by Carl Strang
This has been a remarkable spring for damselflies and dragonflies at Mayslake Forest Preserve. Carolina saddlebags have been present in unusual numbers for weeks, outnumbering black saddlebags by a wide margin.
This one posed on June 3, and they keep on coming.
Spring is also the time when the lakes host two baskettail species.
Common baskettails won’t be around for long. Good luck finding one perched.
This is one of the few times I have seen a prince baskettail perched. I wonder if it needed a break in the midday sun. It seems to be semi-obelisking here.
Friday was a remarkable damselfly day. First came the following two individuals, striking with a metallic sheen on their abdomens. I don’t think they were teneral spreadwings, however.
This one best matches the female orange bluet.
Nearby was this one, which I believe was an immature male orange bluet.
The best was yet to come, however. Up in the meadow surrounding the temporary off-leash dog area at the former friary site, two bluets appeared that I don’t believe I have ever seen before. The first was a blue-type bluet that was just too small to be a familiar bluet.
Ta-da! A double-striped bluet!
In a more shaded area were two foraging damselflies which proved to be male and female of another species new to my experience.
Check out the enormous eyespots and the large blue area at the tip of the abdomen. This is a male azure bluet.
A female azure bluet was nearby.
The female was using an interesting foraging technique, reminiscent of a hover-gleaning bird, slowly flying up and down and briefly hovering to scan each leaf of an erect goldenrod plant, visually hunting for resting prey. As the photo shows, she was successful.
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