Plumas County Odes - July 9, 2024

Incredible day in Plumas County ode hunting with @yubabirder.

We first visited Willow Lake with a few targets in mind. We arrived about 8:45 and stayed almost 5 hours, mostly covering the west and south sides of the lake. Here we had excellent species diversity:
Northern Spreadwing 20+
Emerald Spreadwing 3
California/Aztec Dancer 1 (unable to get decent tail photos)
Vivid Dancer 5+
Taiga Bluet 8-10 (west and south sides) *new for Asher
Boreal Bluet 5+
Northern Bluet 1
Boreal/Northern Bluet 200+
Tule Bluet 2 (west side)
Pacific Forktail 10+
Western Forktail 20+
Sedge Sprite 1,000+ (incredible population density along the south side of the lake, where the bog is sunken and there is much standing water) *new for both of us
Western Red Damsel 30+
Common Green Darner 6-8
Variable Darner 1
Blue-eyed Darner 4-5
Paddle-tailed Darner 6-8 *new for me
Grappletail 2
American Emerald 15-20 most along west side
Hudsonian Whiteface 8-10 (south side) *new for Asher
Dot-tailed Whiteface 25+ (most on south side)
Variegated Meadowhawk 1
Black Meadowhawk 1 (south side) *new for both of us
White-faced Meadowhawk 15-20 (most on west side)
Striped Meadowhawk 5+
Chalk-fronted Corporal 75+ (abundant, especially along north shoreline in forest)
Eight-spotted Skimmer 2
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 12-15
Four-spotted Skimmer 50+
Black Saddlebags 1

We also made a stop to search for Swift Forktails at Deer Creek Meadows in Tehama County on the way home. No luck, but still a decently active spot. Here we had:
Vivid Dancer 30+
Western Forktail 10-15
Pacific Spiketail 1
Grappletail 6-8
Hoary Skimmer 1
Twelve-spotted Skimmer 1
Four-spotted Skimmer 8-10

Posted on July 10, 2024 07:17 AM by liamhuber