The 2014 regional meeting of the Northeast Dragonfly Society of the Americas, to be held June 26 – 29 in Binghamton, New York, recalls one of the earliest US meetings, an informal gathering hosted by Nick and Ailsa Donnelly the weekend of 4 July 1982. That meeting drew 21 participants plus families (a large fraction of the odonatists in North America at the time!), with participants coming from as far away as Florida and Oklahoma. Nannothemis bella (Elfin Skimmer) and Cordulegaster obliqua (Arrowhead Spiketail) were added to the already large Broome County list, and we hope to continue this fine tradition.
The Broome County area (including parts of Chenango and Cortland Counties, and Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania) has a rich odonate fauna, but there are opportunities to find additional species. The Susquehanna River close to Binghamton was the place where Ophiogomphus howei (Pygmy Snaketail) was found in 1967, after having “disappeared†for 43 years following the 1924 find of the original male in Massachusetts and female in Pennsylvania. The river has a rich ode fauna, is easily accessible, and will be one of the main features of the meeting.
One of our prime spots will be Jam Pond, one of the finest bogs in the state. Although having one of the longest lived colonies of Aeshna subarctica (Subarctic Daner) in the United States, it has never yielded any species of Somatochlora, though a few have been seen over the years. Late June will be a prime time to find abundant Enallagma annexum, all intergraded with Enallagma vernale (Vernal Bluet). (However, we will not find A. subarctica, which flies from mid August until late September.)
Another site is Wier’s Pond, in northern Pennsylvania, which is a Nature Conservancy property featuring both Lanthus vernalis (Southern Pygmy Clubtail) and L. parvulus (Northern Pygmy Clubtail), and has apparently stable colonies of Coenagrion resolutum (Taiga Bluet) and Gomphaeschna furcillata (Harlequin Darner). There are numerous additional sites: The Chenango Valley State Park (where Aeshna mutata was recently found), Otselic Bog (another fine kettlehole bog), Geneganslet Creek, where three species of Calopteryx can be found together; Hawkins Pond and Greenwood Park (Broome County Parks) with several species of interest, such as Boyeria grafiana (Oscellated Darner) and Enallagma traviatum (Slender Bluet) (we are in the zone of intergradation between subspecies traviatum and westfalli).
ORGANIZERS: Ailsa and Nick Donnelly and Bryan Pfeiffer
REGISTRATION: You must register by March 1, 2014 in order for organizers to obtain necessary permits. To register send an email to Bryan Pfeiffer (bryan@bryanpfeiffer.com).
Lodging options in the Binghamton area, including camping, will be available to registrants.
