Dusted Skippers to Racket-tailed Emeralds in North Lambton

After yesterday's miserable weather, I took advantage of the nice "weekday" weather and headed up to north Lambton.  Namely, Pinery Provincial Park and Ipperwash Forested Dunes and Swales.  My primary focus was insects, as I had missed some in previous attempts.

I happened to meet up with Sarnia birder-extraordinaire Deryl Nethercott so we spent some time checking the beach accesses.  Prairie Warblers have made a good showing at Pinery this year and they are always along the first dune ridge.  Deryl heard one at P1 and I had one farther down.

We encountered a few skippers, but most were Dusted much to my delight. 😃
I had actually never encountered them before at these locations, but all were in good shape.

In Ontario, the Dusted Skipper is only found in the Pinery-Ipperwash area and is quite selective as to habitat.  They are done flying by the end of June.

After Deryl and I parted ways, I went to a reliable spot for Dusted Skipper not far from the visitor centre.  I found a half dozen right away.

I ended up with at least a dozen of these little bandits (they have white above the eye making them look like a bandit) for the day, which is a high for me!

My next walk was Carolinian Trail towards the southwest end of the park.  Here I encountered several Northern Cloudywings. I expected these here since I saw them last year!

Other butterflies included Common Ringlet.

And, rather late for a FOY, was a Hobomok Skipper.

There was not much in the way of birds on this trail.  In previous years I have had Cerulean, Hooded and Black-throated Green in the warbler department.

I also walked Nipissing trail.  I found a duskywing here of which I am not entirely certain.  Very worn though.

There were few dragonflies.  A Springtime Darner caught my eye.

After a quick lunch along the river, I headed down to Ipperwash.  I checked out Ipperwash Forested Dunes and Swales, a favourite spot of mine.  There is an extensive trail system which one can spend many hours if your are ambitious!

No Acadian Flycatcher again this year!

My primary focus was to see Racket-tailed Emeralds.  I was not disappointed, as I found several scattered throughout.

Some Pink Mocassin flowers were still out.

I did see a couple of duskywings as well.  Sometimes they are not too difficult to ID, but I am cautious again.

One at the very end of my walk, unless I am dreaming, I am leaning towards Dreamy. A FOY, so that was nice.

Things are about a week late this year.  I checked Reid CA on the way home.  Normally the Oak Hairstreaks would be appearing by now.  The Indian Hemp is not even in bloom yet!  Actually there are a lot fewer plants this year. 
The appearance of the Oak Hairstreak seems to correspond with the blooming of the Indian Hemp, so at least a couple of more days...  The place is a mess though with the water.  Boots are mandatory, and even in some spots it is difficult with boots!  I have never seen it so wet.  No more rain till August!