Kathy Biggs Biography
1945 -
Kathy Biggs has been a nature lover all her life.
When she built a wildlife pond in the backyard in 1996, dragonflies arrived and she found her true passion.
Wanting to share her passion, she developed websites for her wildlife ponds, and California Dragonflies. As her interests grew, she developed a Southwest Dragonflies website.
The websites matured and grew into Kathy's becoming the author of California’s first Dragonfly Guide,
Common Dragonflies of California,
She has also authored titles on Building Ponds for Wildlife and how that differs from Koi/Tropical lilies ponds. Kathy surveys for dragonflies in California and the greater southwest. She manages the Yahoo Group CalOdes and is a member of several other Odonate groups. She tracks flight data and
distribution for California and the greater southwest. Kathy is a member and vetter
for Odonata Central, iNaturalist and also for the Western Odonata Facebook page.
Kathy has organized
annual CalOdes Dragonfly Blitzes since the first one in 2005. for several years she taught
a 2-day workshop for the Siskiyou Field Institute, and has taught other
workshops and seminars for the Point Reyes Field Institute, the Laguna
Foundation, Footloose Forays, Pepperwood Preserve, Salmon Festivals in Sacramento and Happy Camp and several state and national parks. She often presents and/or
leads field trips on dragonflies and wildlife ponds at numerous Audubon Society
and CNPS Chapters and Gardening clubs throughout the state. A program in 2024 for the Sonoma Land Trust was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube: Language of the Land: Dragonflies in CALIFORNIA (English) (It is also available in Spanish).
The TV program "Deep Look" filmed our pond and its inhabitants in 2017. The program can be seen from this link! Deep Look - A Baby Dragonfly's Mouth Will Give You Nightmares
Kathy has worked with the BLM in particular in protecting
habitat for the rare Black Petaltail dragonfly and has discovered new breeding
areas for the rarest dragonfly in North America: the San Francisco Forktail.
She hopes she can inspire you to get to know the dragonflies and the wetlands
that support them.
the Southwest’s first dragonfly guide, Common
Dragonflies of the Southwest,
a Dragonfly Color and Learn Book with art by Tim Manolis,
Dragonflies of the Greater Southwest and her latest publication Dragonflies (Anisoptera) of California. Kathy has also authored an eBook for Dragonflies of the Greater Southwest which is completely interactive.