July 21st I went with the family to visit the mighty Niagara River to see the falls. I was also hoping to do a little surveying while I was out. We had a great time exploring Goat Island, taking a voyage on the Maid of the Mist, and walking to the foot of the falls in the Cave of the Winds. I did not find one dragonfly though! I’ll admit I wasn’t preforming an extensive survey, but the whole day I did not see a single ode. I would assume that this is because the rapids are so violent. I also do not know what flies on other parts of the river. Has anyone done any surveying above or below the falls?
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I have been very bad about updating lately. Thats because of some changes in my life right now. I took a job in Medina and am in the process of moving to Lockport. Because of this I have not had time for much surveying this summer, but the upside is that I now have four more counties that are easily accessible. I just have to find places to go! Today was the first day I ventured out at lunch. I stopped at a small stream running through a park in Medina. From the car I saw many Powered Dancers, but nothing else. I suppose I’ll need to get out of the car and do some walking soon.
I made a purchase recently that has already been a great addition to my insect pursuits, a pair of close focusing binoculars. After much (~3 months) of consideration I went with the Pentax Papilio 8.5×21. They focus down to 18 inches! I had also seriously considered the Eagle Optics Ranger 8×32, which I had tried out, but didn’t like as much. I am happy with my choice, and cant say enough about these! They act like a hand-held microscope if you are close enough, and work great as binoculars too. I have been using them for birds with great success. The best par was they were practically free. I didn’t want to move my jars of change, and I didn’t want to roll it, so I took it to one of the coin counting machines in the grocery store. If you get a Amazon gift certificate instead of cash it doesn’t cost anything. So I used my found money to cover the bill…
Here are the results of my last two “real” surveys.
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