Late this afternoon, I headed out for a little ode-ing. The temperature was in the upper 60s F, there was a soft breeze and it was mostly cloudy (a high, thin, overcast). Not ideal weather for odes but I went anyway.
I visited three sites. The field adjacent to the Stone Church in Antrim is of interest because there is a small fish-less pond that might support some odes not seen in more common ecological niches. I also stopped at the Contoocook River near the paper mill in Bennington. The river here (below the dam) is fast moving and also represents an interesting (and fairly rare) ecological niche. Lastly, I visited the field near Powder Mill Pond at the Cilley Family Forest in Greenfield (a fairly common environment around here).
I saw very small number of odes at all three sites. At the Antrim site, I saw three or four Eastern forktails (two or three male and a single female), a single female bluet and a single whiteface. The whiteface flew directly at my head which is how I know it had a whiteface but it did not allow an opportunity for further identification before veering off! At the Bennington site, I saw only a single male Eastern forktail in the grass near the canoe launch. I saw no odes on the rocks in the river just below the dam. In Greenfield, I saw (but did not photograph) only a single male dot-tailed whiteface.
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The Ode Master has returned! Always look forward to seeing your compositions with these flighty bugs!
Comment by Joe Kennedy — 24 May 2022 @ 6:43 AM