Enallagma signatum Swarms - April 02, 2023

I wanted to make note of the fact that on April 2, 2023, there were swams of 20 to 30 Orange Bluets (Enallagma signatum) hovering over the streams at the edge of the swamp. I went to three streams and each stream had a swarm. This was early afternoon (1 to 2 PM) and the swarms were always located at the edge of the swamp where the forested part ended and the cutover began, so they were in a sunnier area but not completely out in the open since there are a few trees (onsie-twosies) located in and at the edge of the streams. I could only get to the first 3 streams, but for all I know, there were swarms at every stream (there are 6 to 7 streams).

At the second streams, I observed a hapless female E. signatum fly out about a foot from the bank and all the males dashed towards her. The guy who got there first swept her away--I didn't see where the pair went. The rest of the males went back to hovering over the center of the stream.

The males made occasional darts at each other jockeying for position but for the most part, they just hovered about a foot over the surface of the stream.

I don't think I've ever seen so many Orange Bluets in my life. I tried to photograph some of the Orange Bluets hovering over the stream but was not particularly success, although I did get some photographs of them when they perched in the vegetation along the banks of the streams.

Publicado el 05 de abril de 2023 por amypadgett