Usual Sightings, Plus Surprises and Disappointments

 A few days ago I went for the long walk at Joany's Woods along the Ausable River in Middlesex County.  I usually check the place out sometime in June.

It is a good spot to observe breeding birds and insects.  Blue-winged Warblers are quite plentiful there (I saw/heard about 8 singing males), and one was even carrying food indicating nesting activity.

Some less common birds for the area included Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Ruffed Grouse.

I was a bit early in the day, so insects were not that plentiful, except mosquitoes!  From past experiences, the mosquitoes were not all that bad.

With regards to insects, at one point, I am sure I saw a spiketail, but it kept going and I never saw it again despite waiting for some time at a little boardwalk.

A few butterflies were seen, including my one and only hairstreak of this year. Where are the hairstreaks?  More on that later.

Banded Hairstreak

Hackberry Emperor

Black-shouldered Spinyleg at a bad angle!

Here is my eBird list link:

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After walking over 7km, I left and headed down the road to Fossil Road where there is a good spot to look for odonates.  Like most places this year, there were not that many!  Some unphotographed species included Swift River Cruiser and clubtails such as Midland.  I did not notice any Green-faced Clubtails, though I have seen this uncommon species here before.

Variable Dancer

Blue-tipped Dancer

American Rubyspot

Another stop for the day was Shetland boat launch.  Dancers included Powdered, Blue-fronted, Blue-tipped and Variable.  No Blue-ringed or Dusky yet.  Stream Bluets were quite plentiful.

In the fish department, there were several, some of which were Black-striped Top Minnows.

Turtles included, Painted, Map and even a little Spiny Soft-shelled which I failed to get a photo.

The last stop was at Reid CA where no hairstreaks had yet appeared.  Hobomok Skippers were still being seen.

The next day, I stayed fairly local checking out Reid CA again, and McKeough.  Another hairstreak-less day!

Blue-fronted Dancer

Four-spotted Skimmer

Reid is within my assigned atlas square, and it is now well-covered.  Still a little work to do though!  This Yellow Warbler I noticed, was feeding a Brown-headed Cowbird (unfortunately).

At McKeough, Pronghorn Clubtail was on the the wing in the usual spot.

They are listed as rare by NHIC, but can be locally common such as at McKeough.

And, I got a little surprise in the bird department.  A Clay-colored Sparrow was singing beside the old Callahan Road.  There is suitable nesting habitat in the area.  Not often we got them around here in the breeding season.  I was on the wrong side of it to get a good photo!

Friday was drizzly all day, so nothing worthwhile accomplished.

Saturday I was so bored from Friday, I went down to walk Keith McLean C. L. and then over to Erieau.  The usual stuff was seen, and nothing noteworthy.  apparently some southbound shorebirds are showing up, as one might expect.

Common Gallinule at Erieau

Mid-day, it brightened up (not enough really!) to check out Reid CA again.  Still no hairstreaks.  Another disappointment

A large and somewhat attractive moth called a Nessus Sphinx, caught my eye.  It was down in the grasses so I was unable to get a proper photo.

Today was a very nice day, and I did a tour south of Wallaceburg for atlas records.  It is mainly monoculture of agricultural fields, so nothing exciting.  However, I did get something decent in the way of a family of Ring-necked Pheasants.  For whatever reason, I did not take a photo, but they were right at roadside.  This species, although non-countable anymore, is difficult to find these days.  It was not entirely unexpected, as I heard one here two years ago in the first season of the atlas.

I continued on and eventually ended up at Reid CA.  Despite a valiant effort, no hairstreaks were found.  Something is afoot this year, as I should have seen at least some several days ago.  Was there some event that wiped them out for this year?  It is still early, but well into the season for the Northern Oak Hairstreak.  It is quite worrisome.  I left very disappointed.

Some species are doing well this year, including the crescents, Silver-spotted Skipper, Little Wood Satyrs.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Not many skippers of other species around, but this Peck's was there this morning.

I saw my first Appalachian Brown yesterday, and a couple more today.

A quick stop at McKeough revealed the Pronghorn Clubtails again.  Soon, I hope to see Flag-tailed Spinylegs!

In any case, it is the "slowest" year I have ever seen for leps and odes.  Hopefully things will turn around, but it is a sign of bad times.