Book Review – Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West

Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West – Dennis Paulson Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West Dennis Paulson Princeton University Press Paperback 535 pages 2009 Living in British Columbia, I’m fortunate to have a copy of Rob Cannings Introducing the Dragonflies of British Columbia and Yukon as a field guide when I’m out photographing dragonflies or practicing a little catch and …

Eight-spotted Skimmer

One of the great things about backyard gardening, especially in an urban/semi-urban setting, is the different kinds of wildlife that turns up. We’ve got four raised beds in our small garden and the flowers and vegetables attract a whole host of insects and birds. The insects that are attracted to the flowers and water sources in the garden attract predators …

A Blue-eyed Visitor

It’s been a busy month so it was great to have a bit of downtime this afternoon in the backyard garden enjoying the sun and a cold beer to celebrate the end of the teaching year. Both of the kids were out in the yard and I was nominally on child minding duty when I spotted a dragonfly basking on …

There Be Dragons

I had the opportunity to lead a Young Naturalists Club walk this morning out at Woodhus Slough just north of the Oyster River. We were looking for dragonflies and on this sunny morning were fortunate to find a few. It’s late in the year for dragonflies and many of the ones that we caught (and released) were looking tattered. Variable …