Patuxent Research Refuge -- April 28, 2024 -- last Sunday

[odona...@comcast.net]

I spent 4 hours on the North Tract splitting my time between the NE corner near the Powerlines and the swamp and bog sections along Lemon Bridge Road ending at the Patuxent River.  The NE corner visit was mainly to check on the Refuge's largest (known) Brown Elfin population.  The Elfins were present and active, chasing one another and perching in the open.  It was impossible to get an exact number of individuals since they were all dancing around and the chance for double counting was high.  I recorded in my notes the number as 6+, which was the maximum number that I saw at a single moment – but the number may have been as much as double that.  The wetlands along Lemon Bridge Road are still reasonably dry, even though we have had a reasonably wet spring.  My guess is that last year's dry spell dropped the water level so much that it still has not had time to recover.  Both Lemon Bridge Road and the Brown Elfin site are off limits to the general public at this time.

Odonates Seen:

Blue-tipped Dancer - 1

Fragile Forktails – 20+

Lancet Clubtails – 2

Ashy Clubtails – 6

Common Green Darner – 1

Springtime Darners – 3

Harlequin Darners – 8

Stream Cruisers – 5

Blue Corporals – 30+

Painted Skimmers – 12

Common Whitetails – 5

Butterflies Seen:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails – 2

Zebra Swallowtails – 3

Sleepy Orange – 1

Brown Elfins – 6+

Eastern Tailed Blues – 25+

Pearl Crescent – 1

American Ladies – 2

Common Buckeye – 1

Silver-spotted 
Skippers – 2

Juvenal's/Horace's Duskywings – 8

Sachem – 1 – male fresh – I had one here at the same time last year, so I am assuming that they are now overwintering. 

Richard Orr

[odona...@comcast.net]

Sorry – I forgot to include the links to the photos.

Painted Skimmer – Painted Skimmer | Painted Skimmer. Patuxent Research Refuge,… | Flickr 

Brown Elfins – Brown Elfin Perched on High - 1 | Brown Elfin Patuxent Resea… | Flickr  & Brown Elfin Perched on High - 2 | Brown Elfin Patuxent Resea… | Flickr 

Richard Orr

---

From: mdlep...@googlegroups.com <mdlep...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of odona...@comcast.net <odona...@comcast.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2024 6:56 AM
To: mdlep...@googlegroups.com <mdlep...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [MDLepsOdes] Patuxent Research Refuge -- April 28, 2024 -- last Sunday

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MDLepsOdes" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdlepsodes+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdlepsodes/BY5PR13MB29331E02EF0B6F200A4A11A3F11A2%40BY5PR13MB2933.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.