splnddfairywren's Favourites

Lifer! YES! The #1 target for my trip. I did not find it at 1000 Acre Heath the day before (after also not seeing it there last year), so I made the decision to drive all the way up to Chamberlain Fen, a site mentioned by Paul Brunelle in this excellent article: http://val.vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Boghaunter-No.-9-Finding-Somatochlora.pdf. I didn't really know the best way to access the fen, so I drove a couple two-tracks near it, hoping to see a possible way in. It turns out that the path that heads north toward the fen on its southeast side is best. This path was probably much easier to walk when Brunelle visited the site, but it is now largely overgrown as you near the fen. But the bushwhacking really wasn't too bad, all considering, and it didn't take too long to emerge onto the open fen (although I had to pass through some of the densest mosquito conditions I've ever encountered, inhaling multiple individuals!).

Once on the fen, I found habitat that looked appropriate in the central and western parts of the fen. I saw one male Somatochlora patrolling, but my impatience led to an ill-advised swing at the front end of the bug, so it of course saw the net coming in time to evade capture (swinging toward the face of a dragonfly is such a rookie mistake!). And before I saw another emerald, it started to rain! Things were feeling ominous and I honestly was despairing a bit.

But having driven so far and worked so hard to get out there, I was not about to give up! I decided to wait and hope for the rain to clear, as I knew the forecast had been for only scattered storms. After about an hour of rain, wind, and soaked clothing, the sun finally started to reappear! And as soon as it did, I spotted a male emerald starting a patrol. For some reason, I was convinced it was not a Quebec based on size, so I wasn't expecting too much when I successfully netted it. But even before removing it from the net, I saw the cerci shape and knew I had succeeded!

After risking wasting most of my day with such a distant site that I didn't know how to access, having to bushwhack through a veritable cloud of mosquitoes, missing a swing on what was surely my target, and waiting out decidedly non-dragonfly weather that left me soaked, I had found it! QUEBEC EMERALD - a species with only a few known breeding sites in the U.S.! Standing alone on this fen in the middle of nowhere, I literally whooped with joy (multiple times). That reward was worth the effort and much, much more. I didn't stop grinning for the rest of the day. :-D

(Oh, and on my way out, I found two males at the site where I missed my swing earlier. Here's one: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/51413112)

Climbed up a PG&E pylon to get away from the King Tide and happened to be next to the boardwalk.
Nice ranger came and helped keeping people quiet, the poor thing must have been scared with people and dogs so close by. When tide retreated the mouse jumped off and swam away. Good luck, mousy!

In open mossy habitat with Erigeron, Nertera and Spergularia, c. 2850 m, locally common, forms colonies by root proliferations (from bud at base of stipe) which develop into new plants, Parris 11152, herb. K, BO, L, TI, AK, AAU.

Photos could not be worse, but pretty sure that’s what these were. Two individuals resting at the surface, both facing to the right in photos. Very angular heads seemed unlike other regular local whales options.

Of anything I ever wished to see since I was a child, it was a glass frog. I'm ecstatic that I was able to find these two individuals, and one of them was guarding 2 clutches of eggs! I'm still in awe...
Found not in Main Ridge Forest Reserve.