References

I'm finding this book to be the most helpful as I begin to sort out odonate ID.

(Considering that's a Wandering Glider on the cover, I wish I'd had it on hand when I was trying to ID that one a few weeks ago.)

Several key features make it stand out from the other books I have on hand: it includes both dragonflies and damselflies; it has photos and range maps for every species right with the description text for easy access; and perhaps most importantly it includes good descriptions of both the diagnostic features of each species AND the ways in which each species compares to their closest lookalikes. Having a list of comparison features, or even just comments like "no other species in x range will have y and z features" or "frustratingly similar to (these three other species) without examination of subgenital plates with a hand lens", has been absolutely invaluable.

The book at the top of the photo, "Dragonflies Through Binoculars" also has some good commentary on similar species, but the way it's set up is more cumbersome, it separates the text descriptions from the colour plates and range maps. I suppose if you wanted to flip through a set of photos really quickly to narrow down an ID, that setup would be useful, but it still leads to a lot of flipping back and forth and losing one's page. That books also does not include damselflies.

And finally, the little book at the bottom is the Stokes "Beginner's Guide To Dragonflies", which is exactly what is says on the tin. A good place to start and to look up really common stuff, but it obviously leaves out a lot of species and details.

iNaturalist records are going to be very helpful for practice, I think. I've already spent some time going through the odonates section, trying to confirm other people's IDs from the posted photos. At the very least, it'll get me familiar with the terminology and what features I need to be looking at for the various groups. And hopefully some of the more common or distinctive features will start sticking with me once I've seen them enough.

Road Trip

I find it amusing that I completely coincidentally mirrored many members of the Ontario Field Ornithologists this weekend. Apparently they had an event in Kingston, preceded by a field trip to Presqu'ile Provincial Park on Friday. I was in Kingston for the weekend on completely unrelated business, and took advantage of the trip east to stop at Presqu'ile on the way.

Of course, Friday morning was cool and windy and, eventually, rainy, so my birding at the park had very limited success. I thought I was going to get skunked completely out at Owen Point, but as I was working my way out onto the point itself to get a better view of the islands, a small flock came in to land on the beach nearby. Mostly Sanderlings, with a couple of Dunlin mixed in and four Black-bellied Plover (I really wanted them to be American Golden Plover, since I haven't seen those before, but my hopes were dashed when I saw the black wing-pits in flight).

Sanderling (left) and Dunlin (right)

Herring Gull, singing the song of its people

Owen Point, with bird-covered islands beyond

Sanderlings chasing the waves

Black-bellied Plover

I hit up the Marsh Boardwalk, too, because apparently I am a sucker for punishment. Similarly not much activity, but I did get good looks at a small group of Wood Ducks, and Wood Ducks are always worthwhile.

Thankfully, the rest of the weekend was gorgeous. I didn't get to look at any birds Saturday or Sunday, but the Kingston waterfront was spectacular nonetheless.

Finally!

The net has been broken in. :D

I'm not going to say that yelling madly as I chased it down helped, but it obviously didn't hurt. Frustration fueled by many misses clearly makes me quicker on the scoop.

And it was a new one for me, even! Unexpectedly difficult to ID, but that's mostly because all of my guide books are at home and I was working solely from google. "Dragonfly yellow and black" returns an unsurprisingly vast number of results. My coworker eventually got us down to the right genus, and from there it was an easy decision to name this one a Wandering Glider.

Creepy Crawlies

I suppose it was inevitable that as I started to look for insects, I found more and more spiders as well. Which doesn't always sit well with me. But if I can look at them from an objective naturalist's viewpoint (and keep them from crawling on me), I can appreciate that some of them are pretty darned cool looking. Like this Shamrock Orbweaver, also called a Pumpkin Spider because of its occasionally orange colouration.

I snapped the photo below on one of my job sites earlier this week, aiming for the Cabbage White. Upon uploading the photo later I noticed something down and a little to the right of the butterfly...

There's a big Banded Garden Spider (a close relative of the Big Sneaky Yellow Spiders from a few posts ago) just waiting. That Cabbage White doesn't know how close it came to being lunch that day. Here's some better shots of the same species from a site I was at today:

And because I like posting photos (and possibly because we all needed a palate cleanser from spiders), here's a Northern Crescent - differentiated from the very similar Pearl Crescent by the lack of white markings on the hindwing, and apparently also the large amount of orange on the tip of the antennae.

Why Do I Like This Hobby, Again?

Sometimes, leaving work a couple of hours early to go walking on a sunny Friday afternoon is the only choice you can make, especially when Saturday is supposed to be non-stop rainy.

At least, this is what I told myself yesterday as I set out to do just that. I decided that I needed to check out Luther Marsh, which was about an hour's drive away, since the eBird checklists coming out of there this past week were impressive. Lots of shorebirds, so, potentially frustrating, but I was feeling up to the challenge and my scope was getting dusty from lack of use.

I made the drive. I pulled off on the roadside, got out of the car, geared up. Started up the trail. In short order I realized several things:

1. The sunshine wasn't going to last. In fact, it got fairly cloudy fairly quickly, and I hadn't brought my regular glasses, only my sunglasses.
2. In fact, I hadn't brought a lot of things, I was fairly unprepared for this walk, because it was turning out to be a lot longer than I thought it was going to be from looking at the map.
3. The walk was turning out to be a lot longer than I had thought it would be, and I was carrying my scope. Which is not that heavy, objectively speaking, but certainly starts to feel that way after any kind of distance.
4. I was carrying my scope, which means I was unable to also carry my shiny new insect net, which was a real shame since the trail was literally buzzing with dragonflies.

So there I was, carrying that wretchedly heavy scope, thirsty and a little footsore, and frustrated over the lost opportunity to practice my dragonfly ID, when I finally got to the lookout I was aiming for. Finally, I thought to myself. Finally, I will see some shorebirds and justify this entire experience.

I looked. And while the marsh was, indeed, very pretty and full of egrets and cormorants and swans and such, there was not a single shorebird in sight. None of the mudflats or shallow weedy areas I was expecting to see. I had carried that wretched bloody scope all that way and given up on an excellent chance to catch some dragonflies, for not much of anything. And I simply did not have the time to walk further up the trail to find a better spot, not if I wanted to get all the way back to my car in any kind of decent time.

Crap.

Well, I thought to myself, I was already there, I'd come all that way with the wretched scope slung over my shoulder, I might as well take a scan around anyway. The egrets are pretty, I'll spend some time studying those. Mute Swans, cool, I can see the orange beaks on those with the scope. Pied-billed Grebes, okay, I thought that's what those were with that head shape. Osprey, sweet, harassing a Bald Ea--

Wait. Two Bald Eagles. Wait, no, four Bald Eagles, three adults and one subadult. Mostly standing there chilling but also flying in occasional short hops when the Osprey got a little too close. Those are some big freaking birds, yo. The adults were unmistakeable with that colour pattern,  even just through binoculars, but they were all distant enough that it was only with the scope that I got any kind of decent look at the subadult. So I guess it was worth lugging the wretched thing around after all.

Even my super zoom couldn't get a decent shot, at that range.

So, lesson learned, find a different parking location if I want to go back and scope the wetlands again, and definitely swap the scope for the net if I go on the southern part of the trail. I wish Luther Marsh was closer, I'd definitely make more of a habit of visiting if it were, because it is lovely and despite my gear misfires I still found some things to look at.

At least the Autumn Meadowhawks were willing to pose
 for me, even if all their cousins weren't.

My second-ever Common Buckeye, sunning on the trail.

And finally, Monarchs are always fun, especially when they
finally sit still and let you take their picture.