Monday was finally warm and sunny, reaching 20°C, with only a hint of a breeze. I hope it’s not going to be one of those years where the weekdays are sunny and beautiful while the weekends are rainy and cold! I headed over to Terry Carisse Park on the Jock River on my lunch break to test my theory that rivers and streams would have more odes than marshes and ponds badly affected by last year’s drought. This not a great park for dragonflies but an excellent one for damselflies. When I scanned the lawn for baskettails I did not see a single one – I’ve had Common Baskettails here the last two years both flying over the grass and over the water. I checked the river in three different spots and the only dragonfly I saw was a Common Green Darner on patrol. I didn’t even see any damselflies lurking in the vegetation at the canoe launch.
From there I returned to the lawn and began checking the sunlit vegetation on the east side. At last I had some luck, finding both Eastern and Fragile Forktails in relatively small numbers.
Both immature and mature individuals were present – I did not see any mature females. There were perhaps four or five of each.
I did not see any other damselflies on my walk – no Skimming Bluets, Stream Bluets or Rainbow Bluets. It’s still early in the season for some of those species, but at least it’s a start!
OdoNotations 