Insects Here And There

 Every day I have to go somewhere!  Life is passing by very quickly, so one needs to get out as much as possible.  Some days I have no idea where to go, but I just get in the car and see where it leads me.  Lately, it has been all about insects.

Tuesday, I ended up down at Rondeau.  I went for a walk at McLean's first thing to kill some time, before heading into the park to walk out marsh trail.

I had the idea to look for sedge skippers, especially Mulberry Wing.  Just like every place else anymore, things have really grown in and not much marsh type vegetation is visible close to the trail.  However, I lucked out with one of my targets.

Early on, I photographed this skipper.  Turns out it was a Mulberry Wing!

There were quite a few Appalachian Browns along the way.

Usually one will see its cousin the Eyed Brown here as well.  These like wetter areas compared to the Appalachian.  However, I could not detect one.

Later on, I encountered a few Mulberry Wings but they were difficult to keep track of, not to mention photograph..

There was not much in the way of odes, but some Tule Bluets were along the way.

As well, a White-faced Meadowhawk made an appearance.

Before getting home, I had the notion to check for Dukes' Skippers at Reid CA.  It was no problem finding a couple, but I never obtained a good photo.

Wednesday, I wanted to check Shetland CA for Blue-ringed Dancers and whatever else was around.  I killed some time first thing at Wilkesport.  A couple of Banded Hairstreaks were out and about.

Note the photo above a bit of the upperwing side is showing.  The upperside is very plain and nothing to look at!  You will always see hairstreaks with wings closed.  I once saw a hairstreak that kept its wings open, and it was non-descript.

At Shetland, the water level had receded to a reasonable level after the excessive rains.  It was not problem finding some Blue-ringed Dancers.  They had likely just come out.

This species is critically imperiled in Ontario and is only found in certain spots along the east branch of the Sydenham River (like Florence, Shetland and at the Mosside boat launch), and along the Ausable near Rock Glen.

I found the other dancers and bluets except Blue-tipped.  It was a bit early in the season for Dusky Dancer though I think.

Powdered Dancer

Blue-fronted Dancers

Rainbow Bluet

Violet Dancer

There were many Stream Bluets as always, but I did not try to photograph any.

After finishing here, I made another visit to Reid CA since it was not too much out of the way.  I found Dukes' again, but could never get a photo.

Another target was to get a photo of a Royal River Cruiser.  I caught sight of one, and it disappeared to the side where I knew it had gone to perch.  However, something else caught my eye at that very spot.  A Flag-tailed Spinyleg!

This is the first one I have seen at Reid CA.  Being another critically imperiled species, it is found at a couple of spots on the north Sydenham, a few spots on the east branch.  There is even a record at Komoka near London and one on the Thames near Chatham.  I am only going by iNaturalist records though for these.

I then looked for the cruiser with my trained eye and found it perched!

Thursday, I headed to the Lake St. Clair area and walked the south shore nature trail at Mitchell's Bay.  Lots of Tule Bluets are here.

I then went over to St. Clair NWA.  I never see much here anymore, but checked it out anyway.  Marsh Wrens are doing well here.

Later in the morning, I went up to McKeough CA and found some Flag-tailed Spinylegs.  Not much else though.

Today, I ended up at Hillman Marsh and Point Pelee.  Seems I have no luck at Pelee anymore and is usually a waste of time.

Snowberry Clearwing

At Hillman, I looked for sedge skippers at the boardwalk area.  Several Broad-winged were flying.

I have seen Dukes' here as well, but not today.  However, seems I photographed a possible Dion Skipper.  I never saw the underwing, so that made things difficult.

The upper side is remarkably similar to Black Dash, which I thought at first.  However, this one seemed large, which Dion is compared to Black Dash.  Oh well, it made things interesting!

There was also a multitude of Eyed Browns here.  As mentioned above, they like wetter areas compared to Appalachian, but I did see both.

Bugging and Musseling

 Today I stayed fairly local, visiting familiar haunts.  I started the day by doing some more bird atlassing north of here and walking at W. Darcy McKeough CA.  Then looking for insects and mussels!

Mosquitoes are finally getting annoying.  I did one interior point count and it was difficult to concentrate on the birds!

I checked on the situation at Reid CA and the Oak Hairtreaks are doing well.  Upon arrival I found eight.  With the hot temps, earlier in the day is better, as I found out when I went back mid-day there were few to be seen.

worn!

Some Banded Hairstreaks were seen as well.

One may have been a Hickory, but it was one of those "tweeners" that I did not get a good look at.

Next week I will be looking for Dukes' Skippers!

I then went up to Moore WMA for the first time this summer.  The Ragweed is doing well again!  Among some butterflies I saw the first Appalachian Brown of the year.

I went to the river's edge to look for mussels.  Blue-tipped Dancers are common here.

A Stream Bluet was in its usual pose.

There were not many mussels, as the river was still a bit high, but the first one was a nice Pink Heelspitter.

A few Maple Leaf and Deertoe were at the crossing, among Fragile Papershell.

Mapleleaf

Deertoe

I checked for hairstreaks, and the only one I saw was a Northern Oak!

I went back to Reid on the way home, and found the first Royal River Cruiser (my favourite) of the year.

Only two or three Oak Hairstreaks were seen in the afternoon heat.

Not too many odes today.

Pronghorn Clubtail

Sunday Surprises

 Sunday there was not much of a plan, but I started birding in the Rondeau area.  After checking a field or two, I headed down to Erieau rail trail (no pelicans), then passed through Shrewsbury (no good doves!), then one to Keith McLean C. L. (no good egrets).  

Nothing special in those places, but then if you do not look, you never know. 

I also stopped by Blenheim sewage lagoons.  A couple of male Redhead were of note, but they are often there this time of year and into the summer.

For the afternoon, I did have a plan.  I wanted to check things out at Reid CA.  The Indian Hemp was just coming into bloom, which means....hairstreaks!

Upon arriving, I saw my first Appalachian Brown of the year near the gate.

Things just seemed early this year, and I had a very good feeling that I would be seeing a hairstreak or two.  Well, right off the bat I found one!

And indeed it was a Northern Oak Hairstreak.

This is the earliest date by several days...I think the earliest is the 19th.

After viewing this one, I ventured off for almost an hour then came back.  Another Oak Hairstreak awaited me.  There is often some variation in them, and this one was not quite the same to my eyes as the previous one.

It was quite breezy this day, so it was difficult getting good photos, but I managed some.

While there, I again noted the gypsy moth caterpillars.  Unfortunately, it is bad there and not good news where many of the dominate trees are oak.  You can tell just by the sound, as little bits are continually falling.  On the ground you see dropping and pieces of leaves all over.

It was not too bad last year, but this year is terrible.  I wonder how it will affect the "Oak" hairstreaks?