Dragonflies at Myles Standish State Forest, Plymouth - 8/2/2015

Eastern Amberwing

   Nice time of the year for the club to change pace as bird activity now is relatively slow. Nine people (including a family from France) met at Myles Standish State Forest to sample the coastal plain ponds that are surrounded by the extensive pine barrens here.

    Weather conditions were excellent, with fair skies, warm temps, and a cooling breeze at times. Odes (Dragonflies & Damselflies), as we call them, are most active on warm, sunny days. They did not disappoint!

Martha's Pennant

   After our meet and greet, we loaded up the vehicles and eventually (after a couple of wrong turns!) made it to our first stop, Doctor's Pond. Thanks Pete and Bill for getting me there! Maybe the leader should have referenced the map more closely.

   Most of the representative coastal plain species were present along the pond shores and in adjacent upland areas. A few of the impressive Comet Darner, a large Darner-type dragonfly (males have a green-colored thorax and a brick red abdomen) were seen. In total, we visited three ponds (Doctor's, New Grassy, and New Long Ponds) in 4+ hours. Not much ground gets covered when looking at insects because there is so much to see!

Common Sanddragon 

   As alway, we kept track of birds. Although bird song is much reduced at this time of the year, there were some nice birds around. An adult Bald Eagle was soaring high overhead, a young Red-shouldered Hawk glided over one of the ponds, and a Black & White Warbler put in a welcome appearance.

Odes:
10 Northern Spreadwings
1 Sweetflag Spreadwing
25 Swamp Spreadwings
100+ Atlantic Bluets
30 Azure Bluets
50 Eastern Forktails
10 Fragile Forktails
5 Violet Dancers
2 Aeshna sp.
8 C. Green Darners
4 Comet Darners
4 Common Sandragons
3 Prince Baskettails
3 Eastern Amberwings
2 Blue Dashers
10 Eastern Pondhawks
10 Spangled Skimmers
15 Slaty Skimmers
15 Common Whitetails
10 Golden-winged Skimmers
1 Painted Skimmer
12 Calico Pennants
40 Martha's Pennants (common)
Ruby/Cherry-faced Meadowhawk
5 Autumn Meadowhawks
2 Frosted Whiteface
20 Carolina Saddlebags (common)

Carolina Saddlebags

Butterflies:
E. Tiger Swallowtail
Clouded Sulphur
Edward's Hairstreak (very worn)
Eastern Tailed-Blue
40 Pearl Crescents
Red Admiral
Red-spotted purple
2 Common Wood-Nymph
Silver-spotted Skipper (very worn)
Wild Indigo Duskywing.

Swamp Spreadwing

Birds:
Bald Eagle  1    Adult, high overhead
Red-shouldered Hawk  1    Juvenile
Mourning Dove  4
Chimney Swift  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
Eastern Phoebe  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
Blue Jay  1
Tree Swallow  40
Barn Swallow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  2
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
House Wren  1
Hermit Thrush  4
American Robin  5
Gray Catbird  3
Cedar Waxwing  10
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  3
Eastern Towhee  12
Chipping Sparrow  8
Northern Cardinal  2
Common Grackle  15
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
American Goldfinch  5

Calico Pennant

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Vin Zollo