Thursday, August 16, 2012

Dragonflies moving too...

Shortly after I posted my earlier blog today, Tony Leukering sent me some counts he had made this morning of dragonflies, all moving north along the Delaware Bayshore in Villas. Here's Tony's data:

Dragonflies counted flying north past Miami Beach, Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, 16 August 2012.
Species
10:41 - 11:11

11:15 - 11:45

12:10 - 12:40

Totals
Common Green Darner
4



1

5
Swamp Darner
363

758

666

1787
Great Blue Skimmer
5

3

5

13
Spot-winged Glider
1

1

8

10
Black Saddlebags


4

3

7
Carolina Saddlebags
3

14

11

28
saddlebags sp.
1





1
unidentified


4

4

8
Totals
377

784

698

1859

Perhaps two things stand out as of particular interest here; firstly, the relatively low numbers of other dragonfly species compared with the high numbers of Swamp Darners - why so many of a single species? Secondly, the presence of Great Blue Skimmers, which are not normally thought to be migratory.

Swamp Darner - one of over 1700 counted heading north at Villas today [photo by Tony Leukering].