Port Franks Birds/Butterflies

I headed in a northerly direction today.  It was a great day weather-wise (the forecast was wrong again!) and a good day for some birds and some butterflies.
I wanted to spend considerable time in the County Forest at Port Franks which is a good place for a wide variety of breeding species.  Particularly, Acadian Flycatchers and Hooded Warblers are common here.

There is a lot of forest habitat and oak savannah in this region which makes it unique.  One can only hit a few spots in any given day.

The County Forest has a network of trails with the access point at the Port Franks Community Centre.  I started out on my trek at 07:15.

I heard one Hooded Warbler early on, but it was a while before I saw/heard another.  I got the impression there were fewer Hooded Warblers here this year.

Soon I heard the first Acadian Flycatcher, then three more in quick succession.  As usual they were in the shaded forest and difficult to see and photograph.

Later on, I encountered three more Acadian Flycatchers easily detected by their loud "peet-suh" call. That made a total of seven for the day in this forest!   I was careful not to count any one twice and even back-tracked to make sure.

One area along the creek was partially open and good for birds.  Some trees had been cut down this year to open up the area.  Here I found a number of birds including a Golden-winged Warbler and a Mourning Warbler.

In the past I have found Cerulean here, but strangely, I never encountered one on this day.
I also saw an American Redstart on a nest.  It was a bit distant to try and photograph though.

Other warblers found were Black-throated Green, Pine, Blackburnian, Black-throated Blue, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, and Blackpoll.  The Blackpoll was the only definite migrant. The Black-throated Blue is at its southerly limit here.  During the atlas survey period, we (with the late Diane Haselmayer) did encounter a couple here during the breeding season.

Other less common breeding birds for this area included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, and Blue-headed Vireo.

Duskywing butterflies are common in this area and several species can be encountered.  I saw a few Juvenal's before I left the forest.

Next stop was Karner Blue Sanctuary just down the road.  I found at least four species of duskywings here, including Juvenal's, Wild Indigo, Dreamy and Sleepy. Possibly Columbine was seen also as these are rather small and dark duskywings similar to Wild Indigo.

Juvenal's

Sleepy

Dreamy and Sleepy can be similar and sometimes difficult to separate.

Sleepy

Dreamy

Lupine was in bloom, sadly a symbol of the extirpated Karner Blue butterfly.

I also checked out L-Lake trail while in the area which is at the upper end of Outer Drive.  This trail was somewhat quiet today, but I did hear another Hooded Warbler.
A Blanding's Turtle was revealing itself on the little lake at the back.

There are other trails to check out, but I was getting tired by noon!

A Visit to Pinery and Port Franks

Saturday morning I ventured up to Pinery and Port Franks.  It was a scorcher and birds went rather quiet early on.
First stop was Cedar Trail.  I was interested in seeing if the Prairie Warblers were still present. I did hear one singing at the end of Cedar Trail extension, but it was well off trail.
Prairie Warblers always used to nest at Pinery, but disappeared many years ago as residents.  I suspect they are nesting again along the first dune.  A couple were seen last year at the end of May near the end of Cedar Trail, but I do not know if they stayed.
Along the way, I heard a Black-throated Green Warbler singing as well as a Black-and-White.  I did manage to get a visual on the latter high in the canopy.

Next trail was the Carolinian Trail near Burley campground.  It is not often I walk this trail.  Last year I had Hooded and Black-throated Green Warblers near the end of June, but none were evident today.

Scene along Carolinian Trail

I also walked Riverside Trail and came up with an Acadian Flycatcher.  I have seen them in the past here on several occasions.
Red-headed Woodpecker lives here. If you are not fast enough with the camera, this is what happens:

Lots of duskywings were still out.

Juvenal's

Chalk-fronted Corporals were common at the pond on Carolinian Trail.

Dot-tailed Whiteface female

Chalk-fronted Corporal female

After checking out Pinery, I moved over to the County Forest at Port Franks.  By this time, birds were rather quiet, but I did come up with several Hooded Warblers and 2 Acadian Flycatchers.  A Cerulean Warbler was also heard.  At this time of year, many of the birds remain unseen!

I also checked out Karner Blue Sanctuary and the only bird of note was an Acadian Flycatcher.  No butterflies, which was very strange!  This place is getting terribly overgrown now.

Calico Pennant female at Karner Blue

While in the Port Franks area, I walked "L" Lake Trail just off Outer Drive.  I have had Magnolia Warbler there at this time of year, but not today.  I did hear another Hooded Warbler though.

By this time, it was getting too hot, and I headed home.  It was supposed to rain today, but as usual the weather forecast was wrong again!  Better hot than rainy!

Red-spotted Purple at Pinery

NOTE:  It seems to take several hours anymore for a new blog post to appear on "My Blog List".  If your click on the old post title, you may actually get the new post!

North Lambton Day

For a change in pace, I headed up to Pinery/Port Franks today.  I had a feeling things would be slow along Lake Erie today and I was right.  Things were slow up at Lake Huron as well, so obviously a mass movement of birds occurred last night under the ideal conditions.
I wanted to check out butterflies anyways, as well as some different birding areas.

I first walked Riverside Trail in Pinery park, which is always the best for variety.  But, things were rather quiet and among the more common birds, I got a Mourning and a couple of Wilson's Warblers.  Often Olive-sided Flycatcher will be singing atop the snags, but not this time.

I then drove around to Cedar Trail.  Prairie Warblers were found on the extension near the dunes last week, but I could not pick out any today.  Prairie Warblers used to nest regularly at Pinery, but things changed and they have not (to my knowledge) in recent years.  We used to get them easily along the dunes of Wilderness Trail.  They could still be around though.
Wilderness Trail had lots of Pine Warblers and Ovenbirds.  These are very common in the park.

During my walks, I found dozens of Juvenal's Duskywings, and a neat little butterfly, Hoary Elfin.  I have little experience with elfins since they fly during a short time in May when we are always down on Lake Erie looking for birds at the same time.

Pinery also has Eastern Pine Elfin and Brown Elfin I do believe.
I probably saw 5 Hoary Elfins today.

Hoary Elfin

Juvenal's Duskywing

A FOY Giant Swallowtail flew by me on Wilderness Trail.

Different dragonflies are now coming out and I saw a few today.

Four-spotted Skimmer

Dot-tailed Whiteface

My next stop was the Karner Blue Sanctuary in Port Franks.  There has been considerable lack of rain this spring, and plants were looking thirsty.

Wild Lupine

The sanctuary is good for duskywings, but other than many Juvenal's and perhaps some Wild Indigo, it did not produce.  Last year I found Sleepy and Dreamy there.

I also walked part of the Lambton Heritage Forest.

It is good for several Hooded Warblers and a few Acadian Flycatchers.  In the past I have had different warblers there in the breeding season, but today, it too was rather quiet.
I came up with at least 4 Hooded Warblers and 2 Acadian Flycatchers today.

"peet-suh!"

The L-Lake Trail on the other side of Outer Drive is one I sometimes check out.  It too had lots of Juvenal's Duskywings.  The first Hobomok Skipper of the season was here...finally.

Sandhill Cranes nest in the area and today they were making much noise!

Looks like a hot week!

Port Franks Duskywings and Dragonflies

Today (Friday) was one of the nicer days and I could only stand working the morning!  I slipped away at noon and headed up to Port Franks.  It is one of the better places in the area to find duskywing butterflies and other things.
First stop was the Karner Blue property with scenic oak savannah and lots of Wild Lupine.

It was loaded with duskywings!  Wild Indigos were the first to be seen.

I also saw Juvenal's, Dreamy and Sleepy.  I hope I ID'd them correctly as I have not seen this many at one time.

Dreamy

Sleepy

Juvenal's

There were also several species of dragonflies.  The most common was female Chalk-fronted Corporal.

This one appeared to be a Hudsonian Whiteface.

Another species had me stumped.  It may not be too unusual, but I need a name!

Dusky Clubtail?

I also walked part of the County Forest near the community centre.

This is always good for Hooded Warblers and Acadian Flycatchers, among other things.  Although it was a quiet time of day, I heard only one Hooded and one Acadian.  Usually I get 4 or 5 Hooded and 3 or 3 Acadian in that walk.  It was surprisingly quiet for other birds as well.
I did spot this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker which breeds in the area.

There were a few more Juvenal's Duskywings there and a couple more common species of dragonflies.

A couple of Giant and Tiger Swallowtails were flying.