New Species Recorded for Staten Island

Hi All...

Thanks to every one for starting to submit records to the data base!

Dave Eib, SIDfA volunteer discovered a large "Mosaic" darner at Walker Pond while surveying on June 25th. Luckily, the d-fly perched close enough for Dave to capture the stunning photograph on the right! Thanks to such an amazing photograph we were able to identify this amazing creature as Staten Island's first recorded Spatterdock Darn (Rhionaeschna mutata).

This is proof positive that more species occur on the island than are presently known about so new discoveries are out there to be made by the ardent observer...

Happy Dragonflying....
Seth

-Seth Wollney
Section of Natural History
Staten Island Museum

New Dragonfly Photo Set o Flickr

Hi All,

The dragonfly activity has been very good the past few days! On average there are about 7 species flying at any one location! Visit the SIDfA Downloads page for the Protocol Manual and Field Data Forms. I am putting the final touches on the ID Key, which shall be posted by this weekend. You will need to download and install the PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to use the interactive ability of the Key. A .pdf version of the Key will also be available for download.

In addition to the Key, I've created a new "set" on Flickr for Staten Island Dragonflies (click here)

Happy Dragonflying!
Seth

-Seth Wollney
Section of Natural History
Staten Island Museum

Up And Running!

The website is now up and running as it should be! Here's a few of the updates:

-Map Issue fixed for most browsers. If a window still pops up when you open the "submissions", just click OK, and enter the data.

-"Location" drop-down: a blank has been added for locations that are not on the drop down menu. Use this if the location you selected is not included on the drop down.

-You can only enter is one sighting at a time into the data base. Use the "Go Back" button in your browser window after each submission. This will show your last observation, so all you will need to do is change the sighting information (below the Map). Although the cursor in the Map will reset, the lat/lon information DOES NOT! So, don't worry about where the cursor is after your first entry.

-SIDfA KEY will be ready by Sunday evening.

Let's hope the rain clears up and dragonflies abound!

Be Well....

-Seth Wollney
Section of Natural History
Staten Island Museum

Friday Web Updates!

Just wanted to let every one know that some updates have been completely on the SIDragonfly web site!

I will be posting PDFs of the Manual and Field Data Form to the "Downloads" page tomorrow morning when I get to work. The Key, as presented Sunday, will hopefully be ready for downloading by Saturday afternoon.

The submissions page IS READY and can be used! For now, just leave the "Location Name" as "Blue Heron Park". Use of the Google Map will allow us to use GIS software to create maps and analyze locations.

Happy Dragonflying!

-Seth Wollney
SIDfA Project Coordinator
Section of Natural History
Staten Island Museum

Web Site Fix-up!

There are some new updates and tweaks scheduled for the SIDragonfly web site. These include:
-ADDING a page to download important information regarding SIDfA including Data Forms, Protocol Manual and Key to local dragonflies!
-Fixing the map function so no message is displayed
-Eliminating the need for a location name

Please visit again soon for updates! Thanks for contributing!

-Seth Wollney
Section of Natural History
Staten Island Museum

1st SI Dragonfly Atlas Workshop

1st SI Dragonfly Atlas Workshop at Clay Pits Pond Park

We are very glad to report that the 1st SIDfA held at the Interpretive Center at Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve well attended and a good base of volunteers has been created! Paul Lederer and Seth Wollney presented a digital slide show which covered Dragonfly biology and behavior and then featured the new SIDfA Identification Key!

(photos by Jarred Sutton)

After the slide show presentation, a number of participants joined Paul and Seth for a walk to Sharrotts Pond for some field study! The group was not let down! Plenty of blue dasher, common whitetail and damselflies were actively foraging and courting near the observation deck. At one point, a female Common Green Darner landed on a little lily pad to oviposite before moving on.

(photo by Jarred Sutton)

Due to multiple requests, we are considering presenting the slide show again on July 2, 2009 at the Staten Island Museum. If you are interested, please e-mail me with you preferred time, either 11am or 2pm, at swollney@statenislandmuseum.org.

-Seth Wollney
Section of Natural History
Staten Island Museum

2009 Season Starting Up!

The cool, rainy weather so fair this spring has brought a slow start to the Dragonfly season. Some of our early migrants, such as Common Green Darner and Common White-tail have started to patrol ponds in search of food and mates!

A field manual and recording forms will be made available within a few days for use when out collecting data.

Check back in a few days for updates on programs and field-work.

I will also be making my self available to any one interested in meeting up for "Dragonflying" out-side of a schedule walk or workshop. Please feel free to e-mail me at seth@sethwollney.com to set up a meeting date and location.

-Seth Wollney
Section of Natural History
Staten Island Museum