Ten cords of firewood is finally stacked… I can get back to photography!<\/p>\n
Yesterday afternoon was warm (about 80 degrees F) and windy. I donned my waders and headed “down back” to the beaver-made wetland at the back of our property.<\/p>\n
I arrived at about 2 PM and stayed for three hours. I spent most of my time at the edge of the beaver pond and the small stream that feeds it.<\/p>\n
Given the recent lack of \u00a0male Hudsonian whitefaces in the yard (the females are still present),\u00a0I was expecting to find them down by the beaver pond. I was not disappointed.<\/p>\n
However, the most common ode was the chalk-fronted corporal. There were many dozens of both sexes mostly flying out over the open water; although a few perched for short intervals. I also observed a small number of mating-wheels.<\/p>\n
Common whitetails were almost as abundant as the chalk-fronted corporals and their activities were similar; less perching and larger numbers of mating-wheels.<\/p>\n
The abundance of common whitetails at the water was surprising since, in contrast with the chalk-fronted corporals, we rarely seem then in the yard.<\/p>\n
There were small numbers of male clubtails ( I saw only two damselflies during the three hours I was out. A small brownish individual, probably a female bluet, that\u00a0I did not get a good look or a photograph.<\/p>\n The second individual, which I \u00a0did get a good photograph of, is an immature male Amber-winged spreadwing*\u00a0 Oh… about the frog… “he” appeared seemingly out of thin air (water?) three or four feet from where I was kneeling and was completely indifferent to my presence as I went about photographing odes for the next twenty or so minutes.. He did not even flinch when I stood up to move on.<\/p>\n [scrollGallery id=362 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]<\/p>\nI’m unsure of the exact species<\/del>\u00a0probably beaver pond clubtails*), male frosted whitefaces and a couple of four-spotted skimmers.<\/p>\nprobably a male Aurora damsel but I am not entirely convinced<\/del>. It has the yellow lateral spots but the top of the thorax is blue rather than black. My impression is that this individual was significantly larger than the typical Aurora damsel.<\/p>\n