Sifting Through The Sedges and Skunk's Butterflies

 Lately I have been seeing various sedge skippers, among other things.  It has been a good year for them it seems.  Perhaps the very wet weather in recent weeks helped them along.

A couple of days ago, I visited private property near Brigden in Lambton County. Dukes' Skippers reside here, as we have seen in previous years.  There was no problem seeing some.

The main reason I went was to look at Mulberry Wing, another sedge-type skipper.  Not often seen, or all that common, the Mulberry is a neat little skipper to see.  No problem in seeing a couple on this visit.

Broad-winged Skipper is yet another sedge skipper which is fairly common.  They have been at this location as well, but we did not see any yet this year.

There were other things to look for on the property too.  In the odonate department, we found a couple of Slender Spreadwings.

I have seen Royal River Cruisers here, but no on this visit.

This Delaware Skipper was in a bit of a worn state.

After finishing up near Brigden, I stopped by Reid CA where the other known Lambton County population of Dukes' Skippers resides (just to get my fill of them for the day!).

I did see Broad-winged Skippers here as well, so that rounded out the sedge skipper search.

Yesterday, was the annual Skunk's Misery butterfly count.  Unlike last year when it was cancelled due to rain, it was a fine sunny day and not too hot.

In the morning, I did my usual route from the west end of Centreville Drive to Dogwood Road.  It was very sparse for butterflies, which all parties duly noted throughout the day.  Normally, this is one of the "bigger" counts with no shortage of butterflies.  Likely a combination of things such as the heat spell in June and perhaps the fact that we were in between broods contributed to the low numbers.

Here are a couple of the common ones I saw along Centreville.

Monarch on Buttonbush

Tawny Emperor on gravel

Northern Broken-Dash on Buttonbush

The lack of butterflies was trumped by a find I made in a sedge patch.  Lo and behold I found a Dukes' Skipper!  Needless to say, it is new for the count history.  With my experience on this species, I had no problem calling it as such.

It was a first for the count, and perhaps Middlesex County (I have to check).

In the afternoon I wandered around the the NW portion of the count circle as usual.  There was a complete lack of butterflies!

There were lots of flooded areas in fields due to the excessive rain in recent weeks.  One held some shorebirds along Mosside Line.  Three Solitary Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs stopped here on their southbound journey.

I stopped by the boat launch out Mosside Line where there used to be an old bridge.  In the past it was one of the better spots for butterflies, but try and find one this day (!).

It is a good spot to look at the river for odonates.  There were no "big" ones flying which I found odd.  Flag-tailed Spinyleg has been seen here among other things.

However, there were bluets and dancers to sort through.  The uncommon Blue-ringed Dancer is here! (but I already knew that)

Others included lots of Blue-tipped, Violet, and of course Blue-fronted.  Needless to mention, Stream Bluets are here as expected.

Blue-tipped

Violet duo

The end-of-day tally was held at the Prieksaitis home south of Rodney.  Tentative species tally for the count was at 49 when I left.  Other parties were still to report in, so that will likely change.

Today, I went for a long walk at Reid CA.  I met up with a couple from Sarnia and we spent some time together.

Dukes' Skipper were no problem as they popped up along the trail as we were walking.

I think all this very wet weather was a bonus for the sedge skippers.

At the "low spot", we had lots to see.  We thought there was a Mulberry Wing here, but maybe not.  Would not surprise me though.  I think I saw one last year here but was unable to get a photo.

Several Broad-winged Skippers were flying among the mosquitoes.

One Dukes' Skipper seemed to be quite sociable!  

It was on her had for a long time also!

It probably would have been happy to go to Sarnia, but she had to leave it there.

I then walked around the back field.  A few Royal River Cruisers were flying as expected.

I encountered my first-of-year Common Checkered-Skipper (overdue!).

Getting back to the "low spot" on the trail, I noticed a large dragonfly.  Turned out to be a Great Blue Skimmer, another rarity for southern Ontario.

I had a couple at this exact-same spot two years ago during an influx.

That was all for today, as it was terribly hot and humid by this time.