Late Summer Butterflies

ORANGE SULPHUR gathering

I managed to get out late this afternoon to search for butterflies north of Wallaceburg. Although many butterflies are done for the summer, there are many still to find. A walk at McKeough CA proved interesting. Nothing unusual, but the numbers of some were decent.

PAINTED LADY

I walked through the low part of the floodway where there are damp areas and lots of weeds. At one mudhole I found a bonanza of butterflies. Most numerous were the Orange Sulphurs. There were over 100 concentrated there. There were lots of Eastern Tailed-Blues as well. I also found a worn Common Sootwing.

COMMON SOOTYWING

Other butterflies included Pearl Crescents, Silver-spotted Skippers, Peck's Skippers, Least Skippers, Northern Broken-Dash, Painted Lady, Viceroy, Monarch, and a very tattered Wood Nymph.

two different PECK'S SKIPPERS (above)

SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER on thistle (below)

LEAST SKIPPER (probably!)

Today's Ramblings

I checked out wildflowers at Perch Creek and Moore WMA today. As I have mentioned before, it is so much different than last year. Everything is very prolific. Wildflowers are not my area of expertise, but I try to identify them.

At Perch Creek I came across a small dark pink plant called Slender False Foxglove that I never actually noticed before.

Conditions were not the best for butterflies, but some were out, including lots of Pearl Crescents. They seem to be very abundant this summer. There was a Giant Swallowtail and Eastern Tailed-Blues to photograph. Below is a very small Silvery Checkerspot. I did not realize it until I downloaded the photograph! I had lots there at Moore WMA earlier in the summer form the first brood of normal size.

SILVERY CHECKERSPOT

At Moore WMA many plants were in bloom, especially tall yellow ones. Some Spiked (or Dense) Blazing Star was still in bloom, as well as Ironweed. Butterflies included a couple of Buckeye and Eastern Commas along the road. A couple of worn Great-spangled Fritillaries were checking out the Ironweed. The only skipper was, once again, Silver-spotted. A couple of very worn Wood Nymphs were still flying.

Compass Plant

Rosinweed

Purple Coneflower

Pennsylvania Leatherwing beetles on coreopsis

Sneezeweed

Recent Sightings and Point Pelee

Gray Hairstreak, Point Pelee

Giant Swallowtails seem to be the big news this past week east of Toronto. Many reports posted on Ontario Butterflies. See: Ontariobutterflies

I see lots around here and at Point Pelee of course. As I mentioned last week, they were everywhere on Pelee Island in big numbers.

Some Peck's Skippers are out this week. I had one in my garden on Wednesday which was a first for here, and I saw another at Reid CA yesterday.

Peck's Skipper

Regarding skippers, I am optimistically hoping for Zabulon!! Not likely to occur here though I am told.

Today I went to Point Pelee. Virtually no skippers were sighted, but I did get a fleeting glimpse of a Silver-spotted at the north end of the park.

The highlight today was yet another Gray Hairstreak. It was nectaring on Flowering Spurge near the north end of West Beach Trail. (See photo at top). It must be a decent year for Gray Hairstreak since I have seen four this summer after a drought of many years.

Lots of crescents were out...

The only emperor was a very tattered Tawny Emperor beside West Beach parking lot.

I saw five or six Common Buckeye along West Beach Trail. They are the prettiest butterfly as far as I am concerned!

In the birding department, well, not many to look at! The only warblers I saw were Yellow and Common Yellowthroat. I did see a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. This flycatcher seems to be abundant this fall. There were lots of Eastern Kingbirds today, especially along the west side. Some shorebirds included Semipalmated Plovers.

I stopped at Blenheim lagoons on the way home and saw at least 150 shorebirds, but nothing new. Where are those phalaropes? Buff-breasted Sandpiper should be showing up by now as well.

Prairie Flowers and Grasses

Mid summer is the time to enjoy the prairie remnants we have in the area. Although it is past midsummer, there is still much to see.

This past weekend the Sydenham Field Naturalists were treated to a guided tour on Walpole and Squirrel Islands west of Wallaceburg. The only chance to see these prairies on Walpole is by special arrangement.

We checked a spot on Squirrel Island where Pink Milkwort was flowering. It is a rather rare plant with tiny deep pink flowers. Among the Big Bluestem were lots of Dense or Spiked Blazing Star plants. There a number of blazing star species, but this is the most common. Also seen were Stiff Goldenrod plants.

This particular site has lost quite a bit of turf due to erosion into the St. Clair River. It was noted that video footage of Small White Lady's Slippers was taken and showed them actually washing into the St. Clair River.

At the north end of Walpole, we looked at Rough Blazing Star, Coreopsis, Prairie Dock, etc. The Showy Goldenrod plants were observed, but they bloom in late summer.

A few photos accompany this post. (Not all on Walpole).

SPIKED BLAZING STAR (top two photos) and ROUGH BLAZING STAR (below)

Day Four Pelee Island

MV Jiimaan

Fish Point

I walked the census again early in the morning, but only a couple of Northern Waterthrushes were around. In the banding area, two more Black-and-White Warblers were in the nets, as well as a Northern Waterthrush. A Carolina Wren was also extracted.



I walked to Glacial Grooves again and noted many Lake Erie Watersnakes basking in the sun.

At lunch time I decided it was time to leave. Just down the road, I encountered one of the "dumb" Fox Squirrels. Many meet their demise on the roads. I wanted to check out the prairie area behind the winery. I got a brief look at a Fiery Skipper, and another skipper that mystifies me. I only got a brief look at it, but I thought it was a Leonard's. That species is not on the list, so I do not know what to make of it.

I took one last look at Bob's Hole and saw a Calico Pennant.

After eating lunch at the winery, I went over to the Heritage Museum. It was quite interesting. Then it was time to board the ferry for Leamington.

A couple of ships were passing in the channel. They were the Kaye E. Barker and the American Fortitude. The Fortitude is shown steaming west.

It was a great trip and I enjoyed visiting the various natural areas of the island. The island has lots to offer for the naturalist. I saw at least 28 species of butterflies and needless to say the White-M Hairsteak topped the list. No special birds were seen, but it was early in migration.

Thanks goes to the folks at the Pelee Island Bird Observatory!

Day Three Pelee Island

the very tip!

My first goal today was to walk to the end of the Fish Point Tip. I was amazed how far out it went. It was more than a kilometre, and at the very end it curled around. There were thousands of gulls today, but as luck would have it, only the four common species!

Some Sanderlings were at the very tip, and while I was at the Tip, I watched a Great Egret leave Pelee Island and head towards Middle Island.

I walked back along the beach during census, but the wind was on that side making bird life very quiet.
I ate lunch at the town restaurant, then Adam and I explored the trails behind the Winery. An old quarry is back there called Bob's Hole. It is now filled with water, but is a very interesting place. I noted a Calico Pennant dragonfly there. Butterflies included Buckeye, but we saw many of those throughout the island.

Across the road is another NCC property which we walked through. It is the Richard and Beryl Ivey property. Some abandoned farm machinery and old trucks were in the woods. There were some large trees in this one.

Chinquapin Oak

In mid afternoon, Dean Ware came along and we walked along Stone Road looking at butterflies. There seemed to be more Least Skippers out this day, as well as a few Northern Broken Dash. Most interesting was a very small Orange Sulphur that was almost half the size as a normal one.

"runt" Orange Sulphur

Another walk behind the winery in the wildflower area was fruitfull for butterflies. We took another look at Bob's Hole.

Day Two Pelee Island

Getting up early, I headed to Fish Point with the group to see what the daily routine is. I walked with Adam around Fish Point as he conducted the daily census. Species of birds and their numbers are recorded during a 90 minute period. During this time, the other PIBO personnel are at the banding site checking the nets for birds.

It was early in the season, so birds were at a minimum. We did encounter Northern Waterthrush and Tennessee Warbler. A number of Yellow Warblers were moving through. At the Tip, the gulls and terns were congregating by the thousands. The terns are virtually all Common Terns here. The odd Caspian was seen. A couple of Semipalmated Plovers and a Ruddy Turnstone were among the shorebirds present. Needless to say, we noted thousands of Double-crested Cormorants heading to parts unknown.

Middle Island could be seen in the distance.

After the census, we headed into the banding area. There were a couple of Black-and-White Warblers and a Northern Waterthrush in the nets.

All of us had lunch at the Winery where we could BBQ our own burgers.

In the afternoon, Adam and I headed up to Middle Point Woods near the north end. It is another recent NCC property acquisition on the east shore. Part of it was donated by a couple who owned a parcel of land there. We could look towards Point Pelee and also see the Pelee passage shipping channel.

I wanted to see the old lighthouse so we walked to it. It was built in 1833 and restored a number of years ago. It was abandoned quite early in the 20th century, so it had been deteriorating for some time. It was a bit of a walk to get to, but worthwhile. Last time I was in the area was for the three Wood Storks in August 2001. This spot it included in the Lighthouse Point Nature Reserve which was obtained in the early 1970's.

Not too far south from there, we travelled along Brown's Road to some more NCC properties. These properties were obtained quite recently through a partnership of several agencies. Part of the Brown's Road portion is a significant site of rare Chinquapin Oak/Nodding Wild Onion savannah which is not known anywhere else in the world. All of these natural sites are important to maintain since so much of Pelee Island has been drained or cleared for farming purposes.

The highlight of my trip occurred here. Along one of the trails I spotted a White-M Hairstreak! This is a rare butterfly for Ontario, but this year a few have been seen. In fact, three were seen on the island in early August during the butterfly/dragonfly count weekend. One was also at Point Pelee in early August. It sort of has a similar look to the Southern Hairstreak!

I later walked the Stone Road Alvar again and noted more plants, but no new butterflies.

Smooth Solomons's Seal

In the evening, an Osprey sailed by the cottage along the shore.