I spent some time at Jack Pine Trail this morning. It was a good walk, if not terribly productive. My best bird sighting was that of a Broad-winged Hawk – or rather, a family of Broad-winged Hawks, as I heard two birds calling incessantly in the woods and saw another soaring in the sky. I was wondering if the two calling birds were youngsters, as the calls were shortened – “chick-ee!” rather than the longer, drawn out whistled “chick-eeeeeee”. The one in flight gave the full call, which made me think it was an adult responding. I tried to get a look at the two birds, as they weren’t too far off the trail; however, the thick brush prevented me from seeing where they were perched. Other good birds there that were still singing included Alder Flycatcher, Winter Wren, Eastern Towhee, Black-and-white Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler.
There weren’t too many dragonflies on the wing, but I was happy when an emerald I found patrolling along the boardwalk turned out to be a male Brush-tipped Emerald. This one was much fresher in appearance than the one I had caught at Roger’s Pond, with much brighter markings on the thorax.
As you can tell from the above image, this dragonfly is small with bright green eyes and a metallic bronze and green thorax. The second yellow spot on the thorax is oval-shaped, while the first spot is a longer and thinner – more of an irregular dash. The hairy claspers for which it is name are distinctive among the other emeralds in the same family. In this image you can see the “brush-tip”, as well as the yellow markings along the side of the abdomen which help to differentiate it from the Racket-tailed Emerald:
It is great seeing this species so close to home instead of travelling all the way to Marlborough Forest to look for it, which is the only other place in our area where I know it is found. I’ve been seeing them here for a few years now, indicating the population is relatively stable; for such a small creature, I think these dragonflies hold a lot of charm!
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