Insects and Birds of Late

 There have been quiet a few slow days for birding lately, but I did have a couple of decent days.

I have been to Mitchell's Bay south shore trail a few times.  Wednesday was fairly decent, but nothing special.  Other times, rather slow for birds!  The place always has the potential for something decent, especially in the water bird department.  I learned recently, that a juvenile Little Blue Heron was in the vicinity on August 8.  But that was over near the trailer park.

Thursday I went down to Rondeau and walked out marsh trail.  It was one of the better days with lots of warblers and other birds.  However, lighting was absolutely horrible, so many went unidentified.  Birds were "streaming" north as they usually do on NE winds.  It kept me busy though.

This Peregrine Falcon made an appearance at one point

Friday, I did a change in scenery and ventured to Hillman Marsh.  It was one of those slow days for birds!  But one never knows without looking.  Maybe some Wood Storks could make an appearance...

Firstly, I went straight down to Cedar Springs to check for a Buff-breasted Sandpiper that was found by Jim the previous day.  It was difficult to find and follow, but I did see at least one.  These dainty shorebirds have been late and scarce so far this year in southern Ontario.

Over at Hillman, several Osprey have been hanging around lately.

I came across a Shadow Darner at one point.  In the shadows of course! I have been seeing quite a few in various places recently.

Common checkered-skippers were numerous around the shorebird cell as always.

Saturday, it was fairly local for walks.  In the afternoon, I took my usual long walk around the back field. Scenes along the trail: 

Here too, I came across a Shadow Darner, but it was at the edge of the bean field.

Wandering Gliders are numerous right now.  They do a lot of wandering since they are one of the most widespread dragonflies!

Royal River Cruisers have thinned out.  I have only been seeing one or two recently.

A checkered skipper was here as well.

Grey Commas are regular at Reid.

Lots of angle-wings were are around, especially along the roads.

The only warbler I saw was a Magnolia.

When I got home, I noticed I had a passenger.  Somewhere at Reid I picked up a White-spotted Prominent moth caterpillar.

Lots of Lance-tipped Darners are around right now also.  Many I have found in the "wheel" position, as this one was at Peers Wetland.

The garden has had fewer insects recently since many flowers that I have are done.  I found this Eastern Calligrapher, which is quite tiny and difficult to photograph.  They can go un-noticed but are quite common though.

Several different butterflies have visited the yard, including Peck's Skippers.  (still waiting for a Zabulon!).

Sunday was a really slow day for birds and I could not find anything much!  This Common Buckeye visited the yard in the afternoon.  Not often I get one in the yard.

Peers Wetland has really been dead for birds this year.  I visit there several times a week, but without much success.  Better for insects I guess!  This Common Painted-Lady was on the trail Sunday.

And lots of Lance-tipped Darners!

Seems to be a common theme at Peers!

Today, with the recent north winds, it looked good for a visit to Rondeau.  I mainly did south point trail, and it was littered with warblers and vireos.  They were moving around a lot, so difficult to stay on.  I tallied 17 species of warblers.  There were lots of Magnolia and American Redstarts and Black-throated Greens.   I missed Canada, but a few Wilson's were around.

We had hoped that a Loggerhead Shrike would make an appearance.  One was photographed just south of dog beach yesterday!  Must have moved on....

Near the maintenance yard, I stopped by a patch of goldenrod.  Several flies of various sorts were there.  Here are some that I noticed.

Transverse-banded Flower Fly

Narrow-headed Marsh Fly

Black-shouldered Drone Fly

I gave Keith McLean Conservation Lands a try before heading home.  Nothing of note for birds, but still has lots of potential.  

I saw a Fiery Skipper at one point. 

A couple of Common Painted-Lady were on the dike.

Hopefully some decent shorebirds will show up in the next while.  We are a bit starved for them!

Ojibway Washout, A Strathroy Visit and More Yard Critters

 The weekend certainly left a lot to be desired weather wise.  Once again, butterfly counts took a hit.  This year I decided to go to Ojibway for the butterfly count on Saturday, as I always enjoyed that one in the past.  However it was cloudy and threatening rain.  That made matters worse in a year when butterflies have been scarce.

We did get a walk in at Brunet Park.  A walk indeed, as we only tallied about ten individual butterflies!  Usually it is a good spot for hairstreaks, but not one was found.  Things have certainly grown in quite a bit compared to almost twenty years ago when I did my first Ojibway count.

I did find a couple of Little Glassywings, although I did not realize it until I looked at my photos.

Seemed to be more moths than butterflies.  Leconte's Haploa is highly variable.  We found this one.

After Brunet, we skooted over to Spring Garden complex and started at our usual point at the end of Elgin Street.  This place is fabulous for plants, different habitats and variety of butterflies.  We did find a few butterflies at least!  Very disappointing that we could not spend much time here.

The only hairstreak of our walk was a Coral that I found.

We did get Appalachian Brown, Delaware Skipper, Dun Skipper and Peck's Skipper as well..

Peck's

A Reversed Haploa moth caught my eye at one point.

Some provincially rare plants:

Colicroot

Spiderwort

One of the "rare" milkweeds included Purple.

We only got so far and it started to rain, so that was the end of it!

Sunday was the Rondeau count, but I decided there was no sense in doing it this year.  The last couple of years have been very disappointing, and this year would have been worse.  Sunday morning was cold, damp, and cloudy in any case!

The afternoon turned out quite nice though as the sun came out.  I checked out Reid and McKeough.  Here are some things I found:

Mourning Cloak

Peck's Skipper

Royal River Cruiser

Common Checkered-Skipper

Eastern-tailed Blues were very plentiful, so I did not take their photos.  At least they are doing well this year!

Down the road, I found this unfortunate victim.

Fox Snake

I also looked at the garden at home.

Monarch on Purple Coneflower

Red Admiral

Ursine Spurleg Lady Beetle

Margined Leatherwing

Eastern Calligrapher

Dun Skipper

Common Thick-leg Fly

False Milkweed Beetle with Red Goldenrod Aphids

common flower fly sp.

Mexican Grass-carrying Wasp

Today, it was off to Strathroy to look at some shorebirds.  There is excellent habitat this year.  The Black-necked Stilt family was out and about (3 young and 2 adults).

There were several Solitary Sandpipers.

Least Sandpipers numbered 29 to my eyes, and there were a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs and three Short-billed Dowitchers.

On the way home, I stopped by Shetland boat launch again.  River level was still way too high with all the rain.  Seems we either get too little or too much rain!

A few Blue-ringed Dancers were around among the many Stream Bluets and some Blue-tipped, Powdered and Violet.

Blue-tipped Dancer

I did catch sight of a teneral Flag-tailed Spinyleg, but it took off.

Before going home, I stopped by Reid CA.  Broad-winged Skippers were flying, but no Dukes' yet.

Getting back to the parking lot, I had the sighting of the day.  A Compton Tortoiseshell was flying about!