For some seasons I’ve been looking for Rusty Snaketail, a species of moving water and with a propensity to lounge mid-stream on rocks. It is generally regarded as the commonest and most widespread snaketail and yet I’d seen Boreal and Maine with ease in Quebec, never a rusty. Today 8/5 I had packed a lunch to be consumed after I’d picked Sandra up in Halifax, we intended to find a nice spot to eat lunch and see what was there. By chance we chose a small park on the West LeHave river in Lunenburg County.
Taking route 10 inland, we drove for a few kilometers before stopping at the linear park with a small parking lot called Cooksville Regional Park. Not really expecting much, I checked out the sluggish river behind the picnic tables, drought is affecting everywhere, and there, in the middle, was my first Rusty Snaketail. As is the order of things, it came no nearer than the middle but it did wander about a bit so I saw it fly too. I also managed a few shots using a 1.4x on a 100-400mm lens, not terrible but room for improvement.
The same spot had numerous Powdered Dancers, most looked normal but there were also a few blue ones, plus a few Variable Dancers.
In addition to the aforementioned odes we also saw Dragonhunter, Calico Pennant and 12-Spotted Skimmer. The West LeHave River is home to the Extra-striped Snaketail, a mythical insect in many ways and a good reason to go searching the river where you can access it.
Eastern Canada Odes 