The weather was supposed to be warm and sunny yesterday, so I headed out to the Bill Mason Center to look for marsh birds and dragonflies. Chris Traynor had found a Crimson-ringed Whiteface at the sand pit early in the season last year, and as I’ve never seen this species in Ottawa, I was curious to find out if his dragonfly was a chance visitor or if they were common there in the late spring. While this species has a flight season from late May to early August, I have never seen it there during any of my summer visits to the Bill Mason Center. I was also hoping to find a few marsh birds such as bitterns, Sora and Virigina Rail, so it seemed like a great idea to stop there after checking out the Carp Ridge and some of the roads in Dunrobin for other species.
The morning started off cloudy, so I spent some time exploring the Carp Ridge; I wasn’t able to find either the Golden-winged Warblers or the Eastern Towhees that breed here. I decided to check the trail at the end of Stonecrest which can be good for bugs such as Baltimore Checkerspot and Horned Clubtail in season, but it was probably too early for them yet, and the sun wasn’t shining anyway. As soon as I hopped down into the ditch to access the trail I remembered how bad the ticks could be in this area, and bent down to tuck my pants into my socks. As soon as I did, I spotted a tick on my pant leg and that was the end of that plan – ticks are the one bug I cannot stand, and imagining a trail infested with them overcame any I desire I had to see whether anything interesting was in the little clearing at the end of the trail.
It was 8:00 by the time I reached the Bill Mason Center, and I was happy to hear a few Swamp Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats, and a single Wilson’s Snipe winnowing above the marsh. I headed from there to the sand pit, adding Purple Finch, Veery, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, and Northern Waterthrush to my list. The sun still hadn’t come out from behind the clouds, but even so there was a lot of activity at the pond – in fact, way more activity than I was expecting. There were several skimmers in the area, most of which were perching on the ground. I saw one Chalk-fronted Corporal, but the others all appeared to be Crimson-ringed Whitefaces – I couldn’t believe how easy it was to find them.
The only places I’ve seen Crimson-ringed Whitefaces are Algonquin Park and Gatineau Park. I’m not sure why they aren’t found in any of the usual dragonfly spots in Ottawa (Mud Lake, Roger’s Pond, Petrie Island, Stony Swamp); they prefer marshy or boggy ponds and small lakes, so habitat isn’t an issue. This makes me wonder if it would be worth checking out Morris Island in the spring for these small, red and black dragons, which has an abundance of marshy inlets and bays – I’ve never been there in late May, so perhaps it might be worth checking out.
None of the whitefaces seemed to want to perch on the leafy vegetation of the small shrubs that grow along the edge of the pond – this would have made a more pleasing background than sand. I’m not sure if they naturally prefer to rest on the ground, or if they were doing so because it was a relatively cool, cloudy day and they wanted to be close to the ground. In addition, none were comfortable with me approaching them for any macro shots, so these were both taken from a distance.
A few freshly emerged Calico Pennants were flying, too. One flew out of the vegetation as I approached and landed on the trunk of a tree; this one was content to sit on its leaf.
I almost stepped on this one perching on the ground. It didn’t move, and at first I thought it was dead. However, when I put my finger beneath it, the dragonfly crawled onto it so I was able to move it to a more sheltered area.
I left the pond after a while, and headed to the meadow at the back. I was surprised to find more Crimson-ringed Whitefaces there, including a pair in a mating wheel and this one perching in the vegetation close to the ground.
There were quite a few birds in the meadow, including a Gray Catbird, at least four Nashville Warblers, a couple of White-throated Sparrows, and two Alder Flycatchers calling back and forth. There were several dragonflies in the area as well. I spotted a couple of Dot-tailed Whitefaces perching on the ground, a Four-spotted Skimmer on some vegetation, and a couple of emeralds flying above the trail. The only emerald I caught turned out to be a male Spiny Baskettail.
After spending about half an hour in the meadow I headed back through the woods to the boardwalk. By that time time the sun was out, and I was happy to see a few more emeralds patrolling the boardwalk area as I had a swarm of bloodthirsty mosquitoes trailing after me. A few of the dragonflies took care of the mosquitoes for me, and although they appeared to be Racket-tailed Emeralds – my first of the year – I caught one just to be sure.
A few minutes later another dragonfly patrolling up and down the boardwalk caught my eye. Unlike the emeralds, it was mottled in appearance, and when I caught it I immediately identified it as a Harlequin Darner. I’m not sure why these handsome dragonflies can’t seem to perch where I can photograph them in a natural setting; they are either patrolling an area, or perching on someone!
I left the Bill Mason very pleased with all the dragonflies I had seen, despite the cloudy start to the day. Even though no damselflies and only one butterfly – a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail – were seen, I ended up with 9 dragonfly species altogether: Harlequin Darner, Racket-tailed Emerald, Spiny Baskettail, Dot-tailed Whiteface, Crimson-ringed Whiteface, Calico Pennant, Common Whitetail, Four-spotted Skimmer and Chalk-fronted Corporal – not bad for a day right at the beginning of the season! However, the Crimson-ringed Whiteface was my favourite species of the day, and now that I know they are at the Bill Mason Center in good numbers, I will have to plan a return trip sometime soon!
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