Page 40 - 2023MayJun

To celebrate the diverse dragonfly and damselfly communities memorialized
on the pages of her book, and commemorate Collins and Williamson’s discov-
eries, Smith journeyed to the historic site, now owned in part by the Kerr Center
for Sustainable Agriculture.
“I’ve had so much fun digging into the history of Oklahoma’s odonates, and
it’s a treat to come out to the place where it may have all started,” Smith said.
“I think it’s really important to recog-
JENA DONNELL/ODWC nize and think about the history of
organisms. We can build on the work
of others in history to get trends and
understand why some organisms are
where there are.”

THE CONTINUED SEARCH FOR
OKLAHOMA’S DRAGONFLIES
AND DAMSELFLIES

Smith has long been interested in
dragonflies and was able to contin-
ue Williamson’s early work of docu-
menting Oklahoma’s dragonfly and
damselfly communities shortly after
Net in hand, Brenda Smith makes her way to the
edge of Cavanal Lake to commemorate a day of she arrived in the state. While her work has since involved other groups of
dragonfly discovery.
animals, including tiger beetles and black rails, she’s been able to add drag-
onfly and damselfly records from various regions of the state while working
on other projects.

JENA DONNELL/ODWC

Smith often relies on binoculars during dragonfly field work but keeps a net at the ready in case she would like a closer look or would like to collect a
potential new record.

38 OUTDOOR OKLAHOMA