Summer Pond Blues

Don't worry... I haven't slipped into a depression over the reduced bird activity.  In fact, the bird activity is ramping back up nicely with shorebirds passing through and passerines starting to shuffle around.  Instead, I am referring to a pair of nice blue dragonflies that can be found flying together through June and July: Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis) and Western Pondhawks (Erythemis collocata).  In British Columbia, the distribution of these two species is quite restricted and they are both provincially blue-listed.  Their ranges are virtually identical, occurring primarily west of the Coast Mountains to approximately 50°0'N, but also sneaking north of the border into the southern interior to the north end of Osoyoos Lake.

To the untrained eye, the males of these two species probably look very similar.  With a few pointers, I am confident you will be able to sort them out.  The females, on the other hand, are very different and you should never get them mixed up.  I will focus on the males here because they are both powdery blue denizens of ponds and marshes on southern Vancouver Island.  Luckily for me, I just have to step outside my door and both are flying around the small manmade pond here.

On July 13, I lazed a good portion of the day away as I had just returned from the buggiest, muggiest work trip I have been on in ages.  I kept telling myself to get out and enjoy the day but I was just so content relaxing.  Finally, I picked myself up and got all my gear together.  I walked out the door and started to load up the vehicle to take off and then got distracted by all the dragonflies around the pond.  I was thrilled to see a Blue Dasher right next to a Western Pondhawk, which was really the motivation behind this entry.  Not only was I able to study the visual characteristics of these two species, I was able to note differences in their behaviour.

This turquoise-eyed beauty is a male Blue Dasher

While this deeper blue-eyed dragonfly is a Western Pondhawk

There should be a few features that stand out to differentiate these two if you did a quick compare and contrast.  They are both mid-sized dragonflies that have powder blue pruinosity, but that just gives them a superficial similarity that is enough to throw a skilled observer off if they only get a quick fly-by view.  Let's break down the walls of identification systematically.  Starting with the head, I already mentioned the slight difference in eye colour: radiant turquoise for male Blue Dashers and a somewhat swirling deep blue for male Western Pondhawks.  Before I delve any further, I will take this opportunity to give a quick anatomy lesson for the head of a dragonfly.  Every group of organisms seemingly has new terminology for different parts and it would be cruel to throw out a few of these words without context!

Dragonfly head anatomy, using a Western Pondhawk to illustrate the features

As you can see, the vertex of the male Western Pondhawk is green, as is the frons, clypeus, and labrum.  On a Blue Dasher, the vertex is black and the frons, clypeus, and labrum are all white.  I think of the frons, clypeus, and labrum together as the "face" and I find assessing the colour of the face tp be the easiest way to distinguish these two.  Below is a head on view of a Blue Dasher for comparison.

See... it's not so daunting if you just stare them in the face!

Dragonflies don't always offer up the greatest looks, so I have a few other features to look for if you happen to find one that is facing away.  If you can get a look at the wings, Blue Dashers have amber staining at the base of the wings, while wings of Western Pondhawks lack staining.  Next, the thorax of a Blue Dashers is patterned yellow-and-black before the pruinescent blush achieved with maturity obscures it. This striped pattern can usually be discerned through the granular blue coating.  Western Pondhawks, in contrast, are lime green before the pruinescent pigmentation effectively covers that colouration.  Look back to the first photo of a Western Pondhawk to see an example of a Western Pondhawk that has not fully coated its thorax and has some green peeking through.  Finally, the last two segments of a male Blue Dasher's abdomen are usually darker than the rest of the abdomen, whereas a Western Pondhawk has a rather uniform powder blue abdomen.  Just like the thorax pattern, this feature seemingly fades as individuals mature and more pruinosity coats the abdomen.  I have a couple shots that hopefully illustrate the three features mentioned.

The amber-stained wing bases, patterning on the thorax seen through the forewing, and dark-tipped abdomen of a Blue Dasher are illustrated by this shot

This shot provides a better angle to see the thorax patterning that is not fully obscured by pruinosity

As you can see, the wings of Western Pondhawks lack staining

Now I'll touch on a couple features that are harder to use.  First, the size of these two differs ever-so-slightly.  You need a bit of experience with them to get a sense that the average Western Pondhawk is several millimetres bigger than the average Blue Dasher.  According to Cannings' "Introducing the Dragonflies of British Columbia and the Yukon", male Western Pondhawks are 42 mm and male Blue Dashers are 38 mm.  I imagine you're thinking it's crazy to think you can tell notice a few millimetres difference, but it is surprisingly easy.  It is, after all, 10% of the dragonfly's length!  The last observation I made that seems to help distinguish these two is their choice of perches.  Blue Dashers seem to prefer picking elevated perches at the pond's edge.  The perches are typically vegetation, such as cattails, rushes, or leafy emergent plants.  Western Pondhawks almost land on the ground or on flat surfaces.  For instance, I pretty much exclusively saw Western Pondhawks resting on large rocks, wooden boards, algae mats, and trimmed grass.

Western Pondhawk on a piece of plywood near the pond edge

Two Blue Dashers agree they prefer leafy emergent aquatic plants!

Now that we've broken down the walls, hurry up and get out there to test your skills before their flight season is over!  I would recommend heading to Swan Lake, the Beaver Lake retriever ponds, Viaduct Flats, or Rithet's Bog if you're looking for suggestions.  I have also had success with Western Pondhawks around small reservoirs in agricultural areas.  Feel free to write back with tales of success and also let me know if there is another local species comparison you would like me to write about.

Ten Hours in Houston

That title sounds like a bad follow-up to the 80s hit "One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head.  To put a little context into why I had a layover in the first place, I won a trip to Peru to follow the 2013 Birding Rally Challenge Nor Amazónico and ended up with a lengthy layover in Houston on the way down.  I will tackle the details of the birding rally later because it was a rather epic adventure.

A few days before leaving for Peru, I finally got around to checking if any Houston birders would be willing to pick up a sleepless Canadian fresh off a red-eye for a morning of birding and other natural history goodness.  I must have been in panic mode because I contacted around eight people and the Texan hospitality was overwhelming!  I ended up having six or so birders get back to me saying they would be willing to take me out for some birding, which was amazing!  Dave Dolan mentioned he was already going to be at the airport at around the time of my arrival and that made my decision very easy.  We got the details all squared away, including a couple target birds I was hoping to connect with in the area.

Early in the morning on June 9, I was very worried that Dave might have thought I skipped out on him because I was concerned my checked bag wasn't going to come out.  A lady working at the airport ensured me it would automatically get transferred to my connecting flight, but I was a little skeptical because it contradicted the details I had received when I checked in.  I decided to double-check with the Houston bag lady and she snapped back with "They don't pay me $30 an hour to be wrong."  I decided to wait an extra few minutes and checked with her one last time and she told me to exit the airport.  Alright.  Done.  I got out to the arrivals area and put on my binoculars - the trademark sign you're a birder.  No sign of Dave.  I wandered out among the cars and a voice rang out from behind me, asking "Jeremy?"  Phew!  I was now set to make the best of the layover with Dave as my local guide!

We started by cruising a neighborhood very close to the airport in hopes of finding some Fish Crows.  With windows down and eyes panning all around, we searched for black corvids.  Finally I spotted a couple of black birds on a wire.  We pulled over and waited for one of them to call.  Finally, one tipped its head back and unleashed the classic "Caw, caw, caw" of an American Crow.  Darn... keep moving.  We continued down the road and spotted a few more American Crows along the way.  As we slowly rolled along, Dave spotted a couple of crows in a parking lot so we pulled in and listened.  One of the crows flew up on a lamp post and let out a croaking "Awwp, awwwp, awwp".  Fish Crow!  The crow then descended back to the pavement, picked up a chicken bone and flew off with its mate in tow.  It was beautiful... just how I pictured my lifer Fish Crow.  So majestic!

After the Fish Crow, we were faced with a tough decision.  Should we head to the coast and try to find Seaside Sparrow and King Rail or get into some nice forest and look for Swainson's Warbler?  I was more excited about the latter option, so we headed up to an area near Sam Houston National Forest where Swainson's Warblers are known to hold territories.  We were rather leisurely about the birding, which is somehow starting to be my style.  This is likely due to the fact that I have seen the majority of the bird species in most areas I head to in North America, but there is a whole suite of odonates and butterflies that would be new.  I end up focusing on the more minute critters and birds fall into the background.  I am not sure if Dave knew that's what he was getting himself in to, but he was a great sport.

As we worked our way along the road through refreshingly exotic habitat, the sounds of White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos, Hooded Warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Summer Tanagers, Carolina Wrens, Pine Warblers, and Northern Cardinals were rather distracting due to their unfamiliarity to these West Coast ears.  Then Dave picked up on an empid song and exclaimed it was an Acadian Flycatcher.  For whatever reason, I hadn't considered this species even though its breeding range clearly envelopes the area I was birding.  I guess ignorance is my coping mechanism for Empidonax flycatchers.  I worked hard to track down the feathered source of the call and eventually was rewarded with looks at a rather bright olive empid continually giving its "peet-sah" song from dead branches over a swampy channel.  I took a few mosquito bites in the process to make it feel like I really worked for this lifer.

In the end, Swainson's Warbler threw out one brief song and that was it.  I really didn't have much of a chance to even really recognize it, but Dave picked up on it.  Other bird highlights included: a Northern Parula singing away that offered a couple viewing opportunities, a handful of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in the open country, and a calling Brown-headed Nuthatch.

The odonates were must sparser than I was hoping, but I think that is due to the lack of good water features.  The highlight was a single, absolutely tiny Double-striped Bluet.  The only other two species I noted were Eastern Pondhawk, Ebony Jewelwing, and Blue Dasher.

You can just make out the razor thin extra stripe below the main blue stripe on this Double-striped Bluet

I actually enjoy the female Eastern Pondhawk more than the male because it looks nothing like the same sex of its western counterpart.

This seems to be the most prominent broad-winged damselfly in areas I've been in the east.  The all black wings make Ebony Jewelwing an easily recognizable denizen of slow-moving creeks and rivers.

The butterfly diversity was much more exciting and I encountered several species I have never knowingly seen before. The species I managed to photograph include: White Checkered Skipper, Tropical Checkered Skipper, Yehl Skipper, Clouded Skipper, Northern Broken Dash, Eufala Skipper, Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper, Red-banded Hairstreak, Grey Hairstreak, Carolina Satyr, Silvery Checkerspot, Variegated Fritillary, Red-spotted Purple, and Spicebush Swallowtail.  I also had looks at what may have been a Hayhurst's Scallopwing, but it darted off before I could draw in any details and snap a photo.  Here is a selection of some of the nicer butterfly shots I managed to fire off over the course of the morning.

I was trying to photograph as many butterflies as possible and luckily I fired off this shot of a White Checkered Skipper!

I then noticed this checkered skipper was much paler, so I photographed it and was delighted to find out it was a Tropical Checkered Skipper.

I find these dark brown skipper quite tricky, but I feel confident this little guy is a Eufala Skipper

I didn't know it at the time, but I have encountered this species in Ontario - it's a Northern Broken Dash

I was very worried about figuring this one out, but it wasn't too bad - this is a Yehl Skipper

I imagine the violet-grey dusting of the wings is the source of this skipper's name: Clouded Skipper

I have seen quite a few small satyrs down in the tropics, but the only one I have identified is Little Wood-Satyr in Ontario.  I wondered if this was going to be the same, but it's actually a Carolina Satyr.

I found Silvery Checkerspots to be the most commonly encountered species along the route I birded during my brief visit north of Houston.

This Silvery Checkerspot posed nicely while nectaring, showing off its intricate ventral hindwing pattern

Hairstreaks are one of my favourite groups, so I was happy to find my first ever Red-banded Hairstreak!

I saved this one for last.  I don't like to play favourites, but this one was my favourite - a stunning little Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper.

As a rounded naturalist, I was scrutinizing anything that caught my eye and I have a selection of other nice animals I encountered, ranging from an amazing mosquito right up to a Green Anole.  I wish I had access to this kind of exotic diversity on a daily basis.  I'm not saying that southern Vancouver Island doesn't have exciting fauna to discover, but being in new areas always gives me intense biological ADHD.  Alright... bring on the photos!

Delta Flower Scarab (Trigonopeltastes delta) - how cool is that name for a beetle with a dead obvious triangle on its thorax?

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) sitting up on a snag with a fully extended dewlap

This Ocellated Tiger Beetle (Cicindela ocellata) has an awesome stance!

This Striped Bark Scorpion (Centruroides vittatus) was my prize for flipping over some flaked off bark.  The two dark longitudinal lines are diagnostic of this widespread species.

Woodhouse's Toad (Bufo woodhousii) - not definite on the identification of this one, but close enough.

Promachus bastardii - the genus of this species is commonly known as the Giant Robber Flies.

The Elephant Mosquito (Toxorhynchites rutilus) is a large, colourful species of mosquito and I was utterly blown away when I spied it sitting on a leaf!

The time flew by and my allotted break quickly came to an end.  I am extremely grateful to Dave for picking me up at the airport and putting me smack dab in the middle of a naturalist's playground!  I can't wait to make my way back down to Texas and explore the flora and fauna at a leisurely pace!

Saanichton Spit's Sensitive Species

Who doesn't like an alliterative title?  Saanichton Spit is my local gem.  I have been going there to seek out birds ever since I was a kid and I now enjoy it for its locally unique biota.  The base of the spit is on Tsawout First Nation land, while the outer two-thirds is managed by Central Saanich Parks.  The habitat is classified as a coastal dune, which is a very scarce commodity in British Columbia.  Consequently, the spit is a mecca for rare plants and animals.

I am becoming a fan of the visual tour de force approach because pictures really do say a thousand words.  I will, however, interject at one point to line up a bit of a story about a very special sighting.  Without further ado, here are some photos I took during my outing yesterday.

Contorted Pod Evening-Primrose (Camissonia contorta) 

Grey Beach Peavine (Lathyrus littoralis)

Purplish Copper (Lycaena helloides)

Purplish Copper (Lycaena helloides)

Vancouver Island Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia insulana)

Snowy Owl primary feather

Snowy Owl body feathers

Plusia nichollae nectaring on Yellow Sand-Verbena (Abronia latifolia)

Large-headed Sedge (Carex macrocephala)

Beach Bindweed (Calystegia soldanella)

Beach-Carrot (Glehnia littoralis)

Barestem Desert-Parsley (Lomatium nudicaule)

Tree Lupine (Lupinus arborea)

Oblique-lined Tiger Beetle (Cicindela tranquebarica vibex)

Beach Pea (Lathyrus japonicus var. maritimus)

As seen in the photo of the stunning moth Plusia nichollae, Yellow Sand-Verbena is a vibrant nectar source found in the dune community.  In fact, there is one species that relies on it for every aspect of its life history.  The species is Copablepharon fuscum.  That wasn't very helpful, was it?  The common name of the species is the appropriately named Sand-Verbena Moth.  Some moths are exciting because they are intricately patterned, but that is not the case here.  The Sand-Verbena Moth is exciting because it is a rare regional endemic that is known from only ten or so locations in the world.  I learned about this species several years ago and, having a strong interest in endemics and conservation, I really wanted to find one.  My field work schedule seemed to span the majority of the Sand-Verbena Moth's flight period, so I never really had a fair shot at it before.  I wasn't even sure if I had a chance to find it yesterday, but I scoured the larger patches of Yellow Sand-Verbena in hopes of finding nectaring moths.

Yellow Sand-Verbena patch

Yellow Sand-Verbena close-up

As I scanned over patches of sand-verbena, I did see one moth that I thought had a chance at being my holy grail.  Unfortunately, the moth flew off and I lost track of it.  I later saw another intriguing moth that briefly nectared on sand-verbena, but it also flew off before I could get a good look.  I had already been out at the spit for a couple hours, but I decided to put in one last effort around the largest sand-verbena patches again.  It looked like I was going to strike out as I approached the last few patches when I spied a medium-sized, coppery-tan moth nectaring on sand-verbena.  This individual was very cooperative and was actively moving from flower to flower, inflorescence to inflorescence, and even patch to patch.  I took many photos, but most were rubbish.  I'm sorry this will be fairly anticlimactic because the moth is really not showy.  Try to look at this from the natural history side of the picture.  This moth is so finely adapted to the coastal dunes that it is requires Yellow Sand-Verbena for all stages of its life - without the sand-verbena there is no Sand-Verbena Moth.  I find that amazing and I felt privileged to watch this globally rare moth doing what it is highly evolved to do.

The Sand-Verbena Moth was only described in 1995 from Deception Pass State Park

Sand-Verbena Moth with its proboscis fully extended to extract nectar from its sole hostplant

Kamloops Clamber

While traveling between different field projects, I managed to find some time to roam around a couple random hills on the outskirts of Kamloops.  I wasn't really sure where to go, so I just picked a quiet side road to meander my way through to Vernon.  I decided I would head along Barnhartvale Rd., look for non-fenced areas, and finish by checking out Buse Lake.  Rather than get all verbose, I'll just make this more of a visual journey.

Vesper Sparrow

Yellow Gromwell (Lithospermum incisum)

Melissa's Blue (Plebejus melissa)

North American Racer (Coluber constrictor)

Thread-leaved Daisy (Erigeron filifolius)

Linear-leaved Daisy (Erigeron linearis)

Flower beetle on Linear-leaved Daisy

Sculptured Pine Borer (Chalcophora virginiensis)

Short-beaked Agoseris (Agoseris glauca) with syrphid fly