Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ontario

Speaker: Colin Jones 

Dragonflies and damselflies are beautiful and truly fascinating creatures! From the Ebony Jewelwing to the Stygian Shadowdragon, these insects are not only an important part of our ecosystem, they are also exciting to watch. Colin Jones will be presenting a talk, complete with photographs, on the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ontario during which he will highlight their fascinating life cycle, their conservation, the habitats they are found in and the various citizen-science initiatives that you can get involved in to report your own records of dragonflies (and other insects).

Colin is a lifelong naturalist and is the Provincial Arthropod Zoologist at the Natural Heritage Information Centre, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in Peterborough where he deals primarily with rare species. Like many naturalists, Colin first developed a keen interest in birds and birding but this interest gradually grew into other areas. Over the past 30 years, he has been very interested in the study of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies). He is coordinator of the Ontario Odonata Atlas project and is the co-author of “A Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Algonquin Provincial Park and Surrounding Area”, now in its 2nd edition.