June Bugs and June Jaunts

 Most of us birders are now out gathering data for the breeding bird atlas project, but we still are out looking for other things.  With the concerted effort, we are finding out what is really out there!

Last Sunday, I did some atlassing in my squares.  I don't have the most exciting areas since it is mostly corn and beans (and this year a lot of wheat!), but they have to be surveyed.  I put most of my effort along the McKeough Floodway.  By late morning I was pretty much "ticked" off!  We never used to worry much about ticks, but anymore it is crazy.  I was endlessly picking off ticks, and even into the next morning.  That walk will be done only once a year!

I did not find anything unusual, but it sure has grown in since the last atlas period.

During the week, I stopped by Reid CA and McKeough for a late day walk.  Things are looking good for hairstreaks to appear later this week.  Other leps and odes were flying about.

Racket-tailed Emeralds seem to be numerous this year.  There were several at Reid.

I even found one at the workplace this week!

Some leps are already worse for the wear!

Grey Comma

Common Sootywing

Red-spotted Purple

Friday, I took a long tour and stopped by some favourite spots.  First was the Clear Creek Provincial Nature Reserve area which has some good spots to check.  There is the old forest, weedy/grassy fields, and the old quarry with ponds.

The old quarry is always worth a stop for insects.

FOY Great Spangled Fritillary

FOY Calico Pennant

This is another spot to find Comet Darners, a bit later in July.

I then headed east to John E. Pearce P.P. south of Wallacetown.  The Storey Wetland has a good trail to check for odes.  Last year I found Comet Darner there, but it is too early for them yet.  I did find some Painted Skimmers though.

Had one interesting darner type, but it got away.  One can only speculate on that one!

Next stop was Wardsville Woods, a nice Thames Talbot Land Trust (TTLT) property.  Good for insects.

Hackberry Emperor

I caught sight of an ode which was interesting and struck me as a spiketail.  Delta Spotted was the best fit and it was near a small stream.  I do not know what else it could have been, but I only saw it briefly before it disappeared.

Of note, Gypsy Moth caterpillars are eating the place out of house and home. They are attacking almost every type of tree!  They cling to everything and one picks them off while driving....

Next tour was Skunk's Misery and the Mosa Forest.  Again, the caterpillar invasion is incredible.  Some oaks do not have a speck of green on them!  I certainly noticed the less shade compared to what there should be.

After about an hour there, I decided to go a bit further and look for a meadowlark near Glencoe.  Although I was heading east, this meadowlark is from the west!  Incredibly, I found the Western Meadowlark right away.  Been a long time since I have seen one.  It was on a wire beside the road, but by the time I was to take a photo, it flew into a field.

Heading back home, I stopped by Florence to look at the river.  It was running much too high...again, to look for odes to any degree.

One last stop was at Reid CA to see how things were coming along.  I did a bit of atlassing as well, upgrading some breeding codes.

Today, it was time to go up to Joany's Woods north of Arkona.  I usually stop there this time of year to check things out.

Black-billed Cuckoo

Some butterflies:

Grey Comma

Silvery Checkerspot

Great-spangled Fritillary

I walked the trail that skirts the Ausable River.  A good long walk.

A good spot for odes as well.  Last year I found a Mocha Emerald (bit early yet for them) there, but was not so lucky this year.  In fact, it was a bit light for odes today.

Common Whitetail

Unfortunately, one cannot access the river very well since the bank is very steep.  A few Swift River Cruisers were "cruising" the river.

When I finished there, I stopped by Fossil Road at Hungry Hollow.  One can access the river easily here to look for odes.  The river was running too high here as well, and there was not much variety of odes.

Violet Dancer

Powdered Dancer

American Rubyspots were very plentiful though.

Last year, I found Green-faced Clubtails here.  I may have seen one in the distance on the downstream end, but no definite sighting.  All seemed to be Midland Clubtails.

Dickcissels are showing up in many places, as expected this time of year.  They seem to be regular anymore, whereas twenty years ago they were not so.

I found one on a quick tour of south Lambton late yesterday.  No doubt more are out there!