Clear Creek Butterfly Count August 4

Sunday was the Clear Creek Butterfly Count, much later than usual.  Ongoing since 2000, the 15 mile circle is centred about Duart and includes Clear Creek Nature Reserve.  I have done most of those counts and it is one of the more interesting.  It used to be held in mid-July, but for various reasons has been later in recent times.

With a bit of time to kill before meeting at the designated co-ordinates, I stopped by the Tecumseh Monument park as usual.  It is always a nice spot for a walk early morning.

For the second year in a row, we started at Moraviantown, led by local resident Darren Jacobs.  We began under somewhat overcast skies, but it was surprising the number of species we kicked up right away.

Tawny-edged Skipper

bashful Question Mark

Amerian Painted-Lady

Probably the best one early on was a Common Checkered-Skipper that I flushed up.

We found lots of Hummingbird Clearwing Moths during the day.

Before lunch, we moved up to the trail along the river at the north end of the Reserve.  We did not have time to properly check this spot, but a nice trail has been developed here.

Lunch was along Cleeves Line at the former Benishek property.

After a quick lunch, we surveyed the property.  New owners have recently taken over and are keen on preserving what has been established here.
Wild Bergamot is doing extremely well this year everywhere and butterflies such as American Painted-Lady were taking advantage.

I spotted a worn hairstreak at one point.  I assume it was Banded, although there has been some question whether it is a Hickory.  I still lean towards Banded!  Does not strike me at all for Hickory.

I watched for moths along the way and found some neat ones. Hopefully the labels are correct.

Omnivorous Leafroller

Spotted Grass Moth

Lost Owlet

Double-banded grass Veneer (some are difficult to ID)

Carrot Seed Moth

Our party ended up with a respectable 33 species.  As is the trend this year, fewer numbers.  Monarchs have done well though, which was our highest count at 45, one behind Summer Azure.

This count does surprisingly well at this late date, so we will see what the final tally is.

Sunday Swamps/Monday Meanderings

Sunday morning saw another trip down to Rondeau Park.  A few more birds came in overnight, namely Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a couple of Black-throated Green Warblers.  Yellow-rumped Warblers remained rather scarce still, but if you want to see more, go to Sarnia's Canatara Park!
More are being seen there, showing how important a migrant trap that Canatara is.

Of course that crazy dove was continuing its daily routine.

Lots of Red Admirals and American Lady butterflies were flying around on Sunday.

Just before leaving the park, I got word that Jim Burk and Steve Charbonneau had found  some darner dragonflies in the NE section of the park.  I was a bit curious as it is rather early for certain mosaic darners, so I took a look.
Two were in the "wheel" position while a couple others were flying around.

They were quite large and suggested Swamp Darner, but I was not sure since I usually see them on the wing.  Also I knew it was rather early for Swamp Darner.

When I got home, I had pretty much concluded they were Swamp Darners!  Usually we do not see them well into May, but with the warm strong SW wind, they were likely immigrants.
I sent the photos to Bill Lamond for confirmation.  He had never heard of any ever being seen this early (by at least two weeks).
So, that was a good find by Steve and Jim!

Today, I checked my usual haunts before work, but it was rather quiet.  An early Black-crowned Night-Heron was at Peers Wetland.

Dawn at Peers

Some yellowlegs (Lesser) had arrived at Stewart Wetland and the wet field spot near the marina.

This evening I braved the cold north wind and went to Mitchell's Bay.  Lots of gulls and swallows were around.  Included was a Glaucous Gull.
I did not detect any Yellow-headed Blackbirds, but they should be around by now.

view from the dock