On his way to run errands on a sunny August afternoon this year, Ben Whittington swung by a marsh he visits. Scanning a particular tree that he knows a Willow Flycatcher likes to frequent, he noticed a dragonfly perched at the very top and snapped a few quick photos of it from a distance. Later, he uploaded them to iNaturalist Vermont and let the computer vision go to work–Striped Saddlebags (Tramea darwini)–a new state record.
The next day Ben was reviewing his observation over lunch. “I hadn’t realized how notable this observation was. I blindly followed the AI recommendation yesterday, but I can’t refute it using my guide,” he wrote on iNaturalist Vermont and tagged two Vermont experts.
Ben kept doing his homework, noting many of the field marks and more in the discussion. It didn’t take long for Bryan Pfeiffer and Mike Blust, leaders of the the Vermont Damselfly and Dragonfly Atlas, to get the message and jump in too.
“Days ago I was predicting that this very species would be the next new ode to the Vermont checklist,’ exclaimed Bryan responding to his sighting.
Slowly, the pieces all fell into place as they poured over the images and details, and each of them arrived at the same conclusion. In the end, even Dennis Paulson, a world expert, was pinged and agreed. Vermont has a new dragonfly species added to the Vermont Damselfly and Dragonfly Atlas.
One of iBen Whittington’s mages as it perched on the top of a tree.
