My first few times Oding Pinal County

Pinal County has some fabulous locations for oding.  Just awesome places.  Justin Jones inspired me to go look at some of the Pinal County locations, and the time I spent there oding on August 25th and 26th was worth every minute.  The locations I visited were Kearny Lake, the Kelvin Bridge, and the Queen Valley stream and ponds.  A few other locations are also bomb in Pinal County for odes, which include a few ponds at a Nature Conservancy location by the San Pedro River.  As for now, I give some highlights and lists from the locations I did stop at.

Kearny Lake, August 25th.  A lake surrounded by cattails and some interesting shoreline that give the location good potential.  Many rare odes have been found here in the past.  I didn't have anything mind blowing, but the time spent was worth it.  Here are some picture highlights.

Blue Dasher

Western Pondhawk

Red-tailed Pennant

Desert Forktail

Flame Skimmer

Familiar Bluet

List for Kearny Lake:  American Rubyspot, Blue-ringed Dancer, Familiar Bluet, Desert Forktail, Common Green Darner, Blue-eyed Darner, White-belted Ringtail, Red-tailed Pennant, Western Pondhawk, Flame Skimmer, Straw-colored Sylph, Blue Dasher, Wandering Glider, Mexican Amberwing (14 species)


Kelvin Bridge, August 25th:  Now this place is epic, and in past a horde of rare odes have been found.  I really enjoyed this spot, and highlights for me included Giant Darner, Filagree Skimmers, and some great flight looks at the awesome Straw-colored Sylph.  It was my second Sylph of the day, as I also had one in flight at Kearny Lake.

Filagree Skimmer

Roseate Skimmer

Plateau Dragonlet

Giant Darner

Gray Sanddragon

Straw-colored Sylph

List for Kelvin Bridge:  American Rubyspot, Sooty Dancer, Aztec Dancer, Blue-ringed Dancer, Familiar Bluet, Pacific Forktail, Desert Firetail, Common Green Darner, Giant Darner, White-belted Ringtail, Gray Sanddragon, Pale-faced Clubskimmer, Black Setwing, Western Pondhawk, Plateau Dragonlet, Flame Skimmer, Neon Skimmer, Filagree Skimmer, Straw-colored Sylph, Roseate Skimmer, Wandering Glider, and Mexican Amberwing (22 species)


Papago Park, August 25.  Yeah this goes out of Pinal, but it came between the Pinal outings.  This was a one hour jaunt looking for Striped Saddlebags with my great buddy Justin Jones.  We didn't find any of our target, but the main highlight was hanging out with Justin, my oding mentor.

Common Green Darner ovipositing

Black Setwing female (I thought this was a Sylph at first)

Western Pondhawk eating Mexican Amberwing

Red Saddlebags

White-belted Ringtail

Species recorded at Papago Park:  American Rubyspot, Blue-ringed Dancer, Dusky Dancer, Familiar Bluet, Rambur's Forktail, Common Green Darner, White-belted Ringtail, Red-tailed Pennant, Black Setwing, Western Pondhawk, Comanche Skimmer, Widow Skimmer, Flame Skimmer, Marl Pennant, Roseate Skimmer, Blue Dasher, Wandering Glider, Mexican Amberwing, Black Saddlebags, Red Saddlebags (20 Species)


Queen Valley Stream and Ponds, Pinal County, AZ.  August 26th, 2017:  Justin Jones and I teamed up to head down for a morning of oding at Queen Valley.  Now, this Queen Valley area is epic for odes.  Justin told me story after story about the place.  With how many awesome stories he told me, one would think he's been oding the spot for years.  Actually, that is far from the case.  It's only been oded for a little over a year!  And despite the shorter time frame for surveying as opposed to more years of surveying, this spot is significant.  The reason is because prior to the visit and search Justin and I had, the location had 54 species at it.  In all of Arizona, that is the highest number for species diversity at a location.  The number grew to 55 when Justin spied the location's newest addition, a Red-tailed Pennant.  This incredible number all comes from a few ponds in Queen Valley that team up with a perennial stream that runs for just over a mile.  That is higher than the more well known waterways and even Patagonia Lake State Park.  Now, that is some serious stuff.  Justin and I landed 29 species on the morning, and odes were everywhere.  It was epic oding with my great friend and oding mentor.   Our main highlight was finding a perched Giant Darner pair in tandem!  It was Justin's first time seeing such an event, and it was sure epic.

Giant Darner pair in tandem

Citrine Forktail

Kiowa Dancer:  more of a blue morphed individual.  Justin told me that this is a location where they are seen, and this morph is very difficult to find elsewhere.  This coloration of Kiowa Dancer testifies to the awesomeness of Queen Creek's oding.

Western Pondhawk

Plateau Dragonlet female

Blue-eyed Darner

Thanks Justin for an awesome morning of oding.

Species recorded at Queen Valley:  American Rubyspot, Kiowa Dancer, Aztec Dancer, Blue-ringed Dancer, Dusky Dancer, Familiar Bluet, Arroyo Bluet, Mexican Forktail, Citrine Forktail, Desert Firetail, Common Green Darner, Giant Darner, Blue-eyed Darner, Red-tailed Pennant, Pale-faced Clubskimmer, Black Setwing, Western Pondhawk, Plateau Dragonlet, Flame Skimmer, Roseate Skimmer, Blue Dasher, Filagree Skimmer, Wandering Glider, Spot-winged Glider, Mexican Amberwing, Common Whitetail, Red Saddlebags, Black Saddlebags, and Twelve-spotted Simmer
TOTAL-29 species