Sunday was the Clear Creek butterfly count, ongoing since the year 2000. I have participated in this one since its inception. Some good habitat is found within the circle!
The last few years, I have done the Clear Creek Forest Provincial Nature Reserve area. We always start at the old quarry off Cochrane Line. I was joined by Kelly-Sue O'Connor, Donald and Rayfield Pye.
Upon arrival on Sunday, we encountered barricades at Cochrane Line! Further investigation revealed that the road had partially washed out in the 'valley'. Obviously, there was an exceptionally heavy rainfall the day before.
We were still able to check out the old quarry though. Unfortunately, it was mostly overcast despite the forecast calling for mostly sunny skies. It did turn out to be a nice day a bit later though.
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| (from the archives) |
Things were a bit sparse to start, not surprisingly. Odes were almost absent, although we were not counting those! Monarchs were pleasantly in good numbers.
Common Wood Nymphs have done well this year, unlike some other species.
A couple of Red-spotted Purples were in the mix.
Skippers were in short supply, but Dun and Northern Broken-Dash were in good numbers. Here we always find Broad-winged Skipper; only one on this visit was seen as spotted by Rayfield Pye.
Rayfield also spotted our only Delaware Skipper, a bit worn.
After the quarry visit, we moved down the road to the Bury Cemetery trail. As mentioned before, I aways like this little trail. Things started picking up here, as we tallied more species, and upped the numbers on others.
Northern Pearly-Eyes were in good numbers.
Donald and I actually walked down in beyond the cemetery which was interesting since we found quite a few butterflies, including our only anglewing, an Eastern Comma.
This time of year, Wild Burgamot is out in full force. Clearwing moths love this stuff, and we saw several on this count.
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| Snowberry Clearwing |
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| Hummingbird Moth |
I did not attend the get-together at the end of the day, but sounds like we did well with species number in the mid 40's.
Next day I stayed close to home. Here are some findings:
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| Question Mark |
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| Dukes' Skipper |
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| Common Checkered-Skipper |
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| Banded Hairstreak |
Today, I went into Essex County and did a long walk at Hillman Marsh. I did my usual route around the main dike, but also did the Couture Dike loop. I had never done the Couture loop before, but seems to be a haven for herons! Lots of Great Egrets and Great Blues, and some Greens.
I kept an eye out for insects on the main dike. I found several Broad-winged Skippers, not surprisingly.
Only one Bronze Copper, but I failed to get a sharp image!
Highlight was a Vesper Bluet. This species is often overlooked or missed since it is crepuscular. It mainly comes out at dusk apparently, hence its name. I think this is the first time I have seen this one! Unmistakable.
On the Couture loop, I found a Wild Indigo Duskywing. Not surprisingly, it was hanging around Crown Vetch, a substitute host plant.
On the way home, I headed towards Blenheim as I wanted to check out the lagoons for shorebirds. Seems we are a bit sparse in shorebirds around here this summer! Lack of good habitat is partly to blame.
I did see a Stilt Sandpiper, which was on my target list for today.
While there, an old airplane took off from the Chatham airport. Often one can tell the approach of an old plane by the engine noise. That alerted me, so I looked up! This one I may have seen before, so I have to do some research. It is a Corsair plane, a popular plane which the design dates back to 1944. They were used on aircraft carriers.
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