Every day I have to go somewhere! Life is passing by very quickly, so one needs to get out as much as possible. Some days I have no idea where to go, but I just get in the car and see where it leads me. Lately, it has been all about insects.
Tuesday, I ended up down at Rondeau. I went for a walk at McLean's first thing to kill some time, before heading into the park to walk out marsh trail.
I had the idea to look for sedge skippers, especially Mulberry Wing. Just like every place else anymore, things have really grown in and not much marsh type vegetation is visible close to the trail. However, I lucked out with one of my targets.
Early on, I photographed this skipper. Turns out it was a Mulberry Wing!
There were quite a few Appalachian Browns along the way.
Usually one will see its cousin the Eyed Brown here as well. These like wetter areas compared to the Appalachian. However, I could not detect one.
Later on, I encountered a few Mulberry Wings but they were difficult to keep track of, not to mention photograph..
There was not much in the way of odes, but some Tule Bluets were along the way.
As well, a White-faced Meadowhawk made an appearance.
Before getting home, I had the notion to check for Dukes' Skippers at Reid CA. It was no problem finding a couple, but I never obtained a good photo.
Wednesday, I wanted to check Shetland CA for Blue-ringed Dancers and whatever else was around. I killed some time first thing at Wilkesport. A couple of Banded Hairstreaks were out and about.
At Shetland, the water level had receded to a reasonable level after the excessive rains. It was not problem finding some Blue-ringed Dancers. They had likely just come out.
This species is critically imperiled in Ontario and is only found in certain spots along the east branch of the Sydenham River (like Florence, Shetland and at the Mosside boat launch), and along the Ausable near Rock Glen.
I found the other dancers and bluets except Blue-tipped. It was a bit early in the season for Dusky Dancer though I think.
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| Powdered Dancer |
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| Blue-fronted Dancers |
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| Rainbow Bluet |
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| Violet Dancer |
There were many Stream Bluets as always, but I did not try to photograph any.
After finishing here, I made another visit to Reid CA since it was not too much out of the way. I found Dukes' again, but could never get a photo.
Another target was to get a photo of a Royal River Cruiser. I caught sight of one, and it disappeared to the side where I knew it had gone to perch. However, something else caught my eye at that very spot. A Flag-tailed Spinyleg!
This is the first one I have seen at Reid CA. Being another critically imperiled species, it is found at a couple of spots on the north Sydenham, a few spots on the east branch. There is even a record at Komoka near London and one on the Thames near Chatham. I am only going by iNaturalist records though for these.
I then looked for the cruiser with my trained eye and found it perched!
Thursday, I headed to the Lake St. Clair area and walked the south shore nature trail at Mitchell's Bay. Lots of Tule Bluets are here.
I then went over to St. Clair NWA. I never see much here anymore, but checked it out anyway. Marsh Wrens are doing well here.
Later in the morning, I went up to McKeough CA and found some Flag-tailed Spinylegs. Not much else though.
Today, I ended up at Hillman Marsh and Point Pelee. Seems I have no luck at Pelee anymore and is usually a waste of time.
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| Snowberry Clearwing |
At Hillman, I looked for sedge skippers at the boardwalk area. Several Broad-winged were flying.
I have seen Dukes' here as well, but not today. However, seems I photographed a possible Dion Skipper. I never saw the underwing, so that made things difficult.
The upper side is remarkably similar to Black Dash, which I thought at first. However, this one seemed large, which Dion is compared to Black Dash. Oh well, it made things interesting!
There was also a multitude of Eyed Browns here. As mentioned above, they like wetter areas compared to Appalachian, but I did see both.
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