Algonquin Provincial Park Odonate Count -- July 4 2022

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PB M

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Jul 6, 2022, 5:40:08 PM7/6/22

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Hi All,

Pasted below is a summary of our 26th annual count held July 4 2022.

Species Diversity = 74

This ties us for the highest ever (July 5, 2018). The ten-year average ranges between 68 and 71.

Abundance = 3623 individuals

The ten-year average is between 4000 and 5000 individual insects.

To standardize the count date across years, we determine how many days it has been since the previous year’s winter solstice since this is the true, or planetary, New Year. This year the count was on day 195 which is also the average. Relatively earlier counts can have different species compositions that relatively later counts. Despite the fact our count date was dead average, we appear to be relatively farther along into the summer than other years because we had poor representation of spring species and unusually high representation of later-summer species. We probably have an early spring to thank for that.

Collectively we covered 45km on foot, 2km by canoe, and altogether put in about 45 hours of effort out in the field. This immense effort gives us a good idea of the state of Algonquin’s dragonfly and damselfly numbers for this brief snapshot in time.

Since its beginning in 1996 the top three most abundant species for the count have been i) Chalk-fronted Corporal, ii) Frosted Whiteface, and iii) Marsh Bluet. In 2022, our most common species were i) Sphagnum Sprite, ii) Frosted Whiteface, and iii) Chalk-fronted Corporal.

I’ve put together a short annotated list of rare, charismatic, or single-observation species from our day:

Northern Spreadwing (1; abundant later in summer)

Emerald Spreadwing (1; localized in the count circle)

Slender Spreadwing (1; uncommon and flies later in summer)

Eastern Red Damsel (7; localized in count circle)

Subarctic Bluet (1; mostly flies earlier in the year)

Taiga Bluet (2; localized and mostly flies earlier in the year)

Northern Bluet (170; restricted to Bat Lake)

Azure Bluet (129; record-high for this uncommon and localized bluet)

Vesper Bluet (16; flies over open water in the evening)

Orange Bluet (12; new to count in 2020 and may be expanding its range in this area)

Common Green Darner (15; record-high count of this species which is common as a migrant in spring and fall but a rare summer resident)

Variable Darner (1; abundant in later summer)

Black-tipped Darner (1; abundant in later summer)

Shadow Darner (1; abundant in later summer)

Cyrano Darner (1; not abundant but widespread in count circle)

Lilypad Clubtail (10; by canoe on Costello Creek)

Beaverpond Clubtail (4; uncommon and widespread)

Harpoon Clubtail (2; uncommon and localized)

Ashy Clubtail (2; localized in count circle)

Rusty Snaketail (8; Pog Lake dam)

Swift River Cruiser (1; unusually low for this species)

Beaverpond Baskettail (1; primarily flies earlier in the year)

Uhler’s Sunddragon (5; uncommon in circle)

Stygian Shadowdragon (28; all caught after 9pm at the Opeongo docks)

Ski-tipped Emerald (3; uncommon in the circle)

Ocellated Emerald (1; rare and localized in the circle)

Clamp-tipped Emerald (1; rare and localized in the circle)

Brush-tipped Emerald (2; uncommon in the circle)

Slaty Skimmer (19; apparently increasing in abundance in the area)

Twelve-spotted Skimmer (8; a high number for this otherwise more southern species)

Elfin Skimmer (13; part of a series of small metapopulations in the area between Broadwing Lake and Highway 60)

Cherry-faced Meadowhawk (1; localized in the circle and more common in later summer)