Essays
Moseying: Outdoor Recreation Activities
Dragonfly watching
June 29, 2005
“There be dragons here,” Midland Naturalist (Midnat) Don Hunter quoted 16th century cartographers. “Dragonflies are beautiful. Their names are beautiful – Variegated Meadowhawk, Blue Dasher, Flame Skimmer – the names are a joy to say. To observe dragonflies is another great reason to get out for a fun morning walk.”
“Dragonfly watching is a growing hobby,” Midnat JoAnn Merritt added. “Birdwatching is a multi-million dollar activity. People take birdwatching trips to the far corners of the world. Butterflywatching has grown in popularity – thousands of people participate in the Monarch Watch, there are dozens of butterfly houses at zoos across the nation, and there is a National Butterfly Center down in the valley of the Rio Grande. Now it is time for people to learn what dragonflies are around their hometown. In the last few years at least four books have been published about identifying dragonflies.”
“The first book on dragonflies, by Sid Dunkle, has terrible pictures, but Don and Lillian Stokes produced a good beginner’s guide that covers the complete United States,” Rosemarie Stortz, retired Midland High School librarian, gave a run down on the books available. “The Common Dragonflies of the Southwest by Kathy Biggs is the best field guide to carry. John Abbott’s Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the Southwest is too big to carry in the field, but it is the most comprehensive. It is priced over $30 as well, while the Stokes and Biggs books are half that.”
Eight Midnats had banded together at 8.30 on a recent morning for a visit to the Sibley Nature Center pond. We had not even made it to the Junior Master Gardener’s garden before we had identified two species of dragonflies. Dragonflies lay eggs in water, but they wander. Some even migrate. I have had three different individuals call the Sibley Center to report seeing mass migrations of dragonflies.
In my daily log of nature center happenings I found the following report, “At least 1000 Green Darners gathered in the trees around a visitor’s house. They reported that the dragonflies remained active after dark, coming to the porch light to capture moths. Some even came into the house.” Another entry reported a rancher calling in and reporting that several thousand large dragonflies were present in one soapberry-filled draw early one morning, and that they left in a group, heading southwest. I have also had an invasion of Green Darners at my residence as well. The whir of their wings crackled so loudly and memorably that I still can imagine the sound.
“What good is a dragonfly?” asked Vera Zachary. In unison JoAnn and I answered her with, “They eat mosquitoes.” Just then, a large Black Saddlebags chased a smaller Blue Darner. JoAnn added, “They also eat each other. They will catch flies, too.” The Black Saddlebags landed near us. Rosemarie began stalking it with her long-handled butterfly net. As she inched her way toward the insect, I told the others, “I had a group of kids try to catch dragonflies for 15 hours over a week’s time in our summer bug camp a number of years ago. We only caught 3 or 4 the whole week, using butterfly nets, high-powered water guns, and rubberband guns.”
“Dragonflies can not hear,” JoAnn told us. Rosemarie struck with the quickness of a snake’s strike, and quickly pinched her net to keep the insect inside. With a big grin she came back to us. “Take a look at the saddlebags, the black pattern on their wings. This one is a female, too, for it has amber highlights along its tail.” Over the next two hours she managed to catch six dragonflies and four damselflies. She placed each in a magnifying bottle so we could all admire their beautiful markings. “Over the last three or four years Midnats have identified 32 species of dragonflies in Midland County, along with 13 species of damselflies,” JoAnn told us. She gave me a list of the dragonflies seen by Midnats at the Sibley Nature Center pond – 15 dragonflies and 6 damselflies.
“Bill Edwards, our Midnat who now lives in north Texas and will present the bulk of the dragonfly talk, is our damselfly expert. Some of the damselflies are identified on the color patterns along each section of their tail.” Rosemarie then added, “On the Internet a person can go to Odonate Central for records of dragonflies at any location in the United States. Chilling the dragonflies and then scanning both of their sides with a computer scanner before the dragonflies warm up produced some of the pictures on the site. We are hoping to get our records accepted by the site soon. Roswell, New Mexico has the most diverse population anywhere in the United States – because Bitterlakes Wildlife Refuge has sweet and salty springs, and hot and cool springs. Each microhabitat has its own species of Odonate that prefers those specific conditions.”
We stopped for a few minutes at the buttonbush. “How sweet-smelling!” commented Vera. Red admiral and fiery skipper butterflies fluttered at its blossoms, along with dozens of ground bees and syrphid flies. Within 10 feet of the buttonbush we spotted 10 Blue Darners lurking, picking out their breakfast.
During our morning’s walk, the group took notice of birds and butterflies along with the dragonflies. Checkered white butterflies were always in view, no matter where we were. Lesser goldfinches, yellow and green, teetered in the willow thicket at the east end of the bond. Rosemarie caught a dusky-blue groundstreak butterfly, showing us the orange and white zig-zags along its olive colored hindwings. Even in her magnifying jar it would not open its wings so we could see its royal blue upper surfaces. “Its caterpillars live on rotting vegetation,” JoAnn told us, “Not the leaves of plants, as most butterflies do. The caterpillars of some “blues” live on aphid honeydew.”
Lucy Thames, carrying her 3 year old son Ethan through tall weeds, asked Rosemarie about her binoculars. “These are Celestron 10 X42 Rangers, priced at about $300. Their advantage is their close focus. I can focus on my shoes – just 5 feet away!” Dragonfly and butterfly watchers like close-focus binoculars. Not many people are as adept at catching them as Rosemarie!
To go for a walk with such avid amateur naturalists is amazing!