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“If I’m in a wetland, I’m going to be looking for dragonflies,” Smith said.
“Sometimes I’m out there for a completely different reason, and it’s fun to mix
taxa. I may be focused on a bird, but I can still try to add new dragonfly species
or records while I’m out there.”
Smith’s methods of documenting species remain similar to those of Williamson,
but there have been a few changes in the century between Williamson’s expedi-
tion and Smith’s commemorative trip to Cavanal Lake.
“Because we have such a long history of specimen collection and such a long
history of records in the state, I don’t need to collect as many specimens as
Williamson. The strategy at the time was to collect as much as they could cap-
ture. Records show Williamson and Collins collected 583 specimens in the sum-
mer of 1907.
“Today, I can just walk around an area and identify dragonflies with binocu-
lars and record what I see. That allows me to conduct a much more thorough
search without spending a lot of time or energy capturing individuals. Someone
studying dragonflies in the early 1900s would have spent 20 minutes trying to
physically capture a single dragonfly, where now I can spend 20 minutes docu-
menting multiple individuals or multiple species.”
Smith often starts her search at or near a waterbody, as dragonflies and dam- Male and female dragonflies may have different
colorations or patterns and may prefer different
selflies spend much of their life underwater and remain near water as adults. She habitats. Unless seen in a copulating flight,
not only looks for dragonflies actively flying around, but also those perched on or “in-wheel,” biologists may need to rely on
different field marks or look in different habitats
stalks of vegetation or on the ground. to find both genders.
JEREMIAH ZURENDA

MAY/JUNE 2023 39