northeast-flora-and-fauna

Considering it's National Dragonfly Day , I wanted to share a dragonfly picture. And at Duke Farms today: There be dragons , though not in the Medieval sense of dangerous territory. Instead we staked out a bridge where we could show off a bunch of dragonflies to the visitors. Though no Calico Pennants showed up at this particular site, there were a few hanging out in the meadows. Instead though we got to see Blue Dashers , Eastern Pondhawks , Widow Skimmers , Slaty Skimmers , and Eastern Amberwings , plenty of dragonflies to entertain the passersby. We got to see a little dragonfly breeding, quite a bit of dragonfly egg-laying, and hundreds of aerial skirmishes as aggressive males attempted to acquire territory. July 11, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 301278114, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's another Eastern Amberwing hovering over water. It made me wonder if, like some birds, dragonflies ever mistake their reflection for a rival and attack it: Birds have much larger brains than dragonflies and are generally considered more intelligent, yet they make this mistake often enough. Why wouldn't dragonflies, with even less gray matter, also make this mistake? Dragonflies will certainly attack rivals. And many species will even attack vaguely similar-looking dragonflies of other species, presumably because they're fooled into thinking that someone looking like themselves must be a rival. For good or ill, I was unable to find any articles claiming that dragonflies attack their own reflections. Perhaps this is because reflections in water generally don't provide a clear enough reflection to fool a dragonfly. Or maybe dragonfly combat doesn't typically entail colliding head-on with a rival. Most of the time it looks like dragonfly territory battles consist...

These Eastern Amberwing dragonflies were hovering over the water, though I'm unsure what else was going on in the 2nd picture. The 1st picture looks like a male that's hovering over water; the only thing that's a little unusual there is that he's got his "tail" (really the abdomen) held nearly straight up, a position I usually see only when they're perched somewhere. I believe they do that to limit the sunlight/heat they're absorbing, so I'm guessing this little fella was trying to cool off a bit. June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301249237, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) In the 2nd picture it looks like a 2nd dragonfly is photobombing in front of the 1st. The size and wing pattern seems consistent with a female Eastern Amberwing ; perhaps the 1st dragonfly caught her eye and she's looking for a "date"? Of course, if I'm wrong about the 2nd dragonfly being a female Eastern Amberwing, then the expl...

Here's a pair of Eastern Amberwing butterflies, 1 male and (maybe) 1 female. The male is an easy identification; size, shape, and those translucent amber wings are present in no other local dragonfly. The 2nd picture is a bit harder to ID, looking only vaguely like the females in this picture or this picture . This could be because this is a relatively rare andromorph female; unfortunately andromorph females probably look quite a bit like juvenile males: I think a juvenile male would look like a paler, drabber version of a male, without any spots other than red stigmas on their wings. I think I see faint hints of the dark patches that most females have. Based on the picture alone, I'd lean towards this being an andromorph female. But Eastern Amberwing andromorph females are supposed to be very rare, while pretty much every vibrant male was once a drab juvenile male, so I suspect that a juvenile male is the stronger ID. June 20, 2023 at Washington Valley Reservoir Photo 30111...

Here are a couple pictures of dragonflies that would have been better had they been facing me. (Technically the long end part is considered their abdomen, not their tail.) Sometimes with a bird in a tree or a butterfly on a flower I can change my position to get a better shot, but dragonflies are often around a shoreline. In many cases the positioning opportunities are limited, and that's assuming they even stay in the same spot. Identification is still frequently possible though. These views give good views of the abdominal segments and the wings, 2 pretty good identifiers for odonates. The mostly nondescript, largish, and slaty-gray dragonflies are usually Slaty Skimmers , and the small, stubby, amber dragonflies are usually Eastern Amberwings . September 1, 2022 at Duke Island Park Photo 238904760, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) September 1, 2022 at Duke Island Park Photo 238904792, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Across from the Duke Farms Outdoor Education stand I spotted my first Eastern Amberwing of the season, and apparently it was a female. This surprised me a little bit since many times I'll see males emerge/develop first so they can squabble over territory, and after things have settled down a bit (which probably just means more orderly fighting) the females will emerge and hook up with the males with the best territories. (While we'd like to think that having a winning personality is important, female dragonflies seem to be pragmatists looking for the fittest males who control the best territories for laying eggs.) You might be wondering why this small brown dragonfly is called an "amberwing". As with many species, their name comes from the more flamboyantly colored males . When I saw this dragonfly I couldn't remember what the female Eastern Amberwings looked like, but the size (they're one of our smallest dragonflies) and shape looked about right. It wasn...

Okay, maybe it's a stretch to consider Eastern Amberwing dragonflies of waving at you, though their wings do beat at a rapid rate.  These are considered to be the 2nd smallest dragonfly in the country behind a dragonfly I've never seen despite NJ being part of its range, the Elfin Skimmer . (There are other odonates like some bluet and sprite damselflies that are of similar length and probably less mass though.) Only the males have that distinctive amber coloring. (Like with many odonates (and some birds) I might not recognize the less distinctive females unless I also saw the males around. Here are a couple of these guys I met last summer.) July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654062, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654237, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's an Eastern Amberwing dragonfly perched on a (suspected milkweed) wildflower. I've presented these dragonflies before ; this one was in an interesting location. These dragonflies are small and stubby enough that entomologists think they qualify as wasp mimics . If so, this dragonfly using flowers as a perch only increases her - the color/pattern implies a female - wasp-like appearance: "No dragonflies here. Just pollinating wasps like me.". In actuality, she's not interested in pollen/nectar; she's looking to make a meal of a small insect. I've read that leaves and twigs are the most popular perches for Eastern Amberwings, so I don't think she landed on the flower in order to look more like a wasp. I suspect this is just a happy accident on her part.  July 14, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 148187488, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's an Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly . They are pretty small as dragonflies go, though they're still more robust-looking than a lot of damselflies. They get their name from their translucent amber wings of the males; the females have darker patches on otherwise wings. (Many times species are named for the appearance of the flashier sex, which is frequently the male in nature.) Like many of the dragonflies I've discussed, these guys are also considered skimmers , and like many skimmers you can frequently find them perched somewhere. Though they typically catch food on-the-fly, they'll frequently perch to eat that food. The males will stake out a patch of water that they think the females would approve of for egg-laying, and aggressively defend it from other males. If the male has chosen well, the females will show up and they'll mate. Though they're predators in their own right, they have something else going for them. The stripes on their tail is somewhat simil...

Here's an Eastern Amberwing dragonfly, one of our smaller dragonflies. Normally I'd try and scrounge up some information about these guys for you, but when I went to look for scraps I found a blog from the "Bug Lady" that did a better job than I could telling you about them. You can read it here .