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Odonates: Dragonflies and Damselflies

2010 Hamilton Odonata Count

By Brenda Van Ryswyk

The seventh annual Hamilton Odonata Count was held on July 3, 2010 and turned out to be a very successful day. We had beautiful weather for it and we observed a total of 63 species — officially breaking our past record of 62 from 2006! The Hamilton Odonata Count uses the same area as the Hamilton Butterfly Count: a circle 15 miles in diameter, centred on the village of Kirkwall in Flamborough. The count area encompasses some excellent odonate habitat of many varieties.

We were a bit short on group leaders in 2010 so we missed one section of the count area and therefore missed a few of our usual species. Stunningly even after seven years of the count, we continue to add new species to the cumulative list observed on this count. This year we had an impressive four new species added. This brings our cumulative list of odonata species in the count area to a very respectable 84 species! This is equal to, or greater than surrounding regions and other counts in the province! We seem to get the best of both worlds, and have an impressive cross section of both southern and northern species. Overall we were very successful capturing the range of species present, but for some species, we only recorded one individual. Additionally, overall abundance numbers were a bit low this year. There could be a few reasons for this; the extreme heat wore the humans down (and possibly the odes were less active); some observers being less confident in identifying difficult species; not having enough experienced guides; or just plain luck.

The weather for count day was hot and sunny! We had only occasional clouds and a light breeze. The Environment Canada weather station at the Hamilton International Airport recorded a temperature of 29.8oC on July 3^rd.

New species for the count were: Double-striped Bluet (Enallagma basidens), Fawn Darner (Boyeria vinosa), Pronghorn Clubtail (Gomphus graslinellus) and Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta). Two of these (Fawn Darner and Pronghorn Clubtail) have been observed in the count area before but never on the count or during count week — the others are new for the count area entirely. The Slaty Skimmer is not only new to the count but it may be a new regional record. For some species we only saw one individual, such as many of the spreadwings, so thanks to those participants who took the time to catch and identify the spreadwings! The Double-striped Bluet was an exciting find at station 20 by Jerry Bloom. This species had not been found on previous counts but it does seem to be making some expansions to its range in Ontario. In the past it has been quite rare and scattered in the Hamilton Study Area, but over the years it is has shown up in a few areas of Hamilton-Wentworth and numerous areas of Halton Region but this is the first appearance in the count area. On Little Lake, two male Slaty Skimmers were seen at the waters edge and while they eluded nets, one of the perched males was photographed with a telephoto lens providing a valuable record of the new sighting. The last few years we have missed the Vesper Bluet (Enallagma vesperum) so it was nice to see it picked up at station 17 by Jerry Bloom and Paul Bartlett this year. The Vesper Bluet is easy to miss as it usually is only active near twilight, spending the rest of the day resting, usually out of sight. The Pronghorn Clubtail was a nice find by Gordon Lewer's group in Shade's Mill Conservation Area. Also found by this group was a freshly emerged (teneral) Zebra Clubtail (Stylurus scudderi)! It was still standing over its exuvia and drying its wings (they took photos which I confirmed but could not get downloaded to my computer! Silly technology). While the exuvia are found here nearly every year during count week, this is only the second time an adult has been seen on the count! The group in Section 3 (Bill Lamond, Kevin McLaughlin, Rob Waldhuber, Brian Wylie, and Pat Wylie) had several highlights in accordance with their excellent habitat. Their list included nine unique species for the count including Dusky Dancer (station 15), Azure Bluet, Amber-winged Spreadwing, Delta-spotted Spiketail and Variable Darner (all station 13) and three stations with Carolina Saddlebags (12, 13 and a new station on Calfass Road).

Some missed species this year were Blue-tipped Dancer (Argia tibialis), Racket-tailed Emerald (Dorocordulia libera), Dusky (Gomphus spicatus) and Lancet Clubtails (Gomphus exilis). The White-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum) was almost missed this year — only one individual was recorded. This is unusual because it is usually the most abundant meadowhawk on the count as it is not very specific to a preferred habitat and therefore should be present in the count area in reasonable numbers. The Blue-tipped Dancer has been seen for a number of years now and was missed this year simply because its station was not visited. We were short section leaders and this section was not surveyed. I had intended to go back and visit this area at the end of the day (as it was right near my house), but after the very hot day, I was tired and forgot. Therefore it is likely present; it only lacked someone to observe it. The Racket-tailed Emerald, Dusky and Lancet Clubtails have been seen for the last few years but were not seen this year. Likely if more time was spent in appropriate habitats, they would have been located but they are fairly rare for the count area therefore it is not surprising to miss them in some years.

Overall some of the abundance numbers were low this year, with many species below average and many with only one individual counted. This is likely due to some observers being a little less confident in identifying the damselflies and spreadwings. They may seem an intimidating group to identify but I encourage participants to make attempts and with just a little practice, they are attainable and most end up finding them easier than anticipated (Ed Lam's "Damselflies of the Northeast" or the appendage "cheat sheets' I can provide are invaluable — I constantly use both).

Overall we had a great count with a record-high number of species observed, four new species for the count, and few species missed! We had 19 participants and I would like to thank everyone for their efforts on such a hot day! I would list everyone but I'm afraid I missed getting the names of some of you (I will add a location for observer's names on the data sheets and have a sign up sheet at the meeting location next time). Participants who I did get names for are: Richard Aaron (and the three others that were with our group), Paul Bartlett, Jerry Bloom, Jerry Chapple, Dianne and Shawn Green, Gordon Lewer (who I think had four others in his group), Kevin McLaughlin, Rob Waldhuber, Bill Lamond, Brian Wylie, and Pat Wylie.

The 2011 count will be happening on July 2, 2011. Since taking over the count from Carl Rothfels, I have been keeping it on the first weekend of July, and for schedule planning purposes, you can plan that the Hamilton Odonata Count will always be the first Saturday in July. Bill Lamond (compiler of the Hamilton Butterfly Count) and I have decided that it would also assist planning one's summer, if the Ode and Lep counts were both on the same weekend. While it may be difficult for some to attend both counts back-to-back, it can however benefit most, by having only one weekend of your summer dedicated as the "Insect Weekend". This therefore frees-up other weekends for travelling or other away trips. We apologize if this causes an inconvenience, but the majority of the feedback has been in favour of having both counts on one weekend. So now it can easily be placed in your calendars and planned accordingly. Therefore, the first weekend in July shall be the Hamilton Naturalists' Club "Insect Weekend".

Also, while there is always some degree of teaching happening on the count, I prefer to focus on counting. So to assist the "Count" in running smoothly as a "count", I would like to again have an "Introduction to Odonata" hike a few weeks before the count. This way we can do the majority of the learning and teaching during the guided hike (when we have an abundance of time) and keep the count day mainly for counting and getting as many species recorded as we can. This year I have chosen June 11, 2011 and a tentative location of Valens Conservation Area. Anyone who would like to learn about dragonflies or damselflies or would just like to brush up on their identification before the count, are encouraged to come to this guided hike where I will go over how to capture, identify and release odonata.

As of 2010, we are now up to a cumulative list of 84 species in the count area — one of the highest in the Province — we're tied for the highest with Algonquin I think! We broke our species count record in 2010 (63 species!) so let's try to break our record again in 2011!

2010 Species List and Totals.

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