More Insects, some shorebirds, and a Bat

 A few days ago I visited my local conservation areas.  A new batch of Least Skippers has emerged at Peers Wetland.

Stream Bluets is one of our more common bluets.  Here is a pair at Peers making them even more common!

Up at Reid CA, I walked around the back field.  There are some plants in flower in the far back corner, attracting insects.  I thought this one was quite unique.

On iNaturalist, it comes up with a scientific name of Euperilampus triangularis

There is some Grey-headed Coneflower.  I doubt it was deliberately planted here in this particular location, but it is here in any case.

O course, I always come across a couple of Royal River Cruisers.  Like many things this year, they are not as plentiful as in the past.

At McKeough, I came across a Bronze Copper again!

Sunday was overcast and a bit rainy, so not much happening.  I came across a Common Bog Fly at Peers, a species which I had never seen before.

Spot-winged Gliders seemed to have arrived in the area.  I had one in the yard, which was new for here.

I also saw a couple at Peers Wetland.

Monday was a lazy day, so little happened!

Today, I ventured down to Blenheim lagoons to see what shorebirds were in.  The Red-necked Phalarope from the previous day was missing in action.  There will be more!

Highlight was a flyover of an Upland Sandpiper.  Steve and I heard it, then saw it directly overhead quite high heading east.  They probably do not nest in C-K anymore, but they must fly over on their way south!  It was my first in C-K in a long time.

Among other common shorebirds, a Baird's was in the sprinkler cell area.

After the lagoon visit, I headed down to Erieau marsh trail.  Nothing outstanding there, but I found a Red Bat caught up in burdock.

Burdock, an alien plant, has been known to tangle up birds as well.

I came across some Cicada Killer Wasps at McGeachy.  First I have seen this summer.

I was home by noon, but after lunch I headed up to Moore WMA to take advantage of the nice weather.  I have avoided the place for more than a month due to the excessive rainfall this summer that has brought up river levels.  Today, it was low enough to get onto the causeway.  Not much to see though.  Lots of Blue-fronted Dancers doing their thing.  Only a couple of Blue-tipped, but I could not close to them.

Blue-tipped Dancer

The only good thing about the high water recently, is that it has kept the giant ragweed down!

Summer is a good time to look for mussels when the water is low, but this summer has been the exception.  I have missed that this year.  However, I did find a couple of common ones today.

Giant Floater

Fragile Papershell

I also stopped  by Nicholl's Memorial Forest and Wetland at Wilkesport.  I did see one Royal River Cruiser hanging around.

There was not much at the little pond in the back field, but another Slender Spreadwing briefly posed....

Smoky Time of Year

 The summer is waning quickly!  I have been out as much as possible looking for anything of interest.

I come across many of my "friends", the Royal River Cruiser.

 Lately, McLean Conservation Lands near Rondeau Park has been one of the best spots around for shorebirds and other birds.  (I am still pulling for a Little Blue Heron there!).

This current bird of the week is a Red Knot.  Thursday evening I had nothing to do so went down for a quick look at shorebirds.  The Red Knot (more like a Grey Knot!) was very close, as it has been all week.

Seems we get one lingering bird here every year!

Other shorebirds included Short-billed Dowitchers, peeps, plovers and Stilt Sandpipers.

This morning I had a route planned, starting at McLean's.  I had the place to myself first thing.  New for the year was a pair of Baird's Sandpipers.  These less-common creatures prefer drier ground. They were a bit distant for my camera though.

Some of the same birds from yesterday were present.  I did not see the Knot, but I did not walk far enough as it had moved and was closer to the road.  The long-staying Dunlin was still hanging in there!

With passerine migration coming along nicely, I went into Rondeau Park to look around.  I started at Maintenance-pony barn area, but it was terribly quiet.  I then moved down to south point east side.  The trail is finally dry enough to walk without boots!

A few migrants included Blackburnian and Magnolia Warblers, and Tennessee.

I walked back the beach and found hundreds of gulls and terns, but no rarities!  I could not look at every bird though.

The Cylindrical Blazing Star was in bloom in a usual area.

A few Red-breasted Nuthatches were around at almost every stop today.  Two were even in my yard today.

Some butterflies included a late Appalachian Brown.

Next on the agenda was the river at Thamesville bridge.  This time of year we look for Smoky Rubyspots.  There is never a comfortable spot to view these, as the bank is very steep and thick with vegetation.  However, I did find several.

American Rubyspots were also present as expected, plus other dancers.

I kept an eye out for clubtails, namely Elusive.  Quinten had one there the other day.  I did see one clubtail, quite likely an Elusive, but it took off up the slope and out of sight.  It was the ONLY dragonfly I saw there!

The Elusive Clubtail is rarely seen, but I have seen some!  Unexpectantly, I saw some at Brander Park, Port Lambton back on October 14, 2013.  I guess they have a long season!

Next stop was the Tecumseh Monument park east of Thamesville.  I had the notion to check this out this year for Smoky Rubyspot.  There is only one spot to get down to the riverbank, as the rest of the area is almost a vertical drop!

Upon arriving at the riverbank, it did not take long to find Smoky Rubyspot!

American Rubyspot is also here plus Blue-fronted Dancer, and Violet Dancer.  Probably other things as well.

While there, lots of butterflies were in the flowers, and I caught sight of a Compton Tortoiseshell.  I was not able to get a good photo before it took off.  Not often I see these, but this year seems to be a banner year for them in Ontario.

My next stop was Wardsville Woods, which turned out to be rather quiet.  Hardly a bird there and not too many butterflies.

Tawny-edged Skipper

Spiked Blazing Star

For the route home, I went up to Lambton Line, and briefly stopped at Florence.  Not much was going on here, so I left!

Not quite ready to go home, I stopped by Reid CA for a walk.  Again rather quiet, but a Royal River Cruiser perched briefly right at the start.

At home, to cap things off, another Common Checkered-Skipper stopped by the garden late this afternoon.

Return to Rondeau

Cylindrical Blazing Star (now in bloom)

It was time to check out Rondeau this morning, as I have not been there in three weeks.  It was nice to check things out in the unusually nice weather for a Saturday.



I did find a couple of pockets of migrant passerines, but it was generally rather quiet.
First stop was Dog Beach where I noted thousands of gulls out on the lake.  Most were too far to pick out anything of note.  Only a few, mostly Bonaparte's, were in close.

I did not see any shorebirds along the beach except for a couple of Spotted Sandpipers.  Dog Beach is a good spot to check as there is a little pond there that it fenced off to protect any Fowler's Toads and it may attract shorebirds.

One pocket of warblers along south point contained several Tennessee and Chestnut-sided Warblers.

Later on I picked out Blackburnian, Canada, Nashville and Bay-breasted.
Lots of Pee Wees and Least Flycatchers are still around and some Yellow-bellied are moving through.

Merlin on SPT

After 4 hours in Rondeau, I headed up to Blenheim Lagoons.  It was generally quiet as well!  A couple of Baird's Sandpipers were with other shorebirds (and too many Killdeer!) in the sprinkler cells.

About a dozen Redheads are still hanging around in the ponds.

Since it is late August, I decided to go over to Thamesville to check for rubyspots. Smoky Rubyspots, rather uncommon in Ontario, can be found at the old bridge over the Thames south of the village.
Both American Rubyspot and Smoky Rubyspot associate together here.  Ebony Jewelwing are here as well.
Smoky Rubyspots can vary in darkness depending on geographic location.

It is a bit difficult to get close to them due to the steepness of the riverbank, so photos were taken at a distance.

female American Rubyspot

male American Rubyspot