Wednesday morning found me headed toward the Sun River Canyon on the Rocky Mountain Front. You might think that perhaps I was headed to this beautiful area to look for some special bird species. But this time, my goal was to find some of the wild orchids that are supposed to grace the abundant stream courses and wetland bogs in this special location. A secondary objective of this jaunt was to see what sort of dragonflies - Odes - might be flying in the wetland and pond areas.
The entry into this area cannot be described in any term other than SPECTACULAR. Besides the private lands, the Sun River Wildlife Management Area encompasses much of the foothill land area and provides winter range for the elk that migrate out of the wilderness areas to the west.
My quest for capturing photo images of new (for me) Montana orchid species was mildly successful with the finding of 3 new species. The first of these - Round-leaved
Orchis - is a very small little plant with beautiful flowers no more than 1/2 inch or so long.
The second species was the white bog orchid which seems to be rather common in this location and other suitable habitats in MT.
I will not show an image of the 3rd species because is is a much smaller version of the bog orchid.
When the morning chill had abated with the warming rays of the sun, I shifted my attention to a small, very shallow mountain pond I had passed on my way up the Beaver/Willow road. On that passing, no dragonflies seemed to be active at all, so I noted the location for later inspection.
What a difference some sun and warmth make for dragonflies. My return to this pond was greeted with an abundance of dragonflies along the vegetated edges. The most common and easily identified species was the Four-spotted Skimmer. If you take a close look - click on image - at the posterior right wing of the image below, you will note the wing does not seem to be fully extended. This is an indication of a dragonfly that has just recently emerged from its aquatic,
nymphal life stage. While this species is not especially colorful, the "glowing" quality of the brownish tones makes it quite attractive to me.
There were several other species present in much smaller numbers, but my skill level at catching them with a butterfly net is in need of considerable improvement. In fact, a video of my wild, sweeping swings with the net would make for a pretty
humorous TV spot! But I laugh at myself with each failed attempt and revel in this
wondrous place with its
magnificent beauty and diversity of plants and wildlife!
This dragonfly species, a migrant from farther south, was the first to show up in the Helena Valley this spring. And now the "fruits" of its early arrival are showing themselves in large numbers. I'm note sure how long they will remain here before they begin their long journey south, but hopefully my first full season of following these intriguing insects will provide that answer for me. Only a few dragonfly species in Montana are migratory, and one of the others - Common Green Darner - was also present in numbers at the gravel pit. Here is one that just emerged from its aquatic nymph stage. 
Note that the wings are not yet fully engorged and extended with body fluids. The other species that was very abundant at the gravel pit was the band-winged Meadowhawk. Many of these were together in a tandem mating formation. 
These images are male and female.
Speaking of fall, on a visit to Virginia last week, I had a few hours to look for dragonflies and among others, found a Halloween Pennant. Wing colors on this species suggest that pumpkin time is not too far away!
