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page 6
MONTEREY ODE MOTHERLODE
Revisited
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 Rita
and I had been wanting to return to Arroyo Seco where we had so
much ode success in just a couple
of hours on 24 July 2006. There are two small lakes with reedy edges
(the westernmost is shown at right) near the very popular Arroyo Seco campground
on National Forest land. The Arroyo Seco River runs nearby but we had had
no time to check it on our first visit. Dennis Paulson had written that
he had found a number of odes that would be new for us (including Sooty
& Emma's Dancer) along the river back in the 1970s. So on 5 August
we got here early enough to get through the gate (the park fills up with
bathers on hot weekends like this one, despite the $5 entrance fee) and
we spent 5+ hours around the lakes and along the river. It was not as hot
as on 24 July but was still toasty and calm. Dragonfly numbers were down
but the variety was still good. |
Around the lakes we had more-or-less the same species as before, but
missed Desert Firetail, Common Whitetail, and Striped Meadowhawk. We added,
however, a pruinose female Western Forktail and Tule Bluet for this list
at the lakes:
Spotted Spreadwing 4
Tule Bluet 2
California Dancer 5
Western Forktail 1
Pacific Forktail 10
Common Green Darner 6
Blue-eyed Darner 10 |
Western Pondhawk 4
Widow Skimmer 15
Flame Skimmer 10
Blue Dasher 30
Cardinal Meadowhawk 10
Black Saddlebags 5
[and this time actually found 1 perched!] |
These 13 species were nice, but it was along the Arroyo Seco River,
though, where we found new odes: |
As expected, there was an American Rubyspot perched atop a rock
in mid-river (above) but also many (25+) Sooty Dancer (above &
below) in a very short stretch of river that we checked [I have a good
photo of the Rubyspot
from another day on the Arroyo Seco, farther downstream]
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It was even more exciting to find a lovely violet-bodied Emma's
Dancer on a rock in the river (below).
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| Then we had two new odes (for us) patrolling a short stretch of riffles
that separated popular swimming holes. The Red Rock Skimmer (right)
was gorgeous, even if a bit smaller than anticipated. It spent most of
its time on patrol but would perch occasionally. |
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| Perhaps the most unexpected ode was also patrolling the same stretch
of river and, despite almost a hour of observation here, we never saw it
land. It disappeared time to time, and perhaps perched somewhere, but we
only saw it in flight. Thus, my only shots are flight shots (below). It
proved to be Pale-faced Clubskimmer, apparently a first record for
Monterey County. |
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| Adding the river to the surveys brought our total ode list for the
day to 18 species, and between our two visits we have recorded 21 species
at this site. Others must also occur — we are aware of records of Black
Spreadwing and Giant Darner from here (or near here) — and surely Vivid
Dancer, so common elsewhere in MTY, must be around somewhere . . .
To top it off, while Rita was taking some video at the western lake,
a vagrant male Indigo Bunting came down to drink next to her! |
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| PHOTOS: All photos are © 2006 Don Roberson; all rights
reserved.
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