I am told that the quick sweep-flip motion used for netting insects resembles the motions used in squash. I am not a squash player, so that information did not help me figure out how to successfully net bees, but perhaps someone with more sports competence than I might find it useful.
Pantala and Tramea species (and a few other genera) form a group, often called “gliders” as a whole, that are similar to each other in many ways and share many similar habits. All have relatively short bodies and long, wide wings, and form mixed swarms together over open areas. Further east, if you’re in more wooded areas, the swarms can often include striped emeralds (Somatochlora) as well, which are highly sought after by dragonfly enthusiasts (depending on where you are in Texas, you may have a few of these as well). I have seen areas of swarming dragonflies that include up to 5 Somatochlora species, as well as wandering and spot-winged gliders, black and Carolina saddlebags, river cruisers, as well as the occasional green and swamp darner
I’m in Central TX, so I don’t think we have any of the striped emeralds, but I do need to head out East for birding purposes at some point. Maybe I can aim for somewhere that has lots of interesting dragonflies as well.
On a vaguely related topic, do you know if there are any especially interesting odonates in Uvalde county, out West? I’ll be there for a few days in November, which is obviously not the best time of year for them but does have a few still around.
There absolutely are! Cook’s Slough Nature Park, just south of Uvalde, is a big odonate hotspot. You can get some cool and even rare species there, like sylphs (Macrothemis), carmine skimmer, narrow- and broad-striped forceptails, slough amberwing, and a ton of others.
November may not be ideal, but a lot of the subtropical species found in south TX and that area have longer seasons, so you may have a chance
pssst Let me introduce you to a new resource: Odonata Central.
I actually found iNat through them. They have county and state checklists for the US, and records for places outside the US as well. It doesn’t have the social aspect of iNat, but if you want species accounts, visual records, range maps, historical data, or anything like that for Odonata, this the place.
i find that they are very easy to just pick up after it rains- i had this Common Whitetail stay on my arm for a while and occasionally buzz its wings before flying away, i think it might have been drying them.
This will likely be an unpopular opinion, but unless you’re a researcher who needs to handle dragonflies for their job, in which case you would already have been taught how to do it safely, why not just leave them alone?
If they are resting and in a mood for a photo, they will let you get close and take some. Learn to use your camera equipment and move slowly and languidly, and whatever dragonflies (or any other flying insects for that matter) aren’t too busy living their lives – will be happy to pose for you for a little while.
Do you have to get a shot of every dragonfly you ever meet? If someone is busy hunting for food or searching for a mate, or just trying to chill alone without being bothered, why must your hobby come before their comfort?
For most dragonflies, I would agree with you that photography is better than netting. Where I live, 95% of our species can be identified from good photos. But there are a few species that can only be identified if you have the dragonfly in hand to look at reproductive structures. Also, there are some dragonfly species that almost never perch at ground level. Pond skimmers are easy to photograph, but other types of dragonflies only perch 25 feet up in a tree where they are nearly impossible to see or photograph. If it is an uncommon species, it is important to document where they are living so we can identify and protect their habitat. If you can photograph and identify a dragonfly from photos, I agree that is the better way to go. But it is not always possible with some species.
I’m happy to photograph anything that will actually sit still for it, but some dragonflies don’t, at least not anywhere I’m likely to find them. Or they might not sit still in the particular context where I’m seeing them (like flying around in my yard), and looking elsewhere for ones that are sitting still won’t do me much good if my goal is to find out exactly what’s in my yard.
And it’s not just about my hobby. Every dragonfly I can get identifiable photos of is another data point in the INat pool, and if enough people get identifiable photos of enough dragonflies it’ll contribute to whatever patterns are already showing up. There’s value in documenting what lives where, especially given the state of insect populations worldwide.
(don’t get me wrong, I see your point, and I do in fact have a number of damselfly photos taken by just edging up on them. Plus a bunch of others taken with a large zoom lens. There are just situations and/or species where those approaches don’t reliably work.)