They're Baaack! And A Three Hour Tour

Hairstreaks that is.  Yesterday Banded Hairstreak was found at Point Pelee (Steve Pike), and was apparently record early by one day.  

Today, I was on an outing at Ojibway Park (down Windsor way) and we found some Banded Hairstreaks.  Really though, they are about on schedule.

After getting home early this afternoon, I headed up to Reid CA on a hunch, and after some patience, I found a Northern Oak Hairstreak!

It was a moment of celebration, since last year none were found.  For whatever reason, we could not find a single one.  I spent countless hours in hopes of seeing one last year, but to no avail.  In general, 2023 was a horrible year for hairstreaks and many other leps as well.

The Northern Oak is an early-emerging hairstreak, and today's date was pretty much on schedule and average.  However, my earliest is 13 June 2021 when I found two at Reid.  In 2022 I found one on the 15th.

This hairstreak is critically endangered in Ontario, found in only a few sites.  My discovery of the Northern Oak 'colony' at Reid in June 2008 was a first for Canada.  I also found some at Moore WMA that year as well, for a second colony.  Singles had been seen previously at Point Pelee (14 June 1999), near Black Oak Park (LaSalle, 2005), and a couple of times at Brunet Park (2009 and 2014). So there has to be some sort of colony in that area. Indeed suitable habitat (oaks) is plentiful there.

Subsequently, we found one on Walpole Island 11 July 2015 (identified by myself), and one was found by the Pye brothers at Mosa Forest (Skunk's Misery) in 2021.  There is certainly suitable habitat in both locations.

Back to today, I joined a combined Ontario Field Ornithologists/Essex County Field Naturalists outing at Ojibway Park.  Its original intent was birds, but it turned out to be a nature outing looking at all things big and small.

One could spend a whole day and more in the area checking out the natural areas, but we stuck to the Titcombe path and an adjacent trail for the morning.  It took about three hours.

There are lots of plants to look at, but spiderwort is quite abundant here.

Purple Milkweed, one of the rarer milkweeds, stuck out in a few spots.

At one of the woodland ponds, Common Bladderwort was growing.

There were numerous butterflies, and here a few:

Northern Cloudywing

Silvery Checkerspot

Hobomok Skipper

Little Glassywing

Little Wood Satyr

This duskywing was very worn, so I am not certain as to species (yet)!

It was a perfect day weatherwise and quite enjoyable with what we observed and of course the camaraderie of like-minded people.

Insects Here and There and More Yard Critters

 Friday I headed southwest and first stopped at Mitchell's Bay to walk the south shore trail.  It was a pleasant morning and just the "usual" things were seen.

Tule Bluet

I continued on and passed through Stevenson, where there are some Dickcissels just east of the village.

My destination was Hillman Marsh where I wanted to do the long walk on the dike.  

I usually see Broad-winged Skippers this time of year, and this day was no exception.

Broad-winged Skipper

Skimming Bluet

Some Blanding's Turtles were seen.

Near the end of the walk, I came upon a pair of Dickcissels that appear to be nesting.  The male was singing on a perch, and a female popped up out of the vegetation.

Friday evening we had a wicked storm around Wallaceburg.  I probably never saw it rain so hard!  Winds were high as well, and we lost hydro for at least four hours.

The next morning it was evident how strong the storm was.  Trees and limbs down all over, as well as hydro poles.  Eight poles were down on Langstaff Line alone!

Saturday was a bit of a washout as it rained off and on all day.  Now we are getting way too much rain!

Sunday dawned hazy, but thankfully we did have some sun later on.  The main even today was the odonate count at Sydenham River Nature Reserve near Alvinston.

I took my usual section.  As expected, things were quite scarce as they have been every place this year.

No real highlights for me, but a Carolina Saddlebags was nice near the end.

Some finds:

Powdered Dancer (teneral)

Azure Bluet

American Rubyspot

Banded Hairstreak!

Northern Pearly-Eye

Delaware Skipper

As expected with all the rain, the river was running very high, so we could not get close to the bank unfortunately.

After getting home, I checked the garden for more yard critters.  Found a couple of new ones, and got a better shot of a Tufted Globetail, a very tiny insect.

Clouded Plant Bug

Thick-legged Hoverfly

Eastern Forktail

Margined Calligrapher, another very tiny insect, seems to be quite common everywhere.

This one is completely puzzling so far.  Even iNaturalist cannot ID it! The nearest it comes is a European insect that should not be here.

On to another week!

Monkey-flower at SRNR

Hairstreak Mania at Reid CA

 Today I stayed local, checking out McKeough and Reid.  I did quite a bit of walking checking birds for atlas records and looking at things along the way.

Not often we see hummingbirds around here, but this one caught me eye.  At least I could mark this down for the atlas!

I started at McKeough and noted some leps including several Banded Hairstreaks.

Some others...

Delaware Skipper

Common Wood Nymph

Northern Pearly-eye

Next stop was a little further south at Reid CA.  By this time it was getting quite hot, but I carried on.  I checked 'hairstreak heaven' first.  It is just crazy the number of hairstreaks!

I think this year I have seen more hairstreaks than I ever have.  2008 was the last 'big' year I remember.  There was a lot more Common Milkweed then, and this next scene reminds me of that.  I saw this just before I left today.  Just crazy!

I found at least ten Oak Hairstreaks in the first 15 minutes.

Two for the price of one

Damaged Goods

Many are getting quite worn, so they will not be out much longer.

There were also some Striped.  I have yet to see an Edwards'.  I have had big numbers of those in the past, but it has been a few years.  Strange how things go.

I decided to walk around the perimeter of the back field.  It is an interesting walk, but I did not see anything spectacular though.  Lots of Banded Hairstreaks and a few Hickory along the way.

Back at hairstreak heaven, there seemed to be more hairstreaks.  In total I probably saw 300 Banded Hairstreaks at Reid today!

Lots of dragonflies were around, and you need to check them out, especially at Reid.  There has been a good variety over the years, and you never know what may show up.

Something new for me at Reid today was a Slaty Skimmer.  A female.  They are not too common in these parts.

Four-spotted Skimmers are common at Reid though.

On to another week...  Skunk's Misery butterfly count is next Sunday.  Hopefully the weather is good, lol.