[birding] Re: [obol] 1st December Oregon odonate record? (OT for birding)

[Rich Hoyer]

Hi All,

I would agree that Shadow Darner fits what I saw with Jamie at Peoria,  
as well as with both of the dragonflies I saw on November 29/30 while  
with Alan Contreras and Dave & Kathy in northern Curry County (one  
might have been in Coos County, can't quite remember).

But I have an earlier record of a December dragonfly in Oregon. It  
took a bit of searching on the National Audubon CBC website, but it  
must have been the Dec. 31, 1991 Dallas Christmas Bird Count. The  
valley was under the influence of one of those persistent, bone- 
chilling warm-air inversions. So while all the teams in the valley  
were freezing their booties off in the dense fog all day, Roy Gerig  
and I were basking in the warmth and sun up on Rickreall Ridge. It was  
amazing. We had flocks of Red Crossbills, a Northern Pygmy-Owl, and at  
one point a dragonfly flew past us. Neither of us had any idea what  
kind of dragonfly it was, and it would be years before I knew anything  
about identifying dragonflies even to family.

Good Birding & Odonating,

Rich
---
Rich Hoyer
Tucson, Arizona

Senior Leader for WINGS
http://wingsbirds.com
---

On Dec 4, 2008, at 8:18 AM, jt_johnson at comcast.net wrote:

> Sorry for the off-topic response...  There are no December odonate  
> records in Oregon (or Washington), so that's a very nice sighting. A  
> couple of the more likely candidates which fly well into November,  
> weather permitting, are Aeshna umbrosa (Shadow Darner) and Sympetrum  
> vicinum (Autum Meadowhawk; males are red--females can be quite  
> uncolorful). The former is a relatively large species, the latter  
> relatively small.
>
> A couple of species have been found in January, but interestingly,  
> neither of those are the species which are known to fly late into  
> the fall. One is a potential migrant, so it may have popped up from  
> California during an unseasonable warm spell.
>
> Jim Johnson
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: "Jamie S." <woodpecker97330 at yahoo.com>
> Sorry, this is off-topic for birding lists, but I know there are  
> dragonfly enthusiasts as well on these lists.
> While looking for the Palm Warbler in Peoria on Monday, December  
> 1st, I spotted a dragonfly in the Darner family (Aeshnidae).  Rich  
> Hoyer had a glimpse as well before it disappeared.
> According to _Dragonflies & Damselflies of the Willamette Valley,  
> Oregon_ by Steve Gordon and Cary Kerst and published in 2005, there  
> are no non-red-colored dragonfly species typically still around  
> after about mid-November.  On page 9, under "When and Where to  
> Look", they wrote "There are no December Oregon adult Odonate  
> records--yet."  There is one now (if there haven't been any previous  
> December records)!
> (Some of the Oregon web links in the book are already obsolete or  
> have not been updated in years.  If anyone knows how to contact  
> Steve Gordon and/or Cary Kerst, please pass this email on to them.)
> Jamie Simmons
> woodpecker97330 at yahoo.com
> in balmy Corvallis (for anyone receiving this email who is not in  
> Oregon, it has been a very mild fall so far)
>
>
> From: "Jamie S." <woodpecker97330 at yahoo.com>
> Date: December 4, 2008 12:46:33 AM GMT-07:00
> To: post to list midvalleybirding <list at midvalleybirding.org>, obol <obol at oregonbirdwatch.org 
> >
> Subject: [obol] 1st December Oregon odonate record? (OT for birding)
>
>
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