Saturday June 19th marked the first time that the Arboretum hosted a Dragonfly Walk. We couldn’t have asked for a better day, and certainly, the 16 guests were not disapointed! We collected a total of 8 Dragonfly species (1 being a damselfly) including some really spectacular species such as the Midland Clubtail, Prince Baskettail, and a new addition to the Morgan Arboretum Dragonfly list…the Widow Skimmer. We were also treated to some wonderful Butterflies including Tiger swallowtails, white admirals, Fritillaries, a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell and a beautiful Question Mark (see earlier post for images).
A Male common Whitetail claiming a fence post as his own
At the very end of the walk, all visitors were taken down to the pond on the Orange trail where we used a “dip net” to collect the aquatic nymphs of Dragonflies. Before finding the large nymph of the Green Darner (in all likelyhood) we also found an adult Eastern Newt which was quite a treat as it is not often that the adult forms are observed.
On behalf of the Morgan Arboretum, we would like to thank all participants who came along on this wonderful event and who support our guided nature walks. I would personally like to thank all of the children who came along and really made this walk a success. Their passion for the outdoors and for discovery is truly inspiring, and not to mention that they caught most of the Dragonflies! good job!
Chris Cloutier, Naturalist at the Morgan Arboretum explains the finer points of Dragonfly identification (photo: Greg Rand)
For those of you who wish to learn more about some of the groups of animals we simply saw at a glance, please keep your eyes on the calendar page. Coming up next weekend we have two Nature visits; One which focuses on Bats, Moths, and other nocturnal creatures (Saturday, June 26th at 8:00pm) and a Butterfly walk on Sunday June 27 at 10:00am.
Have fun out there!
CC