Odonata findings at East Metro Park July 1st 2017

Last Saturday on July 1st my little brother had planned to go to yet another video game contest. This time our destination for Manor Texas just north of Austin. I was really excited to go look around for some wildlife and had my gear and was already to go. When we arrived the gaming contest did not go on as planned. It was a no show because the site that my little brother checks for Super Smash Brothers Tournaments didn't give us the memo that they do not do contests at the High School in the Summer time. They didn't take it off the site in time. Anyway after we had lunch we decided to go look for a park. We made it to East Travis County Metro Park and it is one of the better fishing area in the city. I knew what that meant there were ponds and being the hot summer day it was I just knew there had to be odonata species flying around. We arrived at the park and I put on my new shark print draw string bag and that had my field guides and my net and I was ready to go looking for odes. I first saw a few of them flying around the tall grass. I attempted to catch an Eastern Pondhawk but that slippery little devil got away from me. The next one I did catch; it was a little widow skimmer. I brought it over to my aunt and showed it to her and my brother. My brother seemed a little enthused but he is not really a nature nut like I am. My aunt sure liked the little guy though she thought it was cool that I caught it. I let it go and then moved on. I went over closer to the tall grass of the Bullfrog Pond and found a Swift Setwing. This one was a male and was nearly solid black with some white. The one I saw earlier this year at Elmer W. Oliver was a female; so now I have seen both sexes. I was so excited and kept taking pictures when I was not preoccupied pulling beggar-ticks out of my net fabric from when I caught the dragons. I forgot to mention I caught a rather large Green Lynx Spider by mistake about the time after I caught the Widow Skimmer. Anyway back to the story. I walked around for a little bit searching and scanning the edge of the pond for other odes. It seemed like the good day for them because they were abundant. Aside from odes I did find a few grasshoppers and katydids who were hiding in the tall grass. They would hop out when I would scare them up by mistake but they made great subject matter. My tactic for me personally is to take everything as it comes and take not prisoners. I take pictures of nearly everything that comes my way except for a few regular grass blades. I only photograph grass if it has seed pods or is very distinctive. This tactic has a lot of pros to it and will get you really interesting stuff. Even if your not a fan of something you can still add it to your life list. Me I am interested in everything and love putting it on my life list. I have made a comprehensive life list for everything I find from birds to bug to plants to fungus I have covered a lot of ground and I am not done yet. Anyway for the most part I didn't think I was going to see any damselflies but if you look closer at things you can see the darnedest things. I found a couple of Blue-ringed Dancers and a few Double-striped Bluets. After getting the Damsels I looked up and saw something shoot across the pond. It was dark with an orange leaf like tail. I just saw it before it disappeared. I didn't think I would find it again. It was a huge dragon and it was a Flag-tail Spinyleg that I seen. I found one perched on one of the edging stones. This was one of my biggest dragons ever; however I didn't find just one of the big one but two. The second one was a Four-striped Leaftail. It was a touch smaller than the spinyleg but still quite impressive. I am very happy to have these on my life list. It was quite and awesome find. The day was totally picking up from a meh day to a day of personal discovery and life list points. The time at the pond was slowly winding down but I was able to nab a few more for this site. I saw a really cool female Roseate Skimmer which was cool; I also found a really big spider that was set up on the pond. It had a huge web and I don't think I posted the photo because it was kind of hard to tell but i may just to see if someone can ID it. The spider was set up in a lot of Dragon traffic. I thought for sure one of the dragons was going to get blasted into eternity but luckily no odonata were harmed during this adventure. Before we wrapped it up I found a really neat Dragon called a Four-spotted Pennant. That one I think is one of the more special dragons I found on that trip. East Metro Park is quite the place. It may not be a really wild place to go but it is where a few bits of wildlife call home. The time to go home was upon us and we were all hot, sweaty, and tired. It was a good thing we got to go here or I would have never seen such lovely insects I did until later on. This was one of my first trips I was solely looking for odes. I have never just looked for odes like I do the birds. It was a really neat switch up. I still got a few odds and ends in the mix but one thing is for certain I am barely disappointed in what I find. All of it is unique and special in its own way and all of the data I collect is valid and is always feasible. The day was not a total bust to me but to my little brother he was very disappointed. He just needs to get away from the games for a while and take a walk in the woods with me without any electronics. I know I take a camera with me but I always stop to take a look at the scenery when I am looking. That is what keeps me from seeing x-rays. I know I spend a lot of time on the computer and my phone but I am always getting out and getting my time out in the sun and taking breaks when I am not doing outreach on facebook and instagram. I am always doing something with nature. My brother has another video game contest soon lets hope this one is not a bust and let us hope that there is a good place to go looking for more wonderful wildlife near by. So stay tuned for more adventure updates. Until then this is your pal Zachary Chapman AKA galactic_bug_man signing out.

Publicado el julio 4, 2017 04:27 TARDE por galactic_bug_man galactic_bug_man

Observaciones

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Araña Lince Verde (Peucetia viridans)

Fecha

Julio 1, 2017 a las 12:57 TARDE CDT

Descripción

This guy was an accidental catch in my net. I was after a dragonfly and I caught this unsuspecting green lynx spider. The large guy didn't seem to thrilled to be captured but soon I let him go after I took this photo of him. Such a marvelous creature. I really love these interesting spiders. He was one of the most unexpected things I found yesterday.

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Rayadora Vigilante Veloz (Dythemis velox)

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Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:00 TARDE CDT

Descripción

I think this guy is a Black Setwing but I am not very sure. @briang @kimberlietx @sambiology @brentano @lulubelle can any of you guys give me confirmation. This guy did throw his wings forward in the set position but he didn't do it very often. Most of the time I was observing him he had his wings like this all stretched out. This design does look a lot like the setwing body shape but I am fairly new to these guys so I am not very sure of the ID that I think I have given this thing. Still a very interesting and pretty one it had a black body for the most park but a white back and on segment 5 he had a little dot on the back of his abdomen.

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Rayadora Rosácea (Orthemis ferruginea)

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Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:00 TARDE CDT

Descripción

This one was in the skimmer family but I am not sure about the ID there are so many that look like this guy. It had a brown and white thorax and a really bright orange tail. It was one of the prettiest of dragons that I saw yesterday but all attempts of giving this an ID using my brand new field guide had me in a head spin. @sambiology @lulubelle @brentano @briang @kimberietx can you guys give me some tips please?

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Rayadora Luctuosa (Libellula luctuosa)

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Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:01 TARDE CDT

Descripción

This guy was interesting. I thought this was a common whitetail but I am not really convinced about it. @briang @sambiology @brentano @kimberlietx @lulubelle any ideas what this guy is? He is very interesting. He had dark wings and a white tail, yes; but he also had white spots too. That is what is trowing me off. I am very confused by these white wing marks.

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Avispa de Lodo Azul Metálico (Chalybion californicum)

Fecha

Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:04 TARDE CDT

Descripción

This guy was interesting an a little bit bigger than most of the Tarantula hawk species I have seen. I spotted this guy in the much after i noticed a green metallic gleam coming off of him in the sunlight. This guy was black with blue wings and a green abdomen. This was a very cool critter. @kimberlietx anything to add about this one?

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Rayadora Espinosa del Este (Erythemis simplicicollis)

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Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:10 TARDE CDT

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Azulilla de Estanque de Franja Doble (Enallagma basidens)

Fecha

Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:13 TARDE CDT

Descripción

These were one of two species of damsels I found today. @briang @sambiology @brentano @kimberlietx maybe you guys can give me more information about these guys. These guys were pretty small only a couple of inches and had very interesting looking thoracic stripes and had long stripe on S2 and a triage stripe on S2-S4 and then S6 has a dark circle mark on then the rest S7 maybe S7 and S8 have just blue. These were very interesting to look at and they were all gathered in a tight group.

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Azulilla de Arroyo Anillada (Argia sedula)

Fecha

Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:16 TARDE CDT

Descripción

I didn't find many of these yesterday there were only a few of these guys flying about. They were pretty cool though. @briang @sambiology @brentano @kimberlietx what do you think about this one? This guy was very interesting. On its thorax it was a deep blue and his abdomen was dark with only small breaks of blue at each segment. These were very interesting to observe. I have never seen one with this color before.

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Libélula Cola de Bandera (Dromogomphus spoliatus)

Fecha

Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:18 TARDE CDT

Descripción

Found two of these leaftails but one I am about to upload looks a little different. @briang @brentano @sambiology @kimberlietx I am having trouble distinguishing the patterns on this one and the other one. I think they are two different species but I am not sure. This one had a thicker superior appendage. than the other one. This one was also a lot larger than the other one. I am very confused which one is the five-striped or the four-stripe or if they are one in the same. They are leaftails I know that much but what kind is this one?

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Libélula Cola de Hoja de Cuatro Bandas (Phyllogomphoides stigmatus)

Fecha

Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:25 TARDE CDT

Descripción

This is the other one that is driving me nuts. @sambiology @brentano @briang @kimberlietx see what I mean about the different pattern and the smaller superior appendage. It is a very hard one for me to figure out. I used the field guide and thought I had the right ideas on ID but now I am beginning to have my doubts. This is interesting. It might be a female but I am not too sure about it.

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Rayadora de Cuatro Manchas (Brachymesia gravida)

Fecha

Julio 1, 2017 a las 01:36 TARDE CDT

Descripción

Here was the last dragonfly that I found yesterday. This one was the only one I was sure about. This guy was dark blue and had four dots on his wings. It was a smaller dragon but was still just as pretty. I like this one. I liked all the ones I found yesterday; even though I am having a hard time identifying them all without help.

Comentarios

Nice photos of some cool odes! I've never caught any dragonflies like you did. But I'd like to try to net some of the "flier" species like the darners and gliders since they're so hard to photograph (since they rarely perch). Have you tried catching any of those?

Publicado por mikaelb hace más de 6 años

No but I do have a photo of a Darner on my site. It is a Green Darner but I have not seen a glider. I am new to this whole ode thing but it is quite the hobby. I love odes more than I used to. It was a very good day when I took these photos I spent a good while hunting for them and it was just one species after another. I have never had such a wide verity before. Normally when I am up here in the DFW area I find the same things over and over again but this trip was very different and I was blown away by the diversity of larger odes. It was neat. I thank you for your compliment. You will catch these one day my friend. Hope you have a great time chasing them. You have a great day my friend @mikaelb

Publicado por galactic_bug_man hace más de 6 años

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