Roseville (Sacramento area), 5/20/06

Here are some pictures from a trip to Roseville on May 20, 2006. Tim Manolis, Erland Nielsen, and I checked out the odes along Mineral Ravine, near Sculpture Park, and also at several ponds in the Roseville area. All but the Desert Firetail pictures are from Mineral Ravine. It was a "damselfly day." The dragonflies weren't that approachable and the few shots I was able to get didn't turn out too good.

American Rubyspot, male. This individual was perched almost at ground level with its head pointed downward. Though obviously alive, it didn't respond to my presence at all and was still there a while later.

Black Spreadwing, male. These were fairly common in suitable habitat. Some were in tandem or wheel.

Vivid Dancer, male. I had originally labeled this as California Dancer. Click here to see appendage comparison of this and other Vivid/California Dancers.

California Dancer, male. Vivid and Emma's Dancers were far more common along Mineral Ravine than were California.

Emma's Dancer, young male on paved path.

Northern Bluet, male. Tim caught at one or two of these along Mineral Ravine and confirmed them as Northern Bluet. We didn't see many Bluets, only a few Northern and one Tule.

Northern Bluet, male.

Desert Firetail, male. We found about a half dozen individuals in a roadside ditch, all males. I was thrilled to see even this small number, as Desert Firetail is seldom encountered further north in California where I live (about 125 miles north of Roseville, in Shasta County). But they are apparently common in Roseville. Desert Firetails are small, thin, and a bit of a challenge to photograph (but oh so beautiful!!).

All the Desert Firetails at this location were found flying or perching low over the water. This individual headed for higher ground to get away from that bothersome photographer.

A typical resting place.

Another "habitat" shot.

I found this individual a foot or two from shore and chased it onto dry land where Erland, who didn't have hip waders, was able to photograph it. I caught this shot after he was finished.

Pacific Clubtail, female. While we saw quite a few dragonflies along Mineral Ravine, the damselflies outnumbered them by far and presented the best poses.

Zooming in on the back of the Pacific Clubtail, it's interesting to note the black specks in the yellow pattern (this "zoom" shot is from a different photograph than the one above).