Overall, I would give the Salt River water trail in Arizona a solid Odonata-boosted thumbs up. Highly recommend!

And then there was this damselfly who had a majorly bent abdomen. I’ve never seen that before either! I do not know how or why it’s that way. 🤔

I also discovered that Veliids bite!!
News to me! I was bit by quite a few that day.
Did YOU know that they bite?

I’m guessing it’s a casual..’let me taste this bc why not’ kind of thing rather than a targeted attack (like in mosquitoes).
Still hurt tho😬
Here is one that had JUST rudely bit me😡:

I watched the male damselfly drop her off at the water’s surface! And the whole time I was recording, he was hovering above, I’m guessing waiting for her to resurface?

I haven’t seen that behavior before. I always thought they stayed attached the whole time and for paternity reasons.

That previous photo is me taking a video of an adult, winged, female damselfly who is underwater and laying eggs in the stems of the underwater plants. Here is the view. You can watch her curl her abdomen around and insert the two eggs!! 🥚 🌿

A video clip of the serene scene With the chill road runner.
It was only a few strides from where @ileanabeta.bsky.social and I were sitting on the bench! I wonder why. It came over from where we first saw it by the parking lot. I wonder if it feels safer near (but not too near) humans?

Found this gorgeous and and huge cowrie in the intertidal zone. It was glowing with life!!