"Some" Insects, Portly Shorebirds, and "Jack"

 Monday was warm enough for a walk at Reid CA.   This month has just been too cold for the most part with continuous northerly winds, so not much insect life.  The whole month has been the pits for weather!

Odonates included Four-spotted Skimmers which were quite numerous.

A few butterflies included these:

Monarch

Silver-spotted Skipper

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Eastern Giant Swallowtails

And an Asteroid Moth.  Not much to look at, but the caterpillar is fairly attractive.

Tuesday I was in the mood for the long walk out Rondeau's south beach.  Winds were fairly light, but still out of the east (what's new?).

There were a few migrants along the trail.  The highlight was a singing Worm-eating Warbler at one point.  I never got much of a view, but it was singing quite a bit.  Lighting was horrible anyway under cloudy skies.

The walk out south beach started off nicely, with three Red Knots not too far out among other shorebirds.  Always a treat to see these portly shorebirds as they are scarce anymore.

There were in fact lots of shorebirds all along.  The knots and others flushed to way out south beach, and when I got there, a fourth Red Knot had joined them.

Even some Whimbrel were out there.  Two were on the beach for some time, but I did see a flock of about 18 come in as well.

A good variety of shorebirds was out there, including this White-rumped Sandpiper.

Others:

Sanderling

Black-bellied Plover

Dunlin

After that long walk, I checked out a bit of the north end of Harrison trail past pony barn.  Then I was done.  Getting too old for those long walks!

Today was a dismal day weatherwise with off and on drizzle.  I did get a fairly long walk in at Reid CA early before the weather turned really gloomy.  Too early and cool for many insects, but I did get this Eastern Calligrapher.

A couple of passerines were in the yard this afternoon.  Both a female Magnolia Warbler and a Blackburnian Warbler took advantage of the facilities.

Probably the drabbest Magnolia Warbler I have ever seen!

In the history department on this date,  the small freighter Jack was torpedoed in 1942 by U-155 about 100 miles southwest of Haiti.  37 lives lost out of 63.  The vessel was built at Lorain, Ohio in 1919.

It was a visitor to Wallaceburg in 1925, as shown here at the sugar factory.

There were several vessels in the "poker fleet" such as Ace, King, Ten, Nine that visited Wallaceburg on occasion.

Things With Wings and Ode to Joy

We have had some good weather recently, despite some heavy rains.  I thought it was finally going to be a drier year, but NOT!  Boots have been a necessity for walks in the woods this week.

It has been an intersting spring.  I have found that there are fewer birds in most locations than in the past.  Butterflies have been scarce as well, perhaps due to the cold spring.  Odonates have done well though!

Late Thursday, I went for a walk at Reid CA.  Still lots of dragonflies, and as I mentioned before, Racket-tailed Emeralds and Four-spotted Skimmers are in big numbers this year.

Friday, I decided to do some bird records for the atlas.  I did not find anything spectacular, but a Mourning Warbler at Port Lambton was a decent find for the area.

Late morning I got the urge to go to Mitchell's Bay south shore nature trail. Surprises can be had there on occasion!  Nothing unusual, but some turtles were putting themselves on the map.  

Map Turtles

There were oodles of them!

A nice Black-crowned Night-Heron was in the same ditch.

Halloween Pennant

The afternoon was so nice, I could not pass up a long walk at Reid CA.  The woods were rather quiet (again!).  

Still lots of Racket-tailed Emeralds and Four-spotted Skimmers.  I have never seen so many as in this year.  

A couple of Juvenal's Duskywings were still hanging around.

A Grey Comma was nearby.

On the road I found a Fox Snake. Not often I seen them anymore.  This is one I remember when I was kid, where we found lots of them.  Unfortunately, many of them were roadkill.

Today, I thought it was a nice time to go to Skunk's Misery.  I first walked Sitler Woods, a Thames Talbot Land Trust property recently acquired. 

Acadian Flycatchers have alway been at this location, and today was no exception.  They remained unseen though!

I toured the rest of the Misery for the next two hours.  Hooded Warblers do not seem to be as numerous as in the past.  I did find two or three Cerulean Warblers singing away.

An American Woodcock got in my way at one point.

Some odes along the way:

female Twelve-spotted Skimmer

male

Leps were few and far between.

Eight-spotted Forester moth

Not far away, Wardsville Woods was my next stop.  I have always liked this place.  It can be good for leps and odes.  Again, not many butterfllies, but some odes were flying.

A year ago, I had a large dragonfly go past me that I was certain a Twin-spotted Spiketail.  It got away and I never saw it again.  Today, I went to the spot, and immediately saw a suspicious ode perched.  I knew it had to be what I was looking for, and as I got closer, there was my target!  Just like it was waiting for me!

Twin-spotted Spiketails are certainly rare in the area, but I do not know the status of them in Middlesex.  It was a first for me!

During my stay, I saw a couple others flying around.  One for sure was a Twin-spotted, but the last one I took a photo. It was a side view, and not thinking, I assumed it was a Twin-spotted.

I got home and brought it up on the computer screen, and duh!, it looked like an Arrowhead Spiketail.  This is even rarer!

This species is uncommon to rare in Ontario, and to see one this far south in Ontario is unique.  I have seen the Arrowhead at Sydenham River Nature Reserve the last couple of years where they are known.

It was not even on my radar today, but certainly an excellent find for Middlesex.

Perhaps next weekend I will seen some Arrowhead Spiketails at SRNR when we do an ode survey......

Ode Explode and Ruffin' it around Pelee

 This week dragonflies (odes!) came out in force, starting on Tuesday.  Although I did not have much time to look around, there were swarms on the way home from work.

After a quick supper, I went up to Reid CA to have a bit of a look along the trail.  Hundreds of dragonflies were patrolling.  There were lots of Common Baskettails, Dot-tailed Whiteface, Four-spotted Skimmers and Racket-tailed Emeralds.

I was not on my game with the camera, but I did take a few photos.

Four-spotted Skimmer

I have actually never seen so many of the skimmers and emeralds there!  

Racket-tailed Emerald

Dot-tailed Whiteface (F)

Wednesday at work (marina), we were working outside and I noticed a huge number of odes.  A large number of them were Racket-tailed Emeralds!  Actually, I had never seen any of this species there before, or at least noticed any.

I did not have an insect net there, but a fine-meshed fish net did OK to check some of them out!

👽

Late Wednesday, a pair of Black-billed Cuckoos visited the yard.  Been a long time since I have seen one here!  Cuckoos in general have been scarce so far this year.

😎

Today, I ventured down to Point Pelee.  I like being there in June, especially at the Tip.  American White Pelicans are regular there at this time of year. (Today I saw 15)

Gulls can be good in June as well,  I have found Laughing Gull, Black-headed (twice!) and Franklin's in the past.  Today there was not much, but a first cycle Little Gull has been around for a while.

I was early today, and probably left the park too early as well!  I should have looked for odes later in the morning and afternoon.  I did see a Painted Skimmer at one point.

I was hoping for something weird today such as a Great Blue Skimmer.  I bet some of those are found this year!  I have found one before at Pelee.

I stopped by Hillman shorebird cell on the way towards home.  It is still flooded, thankfully.  Sometimes they have already started draining it by this date.

A female Ruff was found by Brandon Holden a couple of days ago, and it was still present.

I wanted to see it, as it has been a long time since I have seen a Ruff.  I have seen lots in the past, including two self-found birds.

Lots of Semi-palmated Sandpipers were present among other common creatures, as well as a tardy Lesser Yellowlegs.

👀

As I was home too early (!), I went up to Reid CA this afternoon.  Still lots of odes, including Four-spotted Skimmers coming out the wazoo!  I have never seen so many.

Racket-tailed Emerald

The other species were still in good numbers, plus Common Whitetail, and Twelve-spotted Skimmer.

Very few butterflies, but a couple of Common Ringlets were FOY.

Reid CA is certainly much better for insects than birds!

Maybe tomorrow something out the blue will occur!