Weather: 78F - warm although a little windy
March 3, 2023 - Saw three Ischnura prognata (Furtive Forktails) for the first time this season. Surprisingly, one was flitting around a drainage ditch that is in the woods by our house. There is still a little water in the ditch so I had already seen several Ischnura posita in that area.
In the swamp, I saw two more as well as over 50 I. posita.
March 4, 2023 - Saw an immature female Ischnura hastata (Citrine Forktail) in the sunny marsh (cutover) by the third stream. In the woods of the swamp, I also saw an immature Ischnura prognata and it was a good opportunity to see just how large it was in comparison to Ischnura posita because for some reason, a male I. posita was darting at the I. prognata. She chased it off twice before the I. posita finally got the message and flitted away.
All of the Ischnura species I observed were tapping on curved blades of grass or sedges. Several dislodged mosquitoes that way and consumed them. (I need to figure out a way to video this hunting technique with hopefully a successful conclusion.)
Further in the wooded swamp along the second stream, a male Ischnura prognata had gotten entangled in a spider's web. It thrashed around and finally got free although a small bit of web was clinging to its wing. It perched nearby and thrashed some more to dislodge the webbing and then flitted away (hopefully to live a long and productive life).
There must have been over 100 (I counted 100+) I. posita everywhere both in the sunny wet areas and along all of the streams in the swamp. Many females had gray pruinose coloring to the point where it obscured or almost obscured the paler blue ! line on their thoraxes. They were ovipositing like crazy where there was submerged or partially submerged vegetation in the puddles and streams.
I've seen a few dragonflies but they were all just dark silhouettes and didn't land where I could see them. Since I saw them along dirt roads in the woods, I believe they may be Common Green Darners, Anax junius like the one I saw in February in Carteret County. They tend to be out early in the year and can be found along dirt roads so it seems likely, although not confirmed.
Took another look at this damselfly and could see the stripe on the thorax is interrupted in an ! so it must be I. posita.
I found this male I. posita very interesting because of the patch of blue on top of S9. I have seen several males over the last couple of weeks that have that patch of blue. It seems to be relatively common around here.
This I. hastata was in a sunny area of the cutover. It was small and had a straight, wide dorsal stripe and was mostly red-orange with black on abdomen on on the last few segments (S5-9).
This I. prognata was in the woods of the swamp and obviously larger than the nearby I. posita. In fact, for some reason a male I. posita was harassing her/darting at her--she kept chasing him away and it was a good opportunity to see how much longer/larger she was. Despite the extent of the orange, it was not as extensive as the orange on the I. hastata and even in the photos, it's easy to see how much longer the abdomen is. The black dorsum line on the thorax is thin and the underside of the thorax was greenish-yellow.
Despite the glare on the thorax, this forktail had the ! marking in light tan and was smaller than the I. prognata which were also in the area.
Storytime: When I saw this male I. prognata, it had been stuck in a spider web. But as I watched, it thrashed around and got loose, although it still had a bit of web on the wings. He perched nearby and thrashed around a bit more to clear off the web and then flew away.
Despite the heavy pruinose layer, it was possible to still see the ! on the thorax in blue.
There is the regular ! in blue on the thorax despite the pruinose coloration.
Although this photo looks like one of my other ones, it was actually a different female in a different spot near the 3rd stream. It had the standard blue ! on the thorax despite the heavy pruinose coloration.
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