Cyrano Darner at Boston Creek, New Credit, Brant

[Bill Lamond]

Hello,

This afternoon (28 June 2026) I saw a Cyrano Darner on Boston Creek adjacent to the New Credit sewage ponds in Brant County. This is a new species for the County and for the Hamilton Study Area.

When I first saw it flying circles over the creek about 60m downstream I thought it looked like a Cyrano but that seemed very unlikely for the location. I hurried down to the spot and there it was. I did not have a net with me but even with a net I'm not sure it ever came close for a swing. It is a fairly easy ode to ID on the wing with binoculars if it is close, as the turquoise body is unlike other darners. Plus the bluish-white frons when it is flying at you is very apparent. The most tell-tale ID feature is the downward curving abdomen. And also its behaviour of flying in circles around one spot for minutes on end.

This is another species that is common enough in cottage country and south of us in Ohio but almost absent from south-western Ontario. I note that there are recent records from the Pinery Provincial Park (Ausuable River) and near Port Colborne.

Boston Creek is very pond-like were the Cyrano was observed; very wide and sluggish, with lily pads and other emergents. I suspect the species will almost be present at McKenzie Creek to the north as it flows through the Six Nations, as the creek is very wide and pond-like there as well.

Bill