Early August Travels

 As the summer wanes, I have been taking advantage of some of the nice weather.  Last Monday I scheduled myself to visit West Perth Wetlands.  I usually stop by once in mid summer to roll the dice on shorebirds.  There were quite a few birds (mainly Lesser Yellowlegs)  but nothing of note.

Regarding shorebirds, I have checked other places recently as well.  Seems to be a bit of a lull in the shorebird department.  I stopped by Strathroy on the way home from Mitchell on Monday, and there was virtually nothing in shorebirds!

Today I stopped by Forest Lagoons, and it was essentially a waste of time.  Not much has been there recently, but hopefully things will pick up.  The water levels need to decline a bit, but will not if we do not stop getting all this uneeded rain.  We are getting drier at the marina, but there is no leeway in water levels as we are at the brink now!  This past week we have been cutting out walls and insulation from the three floods this summer, to dry things out.

Today was one of the nicer weather days.  After stopping at the aforementioned Forest lagoons, I took a long walk (~8 km) at Ipperwash Forested Dunes and Swales.  There was not much in the way of birds, but I did hear a Purple Finch.  Likely they are on the move, as I had one in the yard this afternoon.  Rather strange, as it is the first one this year (probably a year and a half!).

Although not much was seen, it was quite enjoyable.  

Appalachian Brown

Next stop was Karner Blue Sanctuary in Port Franks.  It was exactly a year ago we did a bioblitz there, so I thought it was time to check it out again.  The Liatris species are just coming out in bloom.

Cylindrical Blazing Star

Rough Blazing Star

A few butterflies were around, and I was hoping for Leonard's, but perhaps a tad early for them.

Wild Indigo Duskywing

Peck's Skipper

Northern Broken-Dash

I bumped into John Lamey there, and we talked about plants, including Cardinal Flower, of which I saw lots at Ipperwash earlier in the day.

As Port Franks is nuts with tourists (not sure what they do with themselves!) this time of year, it was time to get out.

For the next stop I had the idea of stopping at Marthaville Habitat near Petrolia.  There is a good planting of prairie stuff there, so this time of year was good.

Spiked Blazing Star

Prairie Dock

Compass Plant

Slaty Skimmer

I made a brief stop at Moore WMA, but it was a waste of time.  The river was running too high with all this ridiculous rain recently.

Last Monday I stopped by and found a few more mussels.  This one is a Pink Healsplitter, vulnerable in Canada.

Last stop was Reid CA where I went for a long walk.  Some Dukes' Skippers are still flying.

One surprise was a hairstreak.  It was a Banded, and perhaps the latest I have seen one there.

I saw a good number of Royal River Cruisers, but none co-operated for photos.  Some Eastern Amberwings were around.

I decided to walk around the back field again, as I find it interesting.  A Bronze Copper caught my eye, which I think is a new species for my list on the property.  My lep list is now at 55 species for Reid.

I was most of the way around, and some Cardinal Flower caught my eye.  It is new for my plant list on the property!

All in all, a decent day.