Sunday, July 27
Leader: John Reaume
The SFN had its first successful Odonate outing on July 27, 2008. The 3 hour hike at the mill pond in Mount Forest was the first outing to this new restored wetland sanctuary. Ten people attended with Joe Johnson coming the farthest from Wiarton to help search for dragonflies and damselflies. These fascinating creatures have very interesting behaviours that we were able to witness. In the end the following species were tallied: Powdered Dancer, Rainbow Bluet, Marsh Bluet, Stream Bluet, Eastern Forktail, Common (Eastern) Pondhawk, Widow Skimmer, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Common Whitetail as well as a spreadwing sp. and a Blue Darner sp.
We had lots of damselflies at the beginning but the larger dragonflies eluded us till the eleventh hour (actually it was 11:30) before the first one made its appearance – which just goes to show how much more civil dragonfly watching is than birding – no need to be up at dawn – you can have a nice leisurely breakfast and even a second cup of coffee before hitting the field!
