Dragonflies of Netitishi Point, James Bay

Here's the rundown on the Dragonflies of Netitishi! August 13-25 roughly..... For now, just a checklist order, some notes, and some reference shots:


Northern/Common Spreadwing
Spotted Spreadwing
Canada Darner
Lake Darner
Variable Darner (multiple subspecies)
Sedge Darner
Zigzag Darner
Subarctic Darner
Common Green Darner
Delicate (Franklin's) Emerald
Four-spotted Skimmer
Wandering Glider
Spot-winged Glider
Saffron-bordered Meadowhawk
Black Meadowhawk
Cherry-faced Meadowhawk
White-faced Meadowhawk



Notes:

I didn't spend much time looking for the little guys, and ended up seeing very few. \



Darners were very interesting.....

--- Lake Darner was far and away the most common species, out numbering all of the other darners combined

--- Canada Darner was uncommon, but caught a few times

---- Subarctic and Sedge Darners were new for me, and I was usually able to capture a few per day. Often in feeding Darner swarms

--- Zigzag Darner was also a new species for me, but I was only able to catch a single male.

--- A single (very fresh) Common Green Darner ... The Ontario Odonata Atlas doesn't show any records anywhere near Netitishi Point...



Several Delicate Emeralds were caught and observed... I didn't try too hard for odes up there, but I thought I would have had more than 1 species



Wandering Glider  was seen on one of our first days, which I thought was a pretty exciting record. Then a few hours later we saw a Spot-winged Glider --- which seemed REALLY unusual. Clearly Netitishi Points abilities as a vagrant trap were shown in the bugs as well as the birds... We ended up seeing MULTIPLE Spot-winged Gliders just about every single day it was warm or sunny. It seems that they must have made a colony earlier in the summer, and were now numerous. Totally unexpected  --- but very cool !


4 species of Meadowhawks was fun, but not unexpected! Black Meadowhawks are a northern species, but very common up there.


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And some reference photos: the "quality" photos will be saved for future postings! (Whenever I get them properly edited)

Canada Darner - very similar to the much more common Lake Darner (at least, more common up there).. In Algonquin Park, Canada greatly outnumbers Lake:

Lake Darner (female) --- I don't think I had every seen a "Blue female" Lake Darner before this trip...  All others (i can remember) were a bright/lime green like this one (bottom pic) 

Funky "lineate" Variable Darner... Was nice to see a bunch of these (and other variations) 

Lifer #1 - Sedge Darner female... A fun pastel green colour I had never seen on a Darner before... 

Lifer #2: Male Subarctic Darner

Lifer #3 - a male Zigzag Darner... This was a very tiny species

Vagrant(?) #1 - Common Green Darner... Very fresh, and must have emerged somewhere nearby?

male Delicate Emerald

Four-spotted Skimmer... Getting late?

Crazy crazy Spot-winged Glider - with multiple individuals seen!? Much duller brown than the bright Orange Wandering Gliders... Which we saw, but didn't photograph up at Netitishi 

Saffron-bordered Meadowhawk -- a big species, found patrolling Netitishi Creek

Female Black Meadowhawk... A species I rarely rarely see, but it sure is fun to go up north where they are mega-common... 

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Shameless plug: Join the Ontario Odonata Group to learn more about Dragonflies!

http://groups.google.com/group/Ont-Odes

Ask questions, post sightings, whatever! Things may be pretty slow until next spring though.... 

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Again, "quality" photos will arrive in the future!