More Insect Tours

 A stop at Reid C. L. this past Monday revealed some more of the usual species found there.

Dukes' Skipper

Broad-winged Skipper

Mourning Cloak

Great-spangled Fritillary

But, I did finally photograph a Mulberry Wing.

Looking closer, one can find tiny insects such as this Citrus Flatid Planthopper.

Hummingbird Clearwing moths are plentiful right now.  These chunky moths are quite unique.

Tuesday I headed up to Ipperwash.  It was not the best weather as it was cloudy most of the time, but I was anxious to get there.  I walked most of the Ipperwash Forested Dunes and Swales property owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Don't go there for birds!  There were hardly any.

I did see Shadow Darners, but unable to get photos.  I did come across a Fawn Darner at one point.

There were all kinds of little moths, some of which were Yellow-spotted Renia.

And a Darker Diacme moth.

Along the wetland area, I came across this pair of Emerald Spreadwings.

Highlight, was a Harvester!  I saw this thing fluttering around at one of the boardwalks and was unsure what it was.  Conveniently, it landed on my hand!

Heading back home, I stopped at my usual lunch break spot at Marthaville Habitat Management Area near Petrolia.  Always a good spot for dragonflies.

Slaty Skimmer

Calico Pennants

Widow Skimmer

Wednesday, it was back to Reid.  Weather was quite pleasant.

Lance-tipped Darners are appearing, as this one did.

A couple of Royal River Cruisers were warming up in the sun.

Another Hummingbird Clearwing posed nicely in the morning sun.

More butterflies...

Dukes'

Broad-winged

Red-spotted Purple

Thursday morning weather was perfect as I went for a walk at Mitchell's Bay.  This Shiny Bog Fly caught my eye at one point.  Apparently, it is an endangered species.

Today, I went farther afield and ended up at Fingal Wildlife Management Area. Walked around the Ian Carmichael pond area.

Wild Indigo Duskywing

Heading back west, I stopped at John E. Pearce PP.  Usually it is good for odonates, but there were not many.  I was hoping for Comet Darner, but perhaps they are not there anymore, as I have not seen them in a few years.

A few butterflies were along the way.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Continuing back west, I stopped at Joe's Bush NW of New Glasgow.  I had been there in a few years.  It is a nice wooded area with lots of mature trees.

One last stop was at the old quarry in Clear Creek Provincial nature reserve.  There were not as many odonates as usual, but a couple of Comet Darners were flying the pond.

The most interesting thing was a swarm of Cicada Killer Wasps.  Had to be close to 100 beside the pond!

Other than that, there was not much to photograph.  Hope things are better there on Sunday for the butterfly count!

Butterflies In The Haze

 Glad I worked in the museum all day Thursday.  Wildfire smoke was thick.

Friday was still quite hazy when I got up.  The sun was desparately trying to shine through.

I went farther afield and ended up in Elgin County near Rodney.  I wanted to check out the sedges along Kerr Road where Dukes' Skippers reside.  I did not stay long, as mosquitoes were pretty intense.

I did find a couple of Dukes'.  The first one was in a difficult spot.

The other was in a better position to photograph.

A bonus was a Mulberry Wing, a small sedge skipper.

Northern Pearly-Eye and Appalachian Brown were here too.

I went home via Wardsville and stopped at the "Woods".  It was very disappointing!

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

I am just about "Dun" with that place.

Dun Skipper

At home later in the afternoon, two different swallowtails, both easterners, were in the garden.

Giant

Tiger

A Silver-spotted Skipper made a visit as well.

Saturday I went for a walk at Mitchell's Bay first thing.  Nothing of note, and after that I decided to stay indoors.  I worked at the Museum for a few hours!  I find it enjoyable accessioning artifacts where one logs all the information onto the computer as well as taking photographs of each item. Then you have to put the item in an appropriate location.  There is quite a backlog of artifacts to accession, so it will be an ongoing task.....

Today the weather was quite nice.  Good thing, as we did the annual butterfly count at Sydenham River Nature Reserve.  I did the Buttonwood side again this year.  

The dead-end road

We tallied 21 species.

The only thing in big numbers was Tawny Emperor.  There are lots of hackberry trees there, their main foodplant.

Pete and I saw only one Hackberry Emperor.

Quite a few Great-spangled Fritillaries too.

Northern Pearly-eyes were plentiful.

There was a handful of hairstreaks, but all were Banded.

There were not many odonates.  I did see a couple of Mocha Emeralds, but as usual for this year, they did not stop. 

Some views of the mighty Sydenham:

Some Swift River Cruisers were on the river.

I managed to photograph this Slender Spreadwing, the most common spreadwing, at one point.

On the way home, I swung by Reid C. L.  Nothing new.........just the usuals.

Dukes'

Noticed this at one point:

Laphria sericea

In the garden this afternoon, I caught sight of an Appalachian Brown.  Very worn, but it was a first for the yard!  Must have travelled some distance as these usually are around forest edges.

Next butterfly count is Clear Creek next Sunday.