Book Review: Dragonflies of North America

Arrived in my mailbox today!

Dragonflies of North America, Written and Illustrated by Ed Lam, published by Princeton University Press, 2024 and hot off the press.  (I have attached the ThriftBooks link which, I think, may have the least expensive purchase price at this time.  I don't recall Amazon's price).

Not since I first laid eyes on David Allen Sibley's illustrated field guide, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds, in 2003, have I been as excited to see a new illustrated field guide as I have been with Lam's field guide of North American dragonflies just out from Princeton Field Guides.  Thus far, I've only cracked the cover and have thumbed through the pages, but it's a gem.

All summer long I have struggled with the identification of many of the new dragonflies I saw and photographed, having only photographic guides for this.  As good as some of the photographs are, many are just as poor.  I muttered to myself that I [we] need better tools for ID.  For odonate experts and enthusiasts who can net dragonflies this is not a concern with the same urgency.  But I don't net dragonflies and, for a variety of reasons, am unlikely to gain much skill at it.  I have relied upon my eyesight (sometimes poor), binocular viewing and my photographs.  Overall I do think a did a pretty good job with the limitations I had, but this book should throw open the door.

For now, this is all I have time to write, but more to come when I have had a chance to sit with the book for awhile.  For now I include a couple of sample page photos.  The rest of my review, when I write it, will appear below.

 

  

Spider anyone?

Early Saturday morning, I left my house to walk to a neighbor's and something caught my eye against the wall of my garage.  I stopped. Ahhh, a spider.  It was somehow attached by a single thread of webbing.  I took these three photos with my iPhone and left it alone.  

 

Later I entered the photos in iNaturalist and the mostly likely ID was Cross Orb Weaver (Araneus diadematus) spider.  Further on-line searching revealed that there are cross orb weaver spiders of many appearances.  The photos most closely match Araneus diadematus.  The white cross on this spider is easily apparent on the top half of the bottom end. There is also a smaller, dark cross just above the white cross on the top end.  I don't know spider anatomy to describe it better.  Click on the photo to enlarge and you will easily see this.  Middle photo is the best focused.

The spider finally got to move away from the thread that was holding it.  I think, however, it may have met its demise in other spidery-like webs near the ground of my garage.

  

I always need to remember to crop iPhone photos to make them compatible with a site like Google blogger.

Addendum 10/10/2024:

On a gentler note, and probably more appealing to most, I add this photo of a Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) butterfly seen on the sidewalk of my urban neighborhood on 10/08.  What a beauty!  Too bad the shadows of the overhanging grasses are over it. 

Black-billed Magpie

At the end of September I went to a wedding in Boulder, Colorado. Remarkably this was my first ever visit to Colorado.  I thought I would see so many birds.  Let's see:  I saw American Robin, American Crow, Blue Jay, Stellar's Jay (maybe) flying over, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern (red-shafted) Flicker, Belted Kingfisher (heard, not seen), maybe Mountain Chickadee (it was there, then it wasn't), silhouetted Pygmy Nuthatch and, of course, House Finch.  Oh, and Wild Turkeys (many) walking through the woods up nearer to the Flatiron peaks.  As far as I can recall, this was the entirety of my list.  Except, of course, the ever present Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia).  

The photos below were taken on Sunday morning while I was walking through a neighborhood along College Street.  The evidence of Saturday night partying was everywhere.  The magpie in these photos is not looking in the right place for discarded party snacks, but this is a super smart bird - both in appearance and cunning.   

Of course, there were other birds I would have liked to see (Lewis's Woodpecker!), but happy to have these magpie photos.

Life bird

I really like oystercatchers.  They are so unique appearing with their long, orange bill and dramatic red eye.  On a previous trip to coastal California many years ago, I did find a Black Oystercatcher (Haemotopus bachmani) along a rocky part of the La Jolla coastline. On this trip, whenever I was near a rocky coastline (only twice), I was on a search for Black Oystercatcher - ultimately unsuccessful.  

On my final day in California, in the late afternoon I arrived at the beach in Coronado.  The first thing I saw was a gigantic surf break of large, black rocks and headed straight for it.  I started at one end and walked slowly along the rocks seeing nothing except the Brown Pelicans feeding in the surf beyond the rocks.  Then three little birds pecking around a large, flat-top boulder appeared.  Ah, that's what I want to see.  I wasn't wearing the correct shoes for climbing but I managed.  I didn't know what I was seeing.  At first I thought the bird in the photos below was a resting seabird - I don't know - like some little petrel or shearwater or something.  Then the bird got up and moved.  I saw the large amount of white and thought, no, this is a Surfbird (Calidris virgata).  Surfbird was a life bird for me.  Surfbird remained my identification until I got home, downloaded my photos and pulled out Sibley.  No, this is a Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala) - also a life bird for me!  I'm nearly certain that I had never paid attention to the fact that there even was such a bird as Black Turnstone.         

As you can see, my Black Turnstone was very cooperative.  There were three altogether.  For photos I focused on this one bird.  

 Some other birds seen on this final afternoon.

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

Preparing to dive.

A threesome.  Western Gull, Brown Pelican and no idea what the dark bird flying forward is.  Maybe a sea bird of some sort - like a shearwater or a petrel?  Something else?  It's difficult to get an idea of the size of the bird, but it seems big.  Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) perhaps? But Brown Noddy does not occur in coastal California.  A juvenile gull would make sense, but juvenile Western Gull has a black bill and this bird has a yellow bill and, anyway, it doesn't look like a gull to me.   The spread v-shaped, white tipped tail should be a clue, but I can't find a match.  I have precious little seabird experience to help me with this.  (See addendum below).   

Flying Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

Above and below:  Willets (See narrative below photos).

Diving Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Another Willet

Diving Brown Pelican

Juvenile Western Gull (Larus occidentalis).  They stood on the beach making their plaintive little begging notes. 

On the Coronado beach the only shorebirds I saw were Willets.  They were paired up every hundred feet or so.  I kept walking hoping to come upon other shorebirds.  I saw a darkened area in the sand, the tide was going out, that seemed to have little birds moving around in it and I made a beeline for the spot.  Around the same time I heard a whistle blow.  I thought, hmmm that's odd, I don't see any lifeguards or swimmers that appear to be in trouble.  I kept walking toward my goal.  I heard the whistle again.  I kept walking.  Suddenly, on my left a young woman, a little breathless and dressed in military gear, ran up alongside of me.  She smiled and greeted me, "do you have ID?"  "Yes, of course."  I reached for my bag to remove my wallet.  "Military ID?"  "No, I don't have military ID, just regular ID."  "I'm sorry, you can't be here."  I had crossed an invisible line on the beach that took me across to an area reserved exclusively  for military personnel.  I looked longingly at the specks moving in the area up ahead and feebly said, "I'm only taking pictures of birds."  She slowly shook her head back and forth and I turned back to walk the way I had come. 

Addendum 09/23/2024:  The unidentified bird flying forward in the 10th photo (A threesome ... ) may potentially be a 2nd winter Heermann's Gull (Larus heermanni).  I recently had the opportunity to look at this photo on a larger screen than that of my laptop and noted the hint of a white head being present.  The overall dark bird with white tipped tail and yellow bill are also good matches.  Additionally, there were plenty of Heermann's gulls present on the beach.  The spread v-shaped tail bothers me a little, but this may just be an artifact of the flight angle in the photo and is possibly insignificant.     

Western Grebe

The Western Grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis) were charming as they floated placidly on Skinner reservoir.  I saw approximately 12-15 in various parts of the reservoir.  Even though Clark's grebes and Western grebes are occasionally found together, I did not see any Clark's grebes (Aechmophorus clarkii).  

On the left bird, the Western grebe's bill is a real sword.  I would not like to be a fish.