Dragonhunter – OdoNotations

Two provinces. Six families. One unbelievable day.

Swift River Cruiser (Macromia illinoiensis)

If you had told me it was possible to see more than a dozen Prince Baskettails hanging from the pine trees like early Christmas ornaments, three perching Swift River Cruisers (including two in a mating wheel), a perching Springtime Darner, an ovipositing Cyrano Darner, an emerging Dragonhunter, four additional clubtail species, a dozen Brush-tipped Emeralds, about 50 Widow Skimmers, and an Arrowhead Spiketail all in a single day here in the Ottawa region, I am not sure I would believe you. That kind of day is so rare in Ottawa that I would would assume that you were engaging in a particularly fanciful daydream. However, on the Quebec side of the river many things are possible. Part of it is due to the scenic geography – the deep, rocky lakes, rushing streams, and variety of marshes, swamps and bogs carved out of the Canadian Shield provide a fantastic variety of habitats. Part of it is due to the untouched wilderness outside of the Gatineau area – there are no cottages lining the shore, no subdivisions full of manicured lawns, no pesticides and insecticides to wreak havoc on insect populations. These two factors make it an excellent place to see a variety of odes – especially along the Ottawa River, a major dragonfly habitat of its own.

Of Sanddragons and Snaketails

Last year on August 5th Chris Traynor and I headed up to La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve just beyond Grand-Remous, Quebec to look for the Common Sanddragons that had been discovered along the Desert River (Rivière Désert) in 2016. We were too late in the season to find any, but had a marvelous time watching dragonhunters and catching darners. We made a pact to return the following year earlier in the season, and on July 21st Chris, Sophie Roy and I finally fulfilled that pact. The sky was spattered with more puffy, white clouds than I would have liked, showing little blue at first, but the further north we drove the clearer the sky became. The temperature was perfect, about 24 or 25°C, with only a slight amount of humidity that really only made the temperature start to feel too warm later in the afternoon, but a fresh breeze kept us cool enough. We were in high spirits because even if we missed out on the sanddragons again there were sure to be enough interesting birds and bugs to make the journey worthwhile. And of course, the rushing rivers and waterfalls of Quebec are beautiful in their own right.

The 2023 Summer Odolympics

When I first heard about the Odolympics – a special bioblitz hosted by the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, Sociedad de Odonatología Latinoamericana, and Odonata Central in order to record as many odonata species from as many places in the Western Hemisphere as possible – I knew I had to participate. This specialized bioblitz is only two years old, and there are usually two Odolympics each year: one falling during the North American summer, and one falling during the South American summer in order generate a snapshot of odonate distribution throughout both hemispheres.

Dragonflies and damselflies, collectively known as odonates, are valuable indicators of a wetland’s environmental health and biodiversity. Simply put, the more odonates that use a wetland for breeding and feeding purposes, the healthier the ecosystem. Naturalists were encouraged to submit their observations during the bioblitz via one of two platforms: iNaturalist, or Odonata Central. While I love iNaturalist and have been using it for a few years now to record my non-avian observations, I began submitting my observations to Odonata Central last year when it developed a checklist-based phone app similar to eBird. iNaturalist also has a phone-based app for submitting observations, but it is intended to be used in conjunction with the phone’s camera which I only use as a backup camera when my Nikon Coolpix’s battery decides to take a nap. Although I love the ease of searching for data in iNaturalist’s projects, I chose to record my Odolympic observations in Odonata Central as it allowed me to include observations of species for which I am usually unable to get a photo (yes, I’m looking at you, Prince Baskettail and Wandering Glider!)

Quebec: Kazabazua and Beyond

The Common Sanddragon is one of the dragonfly species in the Algonquin Park field that is not found in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. A member of the clubtail family, it is well-marked with a mottled green and brown thorax reminiscent of a Harlequin Darner and uniquely-shaped markings down the length of the abdomen to segment 7: they look like goblets in the male, and start out as goblet-shaped in the female but gradually lose the stem. Their legs are very short for a dragonfly, and mature males have green eyes while females have gray or brown eyes. The appendages in both sexes are pale, and they are the only dragonfly in our region which has pale appendages, a mottled thorax, and brown spots at the base of each wing. Its larvae live in rivers, lakes, and streams with sandy bottoms, and due to its short legs, the adults perch horizontally on the sandy beaches and banks of its rivers rather than hanging from trees or in the vegetation. At the time of the printing of the first edition of the Algonquin field guide, it had not been recorded within the park and was only known from a few sites in Peterborough County and a single record from Windsor in Ontario’s deep south.

Nova Scotia 2023: Odes of Marsh and Pond

The weather played a big part in our trip this year. Rainclouds blew in and blew out all week long, bringing rain on most of the days we were there. Fortunately the sun came out long enough to get in a few hikes at the various waterfalls and for me to take some long walks while Doran was out with the car. I spent quite a few hours looking for odonates and other critters around the ponds and the Annapolis Rail Trail, mostly in the afternoons when the sky cleared up. Although they are maybe half as long as the Eagleson storm water ponds by my house and much less diverse in terms of wildlife species, I still managed to find an interesting variety of creatures.

The afternoon after our waterfall search was particularly productive. I found my first Band-winged Meadowhawk and Familiar Bluet of the trip, which are also my first observations in iNaturalist for Nova Scotia for these species.

Gatineau Park: Specialty Dragon-hunting

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.

Back to Gatineau Park: A Snaketail Adventure

While at the Dunlop Picnic area, Chris and I got a call from Chris Traynor saying that he was on his way up to Meech Lake. Chris Lewis and I were on our way there next, and it didn’t take him long to catch up with us as we were walking down the large hill to the lake, listening to the vireos and a Blackburnian Warbler singing. Our destination was the waterfall at the old Carbide Wilson ruins where we hoped to find the snaketails Chris T. had reported seeing earlier in the week. However, first we spent some time exploring the shore of the lake where we found Powdered Dancers, a Chalk-fronted Corporal, and a couple of clubtails on logs too far from shore to identify. It was too early for the Slaty Skimmers to be flying; these dark blue dragonflies are one of my personal favourites, but we saw more than enough other species to make up for their absence.

Gatineau Park Odes

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.