Insects Here and There and More Yard Critters

 Friday I headed southwest and first stopped at Mitchell's Bay to walk the south shore trail.  It was a pleasant morning and just the "usual" things were seen.

Tule Bluet

I continued on and passed through Stevenson, where there are some Dickcissels just east of the village.

My destination was Hillman Marsh where I wanted to do the long walk on the dike.  

I usually see Broad-winged Skippers this time of year, and this day was no exception.

Broad-winged Skipper

Skimming Bluet

Some Blanding's Turtles were seen.

Near the end of the walk, I came upon a pair of Dickcissels that appear to be nesting.  The male was singing on a perch, and a female popped up out of the vegetation.

Friday evening we had a wicked storm around Wallaceburg.  I probably never saw it rain so hard!  Winds were high as well, and we lost hydro for at least four hours.

The next morning it was evident how strong the storm was.  Trees and limbs down all over, as well as hydro poles.  Eight poles were down on Langstaff Line alone!

Saturday was a bit of a washout as it rained off and on all day.  Now we are getting way too much rain!

Sunday dawned hazy, but thankfully we did have some sun later on.  The main even today was the odonate count at Sydenham River Nature Reserve near Alvinston.

I took my usual section.  As expected, things were quite scarce as they have been every place this year.

No real highlights for me, but a Carolina Saddlebags was nice near the end.

Some finds:

Powdered Dancer (teneral)

Azure Bluet

American Rubyspot

Banded Hairstreak!

Northern Pearly-Eye

Delaware Skipper

As expected with all the rain, the river was running very high, so we could not get close to the bank unfortunately.

After getting home, I checked the garden for more yard critters.  Found a couple of new ones, and got a better shot of a Tufted Globetail, a very tiny insect.

Clouded Plant Bug

Thick-legged Hoverfly

Eastern Forktail

Margined Calligrapher, another very tiny insect, seems to be quite common everywhere.

This one is completely puzzling so far.  Even iNaturalist cannot ID it! The nearest it comes is a European insect that should not be here.

On to another week!

Monkey-flower at SRNR