Sunday Fieldtrip At Eno River State Park

Sunday I met my friend Roger at the Eno River State Park at the Pleasant Green Access. For those of you that do not know about the Eno River State Park it has several accesses. We were hoping to see Midland Clubtails, one might have been seen but it evaded us. So after a while we decided to go over to the Cole Mill Access which has a lot of Ox-eyed Daisy in bloom.

The Cole Mill Access has always had the largest population of Arrowhead Spiketail, Cordulegaster obliqua I know of. These are our largest spiketail dragonfly reaching 3 1/2 inches! On Sunday we saw four males and one female, the females have a spike they use to deposit eggs with, see below.

Female with the spiketail.

Male Arrowhead Spiketail.

Here is why they call it Arrowhead!
These as you can tell are fun to photograph and 3 of the 5 posed for me fairly well.

OK on to the really big find of the day.
My second ever North Carolina Umber Shadowdragon, Neurocordulia obsoleta.

Last year in July Meg found one along the Eno in Durham County, this one found on Sunday was in Orange County. Umber Shadowdragons have been found in 53 counties in NC, but none have been recorded in 20 + years here until these two sightings Sunday and Last July. They hang out in the shade doing the day and forage just before dark, making them hard to find on the usual outing.

Umber Shadowdragon, Neurocordulia obsoleta

Another good find an Eastern Pine Elfin, Callophrys niphon on Ox-eyed Daisy. Not the freshest butterfly or my best photo, yet easily missed if you not paying attention. Last years photo was much better.

Above is a Banded Hairstreak, Satyrium calanus on a plant under a spittlebug. You can find these little hairstreaks for almost a month and they are just coming out.

Above my first Silvery Checkerspot, Chlosyne nycteis of the year. These host on wingstem and where I found this one, wingstem was everywhere!

We are having a bumper year with the Question Mark, Polygonia interrogationis they were everywhere swirling all about rarely landing for a decent look let alone a photo.

Found two of these Painted Skimmer, Libellula semifasciata. These can show up about anywhere in the spring, not seen at Paradise YET!

No this is not a posed photo! Finding a dragonfly perched on a flower just does not happen, at least until this Lancet Clubtail, Gomphus exilis decided to land on this Ox-eyed Daisy.

I figured I better toss in this male Southern Spreadwing, Lestes australis damselfly from our pond since I'd not featured any damselflies.

Here is a freshly emerged Splendid Clubtail, Gomphus lineatifrons. Usually dragonflies do not have the wings over the back like this unless they have just emerged.  I saw this female fly up from the river onto a limb over a big downed log. I climbed up and took this photo with one hand holding on for dear life and the other on the big camera the river was 8 foot below right under me. More on clubtails like the Splendid Clubtails from last year.

Black Swallowtails and More

The past four days we have had a fresh Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes emerge each day in our Bronze Fennel patch! Pretty cool to see these lovely jewels in the garden as we walk about. Two of them I've picked up and both have squirted me with fluids they expel as they pump up their wings.


This male Black Swallowtail was completely floppy fresh when I found him. He gave me about an hour to take photos of him.

Below is an Umber Shadowdragon, Neurocordulia obsoleta Meg found while walking along a trail near the Eno River last Sunday. It was a first for me in the state of North Carolina and only the second time I'd seen it before, I saw it in South Carolina one day in may many years ago. Even though this species is reported to have been found in 53 of our 100 counties none of my dragonfly buddies have seen it here to my recollection.

Below is an Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina that left us eggs in our garden a week ago. I looked it up and it'll be 11-12 weeks before they hatch. She was found by Meg when her hole was nearly dug as I was making dinner. I gave her as much privacy as I could and took this photo for the blog. Even at dark she was resting over the nesting site either worn out or protecting it.

This Carolina Anole, Anolis carolinensis posed for this photo before it headed off for cover. It was about 8 to 9 inches long very big from what I'd seen in the past of these little lizards. If I'm right the red throat (dewlap)indicates it is a male, this is used to attract females. These are sometimes called American Chameleons yet they are not true chameleons.

Green coloring means it is happy, if you find a brown one of these, it is not happy. I rarely see brown ones.

Vacation is over Meg starts a new fifth grade class in the morning!