Late Season Dragonflies

The great weather we are having in western Montana has allowed for our continued pursuit of dragon- and damselflies. This past Thursday, my Odonate mentor Nate Kohler and I visited a spring & pond complex west of Drummond that has been an exceptionally good location for a variety of these fascinating insects. On a visit there in late April, Nate found about a half dozen species already hatched, for the earliest dates these species had been found in Montana. On our visit there last Thursday, we captured (and released) 18 species, all of which were late dates for the respective species, the latest they had been found in Montana. If the weather forecast holds firm for this coming week, we should be able to extend those late dates by another week or so. Those are interesting bits of information.

But for me, the best part of last weeks' visit to the area was the capture of two species that I had never netted previously in Montana. The first was a Common Green Darner. This is one of our two migratory species and it first shows up in the state usually in late May. It is a very swift flier and generally stays out a ways from the shoreline while cruising. But because of its size and bright green and blue coloration, it is easy to ID on the wing. I don't know how many times I swung my net at one of these critters last year, but it was likely in the hundreds - all without success. Last week, as I was walking along a dike, a dragonfly flushed from the grass in front of me and I made a successful swing at it with my net. As I was extracting the bug from the net, I immediately knew that I had netted my first Common Green Darner, and I let out a loud "Whoop". Nate looked a bit askance at my overly enthusiastic reaction, but that was OK. It was a pretty good feeling! The other "good bug" for the day for me was a Shadow Darner. I had caught several of these in Washington State last fall, and although I had viewed several that Nate had netted while I was accompanying him, I had never captured one on my own. The one I caught was a female and Nate caught a male shortly thereafter, so I had the opportunity to photograph both sexes. The female I caught is shown belowand the male is here. In the hand, it is fairly easy to tell this species from the other dozen or so Darner species we have in Montana.One of the other neat aspects of October dragonflies is the background colors that natures provides at this time of year. This Blue-eyed Darner compliments quite nicely the Red-osier Dogwood upon which it is perched.And so as not to close without mention and an image of a damselfly, here is a Vivid Dancer that is chowing down on a Caddisfly. Nate found this species in late April this year and it is still present nearly six months later. I'd say that is pretty good for Montana, where temperature extremes are the norm in spring and fall. The spring water with relatively constant temperatures at this location is likely the reason these insects can be found so early and late in the year.