Early August Travels

 As the summer wanes, I have been taking advantage of some of the nice weather.  Last Monday I scheduled myself to visit West Perth Wetlands.  I usually stop by once in mid summer to roll the dice on shorebirds.  There were quite a few birds (mainly Lesser Yellowlegs)  but nothing of note.

Regarding shorebirds, I have checked other places recently as well.  Seems to be a bit of a lull in the shorebird department.  I stopped by Strathroy on the way home from Mitchell on Monday, and there was virtually nothing in shorebirds!

Today I stopped by Forest Lagoons, and it was essentially a waste of time.  Not much has been there recently, but hopefully things will pick up.  The water levels need to decline a bit, but will not if we do not stop getting all this uneeded rain.  We are getting drier at the marina, but there is no leeway in water levels as we are at the brink now!  This past week we have been cutting out walls and insulation from the three floods this summer, to dry things out.

Today was one of the nicer weather days.  After stopping at the aforementioned Forest lagoons, I took a long walk (~8 km) at Ipperwash Forested Dunes and Swales.  There was not much in the way of birds, but I did hear a Purple Finch.  Likely they are on the move, as I had one in the yard this afternoon.  Rather strange, as it is the first one this year (probably a year and a half!).

Although not much was seen, it was quite enjoyable.  

Appalachian Brown

Next stop was Karner Blue Sanctuary in Port Franks.  It was exactly a year ago we did a bioblitz there, so I thought it was time to check it out again.  The Liatris species are just coming out in bloom.

Cylindrical Blazing Star

Rough Blazing Star

A few butterflies were around, and I was hoping for Leonard's, but perhaps a tad early for them.

Wild Indigo Duskywing

Peck's Skipper

Northern Broken-Dash

I bumped into John Lamey there, and we talked about plants, including Cardinal Flower, of which I saw lots at Ipperwash earlier in the day.

As Port Franks is nuts with tourists (not sure what they do with themselves!) this time of year, it was time to get out.

For the next stop I had the idea of stopping at Marthaville Habitat near Petrolia.  There is a good planting of prairie stuff there, so this time of year was good.

Spiked Blazing Star

Prairie Dock

Compass Plant

Slaty Skimmer

I made a brief stop at Moore WMA, but it was a waste of time.  The river was running too high with all this ridiculous rain recently.

Last Monday I stopped by and found a few more mussels.  This one is a Pink Healsplitter, vulnerable in Canada.

Last stop was Reid CA where I went for a long walk.  Some Dukes' Skippers are still flying.

One surprise was a hairstreak.  It was a Banded, and perhaps the latest I have seen one there.

I saw a good number of Royal River Cruisers, but none co-operated for photos.  Some Eastern Amberwings were around.

I decided to walk around the back field again, as I find it interesting.  A Bronze Copper caught my eye, which I think is a new species for my list on the property.  My lep list is now at 55 species for Reid.

I was most of the way around, and some Cardinal Flower caught my eye.  It is new for my plant list on the property!

All in all, a decent day.

Prairie Prowl at Dutton

Saturday I had the opportunity to visit the Dutton Prairie in Elgin County.  As a recent member of the Field Botanists of Ontario (FBO), I joined close to 20 plant enthusiasts under the able leadership of Will Van Hemessen.

The Dutton prairie is actually along the old railway line currently owned by CSX where one can find prairie remnants.  The West Elgin club has leased about one mile on each of west and east of Coyne Road.  There are actually two rail lines parallel to each other, but this is the southerly one which originally started out as the Michigan Central Railway back in the 1800's.
I stopped by here once, perhaps 15 years ago?  Time flies....

What is unique here is that some rare plants grow naturally such as Compass Plant and Pale Purple Coneflower, among others.  We can find these plants elsewhere, but they have mostly been planted in prairie plots or "restoration" plots.

Pale Purple Coneflower Eschinacea pallida

I am far from knowledgeable about plants, but it was quite interesting to me.  There were several uncommon native plants seen, including thistles, grasses, and others including trees. There were several species of willows for example.  Sedges were examined as well.

Field Thistle (I think) Cirsium discolor

Cordgrass out of focus!

There are many grasses out there, some not native to the area.  Cordgrass was neat. One has to watch touching it as you can get cut!

One section which stretched into private property had an impressive amount of Spiked Blazing Star.

Liatris spicata

Ohio Goldenrod is plentiful in some spots.  It was not quite in bloom.

Solidago ohioensis

Another section had a spectacular spread of Compass Plant, worthy of a photo.

Silphium laciniatum

Many of these old rail lines have good plant diversity.  Many species were likely brought up accidently in cargoes of the trains.

I did not know the people on this trip except for one, George Bryant.  Four years ago he led us on a special trip at Torrence Barrens in Muskoka if anyone can recall from an old blogpost!

Along the way I watched for butterflies, and a couple of time in the more sedgy areas, I spotted Broad-winged Skipper.

A Monarch nectaring on blazing star was begging for a photo.

I had a bit of time before the trip commenced, so I stopped by Clear Creek quarry on the way there.  It was early morning, so not much was flying.  I did find a FOY Common Buckeye!

I also stopped on the way home.  There were fewer dragonflies than the previous week, and I failed to see a Comet Darner.  One would think they are still flying.  BTW, I learned that there is another spot for Comet Darner just in C-K along the lake, but on private property.

Dog Days of Summer

The weather has been great this week (too bad we do not get these days on the weekends!) and I have been going for some walks after work.  Yesterday I checked out McKeough and Reid briefly.

A couple of the McKeough specialty odes were along the river.  I have been using the Canon G16, so I was not too close to the subjects.

Floodway looking west

The McKeough Dam and Floodway was completed in 1983 to protect the Town of Wallaceburg during high water.  A controllable dam structure was built at Duthill and a diversion channel was dug to the St. Clair River just south of Sombra.  The floodway is an interesting walk.  I checked it out quite a bit during the Breeding Bird Atlas project as my squares included the floodway.  Although it (dam) has only been used no more than half a dozen times since then, it has proven worthy.

At McKeough I typically walk over to the old Calahan Road then walk through the floodway to the river.  There were hardly any butterflies, but a few odes including Flag-tailed Spinyleg and Pronghorn Clubtail were patrolling the area.

Pronghorn Clubtail

Flag-tailed Spinyleg

These often rest on the concrete along the river's edge for easy viewing.

In the floodway, the Common Milkweed is waning, but other things, native or not, are coming along.  This tall flower is Elecampane (Inula helenium).  It looks somewhat similar to some native plants but is actually an alien. (Thanks to Allen Woodliffe for helping me ID this one!).

At Reid CA, I still did not see Broad-winged Skipper, but with the hoardes of mosquitoes I did not stay long!
This Edwards' Hairstreak was nearing its end.

Royal River Cruisers were patrolling the trails during my visit.

Today I had the urge to walk Nicholl's Memorial Forest and grounds at Wilkesport.  Just into my walk, this Royal River Cruiser briefly stopped with its typical pose.

A number of other common odes were around, including this Twelve-spotted Skimmer which perched nicely on Dense Blazing Star.

There is a prairie planting at the pond area that I like to check out.  It has a number of plants including Dense Blazing Star.  It is just coming into bloom.

Compass Plant is among the mix here as well.

Yesterday morning I looked at the plantings near Port Lambton Sewage Lagoons along Pointe Line.  It is doing well with Compass Plant standing tall.

This time of year is a favourite of mine to wander these fields as many prairie type plants are coming into bloom.