Sunday's Butterfly Count and More Insects

Sunday was the annual Skunk's Misery Butterfly Count.  Things were certainly different this year as we did not meet for lunch and did not meet for a BBQ and tally at the end of the day.  However, a good number of counters were out in their usual areas.

I did my usual morning route along Centreville Drive in the Mosa Forest area.  It takes about three hours to cover from the west end to near Dogwood Road.  It was a not day, but most of my area has forest cover for shade.  I started on my own first thing.

At the get-go, I was greeted by a curious Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Hairstreaks starting adding up, and seemed to be an indication that it was going to be a good day for those.

As time went on, I found bunches of them!  Most were Hickory, but there were a lot of Banded and Striped.
Hickory Hairstreaks were the talk of the town for me, as I tallied at least 93.  Certainly the most I have seen in this area.

Tawny Emperors were big in numbers as well.  A week previous, I noted several hundred especially along Sassafras Road.  A number of Hackberry Emperors were mixed in as well.

I found several other species, but nothing really of note.


A few moths were seen as well.  A Le Conte's Haploa moth was seen in a usual area, but got away from the camera.
A larger one caught my eye.

Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth

Oblique Banded Leaf Roller Moth

Large Lace Border Moth

Common dragonflies were seen.  Some years, other things of note come up, like the Great Blue Skimmer I saw several years ago.

Blue Dasher

After some lunch (in the shade), I headed to the NW section of the circle.  I was not finding much in the heat, so I left by 1:30 p.m.

On the way home, I stopped at Florence, but the river was still too high for my liking.

Clubtail from Midland

Dancer with a Blue Tip

Still not done, I stopped by Reid for a quick look.  A number of hairstreaks were seen, but I think the heat kept the numbers down.  While there, I was surprised to see Quinten.  I showed him around a bit and gave some advice on searching for odes at McKeough.

Late this afternoon, despite the heat, I went up to Reid again due to bordem!   I actually found lots of hairstreaks.  When it clouded over a bit, the hairstreaks seemed to come out of the woodwork!  Once again, likely the heat had something to do with it.

I found one Oak Hairstreak.  We are at the end of the life cycle of this species here, so perhaps it may be the last one I see this year.

It seems to be a good year for hairstreaks in our area.  Nothing like the year 2008, but nice to see my favourites!

Skunk's Misery Butterflies and Birds

Yesterday July 2 was the annual Skunk's Misery butterfly count.  It was perhaps the 'slowest' one I have done with regards to butterflies.  There was a lot of milkweed on the roadsides, but virtually nothing on it.
The count tally came in at a respectable 50 species, but there were low numbers of each.

I arrived early and toured the Mosa Forest area listening for birds for the better part of an hour.  It is a great spot for uncommon birds and many other forest birds.  I counted about 6 Hooded Warblers (singing males) as well as a Cerulean.

After we gathered at the Newbury Hospital parking lot, we set out to my usual route of Centreville Drive.  This year I had Quinten and his father with me, along with Lance.

Butterflies were few and far between, but a highlight was a Compton Tortoiseshell.  They are one of the prettier butterflies.

They are somewhat uncommon, but in 2009, there were 62 recorded!

As we ended our walk on Centreville, I was worried that we had not recorded a hairstreak.  We always get some.  Just at the end, Quinten and I found a Banded on Common Milkweed.

Last year, the Skunk's count held the record for the most Banded Hairstreaks in Canada!

Tawny Emperor is common in the Mosa Forest.  We had several on Sunday.

Regarding birds, I heard a couple more Hooded Warblers that I did not detect earlier, as well as Mourning Warbler and a couple of Pine Warblers.
At one point, a Broad-winged Hawk flew over.  They nest in the area, but are uncommon as nesters this far south. See a photo on Quinten's blog.

Centreville Drive is quite diverse in wildlife.  You never know what is flying around.
Back in 2012 during the count, I found a female Great Blue Skimmer.  I think I have a photo of it, but cannot locate it currently  (will add later if found).
Here is a photo of a male Great Blue I found at Point Pelee perhaps the same year.

Back in 2008 we found a new butterfly for Middlesex County in the form of a Green Comma.  Of course Alan Wormington was right on my case (I barely got home and found an email from him!), but we were certain of our ID.  I often do not have a camera on this count, so no photo of the Green Comma unfortunately.

After lunch, we headed out to the NW section of the count circle.  Along Watterworth Road, we first stopped by an open area on Crown Land.

At this area in 2014 we had a Mocha Emeralds flying around.  Not sure why they were there since the river is some distance away, but it was a neat find.

Heading west along Mosside Road, we stopped by a favourite spot of mine along the Sydenham River.  There is some open area here where the bridge used to cross.

There was oodles of milkweed, but once again, few butterflies.  Here were found many Delaware Skippers.

And, I did see a Common Wood Nymph here which I forgot about during the tally!

The rest of the afternoon we mainly drove around.  One of the stops was at the old bridge on Cameron Road.  I like the view of the river from here.

The compilation and BBQ was held at the Prieksaitis residence south of Rodney as usual.
The weather was great and a good time was had by all.

Rondeau Butterfly Count July 10

Banded Hairstreak

Today was fabulous for a butterfly count.  Paul Carter joined me on my usual route of south point trail and Harrison Trail south of the VC.  We ended up with 23 species according to my tally, which is about average.  I have been doing this count most years since its inception in 1999 (or so).

I did a quick look before the count officially began.  Here is an Eastern Tailed-Blue I found.  They are quite small, so this photo turned out well.

Starting our walk, we found this Northern Broken-Dash on bellflower.

During the course of the day we only saw a single Monarch.

Tiger Swallowtails were quite plentiful.

Great-spangled Fritillaries were numerous today as were Appalachian Browns and Northern Pearly-eye.

Northern Pearly-eye

One of the highlights every year seems to be going back to the old Dillon dump.  There is always lots of Common Milkweed.  However, this year it is simply incredible!  There were thousands of plants  and we spent quite a bit of time back there.

(phone photo!)

We had oodles of Sliver-spotted Skippers, lots of Northern Broken-Dash, Delaware Skippers and a few hairstreaks (Banded and Hickory). There were Crossline and Tawny-edged Skippers too.

Skipper from Delaware

Strange as it may seem, there was not a single Monarch to be seen on all this milkweed.

Just as we were approaching the car before lunch, a dragonfly caught my eye.  I believe it is a Painted Skimmer.

Great-spangled Frit

In the afternoon we added Mourning Cloak and Red-spotted Purple along Harrison.

At one point we encountered an American Woodcock on the trail!

Skunk's Misery Butterfly Count 2016

Sunday, I joined in on the annual Skunk's Misery butterfly count.  Weather was virtually perfect and many enthusiasts participated.  The morning was spent in the "Mosa Forest" area where there is much Crown Land and heavy forest.  It is always interesting to do that portion as one can listen or look for birds as well!

Butterflies were certainly low in numbers compared to any previous year that I have done.  However, at the end of the day, species count was quite remarkable.  A total of 55 species was recorded as far as I know.

Gray Comma

In the morning, I always pick the west end of Centreville Road and work east until we meet the group doing the east end.

Normally the roadway is littered with anglewings and emperors, but not this year.  We only found a few Tawny Emperors and a couple of Hackberry Emperors.

Speaking of anglewings, it was along this road we found a Green Comma a few years ago--a first record for the area.
Dragonflies can be watched for as well.  A number of years ago I found a Great Blue Skimmer along this road.  This year has been terrible for dragonflies so far.

We spotted a few Banded and Hickory Hairstreaks, as well as one Striped.

Hickory Hairstreak

At one point I spotted a fat snake basking in the sun at the side of the road.  It appeared to be a dark Eastern Hognose!  It has been many years since I have seen a Hognose.

Along the way I checked off many birds.  Veery, Ovenbird and Hooded Warblers are very plentiful in the Mosa Forest.

After lunch my party headed to the NW section of the circle starting at the Lambton-Middlesex County Line.  First stop is along Watterworth Road near the end of Mosside. For whatever reason I always like this spot since there is always Hooded Warbler and Acadian Flycatcher singing in the Crown Land.
A couple of years ago we had a couple of Mocha Emeralds flying around at this location.

A must-stop is farther west along Mosside where the road crosses the Sydenham.  There are a couple of open areas where the old bridge used to cross that contain lots of Common Milkweed.  There is also an extensive "forest" of Red Cedar here that is rather unique.

We added quite a few butterflies here, but not as many as previous years.

Another stop was at the old bridge on Cameron Road.  You get a nice view of the Sydenham here.

There are lots of Hackberry trees here and we had both Tawny and Hackberry Emperors.

Tawny Emperor on the bridge!

Our last stop of the day was a favourite location beside the railway near Bothwell.  We added quite a few things here.

The end-of-the-day BBQ was once again held south of Rodney at the Prieksaitis home.