SW Middlesex Odes

[qwieg...@gmail.com]

Hi all,

I couldn't very well sit back and just let everyone else have all the fun, so I made a short trip back home this past weekend, and squeezed in a morning of odeing yesterday (July 2).

I checked Wardsville Woods first. This was my first time at this location, and I must say, I quite like it! Not a lot in the way of odes first thing. In fact, one of the first odes of the day was a Riverine Clubtail that dropped down beside me at the pond. It was a nice male, and it seemed a bit larger than I recalled them being, but perhaps that can just be chalked up to individual variation. 

I picked my way along the creek and through the woods, but only succeeded in seeing Ebony Jewelwings. Back at the pond, there were a few more pond skimmers out and about, but other than that, I didn't see anything of note.

That Riverine Clubtail turned out to be my only clubtail of the day. I didn't look too hard for Cobras, however, as I had a time constraint. Next year, perhaps.

I checked out the wet ditches at the corner of Mosside Line and Watterworth Road. There were several Swamp Darners, including a few females oviposting, and the star of the show, a nice male Great Blue Skimmer. I captured it in Lambton County, but it was in Middlesex County airspace at one point. I assume that this species is quite widespread right now, but regretfully I just couldn't afford the time to do some exploration.

A nice morning spent in the Carolinian Zone, and I saw a couple new odes for my Middlesex County list.

As far as I can tell, that is five new species for Middlesex this year (Twin-spotted Spiketail, Arrowhead Spiketail, Cobra Clubtail, Riverine Clubtail, and Great Blue Skimmer) in this part of the county. Good work everyone, you are making me homesick ;)

Now, who will be the first to find the Royal River Cruiser? 

Take care,

Quinten