Pennsylvania Game News - September 2012 - 54

ballooning spiders. Each night they roost in trees. If it rains, they hunker down and wait for sunshine and a cold front. Northwest winds often push them toward the Atlantic coast, hence the huge numbers seen in New Jersey. Eventually, most end up in Cape May, most notably on September 11, 1992, when an estimated 400,000 dragonflies, mostly common green darners, flew over Cape May and then turned northward again to avoid flying over Delaware Bay just as Wikelski, et al. discovered in 2005. Instead, they flew along the eastern shore of the Delaware Bay and, in mid afternoon, turned and flew west over the bay where it was only four miles wide. Farther along, when they reach the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, Pringle writes, they follow the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, thus avoiding the 17 miles of open water across the mouth of the bay. Often they pause to feed in swarms over farm fields, marshes and other open places with lots of midges, craneflies, gnats and mosquitoes. They rest on cloudy or rainy days, because they use sun compass navigation, flying according to the sun’s position in the sky, with the assistance of an internal

clock that makes up for the earth’s rotation and keeps them on track. They rest by hanging under the leaves of trees or roosting close to the ground in fields or shrubs. During their migration they go from tenerals, or immature, to full adults. The males’ purplish-brown abdomens gradually turn blue, while the females have gray-green abdomens. Their reproductive organs are developed and they are ready to mate in their southern retreats in Florida, Texas or even as far south as Mexico, having taken as long as two months to get there. Presumably, it is their offspring that head north in the spring to begin again the cycle of common green darner life, either mating and laying eggs immediately or becoming permanent residents by waiting until summer to mate. But whatever their life style, the common green darner — Anax junius — which means “Lord of June,” is seen from April to October in Pennsylvania, flying over ponds, marshes and pools, as well as over open fields, meadows and uplands far from the nearest still water, such as our First and Far fields. 

Trapper’s Tips… Scouting Techniques:

By Dan Lynch

You can’t catch what isn’t there. Before the season make sure you get out to your potential trapping locations and secure permission to trap and hunt. After you have that finished, take the time to check out those areas and scout for animal sign. You might try putting out some scent post stations to not only see what animals are out there, but to also test some of your future trapping lures and baits. Take a shovel and your trapping dirt sifter, as well as a few different trapping lures and then clear a 3-foot diameter circle of leaves, rocks and sticks. Then shovel the dirt in your sifter and sift it over that circle. Dip a small stick in your lure or bait and put it in the middle of your circle. Come back a few days later to look for tracks and scat left behind. You might also want to add a trail camera to the mix to actually see what is visiting. Deer hunters use this technique all the time, and it works just as well for trappers.

GAME NEWS

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/document/920435/trapper's_tips_pdf

Pennsylvania Game News - September 2012

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