Perched by the river

  

Another species we encountered along the South Fork of the Eel River yesterday (26 October 2022)...possibly a California Spreadwing (Archilestes californicus).  Maybe some damselfly folks will chime in about the i.d.? 

East of the Sierras

I'm at a meeting near Mammoth Lakes, CA, for a couple of days.  Here are a few pictures from the drive yesterday (taken from Route 89 and Route 395):

 

I stopped briefly to stretch at ~8,000 ft. along Route 89.  When I stepped out of the car, I heard Townsend's Solitaire's (Myadestes townsendi) singing!  (See one perched above.)  The next bird I heard was a Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), and then a Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli).  A nice trio!

 

Cloud shadows

 

 

This damselfly flew in and landed in the parking lot at a rest stop in Antelope Valley (Mono County).  It's either a Great Spreadwing (Archilestes grandis) or a California Spreadwing (Archilestes californicus).  It flew off, and I couldn't find it again, so I'll need to check in with some experts to see if they can identify it from this photo.

 

 Mountain snow 

 

Mono Lake

Flow

It was fairly hot this afternoon, so I was looking for some place cool at the end of the day.  I spent a few minutes rock-hopping along Copeland Creek.  It was shady and breezy, with nice views and sounds of running water, and a few damselflies that were rock-hopping, too.

  

Female Vivid Dancer (Argia vivida)

 

Flow around rocks and leaves

Here are two short audio clips so you can enjoy the sound of flowing water.  You might need to turn up the volume of your speakers.  [If you can't see the audio files in the e-mail, click on the title of the post above to go directly to the web page.]

 


 

The first damsel

On 17 March 2012, I came across this damselfly near the Hole-in-the-Head/Campbell Cove.  I didn't have the right lens with me at the time, so I hope to post better photos in the future, but here are a couple of images to serve as an introduction to this attractive group of insects.

 

 Pacific Forktail (Ischnura cervula)

Field marks to note: very small blue postocular spots (behind the eyes), four blue dots (two on each side) on top of the thorax (between the head and the abdomen), solid blue on the sides of the thorax, mostly black abdomen with blue on segments 8 and 9 and black on the last (or 10th) abdominal segment. 

View from the side:

 

Pacific Forktails are common in wetlands with dense aquatic vegetation.  They are one of the first damselflies to emerge in the spring.  Freshwater wetlands are uncommon on Bodega Head, which can make finding odonates (dragonflies and damselflies) challenging.  But watch for Pacific Forktails flying among rushes in local freshwater marshes and even in wet roadside ditches (e.g., along Westshore Road).