Bog Visit and a Hairstreak Holds On

 Today was one of the finer weather days we have had under clear skies and decent temps.  I had the urge to go to the Sifton Bog in London!  It was known by a number of names in the distant past, and more recently the Byron Bog as it was within the village of Byron.

The bog is one of the most southerly acidic bogs in Canada, very unique for our area.  It was a basically a depression left after the last ice age that never drained.

It harbours some rare plants including carnivoris-type plants typcially found in bogs farther north.  Trees include Black Spruce and Tamarack.  As well, some decent insects are found there including the Spatterdock Darner and Bog Copper.

My main goal today was to see the Bog Copper and other insects.  Although I have seen them before, it was time for a refresher!

Right away, I found a Bog Copper. An attractive insect indeed.

There were not many odonates, but perhaps I was a bit early in the day.  Some sedge sprites were just off the viewing platform, but very difficult to try and photograph.

One spreadwing appeared to be an Emerald.

Dragonflies included Twelve-spotted Skimmers, Blue Dashers and Dot-tailed Whitefaces.

I saw no sign of the rare Spatterdock Darner, like in my previous visit a few years ago.

Some plants included the attractive Tuberous Grasspink.

On the pond was the Watershield.

On the way home, I stopped by Wardsville Woods since it was basically not far off the route home.  Hardly any odonates!  Very disappointing.  I did see a couple of smallish clubtails flying around, but they were out of reach and never landed.  I suspect they were Riverine Clubtails!

Yesterday I stopped by Reid Conservation Lands early in the morning not expecting to see much.  Indeed there was not much, but I did see my first hairstreaks of season.  The very first one was a Northern Oak!

Thankfully it stayed long enough to get a decent photograph.  The left side has big chunk out of a key area on the wing, so I only took photos of its right profile!

The species has declined significantly over the years, but hopefully it holds on at Reid.  I only saw one in 2024, and none in 2023.  It was a relief to see this yesterday.

A couple of Banded Hairstreaks were seen as well, but too active to photograph!

A Few Insects Amid More Rain!

 Not much in the way of subject matter here lately, as a hot summer begins.  Of course, I have been looking for insects lately when the opportunity arises. We are getting way too much rain again, but hopefully it is not like last year when we were essentially flooded until mid July.  

Wednesday, the Wallaceburg area got hammered with rain, and some areas are still flooded today.  It was certainly not in the forecast!  One cannot plan ahead with regards to weather since the forecasts are essentially useless.

Last Tuesday, I toured south Chatham-Kent and ended up at Clear Creek at one point.  As per usual, I checked out the old quarry.  I am guessing the unseasonably cold May weather did things in, as there was hardly anything in the way of odonates.

I did see a few Azure Bluets, as well as Violet Dancers.

I did not photograph any Azure Bluets since nobody seems to like them on iNaturalist!

A different on, not too often noticed, was a Sedge Sprite.

Calico Pennants are usually plentiful here, but only a couple this day.

Very few butterflies, but this Peck's Skipper briefly posed somewhere along the way.

Earlier, I decided to walk a couple of sections of the old railway line, which is now the CASO trail system.  First one was from Scane Road to Shewburg Road, then farther east near Highgate from Mazan to Kenneserie Roads.  Can be interesting at times.

Wednesday morning I spent some time in the Port Lambton area looking for things to add to the atlas data.  I cannot seem to improve in what I already have!  But, one has to look.

Thursday morning I went for a walk at Rondeau, for lack of anything else to do. There were actually quite a few butterflies along south point trail.  Here are some photos:

Little Wood Satyr

Hobomok Skipper

Spicebush Swallowtail

And an attractive spreadwing:

Emerald Spreadwing

Nearby was a fresh Black Saddlebags.

Friday I went for a walk at Reid Conservation Lands, as they call it now.  I saw my first Appalachian Browns of the year.

As well, a Halloween Pennant was along the main trail.

Saturday afternoon, I managed to get out for a short walk at Reid later in the afternoon.  Not much to see!  However, this insect was one I never photographed before.

Black-tailed Laphria

It is a bee mimic robber fly.

Today, I went for an early walk at Hillman marsh.  One cannot use the main dyke anymore, so I went around the shorebird cell.  Lots of insects, but little variety.

Of note, there has been an explosion of Cabbage White lately.  Hillman was no exception, where I estimate about 400 in my short time there.

Some odes along the way among the hundreds of Blue Dashers, included these:

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Eastern Pondhawk

Slender Spreadwing

By the time I was done, I decided to head home as it was going to get unbearably hot!

Wood Lily at Rondeau

Rondeau Beach Walk and Some Nice Odes!

 Yesterday was calm and clear, so a walk out Rondeau's south beach was in order.  There were very few migrant passerines along the way, but there were lots of shorebirds out south beach.

Shorebirds were of the common and expected type, but I was hoping for a Red Knot or two.  Red Knots are difficult to come by anymore, unlike they were back in the 1990's.  There is still hope, but one will have to look towards fall migration soon!

Ruddy Turnstones seemed to be the most common, along with Dunlin.  This turnstone was keeping an eye to the sky.

Numerous gulls were out there, and four immature Little Gulls were the highlight.

Lots of Bonaparte's Gulls to sort through.

Good time for a Laughing Gull, but no dice so far.  I missed that one last year as well.

Of course, I kept an eye out for mussels.  Included was this Deertoe, bleached and worn as most are along here.

Speaking of mussels, recently I got a mention on iNaturalist about the range expansion of Lilliput.  As readers of this blog may recall, earlier this spring I found a new site for them at Reid CA, then I found a couple more up at Ausable River Cut CA.

Here is the quote from Sam Taylor on iNaturalist:

Lilliput Range Expansion Through iNat

Whereas some of our river mussels are charismatic (to a mussel enthusiast) with large sizes, dramatic colours and patterns, and interesting textures, the Lilliput (Toxolasma parvum) may be about as drab and inconspicuous as they come.

It's a small mussel often not much larger than a thumb with a plain brown, cloth-like exterior. While most mussels prefer running water and a mix of sand, cobble, and gravel substrate, the Lilliput is perfectly content in warm muddy backwaters - and even excels there! Because of their unassuming appearance and preference for mucky habitats, they're often missed in conventional mussel surveys.

The difficulty in detecting this species has led to uncertainty about its population status, prompting its assessment as Endangered federally, and Threatened in Ontario. Currently, populations are known in Ontario in the following locations.
In Lake St. Clair Watersheds:
-Canard River
-Ruscom River
-Belle River
-Sydenham River
In Lake Erie Watersheds:
-Grand River
-Thames River (with new occurrences detected in 2022),
-Pelee Island
-Welland River
-Lake Erie proper
In Lake Ontario Watersheds:
-Hamilton Harbour
-Jordan Harbour

That said, in December of last year I was fortunate to find a tiny weathered valve of a Lilliput in Port Franks of the Ausable River. This would represent a significant range expansion into the Canadian side of Lake Huron! Though with only a single weathered valve there are always doubts.. could this be a one-off? is the identification correct? But then in April 2024, @burgbirder discovered two more Lilliput valves from the same location! This provided additional confidence in the first valve and seems to suggest there is indeed a population currently within the Ausable River. Although it's unknown if this population has been introduced (Lilliput are fantastic colonizers) or always present and just undetected, it certainly warrants future investigations into Lake Huron-draining watersheds.

Without iNat, this expansion certainly wouldn't have been possible. So big thanks to @burgirder and of course many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the Canaiad project thus far. Some may remember me reaching out in 2022 for information regarding Lilliput observations; the Canaiad project was happy to provide Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) with Lilliput coordinates for the reassessment of the species currently underway. I look forward to seeing what other discoveries can be made.

In the future, I hope to write more journal posts highlighting interesting finds, and maybe bring some attention to previous ones as well.

Happy musseling,
Sam

Today, Saturday, we had some rain in the morning, so I did little birding.

This afternoon, I suddenly had the urge to check out Wardsville Woods.  

Some good odonates are starting to show, and I was not disappointed.

Lots of Midland Clubtails were out and about.

Early on, I caught sight of an ode I was hoping for.  A Cobra Clubtail, which is a rarity around here!

Its massive club is a good give-away.

Next was a decent damsel which I have not seen many of, and certainly not one at Wardsville.  This little Sedge Sprite caught my eye.

Around the back pond, some Double-striped Bluets were doing their thing.  Another somewhat rare species.

Up the hill at the back, I saw another single.

There were several common odes as well, but this Four-spotted Skimmer was a first for me at Wardsville apparently.

I made several rounds in key areas, and was on my last pass when a familiar large dragon caught my eye.  An Arrowhead Spiketail!

There may have been two, but this is another rarity in our parts.  I discovered this species as well as Twin-spotted Spiketail at Wardsville a few years ago.  First for Middlesex then, apparently.

Another interesting insect was this Green-legged Spur-throat Grasshopper.  Not one I have noticed before, but it certainly has a catchy name.

A first-of-year Peck's Skipper was at the pond.

So, the day was not a washout afterall.

Recent Butterfly Counts

 The annual Rondeau butterfly count was held July 18, a week later than usual due to weather concerns.  We ended up with a decent day weatherwise!  My area is south point trail and south end of Harrison Trail, which I have been doing since the count's inception in 1999.

I was joined by Paul Carter and Lori Clancy as we set out in the dune area along the east edge of the forest.  We looked at anything!

Spring Peeper (in the summer!)

Salt Marsh moth caterpillar

Butterflies were not plentiful, as expected, but certainly much better than the previous year (14 species, lol).  This year I ended up with 19 species.  Average over the years is about 24 species.

Common Sootywing

Appalachian Browns were most plentiful, the most I have ever seen on a count.

Azures were also very plentiful.

Timing is everything and each year is different.

I kept an eye out for birds....of course.  Notable were a couple of adult Little Gulls on the lake.  Their calls got my attention at first.

Some damselflies included these.

Sedge Sprite

Tule Bluet

We saw some skinks as well.  At one point we found a nest.  First time I have actually looked at skink eggs.  I counted nine which makes one wonder how so many eggs come out of a little skink!

I have not heard of the results of the entire count yet.

Yesterday was the Clear Creek butterfly count, ongoing since 2000.  Once again we had good weather, despite the forecast saying otherwise all week.  A little too hot and humid though!

I did the same thing as last year starting at the Clear Creek Provincial Nature Reserve.  I was joined again by Rayfield and Donald Pye, starting at the old quarry.  It is a great place for insects.

Highlight here were the Broad-winged Skippers.  At least nine were counted.

A variety of others were seen.

Great spangled Fritillary

I kept an eye out for dragonflies, especially Comet Darner.  Still no Comet!  Not a lot of dragonflies this year, as I mentioned before.

We next moved to the Bury cemetery trail south of the highway.  We found some other species, including Eastern Comma and Question Mark on the same tree.

A couple of Northern Pearly-eyes were here too.

Our only hairstreaks were a couple of Banded.  Tough to find at this date since they were out much earlier this year.

Around noon, we moved to the Natvik properties.  One can spend a whole day here.

Here I found our only Delaware Skipper.

Skippers in general have been low in numbers this year, something to do with the weather no doubt.

There are several properties and some natural areas planted.  We chose to walk around the big pond at the end of McDonald Line.  The mosquitoes were horrendous though!

We used to spend quite a bit of time on these properties in the earlier years.  I do not remember the trail around this pond, but it was very nice.  We could have spent more time, but were getting exhausted due to the humidity and effort swatting mosquitoes.

It was early afternoon  when we finished this trail, and it was getting much to hot and humid to continue.  We did some driving after that and went home.