Insects Here And There

 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.

Note the photo above a bit of the upperwing side is showing.  The upperside is very plain and nothing to look at!  You will always see hairstreaks with wings closed.  I once saw a hairstreak that kept its wings open, and it was non-descript.

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.

Powdered Dancer

Blue-fronted Dancers

Rainbow Bluet

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.

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.

Skunk's Misery Butterfly Count July 3

 Yesterday, a number of us diehards participated in the Skunk's Misery butterfly count.  As expected, butterflies were rather sparse but we beat the bushes in any case!

I did my usual route starting on the west end of Centreville Drive.  It was a bit overcast to start, not helping matters, but eventually the sun came out and things picked up.

I ended up with 29 species by the end of the day (I also check out the NW part of the circle in the afternoon).  My highlight was a surprise, when I found a Dion Skipper in a sedge patch along Centreville.  It was a new one for me on the count!

Eastern Commas were by far the most common species on my route.

I eventually found a Grey Comma later in the afternoon, which was the only one for the count.

Hairstreaks were quite scarce compared to last year.

Striped Hairstreak

I found three Compton Tortoiseshells in the afternoon. A nice-looking butterfly!

I looked at other things, of course!

At the county line along Watterworth, there were very little wet areas left, but a single Great Blue Skimmer was patrolling one spot.

One of my good spots in the past (but not this year!) was at the boat launch near Aughrim.  I  looked more at odes than anything.

There were quite a few Stream Bluets here, as well as Blue-fronted Dancers.  Some Blue-tipped Dancers were visible too.

Blue-tipped Dancer

Before heading to the BBQ and roundup, I checked my favourite trail off Sassafras Road.  I know that was not checked, at least well in from the road.  There is a little creek here I like to check for odonates.  I found a few Great Blue Skimmers.  Although rather plain-looking, they are an impressive dragonfly.

We met at the end of the day at the Prieksaitis place south of Rodney as usual, but this was the first time in three years for obvious reasons.  It was nice to be back to normal and meet with like-minded naturalists!

Before we had dinner, Silver the cat found us a Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar!

The count ended up at 49 species, which was not too shabby.  Numbers were low in each though.

Next butterfly count is Rondeau, this coming Sunday.  The last few years have been mediocre, so one can only hope something of interest shows, and the weather co-operates.

I found lots of Michigan Lilly yesterday

Dukes of Lambton

Today I stayed in south Lambton looking more for insects than anything else.  I was scheduled to check out some private property later in the morning, so I wandered around.
Time of day seems to be important in finding certain things such as dragonflies.  I first stopped at McKeough CA and looked for Flag-tailed Spinylegs.  It was just too early in the day.
I next drove around a bit and found out that the field where I found Dickcissels earlier had been cut.  That means Bobolinks, meadowlarks and other birds were affected as well.  The few spots left for these birds are still a lost cause!
Another stop was Moore WMA.  The Solitary Sandpiper from Thursday was still present.

I wandered back a ways into territory I used to check out frequently.

Compass plant

There are trails that go way back and it was always interesting for butterflies, especially hairstreaks.
In my brief visit, I did find a Hickory and a couple of Banded.

No emeralds were seen in the little creek, but perhaps it was too early in the day.

Delaware Skipper

I worked my way to NW of Brigden where I stopped into a frend's property.  The main goal was to check out some sedge areas where skippers were being seen.

Broad-winged Skipper

Last year it was suspected that Dukes' Skippers were living here, but not confirmed.  We first checked the larger sedge area and I found several Broad-winged Skippers on the wing.  Not one settled down for a photo!


While there, one or two other skippers briefly nectared on the Swamp Milkweed.  They strongly looked like Dukes', but with the possibility of the similar-looking Dion being present, I was not 100% convinced.

However, there are things to look for which can separate the two species fairly easily. I have seen only a couple of the more common Dion Skippers over the years, but I have seen lots of Dukes'!

Later we went to a smaller sedge area (quite some distance from the other) in which I remarked that it was perfect for Dukes' Skippers.  Nobody had ever seen anything at this spot before.  At first nothing was seen, but then a couple of large skippers flew by.  I waited for a long time and finally one landed briefly.  I was certain it was a Dukes', but it was not there long enough to take a photo.  As with birds, I take a good look first before wasting time setting up the camera.

We went back to the first sedge area and I caught another photo of one of the skippers.

It certainly looked like Dukes'.
I tend to be too cautious about some things, so I sent photos to someone to examine.  Hands down these sedge skippers were Dukes'.  This is a NEW location for them in Lambton County! (The Reid CA location was new in 2008).

While there we saw other butterflies including a nice Striped Hairstreak.

And, lots of Appalachian Browns.

On the way home I stopped by McKeough CA once again and finally was able to see a few Flag-tailed Spinylegs in their usual spot.

I also stopped in nearby Reid CA and saw a couple of Dukes' Skippers there to round out the day. This one may be a Dion though.  I have seen lots of Dukes', but not Dion!

By this time, it was just too hot to be out!

Eastern Amberwing at McKeough