Chris Traynor and I chat about dragonflies and damselflies a lot. We both also like to pour over old dragonfly reports, iNaturalist records, and Google maps looking for suitable habitat for this species or that, as well as interesting places to go dragon-hunting in general. It was Chris who, when searching for places to see Clamp-tipped Emerald, thought that Taylor Lake in the northwestern part of Gatineau Park might be worth a visit. There are two iNat records from the area from 2015, as well as one Brush-tipped Emerald record from a few kilometers away. The map shows a variety of ode-worthy wetlands including streams, ponds, seeps and marshes, and an exploratory hike of about 5 kilometers in the fall cemented his impressions and desire to return there during prime dragonfly season. It was also almost completely unexplored for odonates, which made it quite enticing in my eyes, and close to a spot where Chris Lewis and Bob Bracken had discovered a stream with mature Eastern Least Clubtails and other clubtails several years ago. Good Somatochlora spots in the Ottawa-Gatineau region are uncommon, and we both thought would be fantastic to discover one up in Gatineau Park. I emailed Chris Lewis about Chris’s idea to check on the trails around Taylor Lake and revisit some of her and Bob’s footsteps in Gatineau Park, and the three of us made plans to visit its northern reaches on July 8th.
I wasn’t expecting to find a new species for the Eagleson storm water ponds when I went there this morning, let alone two; my main goal was to look for some Rainbow Bluets in the vegetation around the southern-most pond. My walk started normally enough, with the usual odonates perching in the vegetation: Taiga Bluets, Eastern Forktails, Sedge Sprites, and even a Fragile Forktail. I headed out onto the small spit of land where I used to see Saffron-winged Meadowhawks and Eastern Amberwings perching over the water before the sparse planting of cattails became a solid, impenetrable wall of vegetation. There was one dragonfly here, and I caught a glimpse of the black and white colours as it landed on the ground ahead of me. It was Chalk-fronted Corporal, and at first I thought nothing of it as I snapped a few photos for my iNaturalist project. After all, these dragons were not only common, but also abundant where they happened to emerge. It took me a moment to realize that although I see them quite regularly at Sarsaparilla Trail and in Marlborough Forest, I had never seen one here at the ponds before. It was a new species for my project!
Chalk-fronted Corporal (Ladona julia)
I only saw one as I made my way around the southern-most pond, but then I didn’t have time to check any of the others. Would it be a one-time visitor, like the Racket-tailed Emerald of 2022 or the Violet Dancer of 2020? Or would more follow? I’d seen a noticeable decline in skimmer numbers over the last year or two, so new additions were definitely welcome. There are fewer Common Whitetails, Twelve-spotted Skimmers, Widow Skimmers, Eastern Pondhawks and Dot-tailed Whitefaces around the edges of the ponds than there used to be. While none of these had ever been truly abundant, I would usually see a few on most visits in appropriate weather. I suspect the large number of fish – particularly carp, which feed by disturbing the wetland floor and stirring up sediment containing dragonfly larvae – and growing number of frogs and toads are likely responsible for this decline, but have no evidence to support this theory.
I found some Rainbow Bluets in the vegetation right where I expected them – they seem to prefer the western side of the southern pond – and was reassured when I saw a Common Whitetail a little later, flying over the small J-shaped pond next to the rock bridge before landing on a bare patch of ground sloping down to the water. I was making my way around the pond back to my car, looking for pondhawks basking on the rocks when something black fluttered in the vegetation below me. When I identified it as a male River Jewelwing I was astonished, as this was a species I never expected to find here at the ponds.
River Jewelwing (Calopteryx aequabilis)
River Jewelwings live along medium-sized streams and small rivers with a slow to moderate current and plenty of submergent vegetation. They prefer more open waterways with more sunlight than Ebony Jewelwings, though the two species are often found together along wooded streams. The closest places I’ve seen River Jewelwings are the stream at the back of Jack Pine Trail in Stony Swamp (which I call Spiketail Creek), and Stillwater Creek at Corkstown Road just east of Moodie Drive. The former was a one-time visitor, while the latter was seen during an exploratory excursion in 2015 with Chris Traynor after I saw one away from the water across the road in 2011.
There is a small channel of water that runs south from the Eagleson storm water pond system through farmland before reaching the Jock River at Terry Carisse Park. It has enough of a current to keep it open during mild winters, and I suppose it is just as likely that the River Jewelwing flew up the channel as it is that it flew or was blown south from Stillwater Creek. It’s a mystery as to where it came from and where it was going when it found the ponds, and I expect this to be a one-time visit rather than the harbinger of a new population of River Jewelwings at the ponds.
As I was photographing the jewelwing I saw two Common Green Darners fly by in tandem. This species is common at the ponds, and I usually see one or two patrolling the shoreline every visit in the first couple of months of the season. The pair stopped so the female could lay her eggs, inserting the tip of her abdomen into the water while still connected to the male:
Common Green Darners (Anax junius)
It is always fun adding new species to my project, especially if they become permanent residents: the larger the number of residents, the healthier the ecosystem. Dragonflies and damselflies in particular are good bioindicators of water quality and the health of a wetland, as they require clean water in which to grow as larvae and survive to adulthood. Given that the purpose of the storm water ponds is to collect poor-quality runoff from the surface of the city streets, which often contains road salt, vehicle fluids, bacteria, fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants, I had my doubts whether these ponds could support a vibrant population of dragonflies. However, with recent additions such as the Orange Bluet, Eastern Amberwing and Band-winged Meadowhawks, whose populations seem to be stable, it seems that the water quality is in fact high enough to allow these species to thrive.
My informal list stands at 35 species as of June 2023, which is the same number as the species recorded on the iNaturalist project, though with two differences: I don’t count the single record of Hagen’s Bluet which shows up there, as the photos do not show sufficient detail for me to identify it; and I do count Prince Baskettail which is not in iNaturalist, as I have seen many but have not been able to photograph or catch one. I don’t count the Northern/Sweetflag Spreadwings which I’ve seen but haven’t been able to catch, either, since identification requires a close view of the male’s claspers….all goals for future visits!
So what species will turn up here next? I’m thinking Powdered Dancer or Halloween Pennant are most likely, but with dragons and damsels one just never knows. As my mentor says, odes – just like birds! – have wings and can turn up anywhere!
I did not get out to Marlborough Forest as often as I would have liked this past summer; ongoing medical issues early in the season left me feeling too tired and too sore for the long five-hour outings I enjoyed so much last year. On June 2nd I visited the E6 trail with Rick Collins to look for the Sedge Wrens breeding there. We heard one without too much difficulty, though we weren’t able to spot it. Our other highlight was a female Ruffed Grouse on the trail trying to lure us away from its chicks (none seen) by giving distress calls. It was a gray, drizzly day so I didn’t see any insects worth photographing. Indeed, I didn’t take my camera out of my bag at all.
The weather was much better on June 19th, so Chris Traynor and I went to trail E4 to look for Twin-spotted Spiketails and some different emerald species for his life list. I was also eager to show him the pool below the culvert as this was where I’d seen my one and only Ocellated Emerald hanging out in 2020. It was a bit windy, but the sun was shining and the weather was warm, and the breeze made the usual biting insects less of a distraction.
Gatineau Park is a special place for dragonflies – many species of the National Capital Region can be found there that aren’t found on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River, while others seem to be much more common there than in Ottawa. Chris Traynor has been exploring the park quite a bit these past couple of years, searching for dragonflies that breed in the quiet lakes, sluggish streams, and fast-flowing creeks of the Gatineau Hills. Not surprisingly, he has found a good number of species that have not been reported in Ottawa, such as Eastern Least Clubtail, Mustached Clubtail, Beaverpond and Harpoon Clubtails, and even a couple of snaketails. Many of these species prefer clear, swift-moving streams with rocky bottoms, which might be the reason for their absence in Ottawa; the Ontario side of the National Capital Region is relatively flat, with more marshes and slow-moving, mucky streams winding through suburbs and forest rather than down the foothills and escarpments which form the Canadian Shield. One of Chris’s best finds was a portion of Meech Creek where Zebra Clubtails and Fawn Darners are quite common, with the occasional Dragonhunter and Violet Dancer. I accompanied him twice to this magical spot, once during the August long weekend last year, and once again this year. As I never did get around to posting those photos last year (remember I mentioned I’d fallen behind?), I will incorporate both sets of photos in this post.
Marlborough Forest has been long known to me as a special place to find some of the more unusual species of the Ottawa area – various trips to the Cedar Grove Nature Trail over the past ten years have turned up Mink Frogs, Eastern Newts and Red Efts, Blue-spotted Salamanders, Bronze Coppers, Silvery Checkerspots, Harvesters, Calico Pennants, Brush-tipped Emeralds, Lake Darners, Twin-Spotted Spiketails, Ebony Jewelwings, and Aurora Damsels. The one “specialty” of Marlborough Forest that I had not yet found, and search for every time I go, is the Smooth Green Snake – it has managed to elude me every single visit.
Back in 2015 I wrote a blog post about the odonates I found at Andrew Haydon Park one weekday afternoon near the end of July. Since discovering the colony of Halloween Pennants at AHP in 2014, I’ve made it a point to visit this park each year during mid-summer; it’s much closer than travelling all the way to Morris Island to see this stunning dragonfly! So far I’ve only made it out to Morris Island once this year, and when I found no Halloween Pennants flying along the causeway I decided to visit Andrew Haydon Park specifically to search for this species. With the strange, slow start to the season I was bit apprehensive about whether these odes would even be around at AHP, but thankfully I found a few on each of my visits, and in good numbers, too.
Chris Lewis and I had such a great time dragon-hunting in Gatineau last weekend that on June 25th we decided to hit several spots west of Ottawa to search for several local and unique species. On our list of locations were the Quyon Ferry Dock near Fitzroy to look for big river species, Morris Island for clubtails and skimmers, and Pakenham, Blakeney and Almonte for Rapids Clubtail. Before heading out to the Quyon Ferry Dock we stopped in at the fields near Constance Bay to look for Upland Sandpipers. We got lucky and found four. Not only did we see a couple of them flying over the fields, giving their distinctive call, we found one standing right on the shoulder of the road! Unfortunately we caused it to flush before I could get a photo of this bird; I still have yet to photograph this species. Indeed, this was the closest I’ve ever come to one of an Upland Sandpiper, which are difficult to find as they breed and feed in dry grasslands rather than muddy shorelines.
The day after the excellent snaketail adventure in Gatineau Park, I headed over to Jack Pine Trail to see if any of its unique dragonflies were on the wing. Two years ago I found a healthy population of Brush-tipped and Williamson’s Emeralds, and Arrowhead Spiketails are regularly seen along the stream at the back. Although I’d heard that it takes four years for Williamson’s Emerald larvae to mature, I had hopes of at least finding the Brush-tipped Emerald; I still think it’s amazing that all these wonderful dragonflies live and breed so close to home. I was also hoping to find some spreadwings, as I’ve seen both Northern and Emerald Spreadwings along the trails here in the past – though none in the past couple of years.
When Chris Lewis suggested a dragon-hunting excursion on Saturday, I was eager to go. We had to make the extremely difficult choice between Morris Island/Fitzroy Harbour and Gatineau Park, but as Chris Traynor had recently found all sorts of amazing odes at Gatineau Park (including Maine Snaketail, Riffle Snaketail, Mustached Clubtail, Dragonhunter, Horned Clubtail, Dusky Clubtail, Lancet Clubtail, Beaverpond Clubtail and Eastern Least Clubtail) earlier in the week, we decided that a morning in Quebec sounded much more appealing. I met her at her place, and with the assistance of Siri, we navigated the Gatineau Park road closures up to the Sugarbush Trail with none of the frustration I encountered the previous week.
On the first Saturday in June I made plans to meet Chris Traynor at the parking lot of the Sugarbush Trail in Gatineau Park to look for dragonflies. He has re-named this trail the “Clubtail Trail” due to the large number of clubtails that breed there, and I was eager to find some new species for my life list. Unfortunately our last visit there wasn’t terribly productive due to the overcast skies; the weather on Saturday was much nicer, sunny and warm even in the morning.
As we weren’t planning to meet until 9:00 am, I stopped by Sarsaparilla Trail first to check out the birds there. This turned out to be a fantastic idea as I heard a Least Bittern calling somewhere in the reeds to the north of the boardwalk and a Virginia Rail grunting somewhere on the south side. Other species included Brown Creeper, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, a couple of Tree Swallows, a Marsh Wren singing in the reeds at the end of the boardwalk (the same one from last year?), a couple of Yellow Warblers, a White-throated Sparrow, and two Purple Finches.
On July 24th I took the afternoon off work and spent it at Andrew Haydon Park. I didn’t think I’d find anything too exciting in the middle of summer, but this park is one of the few places that is easy to get to by bus from downtown (provided you don’t mind the walk from Bayshore Station up to Carling Avenue) and I figured I’d have a look around. I wasn’t planning on looking for anything in particular, as I didn’t have either my scope or my net with me; I just thought I’d enjoy the gorgeous summer afternoon outdoors and look for herons, Spotted Sandpipers, waterbirds, and whatever breeding flycatchers, vireos and swallows might be around. I really didn’t think that I would find many odonates of interest, as it’s not a place with much species diversity, but as it turned out I found myself far more entertained by them than by the birds.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been dragon-hunting in Gatineau Park – well over a year, in fact. Even though the park is quite close to Ottawa and has great dragonfly diversity, I rarely venture across the provincial border. This is mostly because I’m wary about going alone, but also because the main roads in the park are closed on Sundays (my preferred day for travelling due to lighter traffic) as a result of the NCC Sunday bike-days. However, I’ve been really impressed with all the species Chris Traynor has been finding there, and so we decided to venture up there together one Sunday. Fortunately Chris knew a few alternate routes to get us to our destination, the Sugarbush Trail (which Chris calls “Clubtail Trail” after all of his great finds) near the Chelsea Visitor Center and Meech Creek.
OdoNotations 