Sunday, September 24, 2017
Lifer Ode: Checkered Setwing
Seen on September 24th, 2017 at Secret Ponds in Wickenburg. There is a local population of this species at this location. It was also my 80th ode for Arizona, all in 2017. Checkered Setwing was a cool bug to see.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
An Epic Oding Quest to Sycamore Canyon
It's always exciting when a first United States record shows up somewhere in the United States. As a birder, I can especially relate to that. I've seen such incredible records with in my many birding experiences. But because I've gotten into some other forms of wildlife, the same can happen with those species too and it's really awesome. In this case, I'm talking about odes. Recently in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, in a long canyon called Sycamore Canyon, the first Arizona and U.S. Bluepoint Dancer, Argia oculata, was found by Troy Hibbits. Not only was that being seen, but several of the very rare in the United States Straight-tipped Ringtails were also being seen. With the latter, Sycamore Canyon is the only location that the species can currently be seen at in the U.S., and it creates a big hype for those passionate about oding. With Bluepoint Dancer, finding one is a needle in a haystack and re-finding one is even tougher. Aside from the two rarities, Sycamore Canyon holds many other cool odes, and plenty more lifer opportunities for someone like me. Sycamore Canyon also extends down south of the Mexican border, and is west of Nogales.
Troy Hibbits discovered Bluepoint Dancer on September 16th, 2017, as well as many other notables such as the mentioned Straight-tipped Ringtails. My great buddy and oding mentor, Justin Jones, decided to take work of on Wednesday, September 20th, and we planned to make the trek down to Sycamore Canyon in search of treasure. We weren't the only ones pumped up about the rare odes. Justin and I were joined by great buddies Chris Benesh and Laurens Halsey. These two guys, who are spectacular legendary birders, are two more examples of the growing interest in odes among many birders. The four of us met in Green Valley, and would head down to Sycamore Canyon for our first mega rare ode chase, or twitch! Sycamore Canyon was a first time visit for me, and let me tell ya, it is incredible!
Troy told Justin the sun didn't hit the canyon until later in the morning. It was quite dark when we started and it took the ode activity awhile to wake up. The first of many odes was this female Desert Firetail.
The first highlight came when we found this Black-and-white Damsel. Only the second time I've gotten to see this species, and this species is one that favors shady environments.
Justin spied this Great Spreadwing, always a cool bug to find!
The lifer party started when we found this male Sabino Dancer. This damsel is restricted in it's Arizona range, and Sycamore Canyon is the best location to find the species. It favors rocks along montane plunge pools and can be seen on canyon walls or sides of waterfalls and rocky creek edges. One of the best field marks for Sabino is a wide and forked humeral stripe.
Sabino Dancers were common throughout the Canyon, and here's an assortment of the other ones we encountered.
Things got fun when we encountered my most overdue ode lifer. And that is a Painted Damsel everyone! We got to have some up close and great views of both a female and a male of this species. And man, that male sure is striking. Painted Damsel is quite widespread in Arizona, and it is shocking that it took me almost 4 months to see one while doing a lot of oding throughout many Arizona locations! Overdue stuff is fun.
The more we hiked down Sycamore, the more Sycamore odes we saw.
Filigree Skimmer
Lavender Dancer
Arroyo Bluet
One of our big targets presented itself when Justin yelled out, "Mayan Setwing!". After the Mayan frantically flew around for awhile, it settled down and gave us all killer looks. This was a lifer for all of us except for Justin, but Justin got his lifer just days before this in Muleshoe Ranch. With it's brilliant neon coloration, who wouldn't want to see a Mayan Setwing?! This species is very local in Arizona, especially in canyons that have pools and lush vegetation such as Sycamore. During our expedition, we found four Mayan Setwings, three males and a female. Justin netted one of them and we got to study and hold the bug up close.
Where we had our first Mayan Setwing was a fun place. There was a big plunge pool there that we would have to carefully navigate around. Once navigating around, things got interesting when I spied a Ringtail flying over a deep plunge pool. We didn't see it well before it left, but we had our eyes peeled more than ever before for the Ringtail we were targeting. Working our way back down the canyon, we found a Serpent Ringtail.
Looking down further as Justin was slightly ahead, Justin yelled out "Elaps!!". Elaps is the latter word in the name Erpetogomphus elaps, which is latin for Straight-tipped Ringtail. It was crazy, we were about to see this extremely rare ode in the U.S. As we caught up to Justin, I almost tripped . At first, all we could do was look down and have a distant look at the rarity before it flew back down canyon.
I remember Chris, Laurens, and Justin were talking about something and I wanted to get more looks of the Straight-tipped Ringtail badly. So I went ahead of everyone. After a big jump and a splash, I got my eyes on the Elaps much closer! I called the guys over and we had some awesome looks at this rare bug. Straight-tipped Ringtail is a tiny clubtail, and after seeing it, we knew that the ringtail I spied at the big plunge pool was a Serpent Ringtail. This dragon is usually seen when it perches on rocks in streams and rivers. It doesn't have much streaking at all on it's mostly apple colored thorax. From Rich, Doug, and Sandy's book, Damselflies and Dragonflies of Arizona and Sonora, "the Straight-tipped Ringtail may be very abundant at times that males will perch communally while females are usually found in shaded vegetation away from streams". Of course, that is much further south in Mexico when this sequence happens. We were grateful for one!
Catching the rarity bug and succeeding calls for celebration. Yours truly leftside, Benesh holding the field guide to the Straight-tipped page, Laurens showing his photograph, and Justin right side after landing a lifer! This was a lifer for all of us, and it was epic to see Justin get a life ode.
Lavender Dancers in tandem.
Springwater Dancer
A fun lifer came into view for Chris, Laurens, and I. A Persephone's Darner! At first, it was flying around a lot and it was hard for us to get clean looks at it. It flew around at varied height levels and a few times, it came closer to our level. The key field mark of this darner, two broad yellow thoracic stripes, really stood out at times. Things were challenging until Justin made an epic over the back catch with his net! And then clean looks at the Persephone's were easy.
Persephone's Darner especially favors mid-elevation streams throughout it's range. In Arizona, it is fairly widespread at such. Justin put the darner on a perch, and for about 15 seconds, it sat there before flying off.
Plateau Dragonlet
Great Spreadwing
On the walk back up Canyon, we had more odes to search through than on the way down. When we walked down, much of the area was shady before the sun hit the canyon. Things got even better when Justin spied our second Straight-tipped Ringtail of the day!
A big highlight and a lifer for all of us except for Justin came next when we found Argia anceps, which is also known as, Cerulean Dancer! Cerulean Dancer, a beautifully colored damsel, was only recently found in Arizona. It favors flowing streams as it's main habitat choice, although it's habitat can be varied, as well as the things that it chooses to perch on. The best field mark for Cerulean Dancer is that the dorsal area (top) of each abdominal segment is sky blue for the entire length. The bug also has amber tinted wings and a narrow, unforked humeral stripe. This was the first of three Ceruleans that we would discover.
Spine-tipped Dancer
Fiery-eyed Dancer
Amethyst Dancer
Variegated Meadowhawk
We then stepped into a Sierra Madre Dancer, which was my 7th ode lifer of the day! Like Cerulean Dancer, this is another beautiful damsel with sky blue coloration. Sierra Madre is more common than Cerulean overall in Arizona. In most ways it is visually similar to Cerulean, but has larger, can have a forked humeral stripe such as this one where Cerulean doesn't have a fork in it's humeral stripe, segment 7 on abdomen is mostly blue where Cerulean is all blue, and it also doesn't have amber tipped wings like Cerulean does. Sierra Madre prefers shaded streams at mid-elevations.
We finished Sycamore Canyon with 31 different ode species. Many of those ode species were high quality ones. I was amazed that 7 of them were lifers for me. We spent some more time at Summit Reservoir and Pena Blanca Lake on the way back before heading home. A few more ode species were added to our day list.
Plateau Spreadwings at Summit Reservoir
Huge thanks to Chris Benesh, Laurens Halsey, and Justin Jones for the great day and the awesome company.
Troy Hibbits discovered Bluepoint Dancer on September 16th, 2017, as well as many other notables such as the mentioned Straight-tipped Ringtails. My great buddy and oding mentor, Justin Jones, decided to take work of on Wednesday, September 20th, and we planned to make the trek down to Sycamore Canyon in search of treasure. We weren't the only ones pumped up about the rare odes. Justin and I were joined by great buddies Chris Benesh and Laurens Halsey. These two guys, who are spectacular legendary birders, are two more examples of the growing interest in odes among many birders. The four of us met in Green Valley, and would head down to Sycamore Canyon for our first mega rare ode chase, or twitch! Sycamore Canyon was a first time visit for me, and let me tell ya, it is incredible!
Troy told Justin the sun didn't hit the canyon until later in the morning. It was quite dark when we started and it took the ode activity awhile to wake up. The first of many odes was this female Desert Firetail.
The first highlight came when we found this Black-and-white Damsel. Only the second time I've gotten to see this species, and this species is one that favors shady environments.
Justin spied this Great Spreadwing, always a cool bug to find!
The lifer party started when we found this male Sabino Dancer. This damsel is restricted in it's Arizona range, and Sycamore Canyon is the best location to find the species. It favors rocks along montane plunge pools and can be seen on canyon walls or sides of waterfalls and rocky creek edges. One of the best field marks for Sabino is a wide and forked humeral stripe.
Sabino Dancers were common throughout the Canyon, and here's an assortment of the other ones we encountered.
The more we hiked down Sycamore, the more Sycamore odes we saw.
Filigree Skimmer
Lavender Dancer
Arroyo Bluet
One of our big targets presented itself when Justin yelled out, "Mayan Setwing!". After the Mayan frantically flew around for awhile, it settled down and gave us all killer looks. This was a lifer for all of us except for Justin, but Justin got his lifer just days before this in Muleshoe Ranch. With it's brilliant neon coloration, who wouldn't want to see a Mayan Setwing?! This species is very local in Arizona, especially in canyons that have pools and lush vegetation such as Sycamore. During our expedition, we found four Mayan Setwings, three males and a female. Justin netted one of them and we got to study and hold the bug up close.
Where we had our first Mayan Setwing was a fun place. There was a big plunge pool there that we would have to carefully navigate around. Once navigating around, things got interesting when I spied a Ringtail flying over a deep plunge pool. We didn't see it well before it left, but we had our eyes peeled more than ever before for the Ringtail we were targeting. Working our way back down the canyon, we found a Serpent Ringtail.
Looking down further as Justin was slightly ahead, Justin yelled out "Elaps!!". Elaps is the latter word in the name Erpetogomphus elaps, which is latin for Straight-tipped Ringtail. It was crazy, we were about to see this extremely rare ode in the U.S. As we caught up to Justin, I almost tripped . At first, all we could do was look down and have a distant look at the rarity before it flew back down canyon.
I remember Chris, Laurens, and Justin were talking about something and I wanted to get more looks of the Straight-tipped Ringtail badly. So I went ahead of everyone. After a big jump and a splash, I got my eyes on the Elaps much closer! I called the guys over and we had some awesome looks at this rare bug. Straight-tipped Ringtail is a tiny clubtail, and after seeing it, we knew that the ringtail I spied at the big plunge pool was a Serpent Ringtail. This dragon is usually seen when it perches on rocks in streams and rivers. It doesn't have much streaking at all on it's mostly apple colored thorax. From Rich, Doug, and Sandy's book, Damselflies and Dragonflies of Arizona and Sonora, "the Straight-tipped Ringtail may be very abundant at times that males will perch communally while females are usually found in shaded vegetation away from streams". Of course, that is much further south in Mexico when this sequence happens. We were grateful for one!
Catching the rarity bug and succeeding calls for celebration. Yours truly leftside, Benesh holding the field guide to the Straight-tipped page, Laurens showing his photograph, and Justin right side after landing a lifer! This was a lifer for all of us, and it was epic to see Justin get a life ode.
Lavender Dancers in tandem.
Springwater Dancer
A fun lifer came into view for Chris, Laurens, and I. A Persephone's Darner! At first, it was flying around a lot and it was hard for us to get clean looks at it. It flew around at varied height levels and a few times, it came closer to our level. The key field mark of this darner, two broad yellow thoracic stripes, really stood out at times. Things were challenging until Justin made an epic over the back catch with his net! And then clean looks at the Persephone's were easy.
Persephone's Darner especially favors mid-elevation streams throughout it's range. In Arizona, it is fairly widespread at such. Justin put the darner on a perch, and for about 15 seconds, it sat there before flying off.
Plateau Dragonlet
Great Spreadwing
On the walk back up Canyon, we had more odes to search through than on the way down. When we walked down, much of the area was shady before the sun hit the canyon. Things got even better when Justin spied our second Straight-tipped Ringtail of the day!
A big highlight and a lifer for all of us except for Justin came next when we found Argia anceps, which is also known as, Cerulean Dancer! Cerulean Dancer, a beautifully colored damsel, was only recently found in Arizona. It favors flowing streams as it's main habitat choice, although it's habitat can be varied, as well as the things that it chooses to perch on. The best field mark for Cerulean Dancer is that the dorsal area (top) of each abdominal segment is sky blue for the entire length. The bug also has amber tinted wings and a narrow, unforked humeral stripe. This was the first of three Ceruleans that we would discover.
Spine-tipped Dancer
Fiery-eyed Dancer
Amethyst Dancer
Variegated Meadowhawk
We then stepped into a Sierra Madre Dancer, which was my 7th ode lifer of the day! Like Cerulean Dancer, this is another beautiful damsel with sky blue coloration. Sierra Madre is more common than Cerulean overall in Arizona. In most ways it is visually similar to Cerulean, but has larger, can have a forked humeral stripe such as this one where Cerulean doesn't have a fork in it's humeral stripe, segment 7 on abdomen is mostly blue where Cerulean is all blue, and it also doesn't have amber tipped wings like Cerulean does. Sierra Madre prefers shaded streams at mid-elevations.
We finished Sycamore Canyon with 31 different ode species. Many of those ode species were high quality ones. I was amazed that 7 of them were lifers for me. We spent some more time at Summit Reservoir and Pena Blanca Lake on the way back before heading home. A few more ode species were added to our day list.
Plateau Spreadwings at Summit Reservoir
Huge thanks to Chris Benesh, Laurens Halsey, and Justin Jones for the great day and the awesome company.
We also saw this cool butterfly called an Elf.
Species List for the day: American Rubyspot, Cerulean Dancer, Lavender Dancer, Amethyst Dancer, Sierra Madre Dancer, Sabino Dancer, Fiery-eyed Dancer, Spine-tipped Dancer, Springwater Dancer, Aztec Dancer, Great Spreadwing, Desert Firetail, Arroyo Bluet, Familiar Bluet, Painted Damsel, Black and White Damsel, Common Green Darner, Persephone's Darner, Straight-tipped Ringtail, Serpent Ringtail, Flame Skimmer, Roseate Skimmer, Variegated Meadowhawk, Western Pondhawk, Blue Dasher, Red Rock Skimmer, Mayan Setwing, Plateau Dragonlet, Spot-winged Glider, Wandering Glider, Filigree Skimmer, Red Saddlebags, Black Saddlebags, Mexican Amberwing, Plateau Spreadwing.
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