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Insect Monitoring Beaverhill Lake Butterfly Count ResultsButterfly watching is quickly becoming a very popular hobby. Volunteers who are hooked on finding and identifying the colourful, non-feathered flying objects conduct an official one-day count at the lake. The counts occurr mid July and usually include Barb and Jim Beck who bring along others who want to learn more about winged insects. Barb and Jim normally extend their searches around Beaverhill Lake in areas where they know they will get species not found in the natural area. At times volunteers have been seen running over 500m in pursuit of one little insect. There will be another count again this year, come out and try it!  Yearly tabulations in the past have been 171 Individuals in 15 species level classifications one year and 844 individuals in 21 species level classifications in another year.Ode-ing at Beaverhill Lake - Christine Rice  "Ode-ing", the art and science of identifying and appreciating dragonflies and damselflies, may be more similar to "birding" than you realize. The physical beauty and observable antics of birds, qualities that make bird watching so appealing, are mirrored in the insect realm by odonates (dragonflies and damselflies). Odonates are very beautiful and charismatic creatures. Some of their common names attempt to illustrate their colourful features by using words such as "emerald", "jewelwing" and "saffron". As airborne adults they are easily observed and exhibit recognizable behaviours including territoriality, aggressive displays, hunting, ovipositing, and mating. During the summer of 1998, while I was a bird bander at the Beaverhill Bird Observatory, I conducted a survey of the odonata of the Beaverhill Lake Natural Area (Alberta Naturalist (29) 2, Summer 1999). To accurately identify odonates I would catch-and release them using an insect net, and the acrobatic skills of a ninja. The following species list was compiled using my survey data (May - October 1998) as well as contributions from John Acorn, Ed Fuller, & Carl Cook. If you have encountered an odonate at the Beaverhill Lake Natural Area that is not included in this list, please contact me via this web-site so it can be updated accordingly. Odonate Species List for Beaverhill Lake Natural Area:
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