THE BOGHAUNTER Occasional News About the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Vermont Volume 3 • Number 1 www.vermontbirdtours.com/boghaunter Winter 2003- 2004 Two New Dragonflies for Vermont By Bryan Pfeiffer With A. subarctica recorded in Quebec and Massachusetts, Vermont was he rapid pace of Odonata overdue. On September 10, in my usual discovery continues in Vermont T Aeshna acquisition mode, I had parked with the addition of two species to the myself at the edge of the bog pond, state’s unofficial checklist this past field where I would pick off countless season. patrolling A. canadensis (Canada On an ideal fall day, I netted Vermont’s Darner) and A. interrupta (Variable first Aeshna subarctica (Subarctic Darner). Darner) at an unnamed spruce bog in Only when I drifted over to a section of Essex County. In one sense, the record the bog with flooded Sphagnum sp. did is little more than a missing puzzle I encounter several males of A. piece in the circumboreal distribution of subarctica (the microhabitat where this handsome insect. But the discovery Paul-Michael Brunelle, Nick Donnelly, – along with the state’s first Libellula and Blair Nikula advised me to look). cyanea (Spangled Skimmer) last summer – suggest that we’re continuing A. subarctica seemed to hover and to learn more about the ode fauna in this hang more than the other Aeshna under-surveyed state. species at the bog that day, about a meter or so above the mat, almost The two new records bring Vermont’s Epitheca-like, so lazily that I odonata list to 92 Anisoptera species identified by sight the new state and 42 Zygoptera species (give or take a record before he landed in my net. few, depending on your taxonomic view of the world). It also shows, however, Perhaps the other important note on that Vermont remains beckoning this discovery is the late date. Blair Nikula country for new ode discoveries. Donnelly had suggested that waiting Aeshna subarctica (Subarctic Darner) (Continued on page 2) VT Hosts DSA Meeting and BioBlitz By Bryan Pfeiffer a reservoir, and various sunny woodland openings. The setting includes the Connecticut River, the White River, and the It should be great for Gomphids, magnificent for Macromids, and Ottauquechee River. New state records are likely. lovely for Libellulids when odonatists from across the Northeast converge on Vermont in June for a northeast regional gathering For details on the DSA meeting consult <www.vinsweb.org/ of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas and a BioBlitz. BioBlitz/DSA-NE.html>. The DSA meeting will run from Thursday to Sunday, June 24- The meeting coincides with a BioBlitz organized by the Vermont 27. Odonatists will convene in Hartford, Vermont, for Institute of Natural Science. The BioBlitz is a 24-hour race explorations in the Upper Connecticut River Valley (not far from against time to identify every living thing at a site along the White River Junction, Vermont, and Hanover, New Hampshire). Ottauquechee River in Hartford. It is expected to expected to attract biologists from across the Northeast. Awaiting the adventurous person with a net is a smorgasbord of Part science, part education, and a lot of fun, BioBlitzes are habitats, including: emergent marshes, small and large ponds, (Continued on page 2) well-oxygenated rivers (including the dramatic Quechee Gorge), Two New Vermont Dragonflies (Continued from page 1) dashed away. But with relocation help from until after Labor Day at local birder and butterflyer our latitude wasn’t too late for A. subarctica. Wally Elton, I was able to net the male for another long- To be sure, more sites overdue state record. await discovery for this species. One prime In his excellent guide, candidate is Molly Bog Dragonflies Through in Morristown, which Binoculars, Sidney Dunkle also seems to have had suspected this species patches of flooded might fly in southwestern Sphagnum. Vermont. His distribution The Libellula cyanea maps shows it. Sure enough, Dunkle was right. discovery was a bit more accidental. It came at the The A. subarctica and L. end of a butterfly count at Blair Nikula cyanea discoveries bring to six North Springfield Lake in Libellula cyanea (Spangled Skimmer) the number of new state Weathersfield (Windsor records for Vermont in the County) on July 6. (Common Green Darner), Libellula past two years. More are sure to follow. A group of birders in the area had pulchella (Twelve-spotted Skimmer), and Williamsonia lintneri (Ringed organized the region’s first Fourth of July other common species, even a Boghaunter) would be a rare and hotly Butterfly Count. And as the successful Leucorrhinia intacta (Dot-tailed pursued candidate. It’s one of many good day wound to a close, a lone Pantala Whiteface). excuses to get out to a bog in May. flavescens (Wandering Glider) drifted Yet as soon as I set eyes on those bi- overhead at the north end of the reservoir. Bryan Pfeiffer, founder of the nature touring colored pterostigmas, the butterflyers (not company Vermont Bird Tours, is editor and Closer to shore, my attention drifted to the butterflies) were startled to hear me publisher of THE BOGHAUNTER. odes, which included Anax junius shout “Libellula cyanea!” as the ode THE BOGHAUNTER is an occasional newsletter about the dragonflies and damselflies of Vermont. It is DSA Meeting and BioBlitz available for no charge, although contributions to help offset postage and printing are welcome. (Continued from page 1) Tentative agenda for the DSA meeting: CONTRIBUTIONS to THE BOGHAUNTER can take two being organized across the country. Thursday, June 24 forms: financial and editorial. The newsletter Entomologists specializing in other taxa appears two or three times per year. Even a DSA members convene in Hartford, will be in abundance in Vermont during donation of $5 to $10 would help offset printing and either at reserved campsites at postage expenses, which are borne entirely by the the event. Queeche State Park or at local motels. editor. Your articles, photos, and ideas are welcome The formal BioBlitz survey period runs (Directions and motel information is on the web site.) Group pizza supper. as well. The next issue should appear in May . from 3 p.m. on June 25 (Friday) to 3 p.m. THE BOGHAUNTER is on the web in color at: on June 26 (Saturday). DSA members Friday, June 25 www.vermontbirdtours.com/boghaunter/. who join the surveying can also attend the Collecting trips to various locations at huge grand tally supper following the the BioBlitz site. Evening speaker. THE BOGHAUNTER 113 Bartlett Road BioBlitz. The BioBlitz web site is at: Saturday, June 26 Plainfield, VT 05667 www.vinsweb.org/BioBlitz. Continued collecting at BioBlitz site or [email protected] The central gathering spot for all DSA short trips to other rivers, ponds and (pending approval) a bog and rich fen. Editor …………….……………...… Bryan Pfeiffer members and BioBlitzers will include an Evening Event: BioBlitz grand tally indoor location with stereoscopes for any THE BOGHAUNTER expresses gratitude to Paul- supper. Michael Brunelle and the Maine Department of needed identification work. Sunday, June 27 Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for inspiration and The BioBlitz site is an extensive river and use of the Williamsonia fletcheri image the front- Optional field trips. page banner, and to Blair Nikula and Glenn wetlands complex, a flood-control project Corbiere for the use of their fine images. of the US Army Corps of Engineers on A web site with information about the the Ottauquechee River. The Corps is an DSA gathering is at: © The Boghaunter 2004 eager participant in the BioBlitz and will www.vinsweb.org/BioBlitz/DSA-NE.html Nothing from this newsletter can be reproduced without issue a blanket collecting permit. permission from the editor (which is fairly easy to get). Page 2 THE BOGHAUNTER Volume 3 • Number 1 The 2003 Season Summary ermont somehow managed to elude Corporal), V the rains that soaked much of the Libellula Northeast in the spring and summer of quadimaculata 2003. While odonatists elsewhere were (Four-spotted lamenting the shortage of good field days, Skimmer), Vermonters were out in the warm Leucorrhinia sunshine swinging nets. hudsonica (Hudsonian Because our state remains in the early Whiteface), stages of ode discovery, with relatively Leucorrhinia few investigators, it’s hard to compare intacta (Dot- one season to the next or to an “average tailed season.” (Editor’s Note: This summary Whiteface). relies to a large extent on my own observations, which is a subtle hint and a Two notable plea for others to take some field notes reports came and send them along this year.) from Massachusetts Cold rains in early April may have odonatist Blair Nikula slowed the arrival of Anax junius Lynn Harper. Her Gomphus vastus (Cobra Clubtail) (Common Green Darner) from points investigations south. Mike Blust found what was most along the shore of the Connecticut River Management Area in Addison on likely A. junius on May 4. Two more below the Vernon Dam on June 25 September 3, and Bryan caught a female were hunting at a small pond at Herrick’s included four exuviae of Gomphus vastus at Vermont Institute of Natural Science’s Cove in Rockingham on May 18. (Cobra Clubtail) and two of new site in Quechee, Vermont, on Basiaeschna janata (Springtime Darner) Neurocordulia yamaskanensis (Stygian September 6 (He released it during his was patrolling a woodland dirt road in Shadowdragon). We’ll be sure to look for keynote remarks to the VINS annual Bellows Falls on the 18th as well. A few exuviae and adults during the DSA meeting at the site.) days later, ode activity began to surge. meeting at the end of June (see page one September turned to be a nice month for Mike, investigating Coggman Marsh in of this issue).