Desert Firetail - Telebasis salva

Seen yesterday along Bear Valley Creek, Colusa County, CA (jct. Rte 20 and 16), on a fabulous day outing with our friend Leslie Flint.

The Desert Firetail is a tiny slender damselfly that ranges across the southwest from Texas to California and all the way south to Venezuela. The brilliant red of the male contrasts with the soft brown of the female. Their flight season in the U.S. is from March to Dec, but will vary by area. After mating they remain in tandem while she deposits the eggs on surface vegetation of warm ponds or creeks (duckweed, algae, etc.). Once you change your search image to "tiny" the red body of the male stands out well against the green vegetation (pond scum), even in flight. Beautiful creature, described as "elegant" by Tim Manolis.

We watched a group of Firetails ovipositing on an algal mass in a quiet area of the creek. 3-4 linked pairs were with a few inches of each other. The male didn't have to fly, as the female methodically flexed her abdomen down into the scum and pumped out her eggs, moving only occasionally. A video I took sort of shows the action, fwiw: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenblumin/9625255522/

Taxonomy (I need this more than most of you!):

Order - Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies (over 5,000 species, with 450+ in North America)

Suborder - Zygoptera - The Damselflies - 22 families.

Family - Coenagrionidae - The Narrow-winged Damsels, or "Pond Damsels". This is a big family, with about 31 species in California alone. Included here are the Bluets, Dancers, Forktails and Firetails. The other main families seen here are the Broad-winged Damsels, Calopterygidae, where you'll find the Jewelwings and Rubyspots, and the Spread-winged Damsels, Lestidae.

Genus - Telebasis - The Firetails. Only 3 Firetail sp. are seen in the western U.S., and only one in California, but there are more than 50 other Firetail species found in the tropics. Most are red, but a few are blue.

Flame Skimmer - Libellula saturata

The Flame Skimmer is a large red-orange dragonfly that is common around warm ponds in the west. It ranges from Texas to California, and north into Oregon and Idaho. In our area there is really no other dragonfly like it, with its red eyes, orange inner wings, and orange just about everywhere else, including face, thorax, abdomen and legs! The males compete to occupy favored perches near the water, but they are often seen away from the water, and forage over wide areas.

The first photo shows a pale young (teneral) damselfly , which I didn't really notice until I viewed the photo on the computer. The Flame Skimmer looks like a monster next to the damsel, which may be a bluet sp. (thanks, Leslie). Taken at the pond in Tiburon.

Second photo shows some dark spots on the inner wings. From a Del Puerto Canyon trip led by Leslie Flint.

Last photo, also from Del Puerto, shows an appendage hanging near the last abdominal segment, and is probably the "epiproct", an unpaired structure seen in some male dragonflies, but apparently unrelated to sexual function. Or maybe it is just a fecal pellet!

These are all males. The female Flame Skimmer is browner. After fertilization she does the ovipositing by herself, similar to the Blue-eyed Darner.

Blue-eyed Darner - Rhionaeshna multicolor

The summer months offer birders a good opportunity to get out and look for dragonflies. If you a large blue dragonfly hovering or patrolling over an open area, it is likely to be a "darner", and right now the largest ones with blue eyes around here (coastal northern California) are the Blue-eyed Darners, Rhionaeshna multicolor.

Recently I had good looks at Blue-eyed Darners (and a number of other dragonfly species) at the pond behind the library in Tiburon, along Tiburon Blvd. I think it's called Tiburon Marsh, and it offers several spots where you have open views of the water and emergent vegetation, prime spots for dragonfly mating.

There were a fair number of male Blue-eyed Darners patrolling the pond and nearby fields, hoping perhaps for the appearance of an elusive female, who appears near water only to find a mate., After getting fertilized she does the egg-laying on her own, with no male carry her in tandem and/or to guard her from other males. First photo show a pair in tandem position. The female has browner eyes and body, with yellow stripes on the thorax, although she sometimes bears a closer resemblance to the male.

The male sometimes hangs vertically on reeds or grass near the shore. This one preened his eyes much as a bird might preen its feathers. Check out the appendages at the tip of the abdomen, the structure of which can sometimes differentiate between otherwise similar Darners. Second photo is the Tiburon Marsh, with a good view of the intensely blue eyes and the paler blue face. The similar but smaller California Darner has eyes that are less blue, and perhaps a paler face. The California Darner also flies earlier in the season, although there is considerable overlap. 

I was able to catch some of the eye-cleaning action of this male in a digiscoped video:

(Click on "HD" lower right, and then "Full Screen" icon just to the right):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenblumin/9508545597/in/photostream

3rd photo is from the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge, 2 years ago, taken right near the visitor center.

The Blue-eyed Darner if common across the western U.S., and is found as far south as Panama. They eat a wide variety of flying insects, and pretty much take them only on the wing, dining on mosquitos, flies, butterflies, moths, etc.

Taxonomy:

Order: Odonata

Family: Aeshnidae - The Darners.

Genus: Rhionaeshna - The Neotropical Darners, with over 40 species. Most are tropical (duh), with only 4 species seen in the U.S., and only 2 in California, the Blue-eyed and California Darners.

Note: Another similar Darner genus is Aeshna, the Mosaic Darners. In 2003 the Neotropical Darners were split from the Mosaic Darners. The Aeshna darners lack a bump under the first abdominal segment.

Species: Rhionaeshna multicolor, the Blue-eyed Darner.

To see all of the neotropical darners:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhionaeschna

Seaside Dragonlet, pair in tandem

In the saltmarsh along Caroline Creek in East Haven, CT, I found a mated pair of small black drfagonflies in the tandem position (male grasping the head of the female), and later determined they were Seaside Dragonlets, Erythrodiplax berenice. Great name, as "dragonlet" sort of means "small dragonfly", and this small skimmer is only about 1.3 in. long. "Seaside" refers to the unique habitat where it might be found, i.e. only along the coast, where it frequents eastern saltmarshes and mangroves from Canada down to Mexico. Actually, some population are found inland at saline lakes, but that's like the seaside in a way.

The pair will stay in the linked tandem formation until the female finishes laying her eggs on mats of algae in the nearby saltmarsh. No other dragonflies oviposit in saltmarsh, so correct identification is assured. Not much to say about the field marks, as this small slender species is mostly blue-black, with plain wings. The female Seaside Dragonlet is usually more colorful, with yellow or orange spots on the abdomen, but she gets black with age and then looks like the male, as here, except for one last spot of color on the abdomen.

Brief Taxonomy --

Order: Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies (5,000+ species)

Suborder: Anisoptera - DragonfliesFamily: Libelluidae - Skimmers and allies. Biggest dragonfly family, with 1,000+ species.

Genus: Erythrodiplax - Dragonlets. Large genus of mostly tropical new world skimmers, small to medium in size, with about 60 species. Only about 6 dragonlet species seen in the U.S.

Species: Erythrodiplax berenice - Seaside Dragonlet. They fly from mid-May to mid-September. Eat small insects and even small damselflies.

Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia

The Common Whitetail is a distinctive dragonfly in that large family of Skimmers and allies, Libellulidae. We saw many male Whitetails on a walk around Spring Lake (Santa Rosa) on June 17th. The Common Whitetail is my favorite type of odonate, in that it usually perches on a low spot in the open, making an ideal subject for observation and photography. Not only that, but the markings on the male are so distinctive that it can't be confused with any of the other skimmer species. 

Each wing has a large black spot in the mid-to outer wing section, and a smaller black spot near the leading edge of each wing where it joins the body. Just behind the smaller black spot, on the hind wing only, there is a white triangular spot. The male Common Whitetail develops a powdery covering on the abdomen know as prunosity, appearing white or very light blue. The female of this species is quite different, appearing more like a Twelve-spotted Skimmer, and is seen less often in the open.

American Dipper - Cinclus mexicanus

We viewed an American Dipper from a bridge just off State Route 49 - their nest was under the bridge. This bird is about a "dull" as a bird can get, but makes up for it by it with a unique and totally entertaining foraging technique, as it dives into fast running streams, walks underwater, and then pops up like a cork to perch for a moment on a favored rock before diving in again. Seen mostly in the mountains, in western regions from Alaska down to Mexico and even to Panama! Some populations are short-distance migrants, but many are resident.

Note the very short tail - they don't do a lot of flying!

Low light limits feather detail. Body is gray, head browner.

Brief Taxonomy-

Family: Cinclidae - the Dippers, and only one genus. No close relatives in the New World.

Genus: Cinclus - The Dipper. Five species worldwide, all very similar.

Species: Cinclus mexicanus

Mountain Bluebird - Sialia currucoides

Lot's of reasons to explore inland and higher, and perhaps none so up-lifting as the sight of a male Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides. Its range extends from Alaska south to Mexico, down through the western states. We don't often get to see it on the coast in California, but it can be found regularly in the central valley and montane regions. This male perched quietly to preen in the shade of a corral in the Sierra Valley. Temperature was over 90, so he seemed content to rest and preen rather than flycatch over the nearby fields. Like the Western Bluebird, the Mountain Bluebird will hover while searching for insects. Distance and shade limited photo detail.

Taxonomy-

Family - Turdidae - The Thrushes. Currently about 175 species of "True Thrushes" usually recognized. Previously the family was larger, and included about 155 chat-thrushes, but most authorities favor the separation. The True Thrushes include 18 species seen in the U.S., among which we find Townsend's Solitaire, American Robin, the Bluebirds, Varied Thrush and the Spotted Thrushes such as our Swainson's and Hermit Thrushes. See Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior for a good discussion. For a really serious discussion see Roberson's great website: http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/thrushes.html

Genus - Sialia - The  3 Bluebirds, including the Western Bluebird and Eastern Bluebird.

Species - Sialia currucoides - Mountain Bluebird. No subspecies.