Yesterday at 10:30 pm I received a message from Chris Traynor – he had been perusing iNaturalist and noticed that a few Elusive Clubtail observations had been reported on iNaturalist just that day and the day before! They were bright black and yellow adults, too, not the translucent beige tenerals we had seen emerging at Sheila McKee Park back in July. As a result, he decided to scour Petrie Island and perhaps Macoun Marsh for these elusive dragonflies – he had never seen the mature adult Elusive Clubtail and was eager to see one. Both Petrie Island and Macoun Marsh are repeat sites for this species.
His message fired my imagination. Elusive Clubtails have two noticeable mass emergences in Ottawa: once around Canada Day, and once around the fall equinox. Fresh adults may be seen around those times before dispersing into the tree tops where they apparently live, though it is more common to see tenerals fresh from emergence along the shoreline. I thought it sounded fun to look for mature Elusive Clubtails along the Ottawa River, though my initial plan was to check out the Carp River restoration ponds and see what bluets might be flying…I was keen to find another spot for Azure Bluets, and thought that I might see some gliders there.
I hadn’t left yet by 11:00 am this morning when he sent me a photo of a beautiful mature male he had caught at Petrie Island. He said he had been there for only a few minutes when it almost landed on his foot! The only other large dragonflies he had noticed were some Canada Darners and Common Green Darners, but his photo of the Elusive Clubtail in the hand (one of two that he had found) sealed the deal for me: I was going to head up to Sheila McKee Memorial Park and see if it was as productive as the east end.
I hadn’t been there long and was checking the edges of the corridors on top of the escarpment when I noticed a meadowhawk flitting close to the trees. It looked as though it were about to land on a leaf, then veered off. I did a double take when I saw the large insect with black and yellow stripes perching where the meadowhawk had been about land: it was an adult Elusive Clubtail!
It was a gorgeous male with sky-blue eyes, hanging almost vertically from a yellow leaf in the characteristic pose of the dragonflies of its genus…..the Stylurus clubtails are known as the hanging clubtails. I took some photos with my camera, then a few with my phone so I could message them to Chris. He responded with an amazed “No way!” when he got them.
The only other dragonflies I saw at Sheila McKee Park were one Common Green Darner and a few Autumn Meadowhawks, so I headed over to the Carp restoration ponds to see what I could find there. By that time a thin haze of clouds had moved in, just enough to dull the blue of the bright autumn sky but still allow the blaze of the sun to shine through. I found several Autumn Meadowhawks, and my best bird was a Least Bittern flying across a cattail-lined channel.
Then, while walking on a wide section of the trail, I saw it: a large dragonfly flying aimlessly above the path. There was no mistaking the black hindwing patches of a Black Saddlebags – a very uncommon species in our area! It was flying just a little too high to catch, so I fumbled with my camera to see if I could snap a photo of it in flight. Unfortunately it chose that moment to zoom toward a stand of willows on the far side of the Carp River and I never saw it again. The only other species I found there were an Eastern Forktail, a Fragile Forktail, and a darner – likely a Shadow Darner – patrolling the shady portion of the Carp River where it passed under the Campeau Drive bridge.
Even though the dragonfly season is stuttering to an end, there are still a few interesting species around, including vagrants such as the Black Saddlebags which are not known to breed here. You never know what you might see any time you go out!
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