During a trip I made to visit my parents this past week over the course of August 28th through August 30th, I took some time on the 29th and 30th to look for Damselflies and Dragonflies in both Navajo and Apache Counties. I haven't gotten to look for Odes as much this year as birding has taken up a lot of my summer. But when I got to the White Mountains, my birding time was handed to ode searching. My biggest want was Black Meadowhawk, and Hoary Skimmer and Paddle-tailed Darner were up there too.
On August 29th, I decided to "chase" some odes that were found my Eric Hough at a few tanks near Greens Peak in Apache County. The tanks I chose to search were Udall Park Tanks and Road Tank. My targets for these tanks was Paddle-tailed Darner, which Eric saw a lot of. I was also hoping to come across Variable Darner. Both of these darners are high elevation dwellers, and both were potential lifers. At my first stop at Udall Park Tanks (several small tanks in close proximity of each other), I got my first look at Variable Darners. To my surprise, there were good numbers of them present. Also present were Boreal Bluets and Northern Spreadwings. There may have been Paddle-tailed Darners present and I'm sure that I picked out a few, but I surely documented several of the many Variable Darners that were present.
Variable Darners
Northern Spreadwing
Boreal Bluet
I spent about an hour at Udall Park Tanks. Aside from odes, there were plenty of birds present, most of which were heard only observations.
My next stop was at Park Tank, which was about 3 miles northwest of Udall Park Tanks. Park Tank was small, but walking down to it from the road quickly revealed that it has many darners flying around it. It didn't take me long to realize that most of the darners were my second lifer of the day in the Paddle-tailed Darner. It was fun to observe them up close, to see them perched and in tandem, and to take note of their namesake paddle-shaped "tail".
Paddle-tailed Darner
Boreal Bluets and Northern Spreadwings were also present at Road Tank in good numbers.
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| Boreal Bluet |
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| Northern Spreadwing |
After spending over two hours at the small tanks just west of Green's Peak, I headed west towards McNary, where I got a permit to bird on the Indian Reservation at a bog within the town. This McNary Bog is productive for a variety of high elevation Arizona odes, and it's a location I visited once prior to this visit. I would spend over two hours at this site during this visit, and I was targeting lifers such as Black Meadowhawk, Band-winged Meadowhawk and Hoary Skimmer. When I woke up, I meant to grab a hefty pair of rubber boots that my Dad said I could use, but because I forgot them, I had to tramp through the bog in the extra crappy pair of shoes that I had with me. It took me about a minute to find a Band-winged Meadowhawk, and the original was followed by many more individuals of the species. The Band-winged Meadowhawk was another first time (lifer) ode for me.
While I searched for Hoary Skimmers and Black Meadowhawks, there were some other cool odes present.
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| Striped Meadowhawk |
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| Western Red Damsel |
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| Plains Forktail |
It didn't take me long into my search to find one of my most wanted odes for Arizona, the Hoary Skimmer. A few of them cruised over open parts of the bog, and after watching them for some time, they wouldn't land. Some would fly by me at close range and hover close to me, but they were very difficult to obtain photographs of. After waiting for about 45 minutes in patience, one of them finally landed for me for about 10 seconds. It was just enough time for me to snap off this photo. What a cool bug!
I spent close to 6 hours looking for Odes on the 29th. This Common Whitetail in a marsh in McNary closed out the day.
On August 30th, I woke up and decided to go to Bog Tank in Apache County, and it's also on the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation just like the McNary Bog. At Bog Tank I was after my main ode lifer that I wanted for the trip, the boreal-dwelling Black Meadowhawk. The Bog Tank area was very quiet for odes in the first hour or so that I tried, but before I knew it a male Black Meadowhawk popped up and was cooperative for me. It was epic to get to find one, and it was cooperative for me. It used several perches during the 20 minutes I observed it, and I even caught it and released it. Heading out of Bog Tank I stumbled upon a female Black Meadowhawk who flew off and disappeared.
My last stop of the trip was at the North Fork of the White River. I was hoping for a longer shot in a Pacific Spiketail (one I saw and couldn't document last year), and the one ode I found here were high numbers of the awesome Arizona Snaketail.
On my way back, a McNary marsh held these Arroyo Bluets.
The White Mountain region also holds more targets I can try for next year that I haven't seen yet and they are Paiute Dancer, Eight-spotted Skimmer, and Desert Whitetail.
