Another friend at the marsh says: "Hey! Dragonflies and other beneficial insects need your help, too"
- Lorna Visser
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
You can help us enhance habitat to support beneficial insects like this dragonfly
After posting last month about the importance of butterflies at the Snk'mip Marsh Sanctuary, we received this fabulous dragonfly photo from one of our research associates and we just had to share it with you. What a beauty!
For an identification, we reached out to local insect connoisseur Daniel Hellyer ('connoisseur' as in studying and appreciating them, not as in eating them) who suggested that this is a Common Whitetail dragonfly.
A quick Internet search found Iowa State University's Bug Guide which confirms a close visual match to this dragonfly. From that guide we learned about these beautiful dragonflies: Species Plathemis lydia - Common Whitetail.
Range: Found in the 48 contiguous states and south into Mexico and in these Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Habitat: Ponds, lakes, marshes, streams; adults may also be found some distance from water.
Season: Primarily a summer species, but may be seen as early as late April and as late as November 1st (depending on weather).
Food: Adults feed on flying insects (including mosquitoes!)
Behaviour: This dragonfly uses a pursuit display with males. When 2 males encounter each other, one dashes at the other and pursues him. The pursuing male raises the white upper abdominal surface toward the new arrival who flies away with his abdomen lowered. Then after 8-16 meters, the males switch roles. This continues until the new arrival restricts his movements to another site.
And for you insect fans, here's the previous post:
Hey butterfly fans, happy summer to you from this gorgeous Western Tailed Blue butterfly. This lovely is resting on the sweet flower of a clover plant (that's yum yum, if you're a butterfly) at the Valhalla Foundation for Ecology's Snk'mip Marsh Sanctuary. What a stunning creature! While it's wonderful to see pollinators supported by our nature sanctuary, we need to do more.
Our restoration work at this marsh property has already enhanced and expanded areas for moths, butterflies and many other beneficial pollinators. Now we have plans to do more habitat enhancements, with your help. Our next project is a pollinator garden featuring specially selected native plants that will increase the ecological productivity of our small-but-mighty nature sanctuary.
We recently commissioned a baseline survey from an insect expert whose specialization is lepidoptera. She's tallying the butterflies and day-flying macro moths she spotted or netted during a recent daytime survey. A quick report: seven species of butterfly were out during the early-June day when the survey was done, plus several moths, as well as bees, dragonflies, beetles, bugs and more.
We're thrilled that Snk'mip marsh is supporting these lovelies but we urgently need to make it even better habitat for butterflies and other pollinators. In the midst of a planetary biodiversity crisis, with insect populations plummeting, the need to expand pollinator insects' habitat is urgent.
We're doing our part -- will you help? To create this pollinator garden we need your financial support. Please click here to help the Valhalla Foundation for Ecology build a pollinator garden at the Snk'mip Marsh Sanctuary.
For all you insect nerds (I'm one, too!)... more on the Western Tailed Blue butterfly
[ From the website Butterflies and Moths of North America, collecting and sharing data about Lepidoptera ]
Family: Lycaenidae / Subfamily: Polyommatinae
Identification: Narrow tail on hind-wing. Upper side of male blue, female brown with blue at wing base. Underside white with black spots indistinct or lacking; single small orange spot near tail.
Wing Span: 7/8 - 1 1/8 inches (2.2 - 2.9 cm).
Life History: Males patrol and perch during the day. Females lay eggs on flowers or young seedpods of host plants. Caterpillars eat young seeds inside the pod, where they overwinter and pupate.
Flight: March-July. Several broods in southern California, a partial second brood in the southern Rocky Mountains, and one brood elsewhere.
Caterpillar Hosts: Legumes with inflated pods including false lupine (Thermopsis), milkvetch (Astragalus), crazyweed (Oxytropis), and vetches (Vicia and Lathyrus).
Adult Food: Flower nectar.
Habitat: Open - usually native - areas with low shrubs including chaparral, meadows, and open woodland.
Comments