Photos: Line Road, Caroline County, Maryland. Springtime Darner. Six-spotted Tiger Beetle -- these beautiful beetles were very common along the road. Common Green Darner.
On Saturday Colleen and I spent a few hours walking along Line Road in Caroline County, Maryland. My main targets were Henry's Elfins and Juvenal's Duskywing. We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of insects that were flying. Line Road is a dirt road that is not heavily traveled and I have always had good luck with insects along the roadsides. The first butterfly I spotted was a Henry's Elfin. Elfin's are small mostly brown butterflies that are very habitat specific. I have only seen Henry's Elfins on forested dirt roads on Delmarva. Their main foodplant on Delmarva is American Holly and their fight time is very short from early April to May. While we were walking down the road medium sized dragonflies kept zooming past. I knew they were probably Springtime Darners but I could not get a good look because their flight was so rapid. So I decided to run back to the car and grab my butterfly net and try to catch one. After a couple minutes of running, jumping, and swinging (much to Colleen's amusement), I was finally able to snag one of the dragonflies. I was right in my assumption of the dragons being Springtime Darners. Springtime Darners are one of Delmarva's earliest dragonflies. They also have a short flight time so I was real happy to be able to get a shot of this insect. Spring Azures were very common along the road. These small bright blue butterflies are very common in the spring on Delmarva. The Azure complex is very confusing with many subspecies and possibly full species all lumped under the named Spring Azure. Depending on whose taxonomic status the reader decides to follow, there may be as many as four full species in the complex. The 'Atlantic Holly' Azure is also found on Delmarva but I do not feel that I can safely discern between the species and for now I am sticking with Spring Azure. While taking photos of the azure a Juvenal's Duskywing landed a few feet away. Duskywings are another confusing butterfly family with many species that are extremely variable in their wing patterns. Fortunately on Delmarva we only have a few species and with a little field practice can be separated fairly easily. Juvenal's is the first Duskywing species to fly and can be quite common on Delmarva in wooded areas. While walking back to the car we spooked up a small dark butterfly off the road that landed in the grass along the road side. I was surprised to see that it was another species of Elfin. Eastern Pine Elfins are small brightly patterned brown butterflies. I was elated because I have only seen Eastern Pine Elfins twice on Delmarva. I consider them very uncommon. Colleen and I then took a side trail that led down to a small creek. The trail sides were weedy with waist high grasses. Amazingly hundreds of Springtime Darners would take off from the grasses as we walked past. I have never seen so many individuals of this species in such a small area. Walking back on the path towards tha car a Common Green Darner flew past. Common Green Darners are one of Delmarva's largest dragonflies and one of the prettiest. I was able to catch one in the net and get some really great photos. Driving home I told Colleen that this was just the beginning, that in a month it was going to get really crazy!
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