Dragonfly day

Four-spotted Chaser or Four-spotted Skimmer (Libellula quadrimaculata), the state insect of Alaska.  This photo was actually taken in May 30, 2015 at Ballaine Lake.

The sixth annual Dragonfly day was held at Chena Lake.  It was sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges and others. There were lots of fun activities for kids, including Dragonfly themed crafts and face-painting.  Saha Berry of Berry Balloons was twisting balloons to create dragonflies, butterflies, fish and other fun stuff, and kids were waiting long time to get one.  My son, Taiga, was so excited when he finally got a big dragonfly, but as usual, he managed to pop it within 1 hour (pretty much the same amount of time as the waiting line).  Oh well.

This event is great for kids, but to be honest, I was as excited as my 4-year-old son.  The main part of this event is nature walk lead by John Hudson, one of the authors of a book Dragonflies of Alaska.   Here is a newspaper article about John. There were at least 40 kids swinging nets and catching dragonflies and damselflies.  John and others were surrounded by kids bringing their catch, and John was enthusiastically telling them the secrets of dragonflies.  He was encouraging and excited, and kids were having wonderful time.   Looking at the sparkling eyes of curious kids, I was remembering my childhood.  Just like Taiga, I was excited about all kinds of insects.  I was bringing nets everywhere to catch creatures.  Catching dragonflies required a lot of practice, and I remember how exited I was when I managed to catch fast fliers such as Lesser Emperors (Anax parthenope). I could finally examine the beautiful blue/green color of eyes and body in my hands.  I probably thought that it was more beautiful than jewels.  I'm sure this event lead by John has made similar impacts to some of the kids.

John Hudson (green shirt in the middle) surrounded by kids who want to show their catch.

Taiga was having a blast and caught quite a few damsel flies. John identified most of them as Northern Bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum).  Then he told Taiga, there should be a damselfly with same name as Taiga; Taiga Bluet (Coenagrion resolutum) around here.  And John immediately caught this species:

Taiga Bluet (Coenagrion resolutum)

Taiga with Taiga Bluet

There were lots of Four-spotted Skimmers (Libellula quadrimaculata, see the first phot of this post), the state insect of Alaska.  According to the story here (link-1, link-2). In 1995, every public school voted for the state insect, and this species was the winner. Some of you might have thought that it should be mosquitoes, which was indeed the second runner up, but I'm glad Four-spotted Skimmer won!

I didn't keep truck of all species we saw, but I remember that we saw at least 6 species: Variable Darner (Aeshna interrupta),  Hudsonian Whiteface (Leucorrhinia hudsonica), Boreal Whiteface (Leucorrhinia borealis), Four-spotted Skimmer (Libellula quadrimaculata). Northern Bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum), Taiga Bluet (Coenagrion resolutum).

I hope that there will be another Dragonfly day next year, and that many people would join this fun event. After John's couple identification pointers, I'm inspired to learn more about Alaskan dragonflies.  I'll have to order a net soon!