Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

I didn’t photograph any dragonflies while I was up in the U.P. last week. We spent a day in the Seney Wildlife Refuge and while there I saw many Frosted Whitefaces – but no photos due to the cold weather, the wind, and – oh yeah – forgetting to put the flash in the backpack.

Oh well. Once back in southwestern Michigan I wandered into the Allegan Forest, and found many Halloween Pennants in a field north of the river. They were perching on the mullein which are in full bloom this year.

Here is a male Halloween Pennant. The common name of the species derives from the black and orange colors of the mature males. This guy may be a bit young yet, but his colors are emerging:

And here are some shots of females, with their lovely gold and olive brown coloration:

Pam and I spent last week up in Grand Marias, Michigan. It is a little town on the shore of Lake Superior. We rented a nice cabin on Coast Guard Point, and had the big lake on one side, and a quiet bay on the other. People warned us that the black flies might be a problem up there, this time of year. But evening temperatures in the low 40’s (Fahrenheit) and daytime winds in the low 40’s (miles per hours) seem to keep the flies at bay.

It was a great week and we visited a lot of the local waterfalls. Always at mid day, never with an intent to photograph them. Here’s a tourist snap shot of Munising Falls. They are located right in the city of Munising and to get to them you just park your car and walk on a boardwalk to the observation deck. It’s that simple.

Tomorrow is the summer solstice, 2010. Just a few notes on dragonflies I’ve seen recently.

Yesterday I visited McLindon trails just east of Kalamazoo. There were lots of Spangled Skimmers – sorry, no photos. It was late afternoon after the storms had passed.

Today I visited the Allegan Forest – first visit in a few weeks. The cool wet spring has made it as lush as ever. With all the logging activity south of the river – really in the heart of the forest – I’ve been spending my time more on the edges and peripheries. Mostly the fields and woods north of the river. Here I was pleased to encounter a male Widow Skimmer – these guys are always very skittish and difficult to approach, but this individual was quite accommodating. By the end of the session her was darting off his perches and feasting on the cloud of mosquitoes that was buzzing around me. It was cool to hear the flitter-flap of his wings when he darted near my ears.

Best shot I got of him:

There was a female Widow there as well, and ultimately they flew off together – let’s hope to make many more of their kind for future summers.

After that, I went on to look for Blue Dashers. I saw a fully mature male Blue Dasher a few weeks ago, in Kalamazoo. He had the striking blue and yellow coloration that give make these dragons stand out. But all of the individuals I encountered today were either immature or female. Here’s a shot of one of them, all light and airy in its spring field:

Twelve Spotted Skimmers were everywhere:

I also chased after Damselflies, Clubtails, and many other bugs while out in the woods – here’s a shot of a Robber Fly, one of the first of the morning:

And so it goes. I drove by the Old Farmstead, and it is still the hub of for a logging operation that is gnawing in the forest for many miles on all sides. I was tempted to hike down to see how the seasonal marsh was faring, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Can a place die? Or does it just suffer from ongoing deprivations? Who knows. But I don’t see any point to walking back there and seeing the latest. Maybe someday.

The seasons are slowly following the path from spring into summer. It can be a bumpy ride – a hot and muggy week followed by a few days of shocking coolness. But the frosts are gone, the trees have greened, and most spring flowers have past or faded. Spring ephemerals are long gone, lupine is fading quickly, but coreopsis is just coming into its peak and the grey headed coneflowers are just building foliage. And so the dragonflies change as well. Here are a few photos from the two weekends – first, Brown Spiketails - Cordulegaster bilineata - from this weekend and last:

A Common Whitetail - Libellula Lydia - perched over water:

Splendid Clubtail - Gomphus lineatifrons:

And lastly, a joined pair of Black Saddlebags - Tramea lacerata:

It’s a rare treat to run into a dragonfly species that I have not seen before, even if it is a fairly common one. Such was the case last Saturday when I stumbled into a female Belted Whiteface, Leucorrhinia proxima, formerly called the Red Waisted Whiteface.

I spotted this individual on the levee near the Swan Creek Dam. At first I thought it was a Dot Tailed Whiteface, given the dark abdomen and the prominent yellow spot on it’s back. But it was noticeably smaller than the Dot Tail and flew and perched differently – often coming to a perch and obelisking on plant stems a foot or so above the ground. The white underside of the abdomen really stood out, and I realized that this was something different.

Here’s another shot showing the markings on the back of the abdomen, similar to the Dot Tailed Whiteace:

Though hard to see on the web sized image above, there are clearly three rows of cells radiating out from the forewing triangle, which is a good ID guide for this species. (This led me go back and check the wing cell pattern in the Frost Whiteface, that I spotted last summer, and I confirmed that was correctly identified based on the two rows of cells following the forewing triangle.)

Last weekend I paid a visit to the Allegan forest, to see what’s up with the dragonflies. It is amazing how in a few years the game area has been diminished. Obviously, the old farmstead is gone for good. But then I think of some of the forest clearings that I used to visit - between 46th and the river. They too are gone due to logging. Another favorite spot is also corrupted, as some nutter has mounted a pickup truck camper on poles in a clearing, and is trying to live back in the woods. Oh well – a few years ago a someone else was living out of his car not far from this spot, and he’s moved on after a few weeks. They always do.

Timing wasn’t ideal. I couldn’t get to the woods till mid afternoon on Sunday, and they were crowded and full of people. I say at least 5 people in the few hours I spent there – I miss the days when I could wander off and not see a soul till I got back on the highway. That late in the day dragonflies tend to settle into cover, but I found a few.

I had expected to see blue dashers, but only a few immature individuals were to be found. Here’s the first blue dasher of the season:

True to past years, Clubtails were abundant in the fields north of the river. This individual looks like a Splendid Clubtail, though I think I’ve indentified similar dragons as Rapids Clubtails, but the marks on the tail look like those of the Splendid. A couple photos:

Lastly – an immature or female Dot-Tailed Whiteface:

Thursday afternoon. As I walk across a parking lot, a dot tailed whiteface dragonfly darts it front of me. He land on a bright yellow parking line – fully mature, with an ebony body, one vibrant yellow dot on his tail, and a face as white as snow. I bent down to look at him, but he dashed off to the next yellow line. As I approached he dashed off once more – again to the next yellow line. And so we traversed the parking lot.

I haven’t seen many dragons this spring, so Sunday morning I went to the McClendon Trails to do something about that. The grass trails are built up around a well field that provides municipal water. It is ideal Odonate habitat- clean spring fed streams spill into a large shallow marsh, surrounded by acres of open grassland.

It was cool when I arrived – temperatures around 55F – but shortly after getting to the trails I was greeted by this Common Baskettail:

That was a nice start, but thing slowed down for a while. The next hour brought few dragonflies, though I wandered by the creek and marsh and observed numerous Crescentspot and Red Admiral butterflies. As the temperatures rose, a few damselflies became active, and I managed to get this shot of a an Eastern Forktail:

That was shot on the edge of a small wooded area – old apple trees mixed with scruffy pines and maples, remnants of the farm that once was there. A small clearing a few yards away provided the next opportunities – here’s a Four Spotted Skimmer, a species that is considered quite common but that I rarely see:

I’m a little disappointed in that shot - I had high hopes for it as I pressed the shutter button. Aside from the partially missing leg (something not obvious in the camera finder) I managed to clip just the tip of the wing in this exposure, which turns out to be the only really sharp shot of this subject. (It was bouncing around in the breeze.) Oh well – it’s a not a bad start for the season.

Following that, I encountered this last dragon of the day – I’m not sure what it is. The gap between the eyes suggests a Clubtail – family Gomphidae – but otherwise my field guides come up dry. The yellow marking on the second segment of all 6 legs is particularly distinctive.

Dragonfly season has begun – belatedly this year, but it is here now. More shots to come in the weeks ahead.

I visited Chicago earlier this week, mostly to sign books on Monday at the International Reading Association convention at McCormick Place. Tuesday and Wednesday were devoted to museums and otherwise hanging out. The Eggleston and Vernacular Photography exhibits at the Chicago Art Institute are highly recommended.

After the Chicago visit we moved on into Iowa and spend a few days there. I visited Stone City, famous from the Grant Wood painting, but was disappointed. It, like all other places, did not look as glorious in real life.

Well – here’s a couple of photos of a place – the city of Chicago. Taken from my hotel room (Chicago Hilton, 22nd floor), we have sun rise and sun set on the city on Tuesday, April 27, 2010.