Willband ponds, Abbotsford, Oct 22

[Deleted]

This afternoon there was a male Redhead among the large waterfowl flocks on the main Willband pond, and the Northern Shrike was again near the south end.

My main goal was dragonflies, and I found three species still active this nice warm day.

Stan Olson
Abbotsford

[Gord]

Nice birds, Stan.

Is this a little late in the season, or is it just dependent on the weather? Today I saw a Darner species and a Meadowhawk species at Cheam Lake.

[Deleted]

Hi, Gord.

Apologies for introducing a non-birding topic. I'll try to keep this brief.

According to Cannings' book, the extreme limits for recorded flight period in BC extend into late October or even to mid November for several dragonfly and damselfly species. So a number of species would be possible these days, but there are only a couple of species that are likely to be seen this late in the season. A darner seen now is most likely a Shadow Darner, but Paddle-tailed Darner is possible too. I found one of the latter in south Surrey yesterday morning. A meadowhawk seen now is most likely a Yellow-legged Meadowhawk.

For Shadow Darner and Yellow-legged Meadowhawk, yes, it is perhaps getting a little late, but not outside their normal expected date range. Any other species would be outside its normal date range now, I think, even if not outside its recorded date range.

On the other hand, yes, it all depends on weather in the sense that if it's not warm enough, no insects are going to be active, since they depend on external heat to warm their body to functioning temperature. On a warm sunny day this time of year, you could expect to see very small numbers of individuals of these two species active in suitable habitat. On any other kind of day, now, you are unlikely to see any dragons or damsels, unless you happen to discover one resting, waiting for the warmth of the sun, as was the case with the Paddle-tailed Darner I found yesterday. It had become trapped inside the netting over a concrete pond at a fish hatchery, and was very sluggish, barely moving at all when handled, although it clung tightly to the netting. I hung it up in an inconspicuous place, outside the netting, where it would get the direct sun later in the morning, and I hoped it would not be picked off by a hungry bird.

Stan

[Gord]

Stan, no problem if not birding! It's all interesting.

I was at Eagle Point this afternoon and came across lots of meadowhawks and a couple damselflies. Are the damselflies spreadwings?

[Deleted]

Very nice finds, Gord.

Yes, the damselfly in the photo has the look of a spreadwing to me. They are tough to separate, but going by date ranges in Cannings, I would think Spotted Spreadwing is the only likely species this time of year.

The meadowhawk looks to me like a Cherry-faced Meadowhawk. Fortunately your photo shows almost the best angle possible to display the defining characteristics. A bit better view of the face would make me more comfortable with eliminating White-faced Meadowhawk, but what I see looks pretty good for Cherry-faced.

Both are very nice finds for this time of year, in my limited experience. But, really, I'm only a beginner with a bit more experience than most of you other beginners out there. Today is supposed to be quite warm also, so maybe there'll be opportunities to learn something new.

Incidentally, a web site I find very helpful for identification purposes is located at the Slater Museum at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. It is developed by Dennis Paulson, who is working on a definitive field guide to dragonflies and damselflies of western North America. There are very useful scanned photos of virtually all dragon & damsel species of the northwest at www.ups.edu/x6279.xml

Stan

[Gord]

Stan, thanks for the information.

That website is excellent. Thanks for sharing it. I have bookmarked it and will visit it often. I have the Cannings' book on dragonflies and find it excellent as well. This site will suppliment it nicely.

[Deleted]

Gord, another excellent site that was developed as a follow up to Cannings's book is found at a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ It gives range maps based on sighting reports, and chronology graphs for BC for the species found in his book.

You can search by individual species, or a genus name (try sympetrum for meadowhawks), then click on the species name and find various types of information.

Stan