Recent Notes and An Imperiled Tour

 We are back in the hot and humid weather.  Birding will be a bit slow this week, but there must be something of interest out there.

Saturday, I needed to go in another direction and ended up at Hillman Marsh and Point Pelee.  It was rather "slow" for everything!

I did the long walk at Hillman.  No Wood Storks.  At "least" I saw some skippers.

At one point, I came across a Great Horned Owl!

After this walk, I decided to check out the west side of Point Pelee.  Unfortunately, I did not find anything note.  I had to try anyway!

Carolina Grasshopper

Later in the afternoon, I checked out the garden at home.  A Common Checkered-Skipper was present.

Also saw another Hidalgo Mason Wasp.

Sunday it was down to Rondeau for lack of anything else to do.  I walked out marsh trail, but only went so far.  There were a few birds to look at along the way.  

However, a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and we got rained on for a little while.  This was not in the forecast....all week!

In the afternoon it was nice enough to do a long walk at Reid CA.  It too, was rather quiet for everything.  

Seems to be quite a few Common Buckeyes around, and I encountered at least ten there.

Today, I wanted to check the Sydenham River for odonates.  I arrived at Shetland CA boat launch and found two other ode enthusiasts!  One was Jon Pleizier, with whom I had recently corresponded.

There was not much flying, but we did see the usual suspects, several of which are imperiled in Ontario.  A couple of Flag-tailed Spinylegs were included.

A single Blue-ringed Dancer (imperiled) co-operated nicely.

A couple of Royal River Cruisers (imperiled) were flying, but did not stop.

Common things like Stream Bluet were plentiful, as well as Fragile Forktail and Familiar Bluet.

My goal was to see Dusky Dancer (imperiled) today, but that was not to be at Shetland.  It is getting tough to find it seems.

However, I wanted to visit the boat launch at Florence where I had seen them before.  Upon arrival, it did not take long to find a single Dusky Dancer!  A bit distant though.

Both Rubyspots are here, and at one point I saw one of each, Smoky and American on the same rock. I managed to photograph a Smoky (imperiled).

Jon arrived here as well, and I pointed out the Dusky.

A Powdered Dancer (not imperiled!) was on the same perch at one point.

There was not much at all flying here, but a couple larger odes were flying midriver.  One was a Swift River Cruiser.  May have been Royal here as well.

The other was a clubtail that looked interesting, but it never came close.  I pointed it out to Jon and he managed a photo.  (thanks Jon!).  We were not sure at first, but I suggested Arrow Clubtail, since they are found here.

The photo was good enough to confirm Arrow Clubtail!  Another imperiled species in Ontario.  It is found in a few other places in Ontario, but it is certainly not common.

**photo by Jon Pleizier

I am quite sure I saw this species here years ago, but never got any photos.  It was a highlight for the day's list.

With a bit of time to spare, I headed down to Thamesville.  I just went to the Victoria Road bridge again, as the Tecumseh park was a bit farther, and I did not think I would add anything different.

Smoky Rubyspots were numerous here again.

The only other possibility today was Elusive Clubtail, but that may be for another day.  They can be found at the locations I visited today.  But then, they can be elusive!

         *********************************************************************

In the history corner, the Norman B. Ream was launched in August 1906.  It later sailed as the Kinsman Enterprise and was retired in 1979.  It was sold for use as a grain storage barge at Port Huron, Michigan that year.  Sarniaites may recall seeing it across the river for many years.  

The Port Huron Museum of Arts and History has an excellent marine section, and was given the rights to salvage the interior of the pilot house.  In 1982, my father and I helped in this regard.  It was an interesting experience!

Canada Day Detours

Not sure what to do on the holiday Wednesday, I ended up going to Joany's Woods which is along the Ausable River just in Middlesex County.  I usually get there at least once a year in June or so.  It is a large property owned by Thames Talbot Land Trust and has a good selection of wildlife to seek out.
I spent the better part of three hours there walking the trails.
A good variety of birds are here, some being at the south part of their breeding range.

I usually come across Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but not on this outing.
Blue-winged Warbler is rather plentiful here in the breeding season.

Blue-winged Warbler on Tamarack

I came across four of five of these on this walk.

Golden-crowned Kinglet is at the south part of its breeding range and I came across one of those.  A scarce species in the south anymore is Ruffed Grouse of which I flushed one.

Eastern Towhees are common here, and I actually tripped the eBird filter tallying them!

Joany's is also good for leps and odes.  I saw my FOY Northern Pearly-Eye here.

Great-spangled Fritillary

A number of years ago, Variegated Fritillary managed to breed here in numbers, but I have not seen one in a long time.

Regarding odonates, the Ausable River skirts the property for a long distance, so we can see many types.  The river's edge is rather inaccessible due to the steep bank and vegetation, so viewing is limited.  I did see a few Swift River Cruisers and clubtails (likely Midland).  Actually there were not many odes to see.  There were lots of common things like Widow Skimmer and Common Whitetail and Blue Dasher.

A number of dancers and damsels were along the trail.

Violet Dancer

teneral ??

Near the end of my walk, I noticed a large dark dragonfly I recognized as an emerald.  It ended up being very co-operative and it appeared to be Mocha Emerald.  The Mocha was not known in Ontario until recent times but has shown up in many locales.  I am not sure if it has been recorded at Joany's before, but it was a nice surprise.   Not need to "net" this one!

I actually had the Mocha on my mind since Bill Lamond identified one at Reid CA on Sunday.  I was going to look for them closer to home, but that never happened!
I have actually seen Mocha in Middlesex before. While on the Skunk's Misery butterfly count a number of years ago, we came across some on Watterworth Road near Argyll.

It was getting hot, so I made a beeline for spots closer to home that I wanted to check.  I knew the heat would be a factor and perhaps it was as things got quiet by noon.
I did stop by Florence, but the river was once again running high.  I did see some Midland Clubtails, Swift River Cruiser and a number of dancers and bluets.

American Rubyspot

I stopped at Reid CA first.  Not much was flying due to the heat, but some hairstreaks were out.  I did find two Northern Oaks.

A FOY Striped Hairstreak appeared, but I was on a bad angle.

We also get Edwards', Hickory and Coral there, but I have not seen any yet.  Coral is quite scarce.

I was going to walk back along the river, but the mosquitoes were unbearable!  I checked "area 2" where Duke's Skippers have been, but there will not be any this year.  The spot is so flooded there are no sedges!

I then went up to W. Darcy McKeough CA to look for odes.  Hardly any, which I attribute to the heat.
While walking along the river, I spotted a small fish at the surface.  It looked unique and I thought it to be one of the rare ones.  Turned out to be a Black-striped Top Minnow which is imperiled in Canada.  First one I have seen!

There are a number of rare littlie fishies in the Sydenham if one wants to get looking!

Also along the river was a Bronze Copper.

Turning back the clock, when I was up at Hungry Hollow along the Ausable River, I photographed a number of dragonflies.  One had me a bit stumped, but further analysis on the field marks seemed to fit Green-faced Clubtail.  I saw two or three of them.

It is not much to look at really, but it is actually fairly rare in Ontario.  It can be widespread, but perhaps is often overlooked.  They characteristically perch on rocks out on the river, which is what I saw.
Just prior to that, James Holdsworth photographed one at Rock Glen, a species he had never seen before apparently.  That is just downstream from Hungry Hollow.
Apparently my sighting is a first for Middlesex County.

With the heat forecast this weekend, it is hard to say what I will come across......

Cruising and Dancing on Civic Holiday

Monday I was bound and determined to see some odonates (dragonflies and damselflies), so I did quite a bit of driving.
As I always am an early riser, I first headed to Forest Lagoons before the odes were awake.  Every day is different and one never knows what will show up, so it is always worth a visit.
Unfortunately there were fewer shorebirds than last week and nothing new.  Now that we are in the "weekdays" something of interest will likely show!

A pair of American Wigeon has been there for some time, and Northern Shoveler nested there, along with Common Gallinule and Sora.

There were lots of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, but no Baird's as of yet.

Marsh Wrens nested there this summer.

The single male Ruddy Duck looked lonesome in the early morning sun.

After a good look there, I headed towards the Ausable River at the Sylvan bridge.  I knew that Swift River Cruisers were there and that was my target.  Although I have likely seen them before, I never really looked for them.
I had spent some time at Joany's Woods, which is right "next door" last week, but was disappointed in what I did not see.  The river bank in this area is very steep, and mostly a vertical drop in many places an difficult to access.  I managed to get to the river's edge without breaking my neck.

Soon after arrival, I spotted a couple of Swift River Cruisers going back and forth.  Of course, they never stopped, true to their nature, but after doing some camera adjustments (and some quick action)  I managed to get a "flight' photo of a couple.

Another on my target list this day was American Rubyspot.  I got a bonus here, as what I assume was a teneral one, was perched fairly close.  I was going to visit a place later on where I was guaranteed rubyspot.

I had planned to visit a friend in early afternoon, so there was still lots of time.  I went down to Florence, at the C-K/Lambton border where the Sydenham crosses Lambton Line.  Here is a well-known spot for odes.  The river is swift here and has some ripples due to rocks.

I first looked for American Rubyspots, of which I found many.

While there, I noticed some large dark dragons cruising the river.  More Swift River Cruisers!  I did not really expect them here, so in retrospect, I did not need to go to Sylvan.  However, the habitat is perfect for them here.

There were other dragonflies, one of which I think was an Arrow Clubtail, uncommon in these parts.  It is known at this location.  I did not get a photo, of course.

There were many dancers and damsels here.  One looked rather attractive, so I photographed it.

Later at home, I suspected it was Dusky Dancer, which is uncommon in Ontario and Canada and listed as imperiled.  Today it was confirmed.

Blue-fronted Dancer was here among others.

The ruby-spots also perched on an abundant plant here called Lizard's-Tail, which is described in Naturenuggets as rather uncommon. Abundant here, it can be seen in the background where I photographed a teneral rubyspot perched on a log.

In the afternoon I toured a private property near Brigden where we found Dukes' Skippers last year (a new location for Lambton).  This year, none were found!  Hopefully they reappear next year.

While there, we looked at a Honey Locust tree.  I never realized they has such large thorns on the trunk!