Dickcissels to Butterflies

For some reason I wanted to go to Point Pelee today.  Butterflies I guess.  And, yesterday I talked about Dickcissels.  I had some hunches to check out for today and sure enough they panned out.  I checked out a spot along Mersea Rd. 19 where Dickcissels were seen last year.  Sure enough, a male was singing not far from the road at 07:30 this morning.
Just a couple of minute previous to that, I got a text from Steve Charbonneau about a Western Meadowlark near Blenheim.  I called back and told him that I was looking at a Dickcissel and that there are likely some in his area.  Not surprisingly, he later reported 4 of them!
In the park it was a bit of a toss-up where I should start.  I decided to walk part of Woodland then down the road to Sparrow Field.  Just into Woodland I heard the familiar call of an Acadian Flycatcher.  For some reason I always tune right into this species as I found several during the atlas period.  Not sure what it was doing there, but it called many times and I even heard the titititi sound the unmated male makes.

I arrived at Sparrow Field and started looking for butterflies.  Along the beach I checked out the Indian Hemp which is now in bloom already.  Several butterflies were there.  Something caught my eye just in from the edge. What is it?  I knew it was something good and set chase.  Zebra Swallowtail!!  It was on the move but I managed to get a few good photos.  Believe it or not, I have never seen this species before and it was something I always wanted to see.  Finally it happened.  It was a fresh-looking one too.

I saw Steve Pike on his bike along the road earlier, but my phone would not co-operate so I had to tell him later.  I met Chris Law and Steve later near the Tip. We walked up West Beach Trail.  Notable was a worn Pipevine Swallowtail.  Only one Little Yellow.  Not many butterflies, but quite a few Giant Swallowtails.

We separated and I checked out some other spots to no avail.  Up at the beach off the Old Administration parking lot, there were tons of butterflies on the Indian Hemp.  Perhaps 40 Common Buckeye, 20 Snout, etc.

Of note, I saw a nice Variegated Fritillary and a flyby of a worn Pipevine Swallowtail.

Pipevines were not conducive to photographing today.
I also checked south of NW Beach parking lot and noted two more flyby of Pipevine Swallowtail.

Outside the park I met up with Steve and Chris at the Dickcissel spot and we had good looks at the singing male along Rd. 19.
The heat and sun was getting to me so I bypassed Hillman Marsh and went to the spot east of Wheatley beside Camper's Cove Road.  Sure enough, perhaps 3 males were singing in this field.  The is the same spot Ken Burrell reported on a year ago.

I slid over to the Blenheim area in hopes of coming across the Western Meadowlark or Dickcissels there, but to no avail.  Many fields have already been cut, so you can imagine the destroyed Bobolink nests, etc.  As well, it lessened the chance of finding prairie species.

At Blenheim Lagoons there were several dragonfly species.    I think this is a Red-mantled Saddlebags.  I have seen them there before anyways.