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which_chick) wrote2019-01-13 06:13 pm
which_chick) wrote2019-01-13 06:13 pm
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Odonata found here, based on the PNHP for Fulton County
I was (a little light reading) checking out the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Project for Fulton County. It (and all the other reports for the other counties in PA) can be found here if you want to read several hundred pages of Stuff In Your County (or mine). I'm located at the far end of the Sideling Hill Creek (N) watershed (page 35 of 273, the dark forest green color in the upper left hand side of the graphic).
So the primary item of interest (okay, okay, FOR ME. Primary item of interest FOR ME.) in this thing is a table listing the odonates found in Fulton County according to the 2008 PNHP survey. I've tried and failed about six times to cut and paste the table and there is no earthly way I am going to hand type it. It's on page 63 and it's called Table 14.
Their list is nice, but it's not... a complete list. They've got a ton of common stuff on there (L. pulchella, P. longipennis, P. tenera, C. maculata for examples) so they're not doing a "only the rare stuff" list. I think they're going for a complete list, but it's totally not a complete list. Here's their list against my list, duplicates removed. (If we both have it, then it's removed from the list, special concern or not. THEIR STUFF is bolded, MY STUFF is italicized.)
Eastern red damsel Amphiagrion saucium Found 6-2020, they are tiny.
Common green darner Anax junius Finally caught one 5-2019
Unicorn clubtail Arigomphus villosipes Found 2021
Ocellated darner Boyeria grafiana
Calico Pennant Celithemis elisa (HOW DID THEY NOT FIND THESE?)
Halloween pennant Celithemis eponina Found 2020 Late season.
Brown Spiketail Cordulegaster bilineata
Arrowhead Spiketail Cordulegaster obliqua
Azure bluet Enallagma aspersum Found 5-2019
Boreal bluet Enallagma boreale
Familiar bluet Enallagma civile
Turquoise bluet Enallagma divagans Found 5-2019
Stream bluet Enallagma exsulans
Skimming bluet Enallagma geminatum
Hagen's bluet Enallagma hageni
Vesper bluet Enallagma vesper um
Swamp darner Epiaeschna heros These are so sexy. I must catch one. Found 6-2019
Common baskettail Epitheca cynosura Found 5-2019
Spine-crowned clubtail Gomphus abbreviatus
Mustached clubtail Gomphus adelphus
Harpoon clubtail Gomphus descriptus
Lancet clubtail Gomphus exilis Found 5-2019
Ashy clubtail Gomphus lividus Found 6-2019
Dusky clubtail Phanogomphus spicatus Found 5-2019
American rubyspot Hetaerina americana
Lilypad Forktail Ischnura kellicotti
Fragile forktail Ischnura posita Found 5-2019
Blue corporal Ladona deplanata Found 5-2019
Northern pygmy clubtail Lanthus parvulus
Southern pygmy clubtail Lanthus Vernalis Found 6-2019
Dot-tailed whiteface Leucorrhinia intacta
Slender spreadwing Lestes rectangularis
Swamp Spreadwing Lestes vigilax
Bar-winged Skimmer Libellula axilena
Slaty Skimmer Libellula incesta
Painted Skimmer Libellula semifasciata
Great Blue Skimmer Libellula vibrans (Apparently they suck at Skimmers...)
Illinois River cruiser Macromia illinoiensis
Mocha emerald Somatochlora linearis
Clamp-tipped Emerald Somatochlora tenebrosa
Ruby meadowhawk Sympetrum rubicundulum
Band-winged meadowhawk Sympetrum semicinctum
Gray petaltail Tachopteryx thoreyi Found 6-2019
Okay, so they have some stuff I don't have. And I have some stuff that they don't have. What can we learn from this?
1. It is really, really, really hard to get a survey that is inclusive of a county's dragonfly and damselfly species. Even if you're trying. Even if you are a state-funded organization with a conservation mandate to pursue the project.
2. I have GOT to do better at bluets.
3. Ditto for clubtails. My game is weak.
4. Further on in the report, discussing the Oregon Swamp (previously I mentioned this as an undersurveyed area worth looking at for odonates), they mention that's where they found spine-crowned clubtail (Gomphus abbreviatus), harpoon clubtail (Gomphus descriptus), sable clubtail (?Gomphus rogersi, whatever genus they go with, it's the rogersi one), mustached clubtail (Gomphus adelphus) and halloween pennant (Celethemis eponina). So yeah. It is totally an undersurveyed area. Gotta hit that next summer. Also I don't think Sable Clubtails are as dependent on swampy bits as they think. Found mine running patrols in the creek itself, down below the dam, not in the swampy bits. More research is needed. (Always.)
We're in the Sideling Hill North LCA ("Large Contiguous Area"), a more or less contiguous block of woodland of approximately 19,000 acres in size. About 65% of that is Buchanan State Forest. We personally own about 550 acres, so not a very big piece... but a headwaters piece. Further on in the notes on Oregon Swamp, it says "Valley-Hi Borough lies upstream of this wetland complex. This community has dammed Oregon Creek to create a small lake which may limit the amount of water entering the wetland. This may also have effects on the water quality in the wetland."
I'm kind of offended about that, but yeah, damming Oregon Creek makes the lake outflow slightly warmer. And it attenuates the flooding aspects of heavy rainflow by impounding the waters and releasing them over a bit of time. But I don't think it's, like, killing Oregon Swamp. We built the dam in 1968/69 and they surveyed for odonates in like the 2000's. That's a lot of odonate generations, there. Also, I like the lake and the lake species odonates we have there so I am Jack's Lack of Concern.
So the primary item of interest (okay, okay, FOR ME. Primary item of interest FOR ME.) in this thing is a table listing the odonates found in Fulton County according to the 2008 PNHP survey. I've tried and failed about six times to cut and paste the table and there is no earthly way I am going to hand type it. It's on page 63 and it's called Table 14.
Their list is nice, but it's not... a complete list. They've got a ton of common stuff on there (L. pulchella, P. longipennis, P. tenera, C. maculata for examples) so they're not doing a "only the rare stuff" list. I think they're going for a complete list, but it's totally not a complete list. Here's their list against my list, duplicates removed. (If we both have it, then it's removed from the list, special concern or not. THEIR STUFF is bolded, MY STUFF is italicized.)
Ocellated darner Boyeria grafiana
Calico Pennant Celithemis elisa (HOW DID THEY NOT FIND THESE?)
Brown Spiketail Cordulegaster bilineata
Arrowhead Spiketail Cordulegaster obliqua
Boreal bluet Enallagma boreale
Familiar bluet Enallagma civile
Stream bluet Enallagma exsulans
Skimming bluet Enallagma geminatum
Hagen's bluet Enallagma hageni
Vesper bluet Enallagma vesper um
Spine-crowned clubtail Gomphus abbreviatus
Mustached clubtail Gomphus adelphus
Harpoon clubtail Gomphus descriptus
Dusky clubtail Phanogomphus spicatus Found 5-2019
American rubyspot Hetaerina americana
Lilypad Forktail Ischnura kellicotti
Blue corporal Ladona deplanata Found 5-2019
Northern pygmy clubtail Lanthus parvulus
Southern pygmy clubtail Lanthus Vernalis Found 6-2019
Dot-tailed whiteface Leucorrhinia intacta
Slender spreadwing Lestes rectangularis
Swamp Spreadwing Lestes vigilax
Bar-winged Skimmer Libellula axilena
Slaty Skimmer Libellula incesta
Painted Skimmer Libellula semifasciata
Great Blue Skimmer Libellula vibrans (Apparently they suck at Skimmers...)
Illinois River cruiser Macromia illinoiensis
Mocha emerald Somatochlora linearis
Clamp-tipped Emerald Somatochlora tenebrosa
Ruby meadowhawk Sympetrum rubicundulum
Band-winged meadowhawk Sympetrum semicinctum
Okay, so they have some stuff I don't have. And I have some stuff that they don't have. What can we learn from this?
1. It is really, really, really hard to get a survey that is inclusive of a county's dragonfly and damselfly species. Even if you're trying. Even if you are a state-funded organization with a conservation mandate to pursue the project.
2. I have GOT to do better at bluets.
3. Ditto for clubtails. My game is weak.
4. Further on in the report, discussing the Oregon Swamp (previously I mentioned this as an undersurveyed area worth looking at for odonates), they mention that's where they found spine-crowned clubtail (Gomphus abbreviatus), harpoon clubtail (Gomphus descriptus), sable clubtail (?Gomphus rogersi, whatever genus they go with, it's the rogersi one), mustached clubtail (Gomphus adelphus) and halloween pennant (Celethemis eponina). So yeah. It is totally an undersurveyed area. Gotta hit that next summer. Also I don't think Sable Clubtails are as dependent on swampy bits as they think. Found mine running patrols in the creek itself, down below the dam, not in the swampy bits. More research is needed. (Always.)
We're in the Sideling Hill North LCA ("Large Contiguous Area"), a more or less contiguous block of woodland of approximately 19,000 acres in size. About 65% of that is Buchanan State Forest. We personally own about 550 acres, so not a very big piece... but a headwaters piece. Further on in the notes on Oregon Swamp, it says "Valley-Hi Borough lies upstream of this wetland complex. This community has dammed Oregon Creek to create a small lake which may limit the amount of water entering the wetland. This may also have effects on the water quality in the wetland."
I'm kind of offended about that, but yeah, damming Oregon Creek makes the lake outflow slightly warmer. And it attenuates the flooding aspects of heavy rainflow by impounding the waters and releasing them over a bit of time. But I don't think it's, like, killing Oregon Swamp. We built the dam in 1968/69 and they surveyed for odonates in like the 2000's. That's a lot of odonate generations, there. Also, I like the lake and the lake species odonates we have there so I am Jack's Lack of Concern.