If only I could be as skilled as a Purple Martin when it comes to picking out dragonflies! This year at Purple Martin banding the birds brought back quantity of Elusive Clubtails on the second weekend like the male in the top left in this photo. It appeared like there was an emergence of that species then because I didn't see any the first weekend. I wondered if I should be out somewhere along the river trying to find one in a natural setting vs. in a bird's beak. I would love to get a photo of one in a natural setting which I haven't yet.

The birds also brought back more than one Unicorn Clubtail. I kept my eye on one bird that had a clear Unicorn Clubtail in its beak for quite some time, ignoring the banding, hoping it would drop the dragonfly so I could pick it up. Sometimes the birds get impatient waiting to get into their compartments while their young are being banded and drop their load. Not this guy, unfortunately - he flew off back out into the river and I was only left with somewhat of a headache focusing so intently on that one bird for so long. I didn't recognize many other dragonflies the birds brought back which made me wonder if there would have been a new species or two for me among them if I could figure them out.

Overall, there were quite a few clubtails brought back this year including some of the commoner Dusky and Lancet Clubtails (one bird's beak was just stuffed with the latter), but no darners last year and there were also no Swift River Cruisers like there were a couple of last year. It could just be that the seasons didn't match up in the same way they did last year. In past years the banding continued into the third weekend of July, but this year, with so few birds nesting, the third session was cancelled.