Yesterday afternoon, I spent another couple of hours “down back” at “our” beaver-made wetland. Joan came along to do some botanizing, but we quickly went our own ways.
I started out in my usual spot along the edges of the open water at the beaver pond where there was much activity among the emergent vegetation. The spreadwings seemed to be just “hanging out” and feeding. However, the sphagnum sprites were busy reproducing. I saw (and photographed) two mating wheels and multiple pairs ovipositing.
After a bit, I decided to see what was happening in other ecological niches and wandered “up stream” through the waist-high sedges and grasses.
There were numerous bright red male meadowhawks down in the grasses. I flushed a number of them as I moved. A close look revealed that many were immature. This could be discerned because many of them were still in the process of turning red (see the seventh photo if this series). Male meadowhawks are yellow (and thus look like females) when they are newly emerged.
I eventually found my way to a small, grassy pool that sits between the end of the woodland stream flowing in from the upper beaver swamp and the narrow channel of open water that meanders thought the wet meadow to the beaver pond. This pool is roughly six feet across by 18 feet long and is surrounded by shrubs and tall grasses; it is therefore quite shaded.
A large darner made numerous patrols of the perimeter of the pool in the forty five minutes or so I spent sitting in the edge of this pool. (Waders are wonderful!) This darner never stopped moving while it was in my sight.
Additionally there were three or four spreadwings of two species that I do not commonly see: the slender spreadwing and what I think is a amber-winged spreadwing (another new species for me, if my ID is correct).
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