Summer has arrived and the odonata are out at Berry Springs! Come join the classes, earn some AT hours and learn a lot about life cycles and behaviors of odonata aka… dragonflies, damselflies and darners.
The classes are on June 22nd and July 13th from 9:00 ~ 11:30am.
We will meet at the main entrance of the park in the middle parking area close to the donkey pen. Each one will each last between 2 to 3 hours depending on the heat and the energy of our group. We will try to keep a survey track of the species we see. Do not leave anything of value visible in your car. Three windows were broken on cars there recently. No one has yet reported seeing or hearing anything. Better yet, leave it at home or carry it with you.
Please bring your camera, and close focusing binoculars. For those with cell phone cameras, I will capture a few photos for those up close observations.
Dress comfortably for warm weather covering any spots you want protected from bug bites. Bring plenty of cool water to drink, insect repellent, sunscreen and a hat. There will be some areas where we will be close to tall vegetation so chigger’s are a strong possibility.
From this location, in around two hours, we can usually observe between 10 and 15 species and get in a lot of instruction time too.
This is advanced training. If someone would rather have volunteer hours, let me know. You can help with carrying the survey clipboard or help carry a net. I have two, a small one that I can tuck under my arm, but the larger one, if we use it, is needed for more skid-dish harder to approach dragonflies. Larger Darners or others.
I would like to do another class like this one at Garey Park on a Tuesday sometime. Please send an email if you are interested. I will first have to schedule a vacation day for it.
See you there!
Mike Farley