Finaly an update!
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.
6-24-07 Levant (~15 minutes)
- Ebony Jewelwing
- Blue-fronted Dancer
- Blue-tipped Dancer
- Arrow Clubtail exuvia
- other exuvia (x2)
6-24-07 Clay Pond (~30 minutes)
- Widow Skimmer
- Eastern Forktail
- Variable Dancer
- Fragile Forktail
- Skimming Bluet
- 12-spotted Skimmer
- Calico Pendant
- Slender Bluet
- Common Baskettail
- Eastern Pondhawk
- Prince Baskettail
- Ebony Jewelwing
- Common Green Darner
- Rainbow Bluet
- Elegant Spreadwing
7-15-07 BPU (~15 minutes)
- Eastern Forktail
- ? Spreadwing
- Vesper Bluet
- Common Whitetail
- Unicorn Clubtail
- Eastern Pondhawk
- Eastern Amberwing
- Orange Bluet
Patrick said,
July 20, 2007 at 10:02 am
I love the Papilios. I have the 6x and they work great, even for birds.
mon@rch said,
July 20, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Congrats on the binoc’s and I hear you about being busy this time of the year! Glad things are going well and great list of dragonflies that you have listed!
winterwoman said,
July 21, 2007 at 5:31 am
Finally, Jeremy!!! Hey, I was out with the Day Camp yesterday and found a damsel I couldn’t ID. I haven’t had time to upload the pictures… Maybe Monday. It was mostly dark brownish/greenish above, pale below. It had skinny little orange shoulder stripes and ocular spots. That’s all I remember right now. Orange bluet is the closest thing I’ve found, but it doesn’t seem quite right…