Just for the record

The first ode (dragonfly/damselfly) of the season was seen on February 24 flying low over the Wetlands. While I didn’t see it well enough to positively identify it, I’m confident that it was a Common Green Darner (Anax Junius). On March 1st I did see one close enough to make a positive ID. The first damselfly was seen on March 7, but again I could not see enough detail to make out the species. However, I’m fairly sure that itRead more

What Dragonfly is That?

In order to help those of you who are interested in knowing what it is that you’re looking at when you see a dragonfly whiz by you as you stand on the boardwalk and paths that encircle the Wetlands here at the Museum, I’ve decide to offer up a quick and very simple identification guide. Here, we’ll start with two common odes (dragonflies) that could possibly be mistaken for one another. Note: If you don’t care what the names ofRead more

31 Odes

During June, the list of dragonflies (odes) seen by me at the Museum grew to 31 species. Two new species of dragonfly were seen on the same day (6/17). One of those odes was alive, the other had expired. The living ode was a Swift Setwing (Dythemis velox), a species that’s common enough in our area but not so common as to be seen on every outing in every location. I usually run into them at a woodland pond orRead more

Fish Crows (w/audio this time) and Herp and Ode Updates

Fish Crows continued to fly over on Tuesday (3/9). I searched my personal audio library that I keep for video soundtracks and found a file that contains the nasal calls of the Fish Crows as they wing by. Have a listen here: [audio:/wp-content/files/2/2010/03/fishcrow.mp3|titles=fishcrow] The same day, Spring Peepers, Upland Chorus Frogs, (The chorus frogs are the ones that sound like someone running their finger down a comb, the peepers are the higher pitched single notes heard)[audio:/wp-content/files/2/2010/03/chorus_peeper.mp3|titles=chorus_peeper] Pickerel Frogs, [audio:/wp-content/files/2/2010/03/pickerel-frog.mp3|titles=pickerel frog]andRead more