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Crossing a great divide. / © Bryan Pfeiffer

Need I say more? I crossed somewhere in western Ontario. And when I reached the Manitoba-Saskatchewan frontier, I met up with great swarms of dragonflies. They drifted in cities, along ponds, and in little parks where I stopped for picnics. They were flying on the way to, well, who knows where they were headed. A few headed into my net.

I sampled about a dozen on Sunday, each a Variable Darner (Aeshna interrupta). They’re even in the parking lot here at the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where I’ll be attending the annual meeting of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas. Actually, they’re everywhere, which I’m told is customary in July.

Up here the thorax stripes on this species are just that – stripes. At home back east they’re interrupted. That first shot below was from Yorkton, Saskatchewan yesterday; the second is from a bog in Burke, Vermont, last summer.

By the way, the birding in the Saskatchewan Prairie this morning was a sparrow spectacle. You know you’re not in Vermont anymore when you visit some farmland at dawn and the first bird you hear is not a Song Sparrow but rather a Le Conte’s Sparrow. Stay tuned for more on that. Oh, and to catch up, that bottom shot is my very own swimming spot on Lake Superior north of Wawa, Ontario, on Friday night. (Days are long up here.)

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7 comments
  1. Matt Pierle says:

    Did you see the beautiful Green Stone there north of Wawa? Ah, Mecca!

  2. Gail Straw says:

    Beautiful, Bryan! What a great trip! (And yes, I’m sure Lake Superior has just barely lost its ice, having grown up in the upper Midwest!) Enjoy! : -)

  3. martha Pfeiffer, (no kin to Bryan) says:

    Enjoying your adventure vicariously and I like your comparisons to Vermont wildlife
    Hope your journey meets your expectations. It is sure making good diary reading for me..

  4. Judy Brook says:

    Loved your dragonflies. Boy, I bet that Lake Superior water makes for cold swimming.
    I was so sorry to learn of the death of your friend John Wires. That was a beautiful eulogy that you wrote.

    Judy

    • Bryan says:

      Thanks, Judy. I’m sad about John. A great live well-lived. He would have loved this trip. By the way, as I swim in I also drink from Lake Superior.

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