Thursday, July 23, 2015

Dog Days of Summer

The weather has been great this week (too bad we do not get these days on the weekends!) and I have been going for some walks after work.  Yesterday I checked out McKeough and Reid briefly.

A couple of the McKeough specialty odes were along the river.  I have been using the Canon G16, so I was not too close to the subjects.

Floodway looking west
The McKeough Dam and Floodway was completed in 1983 to protect the Town of Wallaceburg during high water.  A controllable dam structure was built at Duthill and a diversion channel was dug to the St. Clair River just south of Sombra.  The floodway is an interesting walk.  I checked it out quite a bit during the Breeding Bird Atlas project as my squares included the floodway.  Although it (dam) has only been used no more than half a dozen times since then, it has proven worthy.

At McKeough I typically walk over to the old Calahan Road then walk through the floodway to the river.  There were hardly any butterflies, but a few odes including Flag-tailed Spinyleg and Pronghorn Clubtail were patrolling the area.

Pronghorn Clubtail

Flag-tailed Spinyleg


These often rest on the concrete along the river's edge for easy viewing.

In the floodway, the Common Milkweed is waning, but other things, native or not, are coming along.  This tall flower is Elecampane (Inula helenium).  It looks somewhat similar to some native plants but is actually an alien. (Thanks to Allen Woodliffe for helping me ID this one!).



At Reid CA, I still did not see Broad-winged Skipper, but with the hoardes of mosquitoes I did not stay long!
This Edwards' Hairstreak was nearing its end.


Royal River Cruisers were patrolling the trails during my visit.

Today I had the urge to walk Nicholl's Memorial Forest and grounds at Wilkesport.  Just into my walk, this Royal River Cruiser briefly stopped with its typical pose.



A number of other common odes were around, including this Twelve-spotted Skimmer which perched nicely on Dense Blazing Star.



There is a prairie planting at the pond area that I like to check out.  It has a number of plants including Dense Blazing Star.  It is just coming into bloom.



Compass Plant is among the mix here as well.





Yesterday morning I looked at the plantings near Port Lambton Sewage Lagoons along Pointe Line.  It is doing well with Compass Plant standing tall.



This time of year is a favourite of mine to wander these fields as many prairie type plants are coming into bloom.


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