Hi all,

Many of you who know Dave and I know that there is one 'ode-experience'
that has evaded us for the twelve or so years we've been watching odes.
Well, it FINALLY appeared for us - we got to watch a female Spiketail
ovipositing. It was wonderful to watch, and I have an idea now why we
never got to witness this behavior before - we were looking in sunny
spots. She seems to prefer dappled shade however! We were returning his
walker to the Mt.Shasta City hospital when I took him for a tour around
their wonderful pond and stream, and suddenly she flew by and we
followed her...She plunged at ~80 degree angle up and down in various
spots along the stream, but always in dappled shady areas. We watched
her for over 8 minutes. Sometimes she plunged her spike-like ovipositor
into muddy areas, and we could see the silt move, other times she did
the behavior at a gravelly area of the stream or even right over a rock
. She moved about in an approximately a 20 ft. area, returning to some
sites repeatedly.
Those others of you who get to see this, you may now report it without
causing Dave and I to cry! ;-)

July 4, 2009
Siskiyou County
Kathy & Dave Biggs
Mt. Shasta City, Pond and stream adjacent to Mercy Hospital; 12 noon,
85F, no wind
Vivid Dancer - many
Pacific Forktail - some
Tule-type Bluet - few
Blue-eyed Darner - 1 male
Pacific Spiketail - 1 male, then a female who was ovipositing
Cardinal Meadowhawk - 3 males, 1 female
Interesting was that we saw fewer species than we did on June 2nd.


--
California Dragonflies http://www.sonic.net/dragonfly
Southwest Dragonflies http://southwestdragonflies.net/
Bigsnest Wildlife Pond http://www.bigsnestpond.net/
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Kathy and Dave Biggs bigsnest@... 707-823-2911
308 Bloomfield Rd. Sebastopol, CA 95472
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dba Azalea Creek Publishing azalea@... fax: 707-823-2911
http://www.sonic.net/~bigsnest/azaleacreekpublishing/
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