Diario de liamhuber

Visiting a section of the county that we (Mike S. and I) have not previously covered for odes! Arrived at Strawberry Campground (Sly Creek Reservoir) some time around 9 AM.

Despite relatively early start at mid elevation, ode activity was already high. Water levels were perfect, exposing most of the large meadow next to the campground. Here we had:
Black Spreadwing 1
Boreal Bluet 2+
Boreal/Northern Bluet 15+
Western Forktail 4-5
Common Green Darner 3
Blue-eyed Darner 5-6
Variegated Meadowhawk 2
Striped Meadowhawk 4
Cardinal Meadowhawk 1
Common Whitetail 2
Eight-spotted Skimmer 2 (rare in the county)
Twleve-spotted Skimmer 15+
Four-spotted Skimmer 15+
Black Saddlebags 2
Wandering Glider 1

From here we made our way around the lake and headed for the South Fork Feather River. Pacific Spiketails were out in force - we had 5-6 hunting clearings along Mooreville Ridge Rd.

Our next stop was Golden Trout Campground - our first time visiting this hidden gem. Really neat set of odes here:
Vivid Dancer 5+
Walker's Darner 1 (2nd this June!)
Grappletail 2
Pacific Spiketail 2
Cardinal Meadowhawk 1
Red Rock Skimmer 4

I didn't really have any stops planned after this, but we happened upon two ponds on the way back that ended up being pretty productive. The first (39.622144, -121.189100) was decently large with a few patches of cattails. Here we had:
Vivid Dancer 5+
Common Green Darner 1
Blue-eyed Darner 1
Western Pondhawk 20+ (perhaps the highest elevation I have had these in the county)
Variegated Meadowhawk 4
Common Whitetail 2
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 3
Four-spotted Skimmer 5+ (perhaps the lowest elevation I have had these in the county)
Flame Skimmer 1

The last pond (39.616380, -121.202939) had a more barren shoreline, and far less activity. Here we had:
Pacific Spiketail 1
Variegated Meadowhawk 3
Common Whitetail 1
Flame Skimmer 1
Spot-winged Glider 15+
Wandering Glider 2+

About half the day spent at Butte Creek House Meadow, where few odes were present (compared to peak numbers at this location). Here we had:
Boreal/Northern Bluet 6-8
Western Forktail 10+
Western Red Damsel 2
Northern Spreadwing 1
Blue-eyed Darner 5
Emerald Sp. 1 (Mountain more likely at this date?)
Variegated Meadowhawk 4
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 4
Four-spotted Skimmer 4

Midday we hit one of our favorite spots, a large vernal pool about a mile north of Snag Lake (40.090971, -121.431283), where we had:
Northern Spreadwing 15+
Emerald Spreadwing 10+
Lyre-tipped Spreadwing 1 (best spot I know of in the county for this species)
Boreal/Northern Bluet 5+
Mountain Emerald 2 (first record in the county since late 90s?)
Variegated Meadowhawk 2+
Striped Meadowhawk 15+ (many newly emerged)
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 2
Four-spotted Skimmer 2

Ended at Cherry Hill in the late afternoon. Covered all of the big meadow. Here we had:
Vivid Dancer 10+
Western Red Damsel 2
Black Petaltail 4-5 (likely inactive due to time of day)
Variegated Meadowhawk 2
Cardinal Meadowhawk 1
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 4
Hoary Skimmer 4-5 (known location, but I had only seen one here before. all in the west half of the big meadow)

Incredible day in Plumas County ode hunting with @yubabirder.

We first visited Willow Lake with a few targets in mind. We arrived about 8:45 and stayed almost 5 hours, mostly covering the west and south sides of the lake. Here we had excellent species diversity:
Northern Spreadwing 20+
Emerald Spreadwing 3
California/Aztec Dancer 1 (unable to get decent tail photos)
Vivid Dancer 5+
Taiga Bluet 8-10 (west and south sides) *new for Asher
Boreal Bluet 5+
Northern Bluet 1
Boreal/Northern Bluet 200+
Tule Bluet 2 (west side)
Pacific Forktail 10+
Western Forktail 20+
Sedge Sprite 1,000+ (incredible population density along the south side of the lake, where the bog is sunken and there is much standing water) *new for both of us
Western Red Damsel 30+
Common Green Darner 6-8
Variable Darner 1
Blue-eyed Darner 4-5
Paddle-tailed Darner 6-8 *new for me
Grappletail 2
American Emerald 15-20 most along west side
Hudsonian Whiteface 8-10 (south side) *new for Asher
Dot-tailed Whiteface 25+ (most on south side)
Variegated Meadowhawk 1
Black Meadowhawk 1 (south side) *new for both of us
White-faced Meadowhawk 15-20 (most on west side)
Striped Meadowhawk 5+
Chalk-fronted Corporal 75+ (abundant, especially along north shoreline in forest)
Eight-spotted Skimmer 2
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 12-15
Four-spotted Skimmer 50+
Black Saddlebags 1

We also made a stop to search for Swift Forktails at Deer Creek Meadows in Tehama County on the way home. No luck, but still a decently active spot. Here we had:
Vivid Dancer 30+
Western Forktail 10-15
Pacific Spiketail 1
Grappletail 6-8
Hoary Skimmer 1
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 1
Four-spotted Skimmer 8-10