July 2014 Dragonflies in Josephine County

This past weekend, Dave and I taught a 2-day workshop on “Dragonflies in the State of Jefferson” offered through Siskiyou Field Institute in Selma, Josephine County, Oregon. Day 1 was our usual Introduction to Dragonflies, and Day 2 was our only “Intermediate” level class. In the Intermediate class, we go to rivers and a high mountain lake.

We visited 4 sites over the 2 days; the wind on the first day was in our favor while we were at Lake Selmac. Not only did it keep us cooler, it caused many Odes to perch in the nearby willows. This lake has an abundance of skimmers, esp. Widow and Eight-spotted, and also many Common Whitetails. Almost totally lacking were any Damselflies and the Meadowhawks. Temperatures ranged from 82 to 96 degrees during the day.

In fact, Meadowhawks were extremely scarce the whole weekend….maybe 4 individuals seen in total. In past years we’ve found 35 species including 5 kinds of Meadowhawks. I wonder why they were ‘no-shows’ this year?

After a classroom session on Sunday morning, including an hour on dragonfly migration by Celeste Mazzacano who’d JUST returned from Mexico, we ventured out to the Forks of the Illinois State Park, then on to a small pond at an old mine site, followed by our drive up to Bolan Lake at ~6000′ elevation in the Siskiyou Mountains. Temperatures this day ranged the high of 95F when we left the Forks of the Illinois, to 76F at Bolan Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a list of the species that at least one of us saw:

Key:

Day 1 – S=Lake Selmac; D=Deer Creek & Darlingtonia fen (both in Selma, OR)

Day 2 – I=Forks of the Illinois Rv SP (Cave Junction); W=”Waldo” pond, west side of road at Waldo Mine site; B=Bolan Lake (both accessed from the road into Happy Camp, CA)

River Jewelwing – I
Northern Spreadwing – W
California Dancer – D, I
Emma’s Dancer – D, I
Sooty Dancer – D, I
Vivid Dancer – D, I
Boreal Bluet – S, B
Pacific Forktail – S
Western Forktail – I, S
Black Petaltail (dead) – B
Shadow Darner – B (in-hand)
Common Green Darner – S, B
Blue-eyed Darner ? – S
Bison Snaketail – D, I
Western River Cruiser ? – I
Pacific Spiketail ? – D
American Emerald – B
Western Pondhawk – S, I, W
Chalk-fronted Corporal – B
Eight-spotted Skimmer – S, I, W
Widow Skimmer – S
Twelve-spotted Skimmer – S
Four-spotted Skimmer – B
Flame Skimmer – I, B
Blue Dasher – S, W
Common Whitetail – S, I, W
Variegated Meadowhawk – S, W
Cardinal Meadowhawk – S
Black Saddlebags – S

We’re hoping to hear reports from several new Oregon and Washington Dragonfly enthusiasts now here on this discussion group!!

Special thanks to Day 2 participants Gary Shaffer, Norm Barrett and Celeste Mazzacano who helped with finding odes and identifications.

Celeste also gave a presentation about the Migratory Dragonfly Partnership sponsored by the Xerces Society.

Cheers!!

Kathy & Dave Biggs