Beginners Workshop on Dragonflies and Damselflies
2015
Gratiot Lake Conservancy sponsored a Beginners Workshop on Dragonflies and Damselflies led by amateur odonatist Bob Marr at Bammert Farm and Gratiot Lake on Thursday, August 27. Participants learned identification, safe capture and release, and techniques for observation of these “winged dragons” and “neon toothpicks.”
This is the fourth Odonata workshop Bob Marr has led for GLC. Participants had a great time learning a bit about the Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) of the Gratiot Lake area. Together they captured, identified, and released these six species:
The chart is a compilation of species identified during the four odonata workshops Bob has led at Gratiot Lake:
Damselflies (Suborder Zygoptera)
Spreadwings (Family Lestidae):
Northern Spreadwing (Lestes disjunctus) - male
Slender Spreadwing (Lestes rectangularis)
Pond Damsels (Family Coenagrionidae):
Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis) - male, female, and immature female
Tule Bluet (Enallagma carunculatum) - male
Hagen's Bluet (Enallagma hageni) - male
Dragonflies (Suborder Anisoptera)
Darners (Family Aeshnidae):
Canada Darner (Aeshna canadensis) - male, female
Variable Darner (Aeshna interrupta)
Black Tipped Darner (Aeshna tuberculifera)
Clubtails (Family Gomphidae):
---Black-shouldered Spinylegs (Dromogomphus spinosus) - male (also in spider web!)
Skimmers (Family Libellulidae):
---White-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum) - male
Bob is also adding to a database on odonata in the Keweenaw by submitting some odonata he collects to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ)
Specimens Collected at Gratiot Lake
and deposited at UMMZ:
