Saturday, June 11, 2022

Things With Wings and Ode to Joy

We have had some good weather recently, despite some heavy rains.  I thought it was finally going to be a drier year, but NOT!  Boots have been a necessity for walks in the woods this week.

It has been an intersting spring.  I have found that there are fewer birds in most locations than in the past.  Butterflies have been scarce as well, perhaps due to the cold spring.  Odonates have done well though!

Late Thursday, I went for a walk at Reid CA.  Still lots of dragonflies, and as I mentioned before, Racket-tailed Emeralds and Four-spotted Skimmers are in big numbers this year.






Friday, I decided to do some bird records for the atlas.  I did not find anything spectacular, but a Mourning Warbler at Port Lambton was a decent find for the area.


Late morning I got the urge to go to Mitchell's Bay south shore nature trail. Surprises can be had there on occasion!  Nothing unusual, but some turtles were putting themselves on the map.  

Map Turtles

There were oodles of them!

A nice Black-crowned Night-Heron was in the same ditch.



Halloween Pennant



The afternoon was so nice, I could not pass up a long walk at Reid CA.  The woods were rather quiet (again!).  
Still lots of Racket-tailed Emeralds and Four-spotted Skimmers.  I have never seen so many as in this year.  

A couple of Juvenal's Duskywings were still hanging around.


A Grey Comma was nearby.


On the road I found a Fox Snake. Not often I seen them anymore.  This is one I remember when I was kid, where we found lots of them.  Unfortunately, many of them were roadkill.





Today, I thought it was a nice time to go to Skunk's Misery.  I first walked Sitler Woods, a Thames Talbot Land Trust property recently acquired. 




Acadian Flycatchers have alway been at this location, and today was no exception.  They remained unseen though!

I toured the rest of the Misery for the next two hours.  Hooded Warblers do not seem to be as numerous as in the past.  I did find two or three Cerulean Warblers singing away.

An American Woodcock got in my way at one point.




Some odes along the way:

female Twelve-spotted Skimmer

male

Leps were few and far between.

Eight-spotted Forester moth



Not far away, Wardsville Woods was my next stop.  I have always liked this place.  It can be good for leps and odes.  Again, not many butterfllies, but some odes were flying.

A year ago, I had a large dragonfly go past me that I was certain a Twin-spotted Spiketail.  It got away and I never saw it again.  Today, I went to the spot, and immediately saw a suspicious ode perched.  I knew it had to be what I was looking for, and as I got closer, there was my target!  Just like it was waiting for me!




Twin-spotted Spiketails are certainly rare in the area, but I do not know the status of them in Middlesex.  It was a first for me!




During my stay, I saw a couple others flying around.  One for sure was a Twin-spotted, but the last one I took a photo. It was a side view, and not thinking, I assumed it was a Twin-spotted.




I got home and brought it up on the computer screen, and duh!, it looked like an Arrowhead Spiketail.  This is even rarer!
This species is uncommon to rare in Ontario, and to see one this far south in Ontario is unique.  I have seen the Arrowhead at Sydenham River Nature Reserve the last couple of years where they are known.
It was not even on my radar today, but certainly an excellent find for Middlesex.

Perhaps next weekend I will seen some Arrowhead Spiketails at SRNR when we do an ode survey......




3 comments:

  1. I believe those spiketails both constitute a first record for Middlesex! I suspected that Arrowhead probably occurs along the Sydenham River at SRNR, but I don't think they have been spotted on the right side of the county line. Last June I spotted a distant spiketail along Fossil Road, but couldn't make a definitive ID. I suspected Twin-spotted, and later found one on the Lambton side of the river. Delta-spotted Spiketail is only known from Komoka Provincial Park, to my knowledge, but should occur elsewhere.

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    1. Thanks for your input, Quinten. There was no doubt in my mind I found something significant yesterday. I was 98% sure that I had Delta-spotted at Wardsville Woods last year, but could not refind the rascal!
      Arrowhead is likely on the Middlesex side at SRNR, since they are on the Lambton side. If we have a good day next Sunday, maybe it will be confirmed!

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    2. Oops! Meant Twin-spotted. Maybe Delta is around too!

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