Meadowhawk and Dogwood
16 September
Starting to see Dragonflies (Odonata or “Odes”) around this week. This specimen, an Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum) settled in warm sunshine on the seed pod of a canna lily and cooperatively posed while I tried to get a photo against the direct sunlight.
These are not large insects, about 1 1/4 inches in body length and fairly common. The adults hunt flying insects from perches on rocks or bare branches. The Latin name for this genus, Sympetrum, means "with rock" and refers to their habit of basking on rocks to absorb heat early in the day - in this case, substitute a large seed pod for a rock and it was doubtless waiting patiently for a meal to pass by. Instead, it found me.
They live around permanent marshes, lakes, ponds and bogs with slow flowing water, in areas that are usually lightly wooded. The ponds that this species inhabits must be permanent and have slow flowing water. Although we have a small garden pond and this insect could have emerged from there it is equally likely to have wandered from the river which is not too far away. One authority I consulted says:
Sympetrum vicinum is a nonterritorial species. After mating, the male will keep hold of the female and they fly as a pair during oviposition. Dominance hierarchies have also been observed in S. vicinum. Disputes between competing males lead to an orderly ranking of individuals. Behavior can be affected by temperature. If an individual begins the morning in the shade it sometimes takes six extra hours for the insect's first flight of the day.
Turning Leaves
The year moves along, mornings are cooler and the leaves on the dogwoods are starting to look autumnal.
I often see dragon flies as I paddle around Dowker Island. They come and land on my kayak and bask in the sunshine.
We just recently visited Caerlaverock nature reserve which is known as a dragonfly hotspot and we saw a good number of dragonflies. One year when we were there, our visit coincided with a mass emergence of dragonflies, which was an amazing sight, they were literally everywhere in great numbers.