Violet Dancer
Chris Traynor and I chat about dragonflies and damselflies a lot. We both also like to pour over old dragonfly reports, iNaturalist records, and Google maps looking for suitable habitat for this species or that, as well as interesting places to go dragon-hunting in general. It was Chris who, when searching for places to see Clamp-tipped Emerald, thought that Taylor Lake in the northwestern part of Gatineau Park might be worth a visit. There are two iNat records from the area from 2015, as well as one Brush-tipped Emerald record from a few kilometers away. The map shows a variety of ode-worthy wetlands including streams, ponds, seeps and marshes, and an exploratory hike of about 5 kilometers in the fall cemented his impressions and desire to return there during prime dragonfly season. It was also almost completely unexplored for odonates, which made it quite enticing in my eyes, and close to a spot where Chris Lewis and Bob Bracken had discovered a stream with mature Eastern Least Clubtails and other clubtails several years ago. Good Somatochlora spots in the Ottawa-Gatineau region are uncommon, and we both thought would be fantastic to discover one up in Gatineau Park. I emailed Chris Lewis about Chris’s idea to check on the trails around Taylor Lake and revisit some of her and Bob’s footsteps in Gatineau Park, and the three of us made plans to visit its northern reaches on July 8th.
It was a little cool and more overcast than I liked when we left Ottawa, and it still hadn’t cleared completely by the time we arrived at the Trail 56 trailhead on Ch. Eardley-Masham around 10:15. However, the sun was shining intermittently, it was warm enough for the bugs to be flying, and right away we found an emerald flying around a small clearing next to the parking lot. It seemed a promising start to the day when the Racket-tailed Emerald landed on a leaf for easy viewing, and we hoped there would be more emeralds patrolling the trail. Not too far along the trail a Chalk-fronted Corporal landed on a tree trunk while a Violet Dancer settled on the gravel path near a wide wet marshy area that held no other odes that we could see. We found more Violet Dancers as well as a few Aurora Damsels and Ebony Jewelwings perching on sunlit leaves in the woods further down the trail. The Violet Dancer is one of my favourite damselflies as I find the stunning blue and purple hues quite unlike any other ode or butterfly in our region.
We flushed several Chalk-fronted Corporals and a couple of Lancet Clubtails from the trail; these small clubtails were quite pretty with their yellow markings forming a dotted line all the way from the top of the abdomen to segment 9. There wasn’t a great variety of odes in the interior of the forest, and although I kept looking for large, dark, mysterious dragonflies patrolling the sunny openings I wasn’t able to spot any. Once we reached Lake Kidder we started seeing more species, though nothing unexpected for the habitat. A Slaty Skimmer made its presence known by perching on Chris’s net while we had stopped to look around.
Another one perched close by on a lichen-covered branch. I thought that the bleached white colour of the branch made for a photogenic backdrop for the gorgeous deep blue colour of the dragonfly.
Not to be outdone, a Chalk-fronted Corporal actually landed on Chris T.’s hat a little bit later! Chalkies (as they are sometimes called) are quite friendly and will readily land on people or their belongings if they are sitting or resting while on a hike. We saw a few Common Whitetails as well, including this female perching on a sunlit twig. The yellow triangular patches down the sides may be indicative of either a female or immature male, but the wing pattern is definitely that of a female.
We also saw a pruinose Belted Whiteface perching on a fern, though interestingly no other whitefaces were seen.
When the trail drew close to the lake I tried to scramble down the steep, rocky shore to get to the water’s surface and managed to get close enough to see a few damselflies in the sparse vegetation at the edge. It was only through my photos that I was able to identify them both as Stream Bluets, one of the black-type bluets that can be identified without needing a close view of the claspers. There were more Lancet Clubtails around, too, including this one on the ground…
…and this one on a leaf which we caught just to make sure. The three common clubtails in genus Phanogomphus can be difficult to distinguish on sight alone as the amount of yellow in the last few segments is variable in all three. In general Lancet Clubtail has the most yellow, Dusky Clubtail has the least yellow, and Ashy Clubtail is dullest overall with less contrasting yellow stripes against the lighter brown of its body colour. Ashy Clubtail is also slightly larger, and lacks the yellow markings on the sides of segments 8 and 9. Still, it’s best to check the claspers under magnification to be certain of the identity of these three species. Chris L. took a look through the loupe to verify its identity.
We only walked 1.5 km before turning around, as there didn’t seem to be much flying in the woods and Taylor Lake was still a few kilometers away. The views were beautiful, and I took a picture of the trail next to Kidder Lake before we left.
We stopped by the small wetland near the trailhead again on our way out and were surprised to see this huge insect resting on one of the plants. It was bright and colourful, and we weren’t sure what it was until I uploaded my photos to iNaturalist which identified it as an Elm Sawfly, an insect related to bees and wasps. The sawflies are named for the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor of the female, which is used to slice openings in plant stems or leaves in which the eggs are then deposited. Almost all sawflies feed on the foliage of plants, and while the larvae can spend months or even years in that state, most adults are short-lived, only living long enough to reproduce.
From there we drove a short distance down the road until we came to a culvert with a rocky creek – named Rivière la Peche Sud on the maps – cheerfully flowing beneath Ch. Eardley-Masham. The sun was out, and we stopped to enjoy the warmth and grab a bite to eat on the rocks overlooking the water. A Racket-tailed Emerald flew within reach of our nets, which we then caught and identified, and we spotted the usual Chalk-fronted Corporals resting on the rocks.
After we ate it was time to explore, although Chris T. had already gone ahead. He and I walked along the stream for a bit, clinging to the few dry areas between the water and the lush vegetation along the shore. There were a few Ebony Jewelwings perching the vegetation above the water, the males fluttering their velvety black wings.
It wasn’t long before Chris found the first Eastern Least Clubtail, though it flushed and flew over to a different rock. I managed to get one photo showing the long white claspers of an adult male, the first mature adult I’ve ever seen! It has a black body and greenish-yellow markings on the thorax and abdomen, green eyes, and a very small club. The smallest clubtail in our area, it is only about as long as a bluet.
There was at least one other clubtail perching on a rock that flew off when we got too close, and we spent some time waiting to see if they would come back. When they didn’t we tried to go further up the creek and look for more. We found Powdered Dancers and more Ebony Jewelwings, but the clubtails were gone. I crossed the creek to walk back up the other side (I was wearing my hiking shoes and didn’t want to get them wet), and there in the vegetation I found a different clubtail resting on a leaf….a larger one and a female at that.
It had a small club and looked similar to the Lancet/Dusky Clubtail group, except the “Z” shaped stripes on top of the thorax were too thick, there was no yellow at all on S8, and the habitat was wrong for those three species, all of which prefer calmer waters: marshy bays, ponds, slow streams or rivers with a soft bottom. It was either a Harpoon or Beaverpond Clubtail, but which one? I caught it to find out, and had Chris T. hold it while I took some photos.
The hind femur (large leg joint closest to the body) was streaked with a dull green colour, which pointed to Harpoon Clubtail, as did the shape of the yellow marks along the side of the abdomen: in the final segments especially there are two spots separated by a squiggly dash on each segment rather than two spots (as shown in the Algonquin guide). However, it’s the shape of the sub-genital plates that are most useful in separating these two look-alike species, so Chris turned her over so we could take a look.
The sub-genital plate consists of two pointed lobes which are less than one-third the length of S9. In comparison, the Beaverpond Clubtail has two longer lobes which are more than half the length of S9, which confirms her identity as a Harpoon Clubtail. This made sense as the Harpoon Clubtail prefers clear, swift-moving streams with pools while the Beaverpond Clubtail prefers slow streams and beaver ponds.
There is one other feature that may be useful in separating the female Phanogomphus clubtails….the shape of the occiput. This yellow shield-like apparatus between the eyes is best seen with a straight-on view of the face, and Chris turned her around so I could get such a picture:
It was Guy Lemelin, a Quebec ode-hunter, who pointed out this field mark to me on iNaturalist. The occiput of the Harpoon Clubtail is M-shaped, while the occiput of the Beaverpond Clubtail has no humps and looks like a small, straight bar connecting the eyes. I love learning new field marks that aren’t shown in my field guide, and in this case it shows why it is good to take pictures from all possible angles of the dragonfly while it is in the hand! Guy also let me know that the green femur is not consistent in Harpoon Clubtail, as he’s seen some without it, but he hasn’t seen enough Beaverpond Clubtails to confirm that all individuals lack the green stripe.
We took the bug to show Chris L., who was happy to see it as it has been a number of years since she had last seen one. It had also been a number of years since she had last seen her one and only Beaverpond Clubtail way back in 1997 at Constant Creek just past Calabogie, Ontario….unfortunately, that was our last Phanogomphus of the day; perhaps a trip up to some of the beaver ponds in Gatineau Park next June might be an idea?
We let the Harpoon Clubtail go, and then as we were leaving Chris L. pointed out a bright orange Green Comma fluttering along the rocks between the creek and the elevated road. When it landed it closed its wings, so I got a nice side view. This was as good a find as the Harpoon Clubtail as I almost never see them on the Ottawa side. The Green Comma is named for the greenish submarginal bands on the underside of the wings, although this field mark is more clearly seen in the hand than in photos, unless the individual is fresh and the lighting is good. The edges of the wings are more jagged and irregular than similar-looking commas, including Gray Comma and Eastern Comma. A denizen of the boreal forest, it is most frequently seen flying along woodland trails and sunning itself in open areas.
It’s too bad there isn’t a hiking trail here as the creek is very picturesque and there are lots of good dragonflies here. Chris T. had a third clubtail species when a Dragonhunter flew by….this large dragonfly is unmistakable in flight at close range given its size and the way its abdomen droops at the end. I was looking the other way and missed it! However, even the little bit of the creek that is accessible from the road is worth checking on a hot summer’s day, if only to hear the gurgling water, see the sunlight reflecting off the riffles, and enjoy the pristine boreal forest air.
Chris Lewis didn’t see the Eastern Least Clubtails since she hadn’t walked along the creek bank with us, but Chris Traynor knew of a creek in Old Chelsea where they could be found only a short hike from the trail parking lot. The spot was in the south end of the park along the eastern edge, so it took us about half an hour to drive there. Chris T. was right – it was only a short walk down the hill and then we were standing at the creek’s edge where a number of Eastern Least Clubtails were basking on the rocks. I was thrilled to discover that they really were that easy to find, and Chris L. said it was most she had ever seen in one place – there were almost a dozen of them! I got some great photos, including one obelisking on a rock. The bright yellow stripes on the thorax and green eyes of this species are quite beautiful.
Some dragonflies raise their abdomen into the air, or “obelisk”, in order to reduce the amount of sunlight falling directly on the body. This prevents them from overheating, as they are creatures of the sun and require its warmth in order to fly, but aren’t able to withstand scorching temperatures.
The usual Ebony Jewelwings and Powdered Dancers were around, but we didn’t see any other clubtails. We walked up the trail a bit to see if we could find any new species perching in the vegetation or on rocks in the creek but didn’t find much. This is the same creek that runs along the Sugarbush Trail a bit further north by the Chelsea Visitor Center.
We weren’t quite ready to give up and headed over to the Sugarbush Trail. We only walked to the new bridge that connects the the trail to the parking area, and walked down the steep bank to get to the water’s edge. I recall being able to walk freely along the shore, but the vegetation had grown so much that it was only possible to check the water’s edge in a couple of spots. We were hoping to see a Dragonhunter or Fawn Darner cruising along the water or a swarm of Prince Baskettails patrolling the sky, but to our disappointment we didn’t see any dragonflies here. However, there were a few jewelwings perching on sticks and vegetation above the water, and we saw both Ebony and River Jewelwings – the latter was a new species for the day!
This turned out to be our last new species of the day, though we ended up doing quite well with 17 species total:
- Ebony Jewelwing
- River Jewelwing
- Aurora Damsel
- Stream Bluet
- Violet Dancer
- Powdered Dancer
- Racket-tailed Emerald
- Dragonhunter
- Lancet Clubtail
- Harpoon Clubtail
- Eastern Least Clubtail
- Belted Whiteface
- Slaty Skimmer
- Chalk-fronted Corporal
- Common Whitetail
- Twelve-spotted Skimmer
- Four-spotted Skimmer
Although we did well with the clubtails, we were a wee bit early for the emeralds we were searching for. Perhaps another outing sometime later in the month would be warranted to try and find some of these elusive and mysterious beauties!
The Pathless Wood 