Damsel draws dragonflies for field guide

Retired Akron art professor sketches colorful winged insects and their cousins, damselflies, for Kent naturalist's new book
By Bob Downing, Beacon Journal staff writer

Karen Schieley, Akron Beacon Journal

Jacquelyn Haley of West Akron has a new passion: dragonflies and damselflies. Haley, 77, a retired art professor at the University of Akron, previously gave little thought to the flying bugs with the brightly colored iridescent bodies and wings.

"I thought they were strange things... and never thought much about them,'' she said.

That changed -- thanks to naturalist Larry Rosche of Kent. He was about to embark on creating the first field guide to dragonflies and damselflies in Northeast Ohio and wanted her help.

Rosche, a map designer and field biologist, would be the editor of what became Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio (Cleveland Museum of Natural History, $18.95).

The artwork was provided by Haley; Jennifer Brumfield, 19, of Copley Township, a University of Akron student; and Kevin Metcalf of Geauga County, a naturalist with Cleveland Metroparks. All three are veteran bird watchers and skilled artists.

The result is a book that covers the 124 known species of the insects in Summit, Portage, Medina, Cuyahoga, Lorain, Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula and Trumbull counties.

The 94-page book features full-color pencil drawings of the male dragonflies and damselflies -- with Haley producing 93 of the sketches.

Rosche and his team found dragonflies and damselflies where others hadn't in Northeast Ohio wetlands, meadows and streams.

The result is a "great guide... with fantastic illustrations'' that should be of real help to anyone wanting to know about the insects, said naturalist Mike Greene of Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, a dragonfly expert who helped review Rosche's text before publication.

They are "simply amazing flying creatures... that no one knows about,'' Rosche said. ``Dragonfly is a good name, too -- the adults are aerial acrobats that pound for pound are as fierce as any lion or tiger or mythical dragon.''

Rosche's team is considering doing a second book: to provide coverage of the female dragonflies and damselflies, Haley said.

Dragonflies are a hot nature topic and one that is generating a lot of interest, said Rosche, 57, a retired Stow math teacher.

They are difficult to find and even more difficult to observe because of their agility and speed, he said.

They are getting the kind of attention that birds got 10 years ago, said Rosche, who favors watching the insects through close-focusing binoculars.

Dragonflies and damselflies are still "so unknown and mysterious,'' said Brumfield.

"They're pretty tough bugs, carnivores and colorful. And they've got great names that are just so descriptive and original,'' she said.

Among the four-winged dragonflies are clubtails, cruisers, darners, emeralds, petaltails, skimmers and spiketails. Damselflies are slender, delicate creatures with names such as bluets, dancers, Eastern red damsels, forktails and sprites.

Rosche is a strong advocate of live trapping, photographing and observing the insects and then releasing them.

Haley would spend several days a week out in the field, catching specimens with nets and observing them with a magnifying glass.

Later, in her studio, she would study them through a stereo-microscope she purchased. She went through scientific books and filled a sketchbook with data.

It might take a day to complete a single sketch, she said.

She tried to be extra careful when sketching body parts and in drawing the bugs to the correct scale.

The artwork from the book is on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History with regular museum admission through Sept. 21. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. The book is available at the museum and from park nature centers in the Akron-Cleveland area. Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com

Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002
 

Page last updated on Monday April 23, 2007