A bit of everything in Mississauga

[Reuven_M]

Non-bird sightings from today at Riverwood and Erindale park:

Mammals: 5 Deer (3 does, 2 bucks), 3 cottontail and the three common squirrels

Herps: 10 green frog, 1 american toad, 1 painted turtle, 3 garter snake, 1 brown snake

Butterflies: 1 eastern tiger swallowtail, 1 silvery blue, 15 little wood-satyr (common all of  a sudden), 1 viceroy, 15 least skipper, 10 hobomok skipper

Dragonflies: 4 green darner, 5 dot-tailed whiteface, 1 painted skimmer, 1 twelve-spotted skimmer, 2 four-spotted skimmer, 15 common whitetail

Damselflies: Eastern forktail, taiga bluet, other bluets

Also a variety of interesting flies and wasps, but I forgot a camera so they will likely remain unidentified.

[Brian Bailey]

Painted Skimmer is a good one!  I don't think they're very common in Ontario. I've never seen one.

BB

[Reuven_M]

I got a very good look at it, no doubt about the id. It was feeding with common whitetail, 12 and 4-spotted skimmer along the edge of some woods.

[Brian Bailey]

Quite possible, but still a good find.  Odes are often very local in their abundance.  It seems that you might find a certain species in only one out of dozens of seemingly identical habitats.  I know a place near Bala where Calico Pennants are as common as dirt.  I don't know why.  They just are.   :?  Most other places, I'd consider them a good find.

BB

[Reuven_M]

Bob Yukich has it listed as uncommon in June in high park:
http://www.highparknature.org/wiki/wiki ... ragonflies
A great looking insect, I'm amazed at the diversity I'm seeing now that I'm actually looking at odes!

[Reuven_M]

Very good today at Riverwood and Erindale:

Butterflies: 10 tiger swallowtail, 5 cabbage white, 1 silvery blue, 1 spring azure, 1 eastern tailed blue, 1 red-spotted purple, 1 red admiral, 3 common ringlet, 40 little wood-satyr, 1 monarch, 3 wild indigo duskywing, 10 least skipper, 8 hobomok skipper (and probably more duskywing/skipper species I didn't identify)

Damsels: 2 ebony jewelwing, 1 violet dancer (for real this time!), 25 eastern forktail, 10 taiga bluet, at least 2 other bluet sp, 1 probably familiar (30 or so of these), and another with a mostly black abdomen (like skimming bluet)

Dragons: 10 green darner, 3 eastern pondhawk, 2 black saddlebags, 25 dot-tailed whiteface, 15 12-spotted skimmer, 40 common whitetail

Herps: 10 green frog, hundreds of american toad (2 big ones, and tons of miniscule, newly terrestrial one), 1 snapping turtle, 2 painted turtle, 1 garter snake

3 deer and 3 cottontails