Flowers and hikers wilt when the temperature reaches the high 90s but not the dragonflies and damselflies. These insects are exothermic (unable to produce their own body heat) and need warm air temperatures in order to fly. The hotter it gets, the more active they become, making August an ideal month to see them.
Ebony jewelwings (Calopteryx maculata) have been described as turquoise and emerald wands with ebony wings. This aptly named damselfly likes to perch on low shrubbery along slow-moving, shaded streams, usually facing the water as they watch for prey. When perching, damselflies hold their wings folded over their body, unlike dragonflies who hold their wings horizontal to their body.
Useful as well as beautiful, jewelwings eat mosquitos, gnats, crane flies, caddis flies and other small insects. In turn, jewelwings are eaten by dragonflies, spiders, fish, birds and frogs. One of our flashiest damselflies, ebony jewelwings are mainly an eastern species and relative newcomers to Boulder County.
They’re not even listed in the 2021 edition of “Insects & Kin of the Colorado Front Range,” nor could we find them in several online sites of Colorado insects. We first learned about them in 2020 and wrote them up for our August Nature Walk that year, thinking they might just be a flash in the pan. Since then, they have become established along Coal Creek with eight breeding records in 2021.
So, we decided to update our report. In mid-July, we headed to Flagg Park and almost immediately spotted jewelwings perched on the willows below the bridge over Coal Creek near the parking lot. Flagg Park and nearby stretches of Coal Creek are where nature lovers started seeing jewelwings in substantial numbers about five years ago.
The first documented sighting was June 24, 2015, when naturalist Dan Fosco photographed one at Heil Ranch. In July, 2017, Ann Cooper, co-author with Steve Jones of “Dragonflies of the Colorado Front Range,” found them on Rock Creek near Stearns Lake. If you find them along streams other than Coal and Rock Creeks, please let us know via the Boulder Daily Camera.
Coal Creek Trail stretches for 14 miles between Superior and Erie, so hiking or bicycling is practically open-ended. The stretch from Flagg Park to the Public Road Trailhead in Lafayette is one of the best places to see jewelwings. Because much of the trail is open and sunny, we like to just stroll on small, shady segments.
At the Flagg Park bridge the trail climbs slightly, and in a short distance, a dirt path branches to the right off the main gravel trail. That’s where we head on a hot day. You can mosey along the sun-dappled creek looking for jewelwings and their relatives, the rubyspot damselflies, as well as for wrens, blue grosbeaks, western kingbirds and other riparian inhabitants.
If you go, take a camera. There’s ample opportunity for photography as jewelwings, like most damselflies and dragonflies, fly out after prey and then return to the same spot. If you avoid letting your shadow fall on them, you can usually approach to within a few feet before they fly.
In late summer, the males put on an elaborate display that peaks in the afternoon. They flutter their wings and hover like an animated helicopter in front of a female. The brownish-bronze females are characterized by a white wing cell on the outer edge of their forewing that may help sexes identify each other.
The dance culminates when the female accepts her suitor’s attentions, and he clasps her behind her head with his tail or abdomen forming a heart-shaped wheel. If August afternoons are too hot for you, watch their amazing courtship dances on Youtube. To reach Flagg Park, take Baseline Road to Flagg Drive (just south of East County Line Road) and turn right.
The park is on the left. Ode to Odes If you’re a fan of the Odonta (order comprising the dragonflies and damselflies), you might enjoy participating in the 2024 Summer Odolympics scheduled for Sept. 7-15.
For details, log onto odonatacentral.org . Ruth Carol Cushman is the co-author of Boulder Hiking Trails, available on Amazon.
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