Latest Travels: Some Birds, Low Water, Fiery Skipper

 Another week has passed already!  Some fine weather, but this week looks more autumn-like with cool temps and rain.

Making my rounds, I stopped by W. Darcy McKeough CA on Monday.  

This Palm Warbler was soaking up some early morning sun.

Water level very low due to the lack of rain the past few months.  May be the lowest I have seen it there.

Among some Killdeer, a Least Sandpiper was on the mudflat.

Purple Finches seem to be everywhere now.  A few Pine Siskins here and there.  We will see if other finches show up this fall!

I visited Rondeau on Wednesday.  Not much of note.

Northern Parula

I walked back the beach off south point trail.  Lots of beach showing now.

Sanderling

On the way out, I stopped at Keith McLean C. L.  There were a lot of birds there, so I spent quite a bit of time.  I did catch a glimpse of a Nelson's Sparrow.  As usual, it did not stay up long enough for a photo!

As usual, been to Mitchell's Bay a couple of times.

Thursday was very calm.  It was nice looking onto Lake St. Clair even though there was not much activity.

Lots of blackbirds moving around.  One tree had three male Yellow-headed Blackbirds!

 I have seen quite a few this fall.

Friday I went up to Dow Wetlands.  It was not as birdy as I had hoped.  Near the end of the walk close to the parking lot, a couple of Eastern Bluebirds were flying around.  Was not able to make one into a Mountain....

Today, I had the urge to go to Rondeau Park and start with a lakewatch.  It was the first good south wind for a lakewatch.  However, not much was moving!  Lake watching has been the pits so far this fall.

Checked out south point trail (east) afterwards, then went to McLean's.  Lots of sparrows there, but not much else.  It was devoid of shorebirds, except for four Dunlin which took off as soon as I approached.

It was quite warm today, so some butterflies were out.  Caught sight of this Fiery Skipper at McLean's.  I am sure it will be the last one for this year!

The change in weather this coming week should stir things up.  We sure need some rain!

More Rambling...What Else?

 Things have been fairly boring lately, not to mention depressing weather as I write this (very cold and snowing!  However, I am not one to stay in.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk at Reid CA before the weather deteriorated.  There were few birds, but I was looking more for butterflies and plants.  (only brought the point and shoot camera).

Wet area in the old oxbow

Highlight was another Compton Tortoiseshell.

There were numerous Eastern Commas.

One anglewing turned out to be a Question Mark, fairly early.  Usually we see the dark form, but this one was light which possibly suggests it overwintered.

distant photo

A few Mourning Cloaks were flying.

I did find the Twinleaf plants where I had them last year.  Easy to walk by it seems!  I think it is a neat plant.

Today was very cool, but I got out to McKeough before the weather deteriorated even more.  I walked through some areas I will be checking thoroughly for the bird atlas.

There is Twinleaf here too!

The area also has an old oxbow.  Will be checking this further into the breeding season.

I drove around a bit afterwards, especially along Smith Line which is the north boundary of my atlas square.  Good thing there is a bridge over the Sydenham.  This is what is used to be like (before my time, of course).

1938

Wandering Through the Woods

More local nature walks have been on the agenda lately.  I did get to Rondeau on Friday, but there was little in the way of migrants.  Not even a Yellow-rumped Warbler!  Things have been slow this spring compared to some of the past years.  Nothing had changed by the reports from today as well.

I have spent quite a bit of time at Reid Conservation Area in south Lambton.  Not the greatest place for birds (better for butterflies!), but I think it is a real treasure.  I simply love walking through the woods.

There are lots of plants and large trees to sort through.  At least six species of oaks are within, including Chinquapin.

Spring wildflowers and plants are slowly popping up.  Wild Canadian Ginger is very abundant at Reid.

I looked at several other plants.

Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Bloodroot

Dutchman's Breeches

Bladdernut

Early Blue Cohosh

I looked for the Twinleaf plants, but could not find them today.

I usually spend well over two hours in the conservation area walking through a variety of habitats.

The old oxbow makes for some interesting landscape.  There are two spots where it drains out to the Sydenham at the south end.  Here is the one.

Today I walked to the other, more southerly outlet, which I had never actually been to.  Last year it would have been impossible with the high water.  Will have to check this spot later in June!

I was also at the north end of the oxbow again this morning.  This is probably the highest point of land on the property.

(old oxbow is the right of the hill)

Near the north end of the old oxbow is a nice little wet area.

Today's walk did not find many  birds.  Warblers included only about four Yellow-rumped and a Pine.  Even other areas like Rondeau and Pelee have seen little.  Seems I saw more warblers than other birders at those locations today!

Other stops today included McKeough and Peers.  At McKeough, I walked through the area where we planted some trees back in the early 1990's!  Most did not survive, but some were still there.

Although a bit cool, today's weather was nice, so the walk was enjoyable.

A Golden Day

 Wednesday was one of the nicest days we have had in over two months with clear skies and a rarely-seen object call a sun.  It was a day one could not resist to go out for a walk.

I went up to McKeough and Reid conservation areas, only fifteen minutes from home.  As usual, there were not many birds, but it was nice walking through the woods. I thought the highlight was a Great Horned Owl at McKeough, but as I was just pulling away in the car, a raptor caught my eye.

It was a Golden Eagle!

It was certainly not on the radar for the day, but it was a welcome sight as it lazily headed west.  I suspect it was migrating since they are not known to winter around the area.  It was only my second for McKeough (and the area), as I saw one about ten years ago around Christmas time.

Golden Eagles have become increasingly regular in winter in our area.  One of the better spots to see wintering Golden Eagles is north of Newbury around the Middlesex/Lambton border.  It is a popular spot for birders to check.

With spirits lifted, I headed down the road to Reid CA.  There are never many birds here, but always good for a walk through the woods.

The pair of Pileated Woodpeckers made their presence known, but they never pose for photos.  It is the only place close to Wallaceburg to get this species, other than the Public Bush on Walpole Island.

Today, I went for a long walk at Rondeau Park, but it was quite windy and cold, so few birds.  At least the sun was out for a second day in a row!  Cannot remember when that happened last.  It was just a tease though, as the afternoon went cloudy.

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......