An Arrowhead Spiketail dragonfly (Cordulegaster obliqua) was spotted during a recent photowalk with Michael Powell at a location in Fairfax County, Virginia USA.
This individual is a male, as indicated by his hamules and terminal appendages.
The Backstory
At the end of a long day in the field, Mike Powell and I were walking back to the car slowly when we spotted a group of 10-or-so large dragonflies hawking insects over a HUGE field, near a small drainage pipe. We stopped to watch the hawkers hoping one would land; I sat on my Coleman camp stool to rest in the shade and enjoy the aerial acrobatics show.
One of the large dragonflies zoomed past Mike (he says he never saw it) and landed on a tall grass stem near the drainage pipe. It was the male Arrowhead Spiketail shown above!
Turns out the place is nothing like the habitat described as ideal (see below). I’ll say this: Three out of four times I’ve seen Arrowhead Spiketails, a fly-by was how I found them. So maybe just sit in a good spot and wait for the game to come to you. Maybe.
Habitat
Disclaimer: I have observed and photographed four (4) Arrowhead Spiketail dragonflies. I feel somewhat uncomfortable providing habitat guidance based upon a sample size of four. That being said, here goes.
Almost every Arrowhead siting had three common ingredients: a seep (or soggy place) in the forest, with skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) and interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana); a small stream in the forest fed by the seep/soggy place; and a sunny clearing.
I found my first Arrowhead Spiketail at a small stream in Huntley Meadows Park. I walked the stream to its source, not that the source is well defined. Instead it’s a BIG soggy area. I wouldn’t call it a seep and I have never seen skunk cabbage anywhere in the park. There are two virtually identical streams elsewhere in the park where Arrowhead has been photographed. The male Arrowhead flew a LONG patrol along the stream, flying approximately six inches (6″) above the water level. At the end points of his patrol, he would hang up to rest in a sunny spot. It took a long time for me to find the hang up places!
Michael Powell spotted the second Arrowhead Spiketail I’ve seen, perched in a small, sunny clearing in the forest along a small stream. A seep with skunk cabbage and interrupted fern was located nearby. For what it’s worth, we saw/photographed several Gray Petaltail dragonflies (Tachopteryx thoreyi) in the same field.
MUCH FARTHER downstream, the same creek is a little larger in size. At one point, a small iron-stained creek flows into the main creek. Mike and I were standing at the mouth of the tiny creek when I saw an Arrowhead fly like a bat out of hell straight down the stream and turn left; it perched in a large, sunny field. I was able to find it, and we took photos. A week-or-so later, Mike traced the smaller creek to its source. Wouldn’t you know it? The headwaters are a seep with lots of skunk cabbage!
My most recent Arrowhead Spiketail sighting — the individual featured in this blog post — is the one that doesn’t fit the pattern. The dragonfly was spotted in a HUGE field of grasses, etc. There are small creeks and seeps nearby, but not within sight of the location where the Arrowhead perched.
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