More Insects and a Few Birds

 This past week has not been too exciting.  With the excessive rain continuing, things have been quite wet!

Locally, the usual insects have been appearing.  I have walked the main laneway at Reid CA a couple of times.  The first Appalachian Browns have appeared.

Odonates have been scarce, but this Emerald Spreadwing posed nicely at one point.

And the never-ending Blue-fronted Dancers are out.  Most of what I saw were teneral or colourless.

Up at McKeough, I found the usual Pronghorn Clubtails along the riverbank.

Azure Bluet

Others included some Blue-tipped Dancers.  I do not recall seeing them here before, but maybe my memory is starting to fail!

This all-orange bluet is none other than an Orange Bluet!

Thursday, a number of us participated in the annual bird survey at Sydenham River Nature Reserve.  The weather left a lot to be desired!  Just as we were finishing up, the skies cleared for a nice sunny day.....go figure.

It had rained overnight (yet again!), so things were soaked.  Even with rubber boots, we got wet.  A pair of hip waders would have worked nicely!

Birds were quite scarce and difficult to find at times.  Some of the usuals were either low in number or not seen at all.  Fifty-nine species were tallied, in any case.

I had hoped to look for odonates along the way, but that was a lost cause except at the very end.  Specialties here include Arrowhead Spiketail and Rusty Snaketail.  Not to be seen this day!

Midland Clubtail

Slender Spreadwing

A nice lunch was held at the restaurant in Alvinston afterwards.

Here are some scenes along the way.

A little side channel beside the river

Looking into the gully

Since the sun was finally out on the way home, I was not going to let the day go to waste.  I stopped by Shetland CA boat launch to look for odes.

It is too early for Blue-ringed and Dusky Dancer among others, but some things were flying.

Blue-tipped Dancer

Violet Dancers

Stream Bluet

I suppose the highlight was a Rainbow Bluet.  I do not see these colourful creatures every year.

Here is a new insect for me that I found at the launch.

Wild Onion Mirid

Friday I went down to Erieau on a chance something would show.  Of course nothing did!  The Laughing Gull of the last two days had departed....no surprise.  But, I could not get down that way before this.

Here are some things from Saturday afternoon at Reid.

Grey Comma

Appalachian Brown

This flower fly has not been fully identified yet.  It is on iNaturalist, but nobody has positively identified it yet.

Peers Wetland has been rather dead for birds this spring, but I went for a walk anyway.  I wanted to look at a new bench that has been erected in memory of Zach Junkin.  Zach and his wife moved to Port Lambton in recent years.  But tragically, he died suddenly last summer.  

As a side note, Zach was a friend of Adam Shoalts, the famous adventurer and modern-day explorer that I mentioned this past winter.  Read about one of their canoeing adventures in the book The Whisper on the Night Wind.

Today, Sunday, I went as far as Komoka.  A male Blue Grosbeak has been singing at the provincial park for more than a week, and I wanted to see it.  A number of Blue Grosbeaks have popped up in various locations this spring.  More than usual it seems!

As soon as I opened my car door upon arrival, I heard it singing.  It has been right beside the parking lot (main entrance off Gideon Drive).

It was a bit cloudy most of the way there, aftermath of yet another overnight rain. (Is this rain ever going to end?).  However, the sun came out on the way back, so I decided to check out Skunk's Misery.

Nothing unusual and still no cuckoos.  I cannot find any, anywhere this spring!  What is up with them?

While in the area, a stop at Wardsville Woods is always necessary.  It was still quite wet upon arrival (no surprise), but the sun helped to dry things out.

Early on, I came across another Cobra Clubtail.

Seems that Cobras are not a problem this year!

But, it was sort of downhill from there.  Hardly any odes, yet again. 

A Violet Dancer was near the pond.

Flies included Narrow-headed Marsh Fly and Hornworm Tachnid Fly.

Butterflies included this first-of-year Silvery Checkerspot.

A very fresh Great-spangled Fritillary was right beside it.

I was home by early afternoon when the clouds rolled in for the rest of the day!  I hope it does not rain....for a couple of weeks!