American Rubyspot

[Ed O'Connor]

To honor the last day of summer, I decided to explore Rouge Park out in Toronto's easternmost fringes. In Little Rouge Creek, I saw several American Rubyspots resting on rocks in the middle of the creek. A new damselfly for me and an incredibly beautiful one at that.
American Rubyspot by Edward O'Connor, on Flickr

[Shortsighted]

You have a keen eye. Finding the proverbial ROUGE IN THE ROUGE:
Like a fleck of exposed rouge corundum reflecting the sun from the pale
parent rock around it. A diminutive gem either way and a difficult subject
to photograph. Too bad the rock wasn't wet. Find anything else in the Rouge?

[Ed O'Connor]

Thanks, Shortsighted. It was my first time there, so it was sort of like a recon mission. Had to figure out the bus from Kennedy station to the Zoo and then how to get to the park from the Zoo. Simple enough once you know. Over the course of this summer, I've become obsessed with dragonflies. The only other photo I got (aside from the ubiquitous Autumn Meadowhawks) was of a Black-tipped Darner, which had settled on an evergreen shrub near a lake. For butterflies, I saw a mating pair of Pearl Crescents and my first Green Comma, which flew up from the creek bank and settled in a tree in such a way that it was just possible to get a few poor photos. Then it disappeared. The Rouge Valley is also good for turtles--I saw many Midland Painted Turtles, and apparently there are Blandings Turtles there too.

[Shortsighted]

In the spring there are little red flags on wires placed beside the trail where turtles are nesting.
I'm not adept at quickly identifying dragonflies, especially when they are airbourne and darting
around fast enough to mesmermize. There are often many dragonflies at Reesor Pond south,
which is also part of the Rouge, but the Beare wetland located east of Meadowvale is good too.
Actually, I wish I was there now. Comfortable weather this year would make the hunt more enjoyable.

Beare Wetland

Reesor Pond