Something Old, Something New

A week ago Sunday, I chose Leu Gardens for my photo outing. Alberto, the first tropical storm of 2006, was pinwheeling out in the Gulf, so I knew I could count on cloudy skies, which always give me the best lighting for insect pictures. In one part of the garden, the curators have built an artificial stream bed filled with rocks, ornamental grasses lining the banks. Despite the absence of water, I can always find dragonflies there, usually very common ones, like blue dashers. This weekend a female Eastern pondhawk, another species pretty easy to spot here in Central Florida, was perching in the grass:


She kept hassling this guy [girl?]:


I had seen one of these—I now know to call it a "pin-tailed pondhawk" [Erythemis plebeja]—at Lake Como, but only once. When the Eastern pondhawk wasn't buzzing him aggressively, I managed to get a few nice shots:




From a distance, he looked like a big black bug, but up close I could see the beautiful bronze tones on the frons, the front part of the head. I was so happy with these pictures that I finally took advantage of my Bugguide.net account and braved an upload. According to the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, pin-tailed pondhawks are not a "confirmed" species for Orange County, so I also decided to contact that group as well and make a small contribution to their collection of knowledge. The email reads something like this:

From: sparky.lightbulb@_____cc.edu>
To: boris.kondratieff@colostate.edu
Date: June 19, 2006 4:04 PM
Subject: Pin-tailed pondhawk sighting in Orange County, Florida

Dear Dr. Kondratieff:

I recently shot [with a camera, not a rifle] a dragonfly I didn't recognize. Scanning what I believe are reasonably reputable websites [Odonata Central, Digital Dragonflies, Bugguide.net], I discovered that it is a pin-tailed pondhawk [pictures attached]. A little more online research brought me to Dragonflies and Damselflies of the United States, where I learned that there are no confirmed sightings of this species in Orange County, Florida. I just wanted to let you know that I have seen this species of dragonfly at Lake Como Park and Harry P. Leu Gardens, both in Orange County.

I am not a nutcase who just wants her county to be blue or turquoise on the pin-tailed pondhawk Florida map. I am a professor [of English, alas], and know the importance of careful research. You can trust me even though I have never pithed a frog! I just want to help out dragonfly science in whatever small way I can.

Sincerely,
Sparky Lightbulb
Professor of English