Little Gulls Abound!

Snapping Turtle (marsh trail)

I spent the afternoon and evening at Rondeau Park. The few butterflies I saw were out Marsh Trail, including Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Spicebush Swallowtail, Summer Azure, Red Admiral, Eastern Comma, Question Mark, Northern Broken-Dash and Monarch.


In the evening, I walked out the eastside beach of south point trail and sat in one spot looking at gulls. There were hundreds! I noted quite a number of Little Gulls, so I made an effort at counting. While sitting on a log, in a span of about 1.5h, I counted 12 Little Gulls. Some kept moving, while others mingled with the other gulls. Most were adults or second summer, but one was a young one. There were also Common and Forster's Terns, and one Caspian Tern.

Common Tern

two Little Gulls with partial hoods on the beach

two adult Little Gulls in flight

a large group of gulls!

Little Gull

The reason I was at Rondeau in the evening was to attend the "moth night". David Beadle was invited to capture and identify moths. He captured some the night before to show us. One he had not seen before and could not identify.

David is an expert on moths and can identify most of them, along with their scientific name! He lives in the middle of Toronto and has identified several hundred species in his own little backyard.

Not many moths were around at this time, but the ones we did see were interesting.