The Last Few Days Amid Rainstorms

 Been quite hot and humid lately, and WET!  Needless to say, the torrential rains continue.  Last night probably record rainfall fell north of here and eastward.  (Toronto was hammered early this morning!). I was at Sarnia this morning and some area roads were flooded and fields turned into lakes.  Indeed lots of crop loss this summer, and I heard a friend of mine could not even get a crop in this year.

Not much to report, as things have been slow or just the same old same old.

Saturday I stopped by Reid CA for a long walk.  Dukes' Skippers are never a problem as they pop up along the trail.

Broad-winged Skippers were in the usual habitat.

Dun Skippers have certainly seen a bumper crop this year.  The Skunk's Misery count had a huge number, and I have been seeing lots elsewhere.

The Rondeau butterfly count was Sunday and it was a complete bust.  I did my usual area in the park of south point trail east and the south end of Harrison.  At least the weather was decent, despite the forecast which did not look good.  If I had known there would be so few butterflies, I would not have bothered showing up!  I ended up with a paltry nine species in three hours.  There was no point in staying any longer.  Summer Azures were in good number, but nothing else.  I never saw a single skipper!

Here is a Slender Spreadwing I photographed along the way.

I went home via Blenheim and stopped by the lagoons.  A number of shorebirds were in, especially in the sprinkler cells.  Nothing out of the ordinary though.

Monday was quite boring as it rained all morning.    After supper I went for a walk at Peers wetland. I came across a Common Buckeye.  They have been scarce so far this year.  It was only my second.

Today, I wanted to walk a portion of the Howard Watson trail at Sarnia.  A good section is between Modeland Road and Blackwell Sideroad.  I did not see as much as I had hoped, but maybe any things drowned overnight with the torrential rains (!).

I walked past what was once the site of the Blackwell station.

Butterflies included a few Wild Indigo Duskywings.

I saw this insect early on, that looked interesting.  The iNaturalist was way off in its initial ID!

Saranca elegans

Grasshoppers were quite active later on.

Some things got away.  At one point, I watched a Royal River Cruiser, but it never landed.  At another spot, I watched a Broad-winged Skipper, but it too never landed.

I did walk about a half km past Blackwell, then back and went west to the viewing stand at Logan's Pond.  I was hoping to see Comet Darner, but no luck.  This was the first place I saw Comet Darner about ten years ago.

Other things were flying including this Slaty Skimmer.

In the pond some turtles were floating around.  I immediately recognized one as an alien, called Red-eared Slider (or Pond Slider).

Also, a black mass was moving around.  It was a bunch of catfish (or bullhead)!

The Howard Watson Trail was once a rail right-of-way as most of you know.  The Grand Trunk Railway opened in 1859 from St. Mary's to Point Edward.  (I remember the rails under the Bluewater Bridge!). In 1882, the Great Western Railway was absorbed by the Grand Trunk, then a spur was built curving through what is now the western edge of Blackwell Trails Park down to what is now the mainline CN (which was the Great Western at the time).