More Garden Bugs, Rondeau Rice, Rubyspots, and Other September Sightings

 Not too much to report lately, but I had some good days of observations.  Unfortunately, mosquitoes are at an all time high in numbers, and one cannot linger anywhere!

Watching the garden, I found some more insects to add to the list.

Twice Stabbed Stinkbug

This potter wasp is actually endangered (vulnerable).

Fraternal Potter Wasp

There were several repeats from this summer (few shown here):

Mexican Grass-carrying Wasp

Ectemnius maculosus

Locust Borer (new for the year)

At Peers Wetland, it has been dead for birds!  (but prolific with mosquitoes!) So I look for other things.

Bald-faced Hornet

Lance-tipped Darner

Common Painted-Lady

Widow Skimmer

An interesting spider called Spined Micrathena was along the trail.  For the life of me, I could not get a focused photo!  

EDIT:  I was at Peers on Sunday and managed a better photo.  It took a while!

I still have not found a Fiery Skipper for the year, despite some effort.  Peck's are numerous right now though.

Peck's Skipper

I did go to Reid CA once, but mosquitoes were too unbearable to stay long.

American Pelecinid Wasp

I had a couple of visits to Rondeau, and warblers and other birds were quite numerous along the Bay side.  On Wednesday, I stopped at the old dock area, and noticed lots of warblers moving southward.  I ended going out marsh trail (to the old half-way parking lot) where I was kept quite busy sorting through the birds.  I met Steve part way out where he had the same idea!

At least 18 species of warblers, including large number of Tennessee (over 40), Bay-breasted and Cape May.

Soras were calling all the way along and we tallied at least 15.  I would think some came in!

Annual Wild Rice is prolific there, and I thought this photo was a nice one to take.  It made a good header photo for this blog as well!

Of note, the marsh trail has finally been rehabbed with new gravel and trimming.

Today I made another visit to Rondeau and joined other birders at the store parking lot.  It is a good spot to view streaming birds, especially warblers, on a NE wind.

I ended up tallying 20 species of warblers, where again, Tennessee, Cape May and Bay-breasted were in large numbers.  Of course the majority went unidentified as they quickly passed overhead in poor light.

Wilson's Warbler

Ovenbird

Cape May Warbler

Some shorebirds included Greater Yellowlegs, Black-bellied Plover, Solitary Sandpiper and 3 Wilson's Snipe.  Of course other birds were seen such as Red-headed Woodpecker and various flycatchers.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

While out marsh trail on the first visit, Steve and I came across a large Fox Snake.  Too long to take a proper photo!

This small Fox Snake was encountered on an earlier visit, which I posted in the previous blog post.  

A couple of days ago, I thought I would check out Wardsville Woods.  I got chased out by mosquitoes! I noticed some tresses.  Looks like Sphinx Ladies' Tresses, of which there were several plants.

 So, I headed back and stopped by the Tecumseh Monument Park to look at the river bank.  The Thames was still running high, so not good for mussel hunting. However, this Pimpleback I did find on the bank. A species that is considered imperiled.

There were several American Rubyspots, and perhaps three Smoky Rubyspots that I could see.  The riverbank was dangerous and mucky to navigate.

On Friday, it was off to Kettle Point as a north wind was blowing. It did not work out for birds!  One needs a very stiff NW wind for Kettle Point to be more productive.  Green-winged Teal was the most common bird, with over 90 seen.  Of note, there are hardly any gulls up that way.  A bit unusual at this point.

I took this photo showing where the reef is.  In the previous blog post, I showed the reef where we could walk way out at this location.

Better days are ahead!