It’s been a good year for Harlequin Darners. Normally I see only one each spring, or perhaps two at most. This year I’ve seen five! They don’t seem to gather in same-species swarms the way other darners do, or even swarms with other darners. I always see them flying alone, or perhaps in an area where other dragonflies are hunting – mainly emeralds, such as the Common Baskettails at Andrew Haydon Park or Prince Baskettails at Roger’s Pond this year (the one at the Richmond Lagoons wasn’t associating with any other dragonflies). This is likely because while baskettails are at their peak in late May and June, there are few other darner species on the wing at the same time; only the Cyrano Darner and Springtime Darner have a similar flight season to the Harlequin Darner in our region, and neither is as common or as widespread as the Harlequin Darner.
The Harlequin Darner is small for a darner, belonging to a group of darners known as the pygmy darners (genus Gomphaeschna). This genus contains only one other species, the Taper-tailed Darner, which is found further south in the United States. The Harlequin Darner breeds in wooded swamps or boggy wetlands which are common in our area, explaining why it seems to turn up in many different places. However, it can also be found foraging away from its breeding habitat, such as along forest trails or open areas away from the water. Unlike other darners, Harlequin Darners do not hang from branches, preferring to perch on vertical surfaces like tree trunks and people instead.
Today I went to Jack Pine Trail to check out the Emerald Corridor and see if I could find some Brush-tipped Emeralds as well as the Arrowhead Spiketail at the creek. Unfortunately, not much was flying. I found a pair of Racket-tailed Emeralds mating, a handful of Sedge Sprites, and one dragonfly zooming about the intersection at the back of the trail near the turn-off to the creek. It was flying low enough to catch, and to my surprise it turned out to be a Harlequin Darner.
This was the second one I’d seen at Jack Pine Trail this year; the first was hunting along the same trail at the first intersection when I saw it land on a tree.
I photographed my catch in my hand, then placed it on a branch where it stayed for several minutes.
Although I was disappointed that there were no emeralds flying along the trails at the back or spiketails zipping up and down the creek, I couldn’t be too disappointed with my outing. Harlequin Darners are always fantastic to see, and today’s marks my personal latest date for this species (not that I’ve been keeping track for very long)! Still, I was a bit bummed to miss out on the spiketail as this was my last opportunity to get out dragon-hunting in Ottawa for a while – later today I’m off to Europe for two weeks where I hope to see some new odes!
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