The Town of Marana sponsors many community activities including several at El Rio. I signed up for the September “Birding at El Rio Preserve” led by Jeff Babson. Although there were plenty of birds, including a Belted Kingfisher downing several large orange Koi, and two Neotropic Cormorants playing tug-of-war with a stick, I focused on little dragonflies and butterflies. A nice looking Cloudless Sulphur butterfly was finding sustenance on the wolfberry plant flowers.
The number of American Snout butterflies has erupted after our rains. Two were hanging out together on the wolfberry plant. That “snout” on the front of the butterfly is a pair of elongated mouthparts.
It is still prime Dragonfly season. A pair of Variegated Meadowhawks was flying in tandem. During the mating process, most Dragonfly males grab the female by the head to initiate the mating process. After the mating has happened, some species remain tightly locked together in flight while the female lays her eggs. This prevents other males from crashing the party, swooping in and stealing his girl.
Here the pair is ready to drop down and the female begins positioning herself in order to drop eggs into the water. The male steers and controls the flight.
The Variegated Meadowhawks make their move. The female taps the water releasing a few eggs at a time. This rhythmic movement happens over and over again as she releases eggs in a variety of nearby spots.
At one point a Red-tailed Hawk soared slowly back and forth across the front of Pointer Mountain using the ridge lift from a slight breeze that was hitting the mountain. The Hawk settled onto a perch on a large mesquite tree.
As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, the Blue Dasher is a very common dragonfly at El Rio. It is easy to identify with its powdery blue thorax and abdomen and its large green eyes.
A female Roseate Skimmer was perched parallel to a twig.
To learn about any upcoming walks in El Rio, go to Marana’s Active Community page and type “El Rio” into the search block.
Terrific photos of the female dragonfly depositing her eggs in the water!
Grat Macros!