Pond dragonflies at Bruce Starker Park, Corvallis

[Don Boucher]

Hello,

On Saturday, July 19, I led a group of naturalists to watch dragonflies and damselflies at the Bruce Starker Park pond in Corvallis. It was a perfect sunny summer afternoon in the eighties. It was warm enough for high Odonate activity but not too hot for people.

We encountered 11 species. The pond hosts mostly common species but it's an active and diverse Odonate community. What makes this pond ideal for Odonate watching is its accessibility. The park landscaping and lawn make the pond edge approachable and casual observation is easy, especially for beginners. Many natural Odonate sites in the valley have wide barriers of vegetation and/or mud to cross in order to get close to the Odonate activity. At this pond, we often sat in the shade with binoculars, looking at them as they landed just feet away. It does help to walk the perimeter of the pond in order to encounter all the species possible.

All species encountered

Common Green Darner

Darner species Rhionaeschna (a female pictured: California or Blue-eyed)

Western Pondhawk

Eight-spotted Skimmer

Twelve -spotted Skimmer

Flame Skimmer

Blue Dasher

Common Whitetail

Black Saddlebags

Tule Bluet

Pacific Forktail

In the late morning, before the Odonate watching began, a small number of us walked part of the pond, the nearby community garden and part of the Sunset Park boardwalk, looking at whatever we encountered. There's a noisy family of Red-shouldered Hawks with 2, maybe 3, fledglings. We often saw Green Herons flying by. Other notable birds were, Violet-green, Tree and Barn Swallows, Cedar Waxwing, Common Yellowthroat, Swainson's Thrush, White-crowned Sparrow and Western Bluebird.

Don Boucher

http://neighborhood-naturalist.com

[Jim Johnson]

The darner looks like Blue-eyed, Rhionaeschna multicolor. 

Jim Johnson

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[Owen Dell]

Here is a link to the photos I took at the event. Don or others, please correct and add to my i.d.; dragonfly taxonomy is not one of my areas of expertise. 

I will follow with a couple of other related postings. I went back on Sunday; the light was better for photos and I got a bunch more. And I plan to crop a couple of the better photos for macro-style closeups. Finally, I will send some photos of plants that I think you'll enjoy seeing.

https://owendell.smugmug.com/Here-Be-Dragons-One-Sunny-Saturday/n-rdbqbM

I will be publishing these on my regular weekly Friday photo feed. Non-commercial, all subjects, free to all, and just for fun. Send me your email address if you want me to add you to the list.

Owen

[Elizabeth Dickey]

I have been curating a good portion of the Odonata specimens at OSU's Arthropod Collection. It is a delight to see these colorful photos of live dragonflies.

Elizabeth

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[Owendell]

Thanks you. I’m so glad you like them. More on the way via the Google Group. 

Owen Dell, RLA, ASLA

Landscape Architect - Educator - Author - Photographer

Oregon Registered Landscape Architect No. LA798

Owen Dell and Associates, LLC — owendell.com

Dell’Immagine Fine Art Photography — owendell.smugmug.com

On Jul 21, 2025, at 5:57 PM, Elizabeth Dickey <elizabet...@gmail.com> wrote: