hryc111's Favorites

Bent wing-shape and forward position of head in first and third photos suggests Sharpie? But second suggests Cooper's? Outer tail feathers notably shorter than inner, suggesting rounded tail. Anyone?

Led to call this Big rather than Familiar by apparent presence of distinguishing features from Paulson: Short cerci. Elongated black marks on abdomen over blue. In lower reach of Mystic River. Enough in these photos to tell? Just noticed that there was another sighting of Big Bluet at almost exactly this location in 2019: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/28942502

We were looking for fungi with a friend mycologist. It was under a log. We replaced the log cautiously with a cushion layer to avoid crushing it. That illustrates the issue with turning logs at this time of the year, definitely we should not turn logs anymore to avoid this kind of situation. It takes energy for them to get their hibernaculum ready: no need to disturb them more than necessary, it can be lethal the colder it gets.

At Mystic Lakes. A friendly hiker told me where to look out for them. Would never have noticed this species without him. Thank you! Three very active individuals. Would immediately take off if another flew by and chase each other @5-15ft until landing again. In a sunny clearing in forest by the lake shore.