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......

Saturday Post-May 20

I headed down to Rondeau Park this morning.  Usually on the holiday weekend there are lots of birds around and good variety.  Today was no exception.

Several FOY birds were listed since my last visit last Sunday.  Alder Flycatchers are numerous by this date, and several were singing along south point trail this morning.  A couple of Acadian Flycatchers are around in some usual haunts.
Olive-sided Flycatchers, one of my favourite, were reported but they eluded me today.

Tennessee Warblers were plentiful today, most being identified by their loud and quick song.
Some Mourning Warblers were around, including this one on south point trail.

Wilson's Warblers and Canada Warblers were singing in the low shrubbery as they always do.

Sometimes difficult to get a decent photo!

Lots of Semipalmated Plovers are around at this time.

Cedar Waxwings are plentiful at this time.

This time of year, I always look for Showy Orchis in the park.  I found one plant in bloom.

By noon, I was ready to leave and head over to Hillman Marsh shorebird cell.  Yesterday was a good day there, but of course today was not quite as good.  There were lots of shorebirds of the common kind and they kept leaving the hour I was there!  Nothing new came in.  The White-rumped Sandpiper was still present from yesterday and about 20 Short-billed Dowitchers were nice to watch.

On the way home, I stopped at Wheatley Harbour (beach) and there were lots of shorebirds scurrying along the the shoreline.

While there, a flock of about 30 Whimbrel circled about then headed on east.  I think this was the flock I saw flying while I was on Mersea Rd. 21 about ten minutes earlier.

Shorebirds included a large number of Dunlin and Ruddy Turnstones.

Some Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers were mixed in as well.

Two or three Sanderling were among them.

Some gulls were on the beach as well.

Lesser Black-backed

Sunday will see some rain, but at least there will be a southerly wind, so perhaps some new birds will arrive.

End of May Sightings

Saturday I went down to Rondeau Park to see what migrant or resident birds were kicking around. Indeed, the number of warblers has dropped sharply, but some are still passing through.  Flycatchers were plentiful, and breeding birds are now setting up territories or already nesting.

Black-billed Cuckoo

The first interesting bird was a resident rarity, the White-winged Dove.  Things have become desperate as it finally found its reflection in the sun-roof of a car!  As well, it has resorted to placing assorted sticks on the roof.

photo taken in poor early morning light

If only one of the opposite sex has arrived, we would likely have a nesting record!




During the course of the morning, I found only a single Mourning Warbler, which was surprising.  A few Blackpolls were scattered around, and out marsh trail a Magnolia Warbler and a couple of Wilson's were found.


Marsh trail seemed the busiest with countless Yellow Warblers, and many Willow and Alder Flycatchers.



For some reason, I walked all the way to Long Pond before lunch.  That coupled with lack of sleep the previous night left me rather tired!
This Mink was not too worried of my presence.

Acadian Flycatcher arrived on territory this week at Rondeau Park.

Today, Sunday, I decided on a change of pace and headed up to Skunk's Misery (Mosa Forest).  There was an OFO outing led by Gavin Platt scheduled, so it was an opportunity to join in.  It turned out to be quite a pleasant day as the weather was good, mosquitoes were not as thick as usual, and target birds were found rather quickly.
Before arriving at the meeting site, I took a quick tour through the Misery on a couple of roads.  I found a singing Cerulean Warbler on Dogwood Road, so this ended up being our starting point.

In fact, there were two singing Cerulean Warblers, but trying to take photos in the thick forest was a challenge.

Also at this location was a co-operative Hooded Warbler.  They are quite common in the Mosa Forest and it is no problem finding them.

Blue-winged Warblers are scattered throughout.

However, one has to look at them closely.  We found one that sang a Blue-winged song and looked much like it, but it was obviously a hybrid with the thicker black through eye and thick yellowish wingbars.

Nearby we found an Acadian Flycatcher on territory.

Watching the Acadian

Chestnut-sided Warblers are common in certain locations.

At one point a hidden Common Yellowthroat was singing......oops.....make that a Mourning Warbler! This Mourning Warbler was constantly singing a perfect Common Yellowthroat song.  Goes to show you sometimes need to see a bird to ID it!  No explanation for this, but these things do happen.

I once remember hearing what I thought was a Kentucky Warbler at Point Pelee Tip.  Turned out to be a Mourning Warbler.
There are apparently records of hybridization of Mourning Warbler with Common Yellowthroat, so whether this has a bearing, I do not know.

Yellow-billed Cuckoos were encountered occasionally during the outing.

Missing a tail feather!

With the recent very warm weather, we are now seeing a good variety of butterflies.  In the last few days I have seen several first-of-year butterflies.
The first Common Ringlets were seen on Friday.

Common Ringlet

Skippers are finally coming out.  Today I saw the first Peck's and Hobomok Skippers.

Juvenal's Duskywing

Silver-spotted Skipper