Do you suffer from recency bias? Recency bias is a type of cognitive bias that causes you to give greater weight in decision-making to things that have happened recently than to those that happened in the past, even the recent past. It is the only explanation I can come up with for not having already posted these shots of a Sable Clubtail dragonfly (Stenogomphurus rogersi) that I observed on 12 June. Essentially, I got so caught up in excitement over newer photos that that I pushed this dragonfly out of my mind or at least off of my “To-do” list.
Sable Clubtails are rare in our area. Although I have searched for them repeatedly this season, including in a location where I saw some last year, this is the only one that I have seen in 2019. According to the website Dragonflies of Northern Virginia, “Sables appears to prefer small, relatively clean, shallow and stable forest streams, with plenty of low vegetation and a gentle flow.” That is a pretty good description of the stream in Prince William County, Virginia where I spotted this Sable Clubtail, but it also means that I am unlikely to stumble upon a member of this species at the ponds and marshes that I often visit.
In addition to being found only in a very specific type of habitat, Sable Clubtails have a very limited flight season—only a few weeks in length. That window of opportunity has almost certainly closed for the year. If you would like to see some additional photos of Sable Clubtails or read of my thoughts about chasing after rare dragonflies, check out this posting from a year ago.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Very Nice Mike! Never saw one of these before. Enjoyed seeing your photos of them!
Love those emerald eyes!
At my age, “recency bias” is definitely an issue! LOL!
What a beautiful dragon! I’m trying harder to make trips specifically about certain species, as opposed to spotting odonates as a by-product of birding trips.
Each outing is a learning experience.
“Recency bias” may indeed be a fancy word for what is generally known as “senior moments.” 🙂 I have only recently started searching in specific locations for specific species of dragonflies. I have a friend who is an even greater dragonfly fanatic and he has really caused me to focus on the habitat requirements for rarer dragonflies. Most of the common ones we see are habitat generalists and are found almost everywhere. Some of our target species, like the Sable Clubtail, need very specific habitats.
Habitat generalists, regency bias …. taking a walk in our Nature Center recently I saw a dragonfly and immediately thought of you!
I guess I can get a little geeky at times, but I figure that it’s good to share the things I learn. I think we all benefit from being lifetime learners.
[…] full circle, Mike spotted a single male Sable Clubtail dragonfly about a week later in the same “neighborhood.” We searched the location intensively […]
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