Clear Day at Clear Creek

 Yesterday a number of nature enthusiasts participated in the annual Clear Creek butterfly count.  Weather was quite nice for a change, but a bit on the muggy side.

I did the Clearville area with some friends, which included the nature reserve and Clearville Park.  We started at the old quarry which is always an interesting area.

Highlight there was a Grey Comma, although I could not get a decent photo.

Another decent find was a Common Painted-Lady.  I think it was actually the first one I have seen this year.

We did get one Broad-winged Skipper which is expected here.

Two Common Buckeye were nice to see along the road.

Quite a few Peck's Skippers were at the corner of the main road.

Hardly any odes this day, but I did see Violet Dancer.

There were lots of Giant Swallowtails, but this count always has a high number of them.

From there, we moved down the road to the Bury Cemetery trail.  

There was not as much as we had hoped there, but quite a few Tawny-edged Skippers were in the grasses along the road.

At lunch time, we moved down to the lakeside at Clearville Park.  There was hardly anything here!

Common Wood Nymph

There is a little trail that I find interesting at the sharp bend in Clear Creek here.  The land comes to a point here.

I called it quits after this, while the others finished out the day.  By noon, we had tallied 26 species, which was acceptable.

I have no idea of final results (and probably never will!), but I suspect is was a good day overall.  I heard that at least 47 species were tallied.

A few days ago I took the long walk at Reid CA.  I came across a large buzzy insect called a Virginia Giant Hover Fly.  I have seen these here before, but they are quite intimidating.  They are classified as rare in Ontario by the NHIC.

A few Common Buckeye have been around lately, and I saw one at Reid that day.

And, Red-spotted Purples.

Saturday I made a change in scenery and walked part of the CASO trail near Ridgetown.  

Eastern Giant Swallowtail

I then made a short visit to Blenheim lagoons, but it was a quieter day there.

Bronze Copper at Blenheim

The Ruff only stayed for two days, and was gone by Saturday much to the disappointment of birders from farther afield.

Today was quite unproductive.  It was just one of those days not much is around.  I went as far as Rodney to check out the Tanager Tract.  It is one of the Thames Talbot Land Trust properties, and part of the "West Lorne Woods" complex.  It is a pretty neat area!

Recent Dukes' Skipper

On Stilts and Seeing the Blues

 I did a whirlwind tour today, visiting several spots.  I first drove to Strathroy to see the Black-necked Stilts at the sewage lagoon.  It appears to be a mated pair, with one on a nest!  Hopefully this is successful.  

The only other nesting record is at Jarvis lagoons many years ago, but that nest was predated I think.

Quite a few other things of note were there as well.  Lots of Semisands, and a few Semiplovers. 

 Hooded Merganser with fledged young:

Lots of Ruddy Ducks.

Things were up in the air after this visit, but I ended up at Port Franks!  I first walked the Karner Blue Sanctuary.  Perhaps it was too early in the day, but nary a duskywing.  Unusual!

A couple other insects:

Tawny-edged Skipper

Calico Pennant (F)

I then passed through the village, and at the last minute decided to walk the L-Lake and NCC trail in the forested dunes.  It was a nice walk with a variety of birds and insects.

Racket-tailed Emerald

Chalk-fronted Corporal

Since I was up that way, I checked in the MNR parking lot at Ipperwash for Dusted Skippers.  In a half hour, I saw 30 of those little bandits!

My goal for the day was to see some Silvery Blue butterflies.....in Sarnia!  That was my next stop, so I left Ipperwash and headed that way.

The past couple of years, Silvery Blue has been seen at Blackwell Trails park.  I got to the area and found several on the wing.  However, they never landed.  There is a wooded area, so I thought they would be more co-operative along the edge.  But, one had to cross a weedy area infested with ticks.

I did get lucky and find a couple that eventually perched.  Not the best photo, but it will do:

They are a very bright blue on the upperwing side.

Oddly, I had never seen a Silvery Blue before as far as I know.  They are certainly rare in Lambton, and this is the only place I know of them.

My last walk was at Dow Wetlands. Upland Sandpiper does not seem to be there this year.  In fact, they are scarcer at other locations as well.  Not a good sign.

So, something out of the blue did happen today, lol.

Some Racket(tailed) at Reid

 Yesterday I needed to blow off some steam so I went for a walk at Reid CA after supper.  I looked mainly for insects.  There were a few odes flying, most being basketcases baskettails.  On my way out I noticed some Racket-tailed Emeralds.  I first found these here a couple of years ago.

We will get Mocha Emerald here too, as last year I saw one along with Bill Lamond.

Butterflies included a nice Juvenal's Duskywing.

My first Tawny-edged of the year popped up.

Back on Sunday, I did another long walk at Rondeau Park, this time out Marsh trail.  Nothing unusual though, but oodles of Wood Ducks.

Sandhill Cranes nest out there and I came across a pair with a colt.  I did not really get a photo of the young one, but you can barely see it in the one photo.

Colt barely in view below neck of adult

Another pair

Saw my first-of-year Little Wood Satyrs that day.

Bad Wing moth

In the afternoon, I went up to McKeough CA to do some atlassing.  Some butterflies were encountered along the way.

Common Sootywing

As usual for weekdays, some good birds were reported yesterday around Rondeau.  Had me bothered since they seldom show up on weekends when I am there!

This evening, I went down to McLean C. L. (in the rain) to look for the White-faced Ibis as found by Craig Anderson the other day.  It would be a new "Rondeau" bird for me.  I stood in the rain for more than half an hour and was about to give up when if finally popped into view!  Distant but distinctive.

I did not bring the camera due to the rain, and it was too distant anyway.  Worth getting soaked!

fawn at McKeough

Clear Creek Count

Sunday was the Clear Creek butterfly count on a steamy day.  I teamed up with Don and Rayfield Pye and Jeff Larson and we covered the Clear Creek Provincial Nature Reserve.  It was the first time I did this area in the count.

This count was first run in 2000 when Mathis Natvik initiated the count, and I was one of those who participated.  Those were the good 'ole days where we would go all day and meet at the Natvik's for a BBQ at the end of the day.  Lately, I have only been going to early afternoon!

Olav Natvik's

Anyway, we started around 09:00 at the old quarry along Cochrane Line.  This was by far our best spot and we spent a good two hours there.

We tallied a good number of species, including a Common Buckeye.  It was actually a first-of-year.

I had an American Snout here last weekend, but we could not come up with one this day.

Giant Swallowtails were in good numbers which were nice to see.

Viceroy and Red-spotted Purple

Skippers were few and far between, with only Silver-spotted, Northern Broken-Dash, Dun and Broad-winged.  The Broad-winged were in the phragmites as expected, and we tallied five.  I discovered those here last year.

I kept an eye out for odes, especially Comet Darner, but I did not spot one.  They should still be flying though.

Violet Dancer

After finishing there, we went down the road to south of Talbot Trail to check out the trail to the Bury Cemetery.  I had never been on this trail, but will certainly do it again sometime.  It was a somewhat shaded walk to the old Bury cemetery dating from the early 1800's.

Here we added some more species, including Striped Hairstreak.  It was rather interesting, as we had walked to the end and mentioned that no hairstreaks were seen.  At that time, I said it was a good spot for Striped Hairstreak.....and not two minues later, we spotted one!

We tallied five Striped and one Banded along the trail.  No doubt we missed several, as they were difficult to spot.   The area is divided into squares, and oddly no hairstreaks had ever been recorded in that particular square.  Nobody really look I guess!

We also added Great Spangled Fritillary, Question Mark and Red Admiral to the list here.  The admiral was actually perched on the gravestone right in front of us.
Back near the road we added Tawny-edged Skippers, but I was never able to get a photo of one.  Included here is one from the past.

Jeff and I went back to the forest to check an edge then I went back into the quarry area around noon.  I added another Buckeye and our only Eastern Comma for the day.

Nearing 1 p.m., it was getting brutally hot so we departed ways and headed west along Cochrane Line.

We did not tally Common Checkered-Skipper, but I heard that someone else did.  Oddly, I had a couple go through the year later in the afternoon!

Final numbers have not been distributed yet, but I will mention those at a later date.