Common Dragon Flies of California: A Beginner's Pocket Guide - Softcover

Biggs, Kathy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0967793408 ISBN 13: 9780967793405

Publisher: Azalea Creek Pub, 2000

Synopsis

Learn how to identify the dragonflies and damselflies you see in your yards and on your outings

- softbound (laminated cover), 96 pages

- fits in your pocket (5.75" X 4.5")

- dragonflies and damselflies included

- 77 species covered: 6 family pages with live scanned dragonflies; 58 species pages with photos; 2 pages with anatomical sketches; species paired by similarities

- sizes (including a a bold line the length of the dragonfly), descriptions, comparisons, habitats, flight periods, behavior, distribution

- includes a checklist of all CA species

- 119 color photos/scans, inc. some nymph

The book has a companion website showing ALL of California's Dragonflies with distribution maps, which are updated twice yearly. The website contains additional information on each speices and has links to CalOdes, the California dragonfly discussion group, sightings within the state, and updated flight periods as well as addtional photos of all species.

About this title

About the Author

As a child Kathy Biggs, author of Common Dragonflies of California, traipsed through the fields and hills around her Bay Area homes in Alameda, San Leandro and then Alamo. She collected insects and enjoyed nature on the family's many camping outings. But it wasn't until after she & her husband moved from Pleasant Hill to Sebastopol, and they converted their swimming pool into a garden pond for wildlife that the dragonflies arrived and became her passion. Not a scientist, but a dragonfly enthusiast, Kathy taught herself in the field and by using the Internet where several scientists became her mentors. She ended up writing the book that she felt she so much needed. Now she tours the state teaching people about these amazing creatures, Earth's very first fliers.

From the Inside Flap

p 10: Viewing Dragonflies

Equipment: All you really need are your eyes, but optional items include shoes that can get wet, binoculars and/or camera with a zoom lens, butterfly net, an 8 -10X magnifying hand lens, clear plastic tubes, glassine envelopes such as used by stamp collectors, and plenty of sunscreen. There is much yet to be learned about dragonfly behavior, distribution, migration, etc. Take along a notepad to keep track of your observations by locality and date.

Timing: Dragonflies are best viewed on a calm, sunny day. When it is windy or cool they tend to hide away and await improved weather. The best opportunities to view them will usually be near a pond, stream or river although they can fly miles away from the waters from which they emerged when searching for food; indeed, some even migrate!

Method: Dragonflies are best approached slowly. Get yourself lined up directly with the insect and then walk straight towards it. They are more likely to fly away if you walk crosswise while near them. Sometimes you can get so near to a dragonfly that regular binoculars wont focus in that close. That is when a camera with a zoom lens comes in handy. Sometimes it is necessary to catch the dragonfly in order to identify it, using an insect net. Dragonfly wings, unlike the butterfly's, are not fragile, therefore gentle handling will not harm them. Hold dragonflies by pinching their wings together, folded over their back. Use a glassine envelope to immobilize the dragonfly until you reach a cool shady place where you can examine it. A small plastic tube can be used to immobilize a delicate damselfly while observing its markings. The hand lens is useful for looking at small body parts and segments. Dragonflies can also be cooled in an ice chest, thereby slowing their metabolism so that they will perch quietly, then photographed and released unharmed.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface: (page 7) Many good bird guides exist for California, and there are several good butterfly field guides for California also. However there are no books available for identifying dragonflies in California. Like the birds and butterflies, dragonflies are beautiful, colorful,interesting and diverse creatures. With the expanding popularity of garden ponds and the availability of both cameras with zoom lens and close-focus binoculars, there are now many people who are interested in watching and photographing them.

This book's purpose is to help people identify the dragonflies seen in their gardens, at ponds and on outings. Until recently, the only methods available for identifying dragonflies were wing venation patterns and examining terminal appendages of captured dragonflies in hand through a microscope. These techniques are overwhelming for beginners, to say the least. Luckily many species can be identified using size, color, pattern, behaviors, habitat, time of year and your location within the state.

Using a simple format, this book focuses on providing the necessary information for you to begin making dragonfly identifications. Descriptions of their life cycle are therefore only lightly touched upon.

Scanned digital images of live dragonflies are used in this book on the family heading pages. This method preserves the dragonfly's dazzling true life colors which otherwise start fading the moment it dies. The scanned dragonfly can be released afterwards. Scanning augments photography's portrayal of posture and habitat by being able to show greater detail.

Edition details

• Publisher: Azalea Creek Pub
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0967793408
• ISBN 13: 9780967793405
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96