A Dragonfly Walk with Mark Manning

This summer, we pitched the idea of a dragonfly walk to Mark Manning, a Hopewell science teacher with broad and deep knowledge of nature, with a particular passion for amphibians and dragonflies. Mark's first choice for a location was Rogers Refuge, the wonderful wetland just down from the Institute Woods. In 2021, he and his sons had compiled an impressive list of 36 Odonata species (dragonflies and damselflies) there. But logistical difficulties shifted the walk to Herrontown Woods. 

Having not yet seen any dragonflies this year, I was wondering whether the walk would acquire the same existential feel we had some years back when a mushroom walk we hosted coincided with a prolonged drought. I cut a path down to a pond on preserved pasture land near Veblen House, but the pond was dry.

As with the mushroom walk with very few mushrooms, however, our July 1 phantom dragonfly walk proved satisfying nonetheless. Mark talked about the relatedness of milkweed and dogbane in the Botanical Art Garden, 

and told the story of how the toxin Tremetol in white snakeroot caused thousands of deaths in the Midwest when settlers drank milk from cows that had eaten the plant. 

A couple of Mark's former students who came along were not squeamish about picking up frogs to show us close up. 

And we did in fact see a couple dragonflies: an Eastern Pondhawk in the pasture, and two Common Whitetails where the red trail crosses the gas pipeline right of way. 

One added benefit of the walk was that it got us thinking about how we might better cater to the needs of dragonflies at Herrontown Woods. That dry pond in the pasture may be dry because the outlet needs repair. And might it be possible to build another little pond, of the sort we witnessed during a recent visit to Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve? 

Thanks to Mark for leading the walk, and for his work in inventorying Princeton's Odonata and getting us thinking about their habitat needs.