As the summer rolls on, I continue go somewhere locally every day. Birds are migrating through and I have seen a few different warblers recently. There has not been much variety in insects, but here a few recent finds. Some butterflies are doing well such as Eastern Tailed Blue and Northern Crescent. There was an explosion of crescents this past week!
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| Common Ringlet |
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| Crocus Geometer Moth |
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| Eastern Tailed Blue trio |
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| Peck's Skipper |
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| katydid species |
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| skipper with a silver spot |
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| Comma of the east |
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| Eastern version of tailed-blue |
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| Common Whitetail |
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| Dog Day Cicada exoskeleton |
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| Living cicada, probably Linne's |
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| American Pelecinid Wasp |
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| Eastern Pondhawk (female) |
Yesterday, I went to Mitchell's Bay first thing and walked both the south nature trail and the north nature trail. I rarely get to the north version for various reasons. The north side is different, with lots of open marsh there.
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| Looking towards St. Anne's Island |
This time of year, Purple Martins have gathered to roost in various locations. The Walpole Island complex marshes are known for one of the largest gathering/roosting spots around. I could see several hundred from the north trail. Here is a view of one of the closer groups.
The north end is good for viewing marsh birds such as Common Gallinule. There was a family unit in view yesterday.
A few shorebirds were here as well.
Today I went a bit farther afield and visited Strathroy sewage lagoons. An Eared Grebe was reported (the day after I was there of course!) on Friday. I took a chance that it was there again this morning, and it was. I missed Eared Grebe last year, and I was not going to miss it again for this year's list! A bit too distant for decent photos though.
Still lots of shorebirds there, including the Wilson's Phalarope and a Baird's Sandpiper.
While in the Strathroy area, I checked out Clark Wright CA. There were a few migrant birds there to keep me interested.
Heading back west, I decided to swing down to Wardsville Woods. A nice little pocket of birds included Canada Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.
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| Warbler without chestnut sides |
There were a few butterflies to check out along the trail.
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| Pearl Crescent |
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| Peck's Skipper |
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| Great Spangled Fritillary |
I photographed this wasp, which I think is a Pitted Mason Wasp, new for me.
Very few odonates....again!
Continuing on, I realized it was the time of year that we check for Smoky Rubyspots. So down the road I went and stopped at the Tecumseh Monument park along the Thames River.
There was not much, but a couple of smokies were along the edge.
Only a few of its cousin, the American Rubyspot, were there as well.
Always a good spot for mussel hunting here too. Pimpleback is quite common here.
Also found a mucket and a deertoe.
Mucket
Deertoe
I did not spend much time with mussels, so probably missed something good.
