.  Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis) are now out in force, and relatively simple to identify by their green eyes and white face.  Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera) is tiny, orange and unmistakeable.  Female Eastern Pondhawks (Erythemis simplicicollis) are an arresting shade of green.  Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) males are dark blue with black eyes; the females have distinctive dark tips to the wings.   The state Botanical Gardens and Sandy Creek Nature Center provide a good selection of river, stream and swamp habitats. Bar-winged Skimmers (Libellula axilena) are similar to the former species, but with more distinctive dark markings on the wings.  Spangled Skimmer (Libellula cyanea) is notable for having black-and-white wingspots (pterostigma).  Now this is what I call a clubtail! I think it's a Blackwater Clubtail (Gomphus dilatatus) due to the number of black lines across the face, although it's pretty similar to the Cobra Clubtail.  Common Whitetail (Platithemis lydia). It's common. And it has a white tail.  Common Basktettail (Epitheca cynosura) has an intermediate amount of black on the hindwings compared with Stripe-winged and Mantled.  Male Slender Spreadwing (Lestes recangularis). Easy to separate from other spreadwings in the area by the pale 'crescent moon' markings on the wingtips.  Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata). Only the females (lower) have white pterostigma.   And finally, two dancers: the Blue-fronted (Argia apicalis)...  ... and Blue-tipped (Argia tibialis).  Please let me know if I've got any of these wrong. Next job is to find a good butterfly book and wade back through my lepidopteran photos... 5:13 PM - Sunday, June 28, 2009 - post comment
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Description birding all over the place Home User Profile My Blog RSS Feed Archives Friends Bird by bird Feathers of hope Sacramento and Beyond A Brit abroad archives (2004- early 2009) Alis volat propriis California Thrashers John Sterling's bird photos Yolo Audubon Oconee Rivers Audubon Cambs Bird Club Olivier Laporte's photos Steve Hampton's Yolo County birding pages Subalpine Birding Wings over GA Recent Entries - Ring-necked Duck and Beaver, Lake Herrick - Duck day - Late warblers, gnatcatchers and a county tick - Early November doldrums - Lake Herrick November 3 |