Down by the Pond: Part II

Female Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa)

Hot summer afternoons are the perfect time to dragonfly-watch down by the pond. I spotted dragonflies of 5 different species, including Green Darners (Anax junius), one of the most impressive. Green Darners are large and stocky, with an eye-catching bright green thorax and turquoise-blue abdomen. Strong fliers, several were patrolling the pond but they never settled to have their picture taken! Others were more cooperative, and their photos are featured here. Dragonflies prey upon a variety of insects, usually catching dinner on the wing.

Dot-tailed Whiteface (Leucorrhinia intacta)

Common Whitetail (Libellula lydia)

Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella)

An Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) was also catching insects. The kingbird perched on a bare branch with a good view over the pond and made hawking forays out over the water, sometimes hovering in place. Kingbirds can be readily identified by the white band across the bottom of their tail feathers.

While I was watching little fish in the shallow water over a submerged board, a water scorpion (Ranatra fusca) strolled by. They’re impressive insects, several inches long. The long “stinger” at the rear isn’t a stinger at all. It’s actually a pair of breathing tubes used to connect with the water surface. The front legs are modified to catch prey, which are dispatched with a bite.

Water Scorpion (Ranatra fusca)

Northern Pearly-Eye (Enodia anthedon)

Settled on some flotsam nearby was a Northern Pearly-eye butterfly. They visit mud and sap, but not flowers. Their larval foodplant is grass. A bit farther up the shore was a Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice). These pretty yellow butterflies are common, flitting over meadows and along roadsides. Their larval foodplants include white clover, alfalfa and other legumes.

Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice)

The pond is a happenin’ place.

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Getting Together

Across the summer, and from habitat to habitat, the array of dragonflies seen on the wing changes. Pictured above are a pair of Dot-tailed Whiteface dragonflies (Leucorrhinia intacta), a common dragonfly of vegetated ponds, seen in spring and summer. The Whitefaces are members of the Skimmer family. There are 7 species of Whitefaces in North America.

This mating pair demonstrate the “copulation wheel”. In this position, the male transfers a packet of sperm to the female. The process can take from 3 seconds to an hour or more. A male dragonfly can remove sperm deposited by a previous competitor to insure that his own sperm will be the ones fertilizing the female’s eggs. Soon after mating, the female will lay her eggs (oviposit) in flight by tapping the water with the tip of her abdomen.

The Common Whitetail (Libellula lydia) is a stocky skimmer that flies in summer over a wide variety of wetlands. The male, pictured above, shows the chalky white abdomen for which the species is named. The appearance of the female is quite different from the male. Instead of the white of the male, her abdomen is brown, with angled yellowish to white dashes on the sides. The wings are also different. The male’s wings have broad black bands across the middle and thick black bars at the base, while the wings of the female feature black patches at the base, midpoint and tips. A female Common Whitetail is pictured below.

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Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary

We have had a lot of overcast, rainy days this spring, but Wednesday was a beautiful day. I took advantage of the sunny weather to visit the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary, located east of Morrisburg along the St. Lawrence River. The Sanctuary was established in 1961, on 9,000 hectares acquired by the St. Lawrence Parks Commission following the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. It features a mix of habitats including mature forest, successional woodlands, old fields and wetlands.

The Sanctuary offers outdoor education programs and includes a campground. The small interpretive centre has a store with a selection of guide books and giftware. It was quiet the day I was there, waiting, no doubt for the busier season to get underway once the kids are finished school in July.

There are four walking trails, with pamphlets available to help visitors enjoy a self-guided hike. I followed this well-groomed trail out through wetlands and open water to the former location of the Lost Village of Aultsville.

While walking in the park, I saw or heard a variety of birds, including a Baltimore Oriole, Wood Thrush, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and cormorants out by the river.

There were quite a few of these Dot-tailed Whiteface (Leucorrhinia intacta) dragonflies along the walkway. They are members of the Skimmer family of dragonflies, which includes more than a hundred species in North America. They are often seen perched on floating vegetation. Females lay their eggs in flight by tapping the water surface with the tip of their abdomen.

Bluets are common damselflies. You can see the way these damselflies fold their wings over their back while perched, in contrast to the spread-winged posture of dragonflies. There are at least 35 species of bluets in North America, and telling species apart is challenging. This may be a Northern Bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum), which are noted for their large blue eyespots.

There were a number of little blue butterflies flitting about. When they come to rest on a flower, they fold their wings over their back, thus concealing the silvery blue that makes them eye-catching in flight. This is a Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus). Their larval foodplants are lupines, vetches and other legumes.

Common Ringlets (Coenonympha tullia) were also flying along the trail. Ringlets are associated with grasses, which are their larval food. They are attracted to yellow flowers in the composite family, such as ox-eye daisies, for nectaring.

The Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) looks like a small Monarch butterfly. It can be readily differentiated by its smaller size and by the black line that runs across the bottom of the lower, or hind wing, lacking in the Monarch. The larvae of Monarchs feed mostly on milkweeds. Chemicals derived from the milkweed make Monarchs very distasteful to most predators. It was once believed that the Viceroy was a Monarch mimic so that it might take advantage of this predator protection scheme, but it is now thought the Viceroy is equally distasteful to predators. The larval food for the Viceroy is willow species.

Below is a view of the St. Lawrence from the trail.

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Dragons in the Woods

Lancet Clubtail

Blackflies weren’t the only insects to be seen in the mid-May woods. The warmer weather has stirred many species into activity, including a variety of spring-flying dragonflies. Incredibly agile, dragonflies are able to fly forward and backward, glide and hover. They catch their food on the wing, preying on mosquitoes, flies, midges, butterflies, moths, even other dragonflies. Along with damselflies, dragonflies are members of the ancient insect order Odonata, inhabitants of the planet for over 250 million years. In North America, there are about 435 species of dragonflies and damselflies, with dragonflies represented in 7 families. Dragonflies in northern regions generally survive just 2 to 4 weeks and various species are connected to specific flight seasons.

Pictured above and below are Lancet Clubtails (Gomphus exilis). Clubtails get their name from the flare of the segments at the end of the abdomen, which gives a clubbed appearance. The Lancet has narrow yellow “daggers” running down the top of the abdomen. The placement of the large, compound eyes of dragonflies can aid in identifying the species. Clubtails have separated eyes with a gap between them.

Lancet Clubtail

The small dragonfly pictured below is a Dot-tailed Whiteface (Leucorrhinia intacta). The source of its name is self-evident. It belongs to the Skimmer family. Unlike the clubtail, its eyes meet broadly along a seam.

Dot-tailed Whiteface

The Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura), below, is a medium-sized member of the Emerald family. Like Skimmers, Emeralds have eyes that meet at a seam.

Common Baskettail

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