This past Saturday, a number of us took part in a new butterfly count situated at Sydenham River Nature Reserve. Weather was perfect! The forecast looked iffy, but as usual it was inaccurate.
I joined Pete and Allanah at the end of Buttonwood Road to survey the most recent property acquisitions to the reserve. Butterflies were sparse as expected (the trend this year), but we did fairly well tallying about two dozen species.
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View of pond in upper field |

Tawny Emperors won the prize as the most numerous species.
Monarchs were in good numbers.
Right at the end of our walk, we encountered a close cousin, namely a Hackberry Emperor. I did not get a photo.
We managed three species of hairstreaks, but only a single representative of each.
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Hickory Hairstreak |
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Striped Hairstreak |
I did not get a photo of the Banded Hairstreak.
Other species:
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Least Skipper |
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Red Admiral |
There were very few odonates, but a number of Mocha Emeralds were flying. Near the end, one finally co-operated for a photo op!
This one was photographed at the lower field.
Also saw Black-shouldered Spinyleg, as well as Wandering Glider.
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Wandering Glider |
Since Shetland was on the way home, I made a brief stop to look for odes. As expected things were scarce, but I did get one target, a Blue-ringed Dancer. Seemed to be the only one there! It is early though.
There were lots of Stream Bluets, but a couple of dancers included Blue-tipped and Powdered.
Essentially the only "large" dragonflies I saw were a couple of Flag-tailed Spinylegs.
Monday I went somewhere different for a change, into Elgin County. I first went to the Port Stanley sewage lagoons. Shorebird habitat is fairly good this year, but I saw nothing special to note here.
Stopped by Southwold Earthworks as usual on the way back west. Back in 2012 (?) I had a spectacular time there with butterflies, but this year there was virtually nothing!
This spot has lots of American Beech trees, and every one shows the blight unfortunately. The large one I photographed last year has been cut down. It was dead anyway! Just a stump left.
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2024 |
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Happier Times |
My main target of the day was to look for Dukes' Skippers east of Rodney beside Tanager Tract. These were discovered last summer as first records for Elgin.
It did not take long to find a few!
I did walk through the Tanager Tract, a Thames Talbot Land Trust property.
I then worked my way up to Wardsville Woods. Not unexpected, there were very few odes, but I did encounter a Fawn Darner in the shaded areas.
This Giant Swallowtail posed nicely at one point.
Yesterday I went out to Mitchell's Bay first thing. It was a stellar day weatherwise. I keep hoping for something in the way of a good heron type, but not this day. One never knows until one tries!
This Broad-winged Skipper was along the trail.
Near home, I stopped by Peers Wetland. It has been disappointing for birds here this year. I photographed some "yellow" plants, most of which are planted.
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Compass Plant |
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Gray-headed Coneflower |
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Black-eyed Susan |
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False Sunflower |
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Perennial Sow Thistle |
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Cup Plant |
Around noon, I went for a long walk at Reid Conservation Lands. Again, disappointing for insects, but a couple of Dukes' Skippers showed.
A couple of Broad-winged Skippers were in the sedges as well.
I came across a Lance-tipped Darner in the bean field at one point.
Today was another stellar day, although a bit on the warm side. I drove up along the St. Clair River first thing. I spent some time at Seager Park since it was so nice.
An Osprey was perched just downriver, and other birds included a family of Yellow Warblers that kept me interested.
The Algoma Buffalo was downbound. Algoma is not much for keeping up the paint work on their ships!
The rest of the day I did various things, including a project at home I had been wanting to do for some time!