With a lot of work to do this season I hadn’t been able to fit in an outing concentrating on Odonata, a situation that had to be remedied. A day forecast to be under thirty degrees was made to order, and the vehicle was pointed in the direction of the Freestone Creek. I was hoping to get a species that would be new to me, and did I succeed? In a word yes, but more on that later. My first stop was a bit disappointing with only a couple of species evident, Yellow-striped Hunter and Common Flatwing. The latter seemed to be much more drab compared with the ones I see along the Macalister. The flatwing is in typical pose although they do on occasion close their wings like the majority of damselflies
The Freestone has a boulder strewn bed, favoured habitat for the Southern Vicetail, with the flatwing the most abundant species I saw on the day. This is a female with the double yellow dots along the body and smaller spread anal appendages.
During the day I saw two Imperial Blue butterflies, they were very wary and I only managed one shot from a distance. The breeze was an added difficulty.
An Australian Admiral was much more accommodating, perching on a rock and ignoring me.
I had one location especially in mind, where a large creek enters the Freestone at a deep pool above some shallow rapids. The vicetails were common there, and I also saw the occasional flash of blue as a mature male Arrowhead Rockmaster flew past. This species is very large for a damselfly and could be mistaken for a dragonfly. While following one downstream I suddenly saw a richly coloured female dragonfly that was new to me ovipositing on the wing, dipping her tail into a small pool. She then moved underneath an overhanging shrub, perched on a rock and continued to oviposit, flickering her wings continually. My view was partially obstructed by sedges, so I had to wait until the breeze blew the foliage aside to quickly grab shots. Here she is, a Forest Darner, Austroaeschna pulchra, a lovely insect.
I would have dearly liked to get a picture of her perched with still wings, but after she flew I searched for some time without finding her. The wary male rockmasters gave me a lot of exercise following them back and forth along the stream, but eventually perseverance paid off and I got pictures, somewhat distant but acceptable nonetheless thanks to the 200 macro.
As I was about to leave I noticed a very dark individual perched on a rock, it was a female rockmaster but unlike others I’ve seen and photographed that have some colour about them. I don’t know if this is teneral or a colour variation.
I tried two more spots without getting anything new, apart from boots full of water when I was forced to wade to reach promising spots that turned out to be Odonata free zones…..
Click to enlarge
