Ode To Joy at Sydenham River Nature Reserve

 On Saturday June 19, a planned odonate  survey was held at the Sydenham River Nature Reserve (SRNR).  It is always a thrill to visit the place whenever one has the chance.

About a year ago, we did our annual bird census, but I also photographed dragonflies along the way and put them up on iNaturalist.  The folks at Ontario Nature (owner of the property) noted these and were interested in having a survey done since one had not been conducted previously.  There was not really time to organize one, so eyes were set on mid June 2021, prime time for many species.

Corresponding with Gabriella Zagorski at Ontario Nature, I organized a few local enthusiastic individuals to check out the reserve.  We met on June 19 around 10 a.m. and set out.  The "Lambton" side is not really open to the public, and one has to traverse a private laneway to access.  There is a more public access at the end of Buttonwood Drive on the east side, but habitat is slightly different since your  are on the floodplain.  As well, the road is more of a track towards the end, and could be iffy after heavy rains!  There is not much of a trail to follow at that end through thick vegetation, and lots of stinging nettles!  And you need to traverse a creek if going straight in.

In any case, four of us did the Lambton side, while fellow blogger Quinten Wiegersma did the Buttonwood side.  Our group ended up spending five hours traversing various habitats, dealing with stinging nettle (my legs stung for a while!), steep and slippery riverbanks (Pete is fine!), and unknown holes in the river (hope you camera is OK, Mike!).  Poison Ivy was not a problem much to the delight of Paul.

Mosquitoes are never a problem at SRNR for some strange reason, and there are few ticks.

There are three abandoned farm fields on the Lambton side each of which have been reverted back to nature with prairie plants and/or trees and shrubs. 

The Lower Field

 We checked the first one, and came up with the star of the show, an Arrowhead Spiketail.  Pete spotted it first, and this was the one I was most interested in recording.

Last year, Mike and I saw several in this field.  It was known here, but is quite rare this far south in Ontario, and is uncommon anywhere in Ontario.  You can note the "perfect" arrows on the abdomen.  We only found the one this year.

Just previous to this find, I found a Rusty Snaketail, a somewhat uncommon species in these parts.

We ended up with a tally of four of these attractive creatures.  Here is another one we found later on in another field.

The most common dragonfly was Common Whitetail, so common I did not even take a photo!  But here is one from elsewhere.

female

Midland Clubtails were quite common, and a similar one, the Black-shouldered Spinyleg were tallied.  Some Midland Clubtails were making more Midland Clubtails!

There were other species of dragonflies, including Widow Skimmer, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Common Green Darner, Eastern Pondhawk and Ruby Meadowhawk (only one!).

Then there are the dancers and bluets or damselflies.  Many of these can be difficult to ID with regards to age, variation and sex.  Sometimes one has to look at genetalia!

We did have Familiar Bluet, Powdered Dancer, Blue-tipped Dancer, Blue-fronted Dancer, Variable Dancer, Eastern Forktail.

One can get "familiar" with these with practise!

Familiar Bluet

Along the "stream" we did have Stream Bluets.

Stream Bluet

Blue-tipped Dancers, not to be confused with Blue-fronted Dancers, were the most common.  They can vary quite a bit it seems.

Blue-tipped Dancer

Along the Sydenham, there were countless American Rubyspots, a favourite of mine.  This was the most common ode.

Many Ebony Jewelwings were in the same area.

Then there are the "cruisers".  We only saw a couple of Swift River Cruisers.  They were so swift, I never got a photo!  Here is one from last week I did manage to photograph, on the fly, up on the Ausable.

In total we saw at least 20 species of odes.

There were some leps along the way including lots of Banded Hairstreaks.

I did find one FOY Hickory Hairstreak.

Despite the overcast skies (forecast wrong again!), we had a fun and interesting day!

Pete wondering if he should go in

SRNR Survey to MNR Leps

Today we had some near perfect weather even though it is the weekend!  It was ideal for a breeding bird survey at the Sydenham River Nature Reserve (SRNR) that straddles the border of Lambton and Middlesex Counties.
The SRNR was secured by Ontario Nature in recent years, and is a real gem for a variety of reasons.  Some uncommon plants, birds and odonates reside here.  As well, fresh-water mussels abound in the river.

It has become an annual event as one year ago we did the same thing.  We took our same areas from the previous year.  I found there were not as many birds as last year, and we did not get Cerulean Warbler.  However, it was all interesting.

Along the river, but on the east bank, is the famous "Buttonwood" tree.  This very large Sycamore is well known.

The east side of the reserve is mostly floodplain with some interesting and unique plants.  I have never explored this section to any extent yet.
The west side has some floodplain too.

While in the floodplain I came across this moth.  I probably have not seen this one before, a Three-spotted Fillip.

Three-spotted Fillip

We check for salamander as well.  Again, we found Red-backed this year.

One spot is guaranteed a Turkey Vulture nest and this year was no exception.  One egg was visible, unlike last year when two chicks were visible.

We kept an eye out for dragonflies and lucked out this year.  I saw a couple of species that I probably have not seen before.
First was  Rusty Snaketail, an attractive ode not so common in the area.

Later, we checked an edge of one old field and saw a Swift River Cruiser patrolling the area.  Usually one sees these over or along the river, but this was far removed from the river.  It never landed, so no photo was obtained.

Soon after, I caught sight of another neat ode called the Arrowhead Spiketail.  We saw two or three of these creatures.

The name is appropriate as one can see distinct arrows on the abdomen pointing to something!

There were several other common species of odes as well.

Springtime Darner

Twelve-spotted Skimmer (f)

Midland Clubtail

Common Baskettail

teneral ode

After three hours, the area was covered and we parted ways.

It was only 11:00, so I headed north to Ipperwash.  It was on the agenda for me today, since I was half way there at SRNR anyway.  My intention was to see Dusted Skipper at the "MNR" parking lot.

As soon as I got out of the car, I found some of these little bandits!

Dusted Skipper on Dust

They have a white line above the eye which makes them look like a bandit.

They seemed to be everywhere at this specific location, as I counted around 30 in about twenty minutes.  Certainly the most I have ever seen!

Dusted Skipper on cone

I also Common Roadside Skipper, not unexpected there.

Roadside Skipper at side of road

I could have spent more time in the area, but I decided to head home at this point as my mission was accomplished for the day and time to rest.

Baby fawn asleep