June is one of my favourite months. Normally the weather is hot and sunny by the time the solstice rolls around, the birds are all in full song, and newly-emerged butterflies and dragonflies are returning to woodlands, fields and wetlands. However, the weather this month has not been great. The rain from May continued on and off this month, keeping water levels of the rivers and ponds higher than normal, and likely delaying the emergence of many insects. The weekends have been nice, at least; I’ve been able to get out early in the day in order to look for new birds for my year list and any butterflies and dragonflies that may have emerged. While my enthusiasm has certainly declined since our amazing trip to Costa Rica, I’ve found myself regaining interest in visiting trails and conservation areas close to home, hoping to find some species I haven’t seen since the previous summer.
The day after my trip to the Bill Mason Center, I made plans with Chris Lewis and Chris Traynor to head out to the Cedar Grove Nature Trail in Marlborough Forest to look for odes around Roger’s Pond. I would be co-leading an OFNC outing there the following weekend with Jakob Mueller, a reptiles and amphibians guy, and wanted to get an idea of the dragonflies and damselflies that were flying. As we weren’t meeting at the parking lot there until 8:30, I headed out to Sarsaparilla Trail first, then the Rideau Trail for a quick look around.
A couple of Marsh Wrens singing and a Pied-billed Grebe swimming on the pond were the best birds at Sarsaparilla. There wasn’t much of interest at the Rideau Trail, but it was warm enough for a few insects to be flying. A Dot-tailed Whiteface still showed some of the yellow dots down its abdomen, indicating that it had emerged only recently:
I saw a larger dragonfly zipping around, and when it landed I was surprised to see a Common Baskettail. I don’t see these very often in Ottawa, and have only come across one other in Stony Swamp before, flying in the alvar at Jack Pine Trail with some other emeralds. In Ottawa, Common Baskettails have a large black patch at the base of the hindwings, making them easy to identify; this feature is variable in other parts of the Northeast, so the appendages are also useful field marks. This is a female, and the appendages are shorter and much further apart than in the other two small baskettail species.
From there it was off to the Cedar Grove Nature Trail on Roger Stevens Drive. The usual Chalk-fronted Corporals were present along the gravel road leading to the pond, as were some young teneral whitefaces with too much yellow to identify. I saw a Harlequin Darner flying with a swarm of baskettails along the road, and when it landed on the ground I put my net down on top of it. When I reached up inside the net to try to pull it out, I had difficulty getting a hold of it, and it managed to escape. That was the last we saw of it; indeed, that was my only sighting of a Harlequin Darner this season.
There were lots of dragonflies flying at the pond, and we saw our first Horned Clubtail of the season.
We also found a couple of American Emeralds, including one with bright green eyes. Immature emeralds often have brownish-coloured eyes – which aren’t as striking in my opinion.
Several yellow orchids were in bloom, which was nice to see. I believe this is a Large Yellow Lady’s Slipper as the curly leaves behind the “slipper” are greenish, not purple.
We heard more birds than we saw, including several warbler species (Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler). I didn’t get any year birds, but a Merlin zipping along was nice to see. We found a Chipping Sparrow singing near the open field again, and spent some time walking around the evergreens growing around the edges of the field to check out the emeralds. We found a Brush-tipped Emerald that actually perched for us – this was a first for Chris T.
There were no jewelwings or spiketails flying along the stream at the back of the trail, although we did find a young Racket-tipped Emerald with brown eyes there.
I headed to the trail on West Hunt Club (Trailhead P11) the following Wednesday, taking a mid-week break to enjoy the beautiful weather. As expected, there were few people but plenty of birds – a Field Sparrow was singing in the hydro cut; two egrets and four Great Blue Herons were at the pond with a couple of Tree Swallows; a Scarlet Tanager and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak were both singing in the woods; and I saw or heard five warbler species, including American Redstart and Chestnut-sided Warbler. A little further down the trail I spotted a couple of dragonflies flying about a clearing. When one landed, I was surprised to see that it was a Prince Baskettail – these large emeralds rarely perch, and when they do, they typically curl their abdomen up.
I also saw a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail that I followed for a while, hoping to get a photo. Unfortunately it flew off above the trees and disappeared.
The following Sunday was our OFNC outing at Marlborough Forest. We had a good crowd, including a few children. I pointed out the common, easy to identify dragonflies such as Chalk-fronted Corporals and Four-spotted Skimmers, and spent some time watching the Prince Baskettails gliding overhead. They didn’t fly down low enough to catch, though we did see a teneral perching in a cedar tree at about shoulder-height on our way to the “junkyard” clearing. It seems to be a better year for Prince Baskettails than Spiny or Beaverpond Baskettails, as I haven’t encountered the latter two anywhere in good numbers (even at Mud Lake where there is usually a mass emergence in late May). I swung my net at a Common Green Darner which went in, then managed to fly right back out of my net, and pointed out a Horned Clubtail perching on a log beneath the dam. Jakob found an Eastern Red-backed Salamander beneath some junk at the junkyard, and caught a garter snake which promptly regurgitated an earthworm it had been eating – much to the delight of the small boys who were attending!
Unfortunately it was windy and storm clouds started threatening before we made it into the woods on the far side of the dam. I had wanted to check for Ebony Jewelwings, but a few raindrops convinced us it was time to leave. I didn’t take many photos as I was leading the walk, but I did photograph a Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly found by Diane Lepage – it was the only one I saw all year.
The following Saturday I spent some time at Jack Pine Trail where I found two Broad-winged Hawks, including one perching out in the open in a tree across the marsh, and a second one in flight being harassed by a Red-winged Blackbird. In the open alvar I found the usual Field and White-throated Sparrows, as well as a single Eastern Towhee. Quite a few dragonflies were flying high in the sky, and although I suspected they were all Prince Baskettails, a few of them looked different. Most of the time they were flying too high up for me to catch with my net, but a few times they descended much lower, though never where I was standing. A White Admiral kept flying around, too, distracting me.
At last I managed to catch a Prince Baskettail, as well as a female Brush-tipped Emerald. I was pleased to see that this species was still present at Jack Pine Trail – I had feared that last summer’s low water levels might have had an impact on some local populations. I checked the stream at the back of the trail twice this season, and did not see any jewelwings or Arrowhead Spiketails. It is unclear as to whether any survived, but at least this pretty emerald managed to survive last year’s drought.
Despite the rain this month, I enjoyed seeing the regular butterflies and dragonflies again. Best of all, my enthusiasm for going out and seeing the local birds is returning – although the birds here lack the novel excitement of tropics, I am certainly glad to see all the familiar trails and creatures of Ottawa!
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