South Tract of Patuxent Research Refuge on June 24, 2026

[odona...@comcast.net]

Bonnie Ott and I made a morning visit to the Northern section of Cash Lake at Patuxent Research Refuge last Friday (June 26th).  This spot on the Refuge is well known to fisherman but is less known by most other visitors.  It is open to the public and is a great spot for dragonflies.  The entrance is cryptic and not marked well enough to be easily noticed from the road.  Drive east on 197 past the main entrance of the Central Tract of the Refuge (on your left) and continue until you reach the north end of Cash Lake (Cash Lake should be obvious on your GPS unit) and look for a dirt road/gate on your right. There is a path that goes around the lake.  See:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflyhunter/55358359164/in/dateposted/ . We also visited Telegraph Road at the SW edge of Lake Redington (sorry this is not open to the public) to check on the marshes and swamps in that area. The numbers seen listed below are a sum of both locations.

DRAGONFLIES & DAMSELFLIES SEEN:

Elegant Spreadwings (Lestes inequalis) – 3

Citrine Forktails (Ischnura hastata) – 1

Lilypad Forktails (Ischnura kellicotti) – 40+

Fragile Forktails (Ischnura posita) – 60+

Eastern Forktails (Ischnura verticalis) – 1

Unicorn Clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes) – 1

Common Green Darner (Anax junius) – 1

Cyrano Darners (Nasiaeschna pentacantha) – 2

Halloween Pennants (Celithemis eponina) – 2

Banded Pennants (Celithemis fasciata) – 30+

Eastern Pondhawks (Erythemis simplicicollis) – 25+

Spangled Skimmers (Libellula cyanea) – 12

Slaty Skimmers (Libellula incesta) – 100+

Widow Skimmers (Libellula luctuosa) – 8

Painted Skimmer (Libellula semifasciata) – 1

Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) – 1

Common Whitetails (Plathemis lydia) – 5

Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis) – 60+

Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) – 1

Spot-winged Gliders (Pantala hymenaea) – 9

Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera) – 3

Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) – 1

Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) -- 8

 

BUTTERFLIES SEEN:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails – 2

Eastern Tailed Blue – 1

Great Spangled Fritillaries – 4

Pearl Crescents – 6

Common Wood Nymph – 1 – my first for the year at the Refuge

Silver-spotted Skippers – 2

Horace’s Duskywing -- 1

Richard Orr

[odona...@comcast.net]

Sorry everyone, I got the date wrong for the visit to the Refuge.  It was June 24^th last Wednesday and not Friday June 26th.

Richard

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From: odona...@comcast.net <odona...@comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2026 6:22 AM
To: 'Rick Cheicante' via MDLepsOdes <mdlep...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: South Tract of Patuxent Research Refuge on June 24, 2026