Spot-winged Glider migration

We have a lot more going on at Stratford Point than simply surveying for our wondrous birds. This includes planting more beneficial native vegetation and restoring the habitat and monitoring horseshoe crabs as well as identifying and often capturing odonata (dragonflies and damselflies). I have really enjoyed witnessing Spot-winged Glider migration, tallying the numbers as best as I can, netting some occasionally, and observing their behavior.

It is one of several species of dragonflies that migrate each spring and fall, those moving north laying eggs for the next generation that will head south and do the same in the fall, repeating the process each year. Here are photos of one I netted on June 7.

The most fascinating part was that on June 8 I noticed a few females ovipositing (laying eggs) in the rain pool that often forms at the bottom of our driveway.

They are an opportunistic species, utilizing nearly any standing water. One pair flew by in tandem, quickly dropping eggs in the pool as opposed to the slower more methodical work done by the solo females with males guarding nearby at times.

This is only a small taste of the stupendous amount of action going on in our natural world during the summer months. See what else you can spot flying around with our birds on warm and sunny days.


Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation Technician

All photos © Scott Kruitbosch and not to be reproduced without explicit permission