Russet-tipped Clubtail Dragonfly

Back in the summer of 2008, while I was out photographing random bits of nature at the Carpenter Nature Center, I came across a mysterious dragonfly, at least it was a mystery to me.
I knew right away that it was a dragonfly, instead of a damselfly, due to its large size and the fact that the hind wing and forewing were not the same shape, like those of a damselfly. I could also tell that it was in the clubtail family, despite the fact that the last couple segments of the abdomen are not much larger then the sections before them, because the eyes where separated, and clubtails are the only dragons who's eyes are separated.
However this was like no clubtail that I had ever seen before and when I tried to identify it using the Dragonflies of the North Woods book I could not find anything that matched. There was only one thing left for me to do and that was to send pictures into bugguide.net and see if anyone online could help.
I found out that it is a russet-tipped clubtail. The reason why I could not find it in Dragonflies of the North Woods is because this dragonfly has only been reported in one county in Minnesota, and that is Houston County in the south east corner of the state, according to the Odonta Central website where they keep records and checklists. Carpenter is part of Washington County so that would make this a new county record however I have been told, while attending dragonfly seminars with the Minnesota Odonata Survey Project, that for a new county or state records you have to submit a sample and I do not feel that it is necessary to kill a helpful dragonfly when I can take many pictures like you see in this post.

First Day of Spring

Today was the official first day of spring for 2009 and in typical Minnesota fashion when I woke up this morning it was snowing. At first the snow was not accumulating, I guess that the ground was still warm from temps that got up into the 50s and 60s most of the week, but as the snow continued it began to build up a bit. Fortunately it did not last too long, as the sun came up the temps rose, the high was around 50 degrees, and the snow turned to light rain. When I got off of work the rain had stopped but it was still overcast so I decided not to go out and shoot. Tomorrow, however is supposed to be sunny with temps in the mid 50s again so I will probably try and get out for much of the day since Sunday and Monday look as though they may be wet.
Here are some pics that should help everyone to get in the mood for spring. These were all taken at the Carpenter Nature Center back in August of last year. I am sure that most of you probably already know what type of butterfly is featured in this first pic.
The giant swallowtail is a rare visitor to Minnesota but last year we had a sort of eruption, similar to the eruptions that we sometimes see with northern birds during the winter, that began in the late summer and covered quite a bit of the south eastern portion of the state.
I was very excited when I was able to photograph this dragonfly at CNC. I could tell that it was a clubtail but it was one that I had never photographed before. I thought that it might be one of the rare types of clubtails that are often found around the St Croix River, like the St Croix snaketail or the sand snaketail.
With a little help from BugGuide.net I was able to identify it as a russet tipped clubtail. The reason I was so unfamiliar with this type of dragon is because the only record of this species in Minnesota that they have at Odonata Central is in Houston County which is in the far south eastern corner of the state. I will be looking for these again in 2009 and if I am able to get some more pics this year I hope to submit my proof and get the species added to the Washington County species list.

Going Buggy at Afton State Park

Well this weekend turned out to be very nice weather wise here in Minnesota. Both days turned out to be sunny with mostly clear skies. The temps on both days got up into the mid sixties which is pretty good for late October. This afternoon while I was out enjoying the weather I spotted quite a few meadowhawks and a few large darners still lingering. I also spotted a monarch, most of them flew south weeks ago, as well as a sulfur and a couple of cabbage whites.
Back on September sixth there were quite a few butterflies around when I visited Afton State Park. Afton is located on the St Croix River a little ways north of where the St Croix joins with the Mississippi.
The reason that I went to Afton was to try and find some of the rare clubtail dragonflies that are only found around the St Croix River in Minnesota. but while searching for dragons I came across quite a few butterflies. Although the cabbage white is a common through out most of North America it is not actually a native to the continent. It was accidentally introduced from Europe into Canada in the 1860s. You can tell that this is a male cabbage white because it only has a single spot on the fore wing, females have two spots.

I also found a fairly good numbers of eastern tailed-blue butterflies. These are similar in size to the endangered Karner blue but they are much more common and are easily identified by the small tendril or tail projecting from the hind wing. The only other blue in our area with a tail is the western tailed-blue. You can tell the difference because the eastern has two or more orange spots near the tail where the western has only a single orange spot. We see a lot more eastern tailed-blue.
At first glance I thought this next butterfly was a monarch but when I was able to examine it more closely I realised that it was a monarch copycat.
The viceroy resembles the monarch, which is toxic to most predators because of the milkweed it eats when it is a caterpillar, this helps it to avoid predators. Viceroys are noticeably smaller then monarchs and have a stripe running across the hind wing that the monarch does not have.
I did find one dragon that appears to be a clubtail. Unfortunately I was only able to get off a couple of quick shots before it flew off across the water where I could not follow. It was not a very great picture but I think that it may be a russet-tipped clubtail, possibly one that only recently emerged. There is only one record of Russet-tipped clubtails in Minnesota and that was in Houston County on the far south east tip of the state, according Odonata Central. Hopefully this information is up to date and correct, if not I am sure that Hap will let me know. I have also found other dragons that I believe were russet-tipped clubtails down at Carpenter Nature Center, which is also on the St Croix River a little south of Afton. I plan to make a photo set and send it to the Minnesota Odonata Survey Project. If I am correct with my identification,hopefully they will be able to tell from the photos, then perhaps the russet-tipped clubtail will get added to the species checklist for Washington County.