-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia male Guadalupe River, Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 24 August 2007 two shots posted; male and female
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 20 June 2008
-
male
-
female
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 20 August 2009
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia male Guadalupe River, Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 12 July 2010 IMHO this is the most beautiful clubtail in the U.S.!
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia male Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 2 August 2010
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia male Guadalupe River, Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 3 August 2011 2 shots, male and female
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia male Guadalupe River, Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 3 August 2011 2 shots, male and female
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia male Guadalupe River Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 26 July 2012
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia pair in copula Guadalupe River, Independence Park near U.S. 183 bridge over the river. Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 18 August 2004 Image 2 shows a female Blue-faced Ringtail which has been captured by a robberfly. The robberfly is posted at: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1854025
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 22 July 2016 From 2003 through about 2010 this general area was a reliable place to find Erpetogomphus eutainia, which is a rare and local species that, within the U.S., is only known from 6 Texas counties. In 2011 and 2012 the species proved to be scarce here and the last one photographed here to my knowledge was the late summer of 2012. From 2012 through summer 2015 I, and many others, made numerous unsuccessful trips to Gonzales to look for this species. My friend, Jerry Hatfield, from Lubbock, and I met up this morning to try yet again to see if we could find this species, and we had a bit of luck with a single female. We both obtained numerous images of this one individual. I was really happy to find this species at this location again and I hope it will become more numerous between now and early October which is its normal late summer flight season. I should stress we only saw this one individual despite a lot of looking, so I have no idea whether others will have any luck, but I hope so. If you are interested in searching iNat records of this species you will find more images of males and females from me, @ericisley, and @dianaterryhibbitts.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 22 July 2016 From 2003 through about 2010 this general area was a reliable place to find Erpetogomphus eutainia, which is a rare and local species that, within the U.S., is only known from 6 Texas counties. In 2011 and 2012 the species proved to be scarce here and the last one photographed here to my knowledge was the late summer of 2012. From 2012 through summer 2015 I, and many others, made numerous unsuccessful trips to Gonzales to look for this species. My friend, Jerry Hatfield, from Lubbock, and I met up this morning to try yet again to see if we could find this species, and we had a bit of luck with a single female. We both obtained numerous images of this one individual. I was really happy to find this species at this location again and I hope it will become more numerous between now and early October which is its normal late summer flight season. I should stress we only saw this one individual despite a lot of looking, so I have no idea whether others will have any luck, but I hope so. If you are interested in searching iNat records of this species you will find more images of males and females from me, @ericisley, and @dianaterryhibbitts.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 22 July 2016 From 2003 through about 2010 this general area was a reliable place to find Erpetogomphus eutainia, which is a rare and local species that, within the U.S., is only known from 6 Texas counties. In 2011 and 2012 the species proved to be scarce here and the last one photographed here to my knowledge was the late summer of 2012. From 2012 through summer 2015 I, and many others, made numerous unsuccessful trips to Gonzales to look for this species. My friend, Jerry Hatfield, from Lubbock, and I met up this morning to try yet again to see if we could find this species, and we had a bit of luck with a single female. We both obtained numerous images of this one individual. I was really happy to find this species at this location again and I hope it will become more numerous between now and early October which is its normal late summer flight season. I should stress we only saw this one individual despite a lot of looking, so I have no idea whether others will have any luck, but I hope so. If you are interested in searching iNat records of this species you will find more images of males and females from me, @ericisley, and @dianaterryhibbitts.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 22 July 2016 From 2003 through about 2010 this general area was a reliable place to find Erpetogomphus eutainia, which is a rare and local species that, within the U.S., is only known from 6 Texas counties. In 2011 and 2012 the species proved to be scarce here and the last one photographed here to my knowledge was the late summer of 2012. From 2012 through summer 2015 I, and many others, made numerous unsuccessful trips to Gonzales to look for this species. My friend, Jerry Hatfield, from Lubbock, and I met up this morning to try yet again to see if we could find this species, and we had a bit of luck with a single female. We both obtained numerous images of this one individual. I was really happy to find this species at this location again and I hope it will become more numerous between now and early October which is its normal late summer flight season. I should stress we only saw this one individual despite a lot of looking, so I have no idea whether others will have any luck, but I hope so. If you are interested in searching iNat records of this species you will find more images of males and females from me, @ericisley, and @dianaterryhibbitts.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 22 July 2016 From 2003 through about 2010 this general area was a reliable place to find Erpetogomphus eutainia, which is a rare and local species that, within the U.S., is only known from 6 Texas counties. In 2011 and 2012 the species proved to be scarce here and the last one photographed here to my knowledge was the late summer of 2012. From 2012 through summer 2015 I, and many others, made numerous unsuccessful trips to Gonzales to look for this species. My friend, Jerry Hatfield, from Lubbock, and I met up this morning to try yet again to see if we could find this species, and we had a bit of luck with a single female. We both obtained numerous images of this one individual. I was really happy to find this species at this location again and I hope it will become more numerous between now and early October which is its normal late summer flight season. I should stress we only saw this one individual despite a lot of looking, so I have no idea whether others will have any luck, but I hope so. If you are interested in searching iNat records of this species you will find more images of males and females from me, @ericisley, and @dianaterryhibbitts.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Independence Park, Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 22 July 2016 From 2003 through about 2010 this general area was a reliable place to find Erpetogomphus eutainia, which is a rare and local species that, within the U.S., is only known from 6 Texas counties. In 2011 and 2012 the species proved to be scarce here and the last one photographed here to my knowledge was the late summer of 2012. From 2012 through summer 2015 I, and many others, made numerous unsuccessful trips to Gonzales to look for this species. My friend, Jerry Hatfield, from Lubbock, and I met up this morning to try yet again to see if we could find this species, and we had a bit of luck with a single female. We both obtained numerous images of this one individual. I was really happy to find this species at this location again and I hope it will become more numerous between now and early October which is its normal late summer flight season. I should stress we only saw this one individual despite a lot of looking, so I have no idea whether others will have any luck, but I hope so. If you are interested in searching iNat records of this species you will find more images of males and females from me, @ericisley, and @dianaterryhibbitts.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Guadalupe River, Independence Park near U.S. 183 bridge over the river. Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 30 July 2003 A couple of folks have asked me personally and on iNat: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2735824 about Blue-faced Ringtail (Erpetogomphus eutainia) and the history of the population in Gonzales. I had never posted the initial record but will do so here and just give the history for those curious about it. In June, 2003, Dr. John Abbott and I spent some time looking for dragonflies at Palmetto State Park in Gonzales Co., and he mentioned a small clubtail called Erpetogomphus eutainia (John did not speak common names in those days :-) which had last been seen in the 70s as far as he knew. He told me there were some records by Paulson, Dunkle, and others at Palmetto S.P. John had never seen the species and he hoped to find it sometime. I was fairly new into odonates at that time, and being retired from my law enforcement profession, I had the time to start really looking for this rare critter and I made it a mission to find it. I spent some time in the collection at U.T. looking at all the known Texas specimens of Erpetogomphus eutainia and made a list of all the locations where the specimens had been found. Essentially, all the Texas and U.S. records of the species at that time were from the San Marcos River in the general vicinity of Luling, Texas. During July, 2003, I went out to look for for this bug more than a dozen times. Finding places to access the San Marcos River was the most challenging issue, as most of you know that so much of Texas land is private. I scoured Palmetto S.P., boat launches and canoe launch areas between San Marcos and Luling, etc., and had no luck. I visited all the public parks in San Marcos which allowed access to the river as well as any bridge crossings, etc. The San Marcos River joins the Guadalupe River near Gonzales, so I started checking areas on the Guadalupe where I could get to or near the water. On July 30, 2003, I found a female clubtail on the south side of the Guadalupe River near the U.S. 183 bridge on the south side of Gonzales, and got a few photos of it. I was not certain this was the Erpetogomphus eutainia, but I thought it probably was. I was very eager to get home and look at my shots on a larger monitor. At home, after studying my shots, I felt fairly confident I had found a female Erpetogomphus eutainia. Long story short, I sent John an email with images that I had taken in Gonzales. I called him on the phone and asked if he was at his computer and he said he was. I told him to check his email. He knew I had been looking for this species and asked me if I had found it. I said âyou tell meâ. He then saw my shots and said âYou found it!â Two days later, on 2 August 2003, I took John back to the spot where we found several males and females and we both got images of a male eating a Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta): http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143390 From that time up until 2010 or so, the species was regularly found at many areas of Independence Park as can be seen on the iNat maps. On some visits I found 10-20 individuals on a single visit. In 2011 and 2012 the species became harder to find, but there were a handful of records during both of those years. It has been mostly absent since 2012 (one sight record with no photos in 2014) which I mentioned in the record I posted yesterday: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3725913 So, that is the history of the bug at Gonzlaes as I know it. There have been a few records by some students of Johnâs another 20 or so miles down the Guadalupe River near Cuero in DeWitt Co., but I have never found them there. Ed Lam has photographed the species at Medina River Park south of San Antonio, but on two visits in proper season, Iâve not found it there either. There are a few other records along the Rio Grande in south Texas. This is a late season species with 95% of the records being between 1 July and 15 October. Why the species was relatively easily found 2003-2012, then mostly vanished for 4 years...I don't have a clue. Habitat seems pretty much the same as far as I can determine. But such population fluctuations certainly occur. As an example, in 2007 Carmine Skimmer (Orthemis discolor) was common to abundant in the Austin area and a dozen or more could be found in several areas in a short time. Since 2007 the species has been very rare in Austin and I can count the records on one hand that have occurred since 2007. No idea why.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Guadalupe River, Independence Park near U.S. 183 bridge over the river. Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 30 July 2003 A couple of folks have asked me personally and on iNat: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2735824 about Blue-faced Ringtail (Erpetogomphus eutainia) and the history of the population in Gonzales. I had never posted the initial record but will do so here and just give the history for those curious about it. In June, 2003, Dr. John Abbott and I spent some time looking for dragonflies at Palmetto State Park in Gonzales Co., and he mentioned a small clubtail called Erpetogomphus eutainia (John did not speak common names in those days :-) which had last been seen in the 70s as far as he knew. He told me there were some records by Paulson, Dunkle, and others at Palmetto S.P. John had never seen the species and he hoped to find it sometime. I was fairly new into odonates at that time, and being retired from my law enforcement profession, I had the time to start really looking for this rare critter and I made it a mission to find it. I spent some time in the collection at U.T. looking at all the known Texas specimens of Erpetogomphus eutainia and made a list of all the locations where the specimens had been found. Essentially, all the Texas and U.S. records of the species at that time were from the San Marcos River in the general vicinity of Luling, Texas. During July, 2003, I went out to look for for this bug more than a dozen times. Finding places to access the San Marcos River was the most challenging issue, as most of you know that so much of Texas land is private. I scoured Palmetto S.P., boat launches and canoe launch areas between San Marcos and Luling, etc., and had no luck. I visited all the public parks in San Marcos which allowed access to the river as well as any bridge crossings, etc. The San Marcos River joins the Guadalupe River near Gonzales, so I started checking areas on the Guadalupe where I could get to or near the water. On July 30, 2003, I found a female clubtail on the south side of the Guadalupe River near the U.S. 183 bridge on the south side of Gonzales, and got a few photos of it. I was not certain this was the Erpetogomphus eutainia, but I thought it probably was. I was very eager to get home and look at my shots on a larger monitor. At home, after studying my shots, I felt fairly confident I had found a female Erpetogomphus eutainia. Long story short, I sent John an email with images that I had taken in Gonzales. I called him on the phone and asked if he was at his computer and he said he was. I told him to check his email. He knew I had been looking for this species and asked me if I had found it. I said âyou tell meâ. He then saw my shots and said âYou found it!â Two days later, on 2 August 2003, I took John back to the spot where we found several males and females and we both got images of a male eating a Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta): http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143390 From that time up until 2010 or so, the species was regularly found at many areas of Independence Park as can be seen on the iNat maps. On some visits I found 10-20 individuals on a single visit. In 2011 and 2012 the species became harder to find, but there were a handful of records during both of those years. It has been mostly absent since 2012 (one sight record with no photos in 2014) which I mentioned in the record I posted yesterday: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3725913 So, that is the history of the bug at Gonzlaes as I know it. There have been a few records by some students of Johnâs another 20 or so miles down the Guadalupe River near Cuero in DeWitt Co., but I have never found them there. Ed Lam has photographed the species at Medina River Park south of San Antonio, but on two visits in proper season, Iâve not found it there either. There are a few other records along the Rio Grande in south Texas. This is a late season species with 95% of the records being between 1 July and 15 October. Why the species was relatively easily found 2003-2012, then mostly vanished for 4 years...I don't have a clue. Habitat seems pretty much the same as far as I can determine. But such population fluctuations certainly occur. As an example, in 2007 Carmine Skimmer (Orthemis discolor) was common to abundant in the Austin area and a dozen or more could be found in several areas in a short time. Since 2007 the species has been very rare in Austin and I can count the records on one hand that have occurred since 2007. No idea why.
-
Blue-faced Ringtail Erpetogomphus eutainia female Guadalupe River, Independence Park near U.S. 183 bridge over the river. Gonzales, Gonzales Co., Texas 30 July 2003 A couple of folks have asked me personally and on iNat: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2735824 about Blue-faced Ringtail (Erpetogomphus eutainia) and the history of the population in Gonzales. I had never posted the initial record but will do so here and just give the history for those curious about it. In June, 2003, Dr. John Abbott and I spent some time looking for dragonflies at Palmetto State Park in Gonzales Co., and he mentioned a small clubtail called Erpetogomphus eutainia (John did not speak common names in those days :-) which had last been seen in the 70s as far as he knew. He told me there were some records by Paulson, Dunkle, and others at Palmetto S.P. John had never seen the species and he hoped to find it sometime. I was fairly new into odonates at that time, and being retired from my law enforcement profession, I had the time to start really looking for this rare critter and I made it a mission to find it. I spent some time in the collection at U.T. looking at all the known Texas specimens of Erpetogomphus eutainia and made a list of all the locations where the specimens had been found. Essentially, all the Texas and U.S. records of the species at that time were from the San Marcos River in the general vicinity of Luling, Texas. During July, 2003, I went out to look for for this bug more than a dozen times. Finding places to access the San Marcos River was the most challenging issue, as most of you know that so much of Texas land is private. I scoured Palmetto S.P., boat launches and canoe launch areas between San Marcos and Luling, etc., and had no luck. I visited all the public parks in San Marcos which allowed access to the river as well as any bridge crossings, etc. The San Marcos River joins the Guadalupe River near Gonzales, so I started checking areas on the Guadalupe where I could get to or near the water. On July 30, 2003, I found a female clubtail on the south side of the Guadalupe River near the U.S. 183 bridge on the south side of Gonzales, and got a few photos of it. I was not certain this was the Erpetogomphus eutainia, but I thought it probably was. I was very eager to get home and look at my shots on a larger monitor. At home, after studying my shots, I felt fairly confident I had found a female Erpetogomphus eutainia. Long story short, I sent John an email with images that I had taken in Gonzales. I called him on the phone and asked if he was at his computer and he said he was. I told him to check his email. He knew I had been looking for this species and asked me if I had found it. I said âyou tell meâ. He then saw my shots and said âYou found it!â Two days later, on 2 August 2003, I took John back to the spot where we found several males and females and we both got images of a male eating a Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta): http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143390 From that time up until 2010 or so, the species was regularly found at many areas of Independence Park as can be seen on the iNat maps. On some visits I found 10-20 individuals on a single visit. In 2011 and 2012 the species became harder to find, but there were a handful of records during both of those years. It has been mostly absent since 2012 (one sight record with no photos in 2014) which I mentioned in the record I posted yesterday: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3725913 So, that is the history of the bug at Gonzlaes as I know it. There have been a few records by some students of Johnâs another 20 or so miles down the Guadalupe River near Cuero in DeWitt Co., but I have never found them there. Ed Lam has photographed the species at Medina River Park south of San Antonio, but on two visits in proper season, Iâve not found it there either. There are a few other records along the Rio Grande in south Texas. This is a late season species with 95% of the records being between 1 July and 15 October. Why the species was relatively easily found 2003-2012, then mostly vanished for 4 years...I don't have a clue. Habitat seems pretty much the same as far as I can determine. But such population fluctuations certainly occur. As an example, in 2007 Carmine Skimmer (Orthemis discolor) was common to abundant in the Austin area and a dozen or more could be found in several areas in a short time. Since 2007 the species has been very rare in Austin and I can count the records on one hand that have occurred since 2007. No idea why.
-
"After a failed search on 8/1 that involved spending several morning hours looking in the riverside park to the north of here, I realized at the end of my day (ran out of water at noon-ish), that this area was probably the more ideal habitat for Ringtails. Many Eastern Ringtails were out and about, but no little dragonflies with blue faces... I made up my mind to return and start here on another day. My family and I arrived a few minutes after 8:00, and I found the first female on barbed wire at 8:15 am. A second female was found on grass soon after that, around 8:30, and a male was found on poison ivy stems at about 8:45. I continued searching to the NE of this area, out in the roughly mowed field, and along the tall grass next to the road near the 'come and take it' monument. No more were found (lots of Eastern Ringtails though). See the image with precise locations for more info. I noticed that all three were perched between 6"" and 24"" off the ground. They seemed to be more active and harder to approach at first, but by the last one, they didn't startle easily. The description that they fly a bit like a damselfly is accurate. I knew they were a dragonfly as soon as they flew up, but they are darker, small, and stayed low over or in the grasses and weeds. The first two females were found on or near the lower strand of barbed wire on the fence along the ranch road. At 9:45, we were ready to call it quits (the heat and humidity were on high), when a local lady arrived and asked 'are you all looking for the dragonfly?' When I told her yes, she said she had been looking for it and had been there when Greg Lasley had seen one recently. I took her back to the areas where I had found the three, but there were none to be found at 9:45-10:00 along the same edges or in the field. I'm not sure where they went, but it definitely seems as if the heat and full sun had driven them into hiding."
-
"After a failed search on 8/1 that involved spending several morning hours looking in the riverside park to the north of here, I realized at the end of my day (ran out of water at noon-ish), that this area was probably the more ideal habitat for Ringtails. Many Eastern Ringtails were out and about, but no little dragonflies with blue faces... I made up my mind to return and start here on another day. My family and I arrived a few minutes after 8:00, and I found the first female on barbed wire at 8:15 am. A second female was found on grass soon after that, around 8:30, and a male was found on poison ivy stems at about 8:45. I continued searching to the NE of this area, out in the roughly mowed field, and along the tall grass next to the road near the 'come and take it' monument. No more were found (lots of Eastern Ringtails though). See the image with precise locations for more info. I noticed that all three were perched between 6"" and 24"" off the ground. They seemed to be more active and harder to approach at first, but by the last one, they didn't startle easily. The description that they fly a bit like a damselfly is accurate. I knew they were a dragonfly as soon as they flew up, but they are darker, small, and stayed low over or in the grasses and weeds. The first two females were found on or near the lower strand of barbed wire on the fence along the ranch road. At 9:45, we were ready to call it quits (the heat and humidity were on high), when a local lady arrived and asked 'are you all looking for the dragonfly?' When I told her yes, she said she had been looking for it and had been there when Greg Lasley had seen one recently. I took her back to the areas where I had found the three, but there were none to be found at 9:45-10:00 along the same edges or in the field. I'm not sure where they went, but it definitely seems as if the heat and full sun had driven them into hiding."
-
"After a failed search on 8/1 that involved spending several morning hours looking in the riverside park to the north of here, I realized at the end of my day (ran out of water at noon-ish), that this area was probably the more ideal habitat for Ringtails. Many Eastern Ringtails were out and about, but no little dragonflies with blue faces... I made up my mind to return and start here on another day. My family and I arrived a few minutes after 8:00, and I found the first female on barbed wire at 8:15 am. A second female was found on grass soon after that, around 8:30, and a male was found on poison ivy stems at about 8:45. I continued searching to the NE of this area, out in the roughly mowed field, and along the tall grass next to the road near the 'come and take it' monument. No more were found (lots of Eastern Ringtails though). See the image with precise locations for more info. I noticed that all three were perched between 6"" and 24"" off the ground. They seemed to be more active and harder to approach at first, but by the last one, they didn't startle easily. The description that they fly a bit like a damselfly is accurate. I knew they were a dragonfly as soon as they flew up, but they are darker, small, and stayed low over or in the grasses and weeds. The first two females were found on or near the lower strand of barbed wire on the fence along the ranch road. At 9:45, we were ready to call it quits (the heat and humidity were on high), when a local lady arrived and asked 'are you all looking for the dragonfly?' When I told her yes, she said she had been looking for it and had been there when Greg Lasley had seen one recently. I took her back to the areas where I had found the three, but there were none to be found at 9:45-10:00 along the same edges or in the field. I'm not sure where they went, but it definitely seems as if the heat and full sun had driven them into hiding."
-
"After a failed search on 8/1 that involved spending several morning hours looking in the riverside park to the north of here, I realized at the end of my day (ran out of water at noon-ish), that this area was probably the more ideal habitat for Ringtails. Many Eastern Ringtails were out and about, but no little dragonflies with blue faces... I made up my mind to return and start here on another day. My family and I arrived a few minutes after 8:00, and I found the first female on barbed wire at 8:15 am. A second female was found on grass soon after that, around 8:30, and a male was found on poison ivy stems at about 8:45. I continued searching to the NE of this area, out in the roughly mowed field, and along the tall grass next to the road near the 'come and take it' monument. No more were found (lots of Eastern Ringtails though). See the image with precise locations for more info. I noticed that all three were perched between 6"" and 24"" off the ground. They seemed to be more active and harder to approach at first, but by the last one, they didn't startle easily. The description that they fly a bit like a damselfly is accurate. I knew they were a dragonfly as soon as they flew up, but they are darker, small, and stayed low over or in the grasses and weeds. The first two females were found on or near the lower strand of barbed wire on the fence along the ranch road. At 9:45, we were ready to call it quits (the heat and humidity were on high), when a local lady arrived and asked 'are you all looking for the dragonfly?' When I told her yes, she said she had been looking for it and had been there when Greg Lasley had seen one recently. I took her back to the areas where I had found the three, but there were none to be found at 9:45-10:00 along the same edges or in the field. I'm not sure where they went, but it definitely seems as if the heat and full sun had driven them into hiding."