The Natural History of Bodega Head

    If you've been at the coast recently, you might have encountered these dragonflies zipping around, sometimes in large numbers.  Wand...

    Walking over to the farmers market this morning, I caught a glimpse of a dragonfly exploring the sun-exposed branches of a willow tree. ...

    The beautiful wings of a California Darner ( Rionaeschna californica ).  Note how shiny and new they look.  [You can click on the image ...

    Air temperatures reached the mid-high 50's today, but the afternoon sun was warm enough to activate this dragonfly.  It zipped into ...

    Nice to see a Black Saddlebags ( Tramea lacerata ) over our backyard this afternoon (8 June 2025).  

      Satyr Anglewing ( Polygonia satyrus )       Close-up of a California Darner ( Rhionaeschna californica )   Both photos from Cotati on ...

    Started the day with frost and morning fog and a beautiful crescent moon... ...and in the afternoon we noticed a Variegated Meadowhawk (...

    Small swarms of these dragonflies have been visible for several days now, but I've mostly seen them zipping around, chasing small in...

    I was away at a meeting this week, but Eric was in Bodega Bay and observed a significant movement of dragonflies (and some butterflies) ...

    Carolina Saddlebags ( Tramea carolina ) photographed in Chatham, Massachusetts on 20 September 2023.

    Female darner (possibly a Blue-eyed Darner, Rhionaeschna multicolor ) ovipositing in tule stems lying on the surface of the water.  Phot...

    I took a short walk in Walpole, MA, today (26 September 2022).  I ended up at a small pond and started noticing a few interesting animal...

    Arriving at the coast in the early afternoon, Eric spotted a number of dragonflies cruising back and forth along a dune ridge.  I went b...

    There were record-breaking high air temperatures for this date (18 January 2021).  I'm seeing slightly different numbers from severa...

Late this afternoon I was walking by a wall that I pass by regularly when something caught my eye.   A large dragonfly was perched there, so...

We're having trouble accessing the Internet tonight, but I'm going to try to post a few quick dragonfly shots from this afternoon (2...

  A nice female Flame Skimmer ( Libellula saturata ) paused briefly in our backyard this evening. Here's a close-up view of the...

  Wandering Glider ( Pantala flavescens ), Bodega Head, 4 July 2020  

  We were getting ready to do some grilling in the backyard tonight when Eric looked up to see a dragonfly cruising around overhead.  T...

  With the heat, come the dragons.  It was warm today (15 August 2019).  At the coast, air temperatures reached ~71°F (~22 ° C).  With ...