Neighbourhood Odonate Count

For the last couple of years, I've been throwing around the idea of establishing an odonate (dragonflies and damselflies) count in London. While when you think of odonates, you may not think of London as a good area, it can be surprisingly good! This is obviously not the year...perhaps next year, we'll see.

I decided to focus on a smaller area this year, one I know quite well, my neighbourhood. I have had quite a lot of luck here, everything a ten minute or less walk from home! I planned out a route, and so from about 9:45 am until 7:15 pm, I counted odes! 

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

I had recorded 40 species in my neighbourhood prior to my count, 27 of which I recorded on my count. I managed to add two species to the cumulative list, bringing the total up to 42. As such, I recorded 64% of my total list on my count, which I think is quite good (considering I was only expecting 18 or 19 species)! Of those 42 species, a few of those were accidental (Citrine Forktail, Northern Bluet, Beaverpond Baskettail, Red Saddlebags), and for some others, we are outside the flight period for, such as Shadow and Lance-tipped Darner, which I see more so in August and September. 

Without any further ado, the results.

Broad-winged Damsels (Calopterygidae)

Ebony Jewelwing - 33

Spread-winged Damsels (Lestidae)

Emerald Spreadwing - 1

Slender Spreadwing - 147

Lestes sp. - 1

Narrow-winged Damsels (Coenagrionidae)

Violet Dancer - 1

Marsh Bluet - 6

Familiar Bluet - 101

Orange Bluet - 42

Stream Bluet - 2

Tule Bluet - 1

Eastern Forktail - 420

Fragile Forktail - 118

Sedge Sprite - 33

Darners (Aeshnidae)

Common Green Darner - 14

Clubtails (Gomphidae)

Unicorn Clubtail - 1

Skimmers (Libelluidae)

Dot-tailed Whiteface - 1

Black Saddlebags - 14

Widow Skimmer - 25

Twelve-spotted Skimmer - 45

Four-spotted Skimmer - 3

Blue Dasher - 89

Eastern Pondhawk - 68

Common Whitetail - 80

Eastern Amberwing - 57

Ruby Meadowhawk - 8

White-faced Meadowhawk - 2

Band-winged Meadowhawk - 68

Autumn Meadowhawk - 7

Total Species: 27

Total Individuals: 1388

I divided the checklist so I could calculate totals for each of the four locations I visited (Virginia Park, Northbrook Park, Uplands North Wetland, and Uplands Trail). I found the totals somewhat interesting. The bulk of the individuals at the Uplands wetland were Eastern Forktails (319)...I never want to look at one again.

Virginia Park

Species: 14

Individuals: 138

Northbrook Park

Species: 24

Individuals: 620

Uplands North Wetland

Species: 17

Individuals: 621

Uplands Trail

Species: 4

Individuals: 9

Okay, now some commentary...

So, what were some notable misses? I'd say my most surprising one is Skimming Bluet. They aren't super abundant in my neighbourhood, but I definitely expected at least one. The only other miss of note is Northern Spreadwing. They aren't terribly common, but usually you can find them by sorting through the Slender Spreadwings in this one area of the north wetland. I had my first of the year the previous day. I'm almost positive I did have a Northern on the count, but I couldn't get close enough to get a good look or catch it. As such, it is left as Lestes sp.

Northern Spreadwing (July 13, 2020)

As I noted earlier, I added two new species to my neighbourhood list. These were Steam and Tule Bluets. I had a hunch on where I might see some Stream Bluets, and sure enough, there was one there. The other was mixed in with a bunch of Familiar Bluets along the edge of a storm pond. The Tule Bluet was a complete surprise. I netted a blue type bluet, just to confirm it was a Familiar Bluet, but once I pulled it out I realized "Hey, that's a Tule!". My first for Middlesex county too.

Stream Bluet

Tule Bluet

So, some surprises? I had a bunch! One of the most notable is the numbers of Band-winged Meadowhawks, with 68 tallied. This is only the third occurrence I have noted in the 'hood, and the first involving more than one individual. I had all four Middlesex (and neighbourhood) meadowhawks today, with White-faced being another surprise, as I hadn't had any previously this year.

Four-spotted Skimmer is apparently uncommon in the county, I've only seen them in one other spot, in Dorchester Swamp. I had three today in a spot I haven't really visited in July before. 

Dot-tailed Whiteface is oddly rare in my neighbourhood, and I have only seen it once before. I found one male today.

Another species I had only seen once prior is Sedge Sprite. I found a good number today! I had hoped that with a concerted effort I'd be able to turn up some, but I didn't expect to see so many. The one pictured was actually my first ode of the day.

I've seen Violet Dancer once prior as well, when a male landed on the deck in my yard. I was very pleased to find a female, certainly unexpected.

One last surprise to mention would be Unicorn Clubtail. I didn't see them in the usual spot, but did catch a male in a new location. I've now seen this uncommon species on all three ponds in my neighborhood (sick of that word yet?).

A non-insect surprise was finding a couple singing Marsh Wrens. New for my patch! I've been hoping for this species for awhile, and they were right where I thought they'd be if they showed up.

I'll leave you with this Common Green Darner, a species I don't catch very often. Officially the first ode to draw blood.

A tiring day, but an excellent one. Certainly worth the bad sunburn! 

I guess I have to do a butterfly count now...

Common Sootywing

Algonquin Odonate Count

This past Wednesday was the odonate (dragonflies and damselflies) count in Algonquin Park. Due to the circumstances this year, they weren't able to conduct the count as normal, but in order to not have a hole in the date, they still wanted to do something. As such, a much smaller group of counters undertook the task. Peter Mills, the coordinator, was nice enough to invite me up, despite me having never done the count before.

We left London quite early in the morning, aiming to arrive at the outdoor theatre in the park (near East Beach, on Lake of Two Rivers), by 8:30 am. There we were briefed on the task at hand, and split off into our groups. I was was Bill and Sarah Lamond, as well as Alex Mills.  

We started off in the Old Airfield area, where we first checked a wooded section on the south side. Not much here, save for one of the two White-faced Meadowhawks our group had.

We made our way to Provoking Falls, where we had quite a lot of luck. Several species we had here were not seen anywhere else on the count. Sarah spotted a Zebra Clubtail, apparently the first for the count.

Twin-spotted Spiketail

Two for one! Eastern Least Clubtail (top) and Stream Cruiser (bottom)

Uhler's Sundragon

Dragonhunter - we had nearly 30 of these that day

We could have spent a long while here, but we had to keep moving! We planned to go check a bog for emeralds, so on our way we went through the open part of the airfield. There were tons of odes, but they were just too high for us to catch! We did nab a couple new species though.

Incurvate Emerald - rare and a lifer for me!

Variable Darner

The bog ended up being a bust, but we did see several Belted Whitefaces, as well as a Frosted and Hudsonian Whiteface. A few butterflies were around as well, most noteworthy being Bog Copper. In lack of odes, here is a consolation sedge.

Houghton's Sedge (Carex houghtoniana)

After lunch, we went over to the Pog Lake campground. We wanted to check a creek for Harpoon Clubtail, but didn't find any! We did, however, add Hagen's Bluet and Aurora Damsel to the list. Several Violet Dancers were present as well.

I really didn't botanize all that much, but there were a couple neat things along the creek.

Needle Spikerush (Eleocharis acicularis)

Inflated Sedge (Carex vesicaria)

Black-girdle Bulrush (Scirpus atrocinctus)

Afterwards we went to the Pog Lake dam. We saw several clubtails over the water as we arrived, so we got excited!

Bill looking for dragonflies

We had several Dragonhunters, a couple Mustached Clubtails, a Rusty Snaketail, and an Ashy Clubtail. I believe the latter three were all the only ones of the count.

Rusty Snaketail

After the dam, we made one more stop in a sedge meadow along Centennial Ridges Road.

Again, no emeralds! Oh well, at least we saw a few other goodies, such as our first Delta-spotted Spiketails, Black-shouldered Spinyleg, Sweetflag Spreadwing, and Eastern Red Damsels. We also had a Beaverpond Clubtail, the only one of the count, and a lifer for Alex. Just as we were leaving, I netted a Sphagnum Sprite.

Sweetflag Spreadwing

Delta-spotted Spiketail

Black-shouldered Spinyleg - note damaged wing

Beaverpond Clubtail

Eastern Red Damsel

Sphagnum Sprite

We then went to the docks at Opeongo for the compilation. I believe we ended up as a group with 42 or 43 species, and the complete count was at least 69 (66 as of compilation, I know they got Stygian Shadowdragon, Vesper Bluet, and Orange Bluet, perhaps some late additions were submitted as well). It was a hot and humid, and despite the limited number of observers, it still turned out to be a great day! EDIT: Final count tally was 72 species, two short of the all time high record! This includes two new count additions!

On our way out of the park I popped into Spruce Bog hoping for one last shot at some emeralds, but no luck. 

As a consolation prize, I found Billing's Sedge (Carex billingsii), a somewhat uncommon and overlooked inhabitant of open sphagnum bogs. It is very similar to Three-seeded Sedge (C. trisperma), which I also saw. It can be separated from Three-seeded by its narrower leaves, which are filiform (thread-like) and involute (rolled inwards at the edges). Three-seeded has wider flat leaves.

A fun filled day in the park!

On another note, yesterday I got a call from Bill Lindley who said that he was looking at a Ruff in the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons. I couldn't believe my ears! I had my phone on mute, so I sure am glad I had looked over and saw the screen light up! I rushed over, and there it was, a nice male Ruff. It hasn't been seen today to my knowledge. Also at the lagoons was my first Short-billed Dowitcher for Middlesex county. Isn't it weird how less than 24 hours earlier I had been standing in a bog listening to singing Hermit and Swainson's Thrushes? 

Skunks and a Spinyleg

Yesterday was the Skunks Misery butterfly count. I haven't done this count in a couple years, so it was nice to be able to do it!

I was assigned to the Newport County forest, near the edge of the count circle, so that's where my party spent the morning. This is a property that was donated to the Thames Talbot Land Trust. 

There was a nice big meadow waiting upon our arrival, and in it several of our first butterfly species, including a few species of skippers, Common Wood-Nymphs (the most numerous species), Great Spangled Fritillary, Eastern Tailed-Blue, and our first of several Hackberry Emperors. 

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Hackberry Emperor

Of course, I do get easily distracted by odonates. There were a couple species of interest in the meadow.

Midland Clubtail

Halloween Pennant

We worked our way down to the river through the forest, tacking on a couple more species here and there, including Tawny Emperor, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and Little Wood-Saytr. There were several Blue-winged Warblers (including a baby) and a singing Mourning Warbler. 

Tawny Emperor

We eventually made it down to the river.

We had hoped for an American Snout, but no luck. There were several more Tawny and Hackberry Emperors, as well as some Question Marks, Dun Skippers, an Eastern Comma and Gray Comma down by the river's edge. This is where we added the bulk of our Cabbage White numbers as well.

There were a few Midland Clubtails over the river, as well as a Swift River Cruiser. This is the first time I have seen these species on the Thames River.

Swift River Cruiser

We worked our way through the woods, but as expected didn't really see all too much else. We did, however, add Banded Hairstreak and Silvery Checkerspot to the list. The checkerspot is a new species for me. I also saw a Fawn Darner, but it didn't stick around for any good photos.

Silvery Checkerspot

Banded Hairstreak

A favourite summertime wildflower for many is Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense).

On our way back, we added Peck's Skipper to the list. Things were getting hot out!

In all we ended up with 20 species; Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2), Cabbage White (51), Clouded Sulphur (4), Banded Hairstreak (6), Eastern Tailed-Blue (5), Great Spangled Fritillary (14), Silvery Checkerspot (1), Northern Crescent (7), Question Mark (4), Eastern Comma (1), Gray Comma (1), Hackberry Emperor (6), Tawny Emperor (11), Little Wood-saytr (4), Common Wood Nymph (76), Monarch (2), European Skipper (17), Peck's Skipper (2), Delaware Skipper (3), and Dun Skipper (10).

Afterwards, with the afternoon ahead of us with really nothing else to do, we headed west into Lambton county. First I checked out Reid CA. I figured I was pushing my luck, but maybe I'd be able to see an Oak Hairstreak, a very rare species of butterfly. I ran into Blake, so we spent some time looking, but no luck! Lots of Bandeds and a Striped though.

Banded Hairstreak

Striped Hairstreak

There were a few species of dragonflies hanging around most noteworthy being a Royal River Cruiser. This is a pretty range restricted dragonfly in Ontario. I couldn't catch it, but here is one from Reid last August.

There are a couple interesting sedges at Reid. One is Shoreline Sedge (Carex hyalinolepis), a very Carolinian species, uncommon in Ontario. This is a foodplant for Dukes' Skipper, of which Blake said are found here. I also found what I think is Pointed Broom Sedge (Carex scoparia), which is listed as rare in Lambton. This sedge is part of the quite difficult group in the genus Carex called Ovales, so consider the identification somewhat tentative. It is similar to Bebb's Sedge (Carex bebbii), but something just seemed off for it being that!

Pointed Broom Sedge

Shoreline Sedge

Blake gave me directions to McKeough CA, so off I went to my last stop of the day.

I was hoping for Flag-tailed Spinyleg, another rare species of dragonfly in Ontario, and one I have not seen before. There were several species of odonate present when I arrived to the conservation area, one of the more charismatic being Rainbow Bluet.

There were also several Pronghorn Clubtails. I have seen them before, but its still nice to lay eyes on this uncommon species! I think this is the first time an ode has made me audibly yelp when it bit me!

Eventually I did notice a larger somewhat teneral (young) clubtail flying up ahead of me. I got closer, and confirmed it was my target! I gently placed my net over it, and soon I had my lifer Flag-tailed Spinyleg in my hands! I'll have to return when it is a little less delicate and a bit more colourful!

Just as I was leaving, I saw something else nice, a young Longnose Gar! I have only seen one prior to this.

Overall a very fun insect-filled day! Summer is just getting started, hopefully some more odonate content to come.