Canada Day Birds to Butterflies

I really had no intentions of doing much today, but I never sit around!  We had a heavy thunderstorm in the wee hours this morning, so things were cloudy and wet when I headed out.  By the time I got to Blenheim, the sun was out. It stayed out till noon when I left Rondeau!

Not much at Blenheim S.T.P. yet.  Two Least Sandpipers were the only shorebirds besides those noisy Killdeer.  The scaup was still present.

I went down to Erieau where there were lots of gulls.  Lighting no good though!  Some young Barn Swallows were along the marsh trail.

Not a Cave Swallow

I decided to give Rondeau a whirl.  I managed to see the nesting pair of Prothonotary Warblers near Bennett Road at my first stop.
A crappy photo, but the two were together:

female just going in the box

male with grub!

On Tulip Tree Trail, I saw that pair as well!  But I was pretty sure I heard another male singing well off to the north.
As I was about to get back in the car, I heard the familiar song of a Hooded Warbler!  It was near Gardiner Avenue, but I could not see it.  I decided to go into TTT again, where I finally saw a male.  I have never had Hooded Warbler in Rondeau in the early summer so perhaps it mated with a female somewhere in the park. We had a male fairly late in May and at the time we thought it was sticking around to nest.  I could not obtain a photo of today's bird.

I drove down Gardiner and encountered the male Prothonotary Warbler I heard earlier.  So, I am counting 5 prothonotary warbler for today!

No sign of that summer parula I heard on Sunday.  Once in a while, this species just appears in early summer down here.  A year ago, JDV et al. had one at Pelee on June 30.

Farther down the road I heard an Acadian Flycatcher singing.  Obviously more than one pair in the park this year.

Finally found a Northern Pearly-eye for the year.

It was getting close to noon and the clouds rolled in. So did the rain, and it was time to head home.

On more stop though, even though it was cloudy.  Here are some butterflies of today.

Banded Hairstreak

Northern Broken-Dash

'Northern Oak" Hairstreak (a better name!)

Edwards' Hairstreak