Rondeau Butterfly Count July 13

Butterfly hunting got a delayed start this morning at Rondeau due to the rain.  It was one of the rare occasions that a weather forecast was fairly accurate!  Turned out to be a nice day after 11:00 a.m.
While waiting for the rain to completely stop, we took a look out Dog Beach near the SE part of the park.
A couple of years ago weather events created a unique beach formation.  It started as sort of a spit, then it closed in to form a pond.  It is now fenced off in hopes that Fowler's Toads and other wildlife use it. Another smaller pond area (pictured below) is to the north of it where some gulls, terns and shorebirds were hanging out.

A number of gulls and terns were here today.  At one point I picked out three one year old Little Gulls.  A couple took off with one remaining, but I saw another with slightly darker markings behind that one.  Often this time of year Little Gulls start showing up from parts unknown.  I only had the G16 camera today, so they were too distant for a photo.

Just before 11, the skies started clearing and we set out on south point trail.  Lots of Little Wood Satyrs were flying as well as a few others.
We found a couple of Banded Hairstreaks on some milkweed.  Here is one.

By noon, after an hour's worth of effort, we had ten species.  Things got a little better after lunch as we visited the milkweed patch I found yesterday at the old Dillon dump.

Don Pye lost in the weeds!

While fighting mosquitoes, we found a couple more Banded Hairstreaks, lots of Delaware Skippers, Eastern Tailed-Blues, Monarchs and Great Spangled Fritillaries among others.

Great-mangled Fritillary

By 3 p.m. we had enough of the mosquitoes and muggy weather.  We could have visited spots we missed in the morning, but we had 20 species in our section by that time.  A pretty good haul considering the morning weather. Normally we average around 23.

skipper!

I had to retrieve my car at the south point parking lot, so Paul and I headed there.  We checked a patch of Milkweed across the road before leaving.  At one point, Paul yelled out Pipevine Swallowtail!
I managed to get some record photos.

Last time we recorded that species in our section was way back in 2001 when we had two.  Other times it was recorded on the count elsewhere were 2010 and 2012.
An awesome finish to the day!

Brenda Kulon did fairly well with sedge skippers out marsh trail getting the usual Dion, Mulberry-wing, Broad-winged.  To boot, she apparently found a Dukes' Skipper which I think will be a first record for Rondeau!

This the last butterfly count in the general area unless you go to Pelee Island at the first of August.  Apparently, yet again, there is no Point Pelee count due to lack of effort by park naturalists within (LOL!).

Hares to Hairstreaks

European Hare pair along Conc. D Road!

I was a bit undecided as to where to go today.  I did not feel like doing a butterfly count, so I headed down to Point Pelee.  On the way I stopped at Tilbury, but no shorebirds were in except Killdeer.

Dickcissels were singing at Hillman Marsh shorebird cell as I drove by.  There were probably 4 birds there.  The single Dickcissel was along Rd. 19 at Conc. D.  A bunch of gulls were in the field north of Rd. C including an adult type Lesser Black-backed.

This is a singing Dickcissel!

Of interest, while in the park I came across a Tennessee Warbler at the south end of the old maintenance area.  An early fall migrant!  Apparently record-early by one day for Pelee. (thanks Alan).

Hackberry Emperor

Conditions were not too ideal for butterflies in the park, but there were lots to look at.  Hackberry Emperors are out in good numbers.  Off the park orientation parking lot was the best spot with a half dozen Pipevine Swallowtails and other common butterflies.  

I met Bob and Karen Yukich. They had a Horace's Duskywing yesterday near the south end of West Beach Trail.   I had a duskywing down that way which was probably a Wild Indigo as it was small and on Crown Vetch.  Also of note they had a European Skipper in the park--something not usually seen in the park anymore.

Only one Little Yellow today.

While I was talking to Bob at the south end of NWBeach a Common Gray-Hairstreak landed near my feet.  It was very fresh.

I headed home in early afternoon and went up north of Wallaceburg to look for butterflies.  Some FOY included many Wood Nymph, Appalachian Eyed Brown and more hairstreaks.  Also a Delaware Skipper.

Lots of Banded and a few Edwards', one Coral and one Hickory.

Here is an anomaly hairstreak!  If you think about it you can probably name it.  The other side was normal-looking.

Dickcissels to Butterflies

For some reason I wanted to go to Point Pelee today.  Butterflies I guess.  And, yesterday I talked about Dickcissels.  I had some hunches to check out for today and sure enough they panned out.  I checked out a spot along Mersea Rd. 19 where Dickcissels were seen last year.  Sure enough, a male was singing not far from the road at 07:30 this morning.
Just a couple of minute previous to that, I got a text from Steve Charbonneau about a Western Meadowlark near Blenheim.  I called back and told him that I was looking at a Dickcissel and that there are likely some in his area.  Not surprisingly, he later reported 4 of them!
In the park it was a bit of a toss-up where I should start.  I decided to walk part of Woodland then down the road to Sparrow Field.  Just into Woodland I heard the familiar call of an Acadian Flycatcher.  For some reason I always tune right into this species as I found several during the atlas period.  Not sure what it was doing there, but it called many times and I even heard the titititi sound the unmated male makes.

I arrived at Sparrow Field and started looking for butterflies.  Along the beach I checked out the Indian Hemp which is now in bloom already.  Several butterflies were there.  Something caught my eye just in from the edge. What is it?  I knew it was something good and set chase.  Zebra Swallowtail!!  It was on the move but I managed to get a few good photos.  Believe it or not, I have never seen this species before and it was something I always wanted to see.  Finally it happened.  It was a fresh-looking one too.

I saw Steve Pike on his bike along the road earlier, but my phone would not co-operate so I had to tell him later.  I met Chris Law and Steve later near the Tip. We walked up West Beach Trail.  Notable was a worn Pipevine Swallowtail.  Only one Little Yellow.  Not many butterflies, but quite a few Giant Swallowtails.

We separated and I checked out some other spots to no avail.  Up at the beach off the Old Administration parking lot, there were tons of butterflies on the Indian Hemp.  Perhaps 40 Common Buckeye, 20 Snout, etc.

Of note, I saw a nice Variegated Fritillary and a flyby of a worn Pipevine Swallowtail.

Pipevines were not conducive to photographing today.
I also checked south of NW Beach parking lot and noted two more flyby of Pipevine Swallowtail.

Outside the park I met up with Steve and Chris at the Dickcissel spot and we had good looks at the singing male along Rd. 19.
The heat and sun was getting to me so I bypassed Hillman Marsh and went to the spot east of Wheatley beside Camper's Cove Road.  Sure enough, perhaps 3 males were singing in this field.  The is the same spot Ken Burrell reported on a year ago.

I slid over to the Blenheim area in hopes of coming across the Western Meadowlark or Dickcissels there, but to no avail.  Many fields have already been cut, so you can imagine the destroyed Bobolink nests, etc.  As well, it lessened the chance of finding prairie species.

At Blenheim Lagoons there were several dragonfly species.    I think this is a Red-mantled Saddlebags.  I have seen them there before anyways.

Clear Creek butterfly count

The 2008 Clear Creek butterfly count was held on July 19, a week later than usual. This count was started by Mathis Natvik in 2000 and straddles the Chatham-Kent/ Elgin border. There are some interesting habitats, including abandoned railways that are excellent for butterflies.

This year we achieved 48 species. The average over the years is 45, with a high of 50 in both 2003 and 2005. A new addition for this year was a Pipevine Swallowtail. Many records were eclipsed or smashed this year. Sulphurs were in full force today, with Clouded setting a new high. Orange Sulphur broke the previous record of 427 last year with a new high of 637.

There were 8 Hickory Hairstreaks this year, a new high. Last year there was only one recorded by my party which was a first for the count. All were worn. Eastern Tailed-Blue was at 82, smashing the previous high of 24 from last year. The biggest jump was Summer Azure at 1222. The previous high was only 61 in 2001!

Our party spotted the only Snout of the day along the old railway near Highgate.

Eastern Commas were plentiful, with a tally of 17, and two Gray Commas were seen today. There was only one other Gray Comma ever in 2006.

Painted Lady seemed to be everywhere, and 85 were recorded today. The previous high was 51 in 2001.

In the skipper family, Silver-spotted was all around with 166 in total. The previous high was 134 in 2003. Twelve species of skippers were tallied in total, including 5 Long Dash, a new high.