Late July Jaunts

 I have been outdoors roaming around as much as possible.  Not much new lately, but one has to try and find something of interest!

Friday I went up to Forest Lagoons for my weekly visit.  Nothing new, and fewer birds than last week.  Solitary Sandpipers continue to be numerous like in most places this summer.

That is far north as I went, so headed back and stopped at Moore WMA first.  Water level was higher this week (strangely with little rain!), so no new mussels. Mapleleaf is one of the more regular ones I find, even though it is species of concern and considered rare by NHIC.

Blue-tipped Dancers are getting scarce now.  Another one considered rare by NHIC.

Got a nice photo of a Hummingbird Clearwing moth there.

Common Wood-Nymph

Next stop was Nicholl's Memorial Forest at Wilkesport.  Prairie plantings there are coming along.

Spiked Blazing-Star

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

A stop at McKeough CA revealed several Flag-tailed Spinylegs.  I found one not too active, so perhaps it was at the end of its life!

I picked it up, but it got loose and landed on my camera!

No more signs of Marine Blue.  One can only hope there is another generation in the works there.  One was found at Point Pelee today by Steve Pike!  So, there are more out there.

A final stop at Reid CA, revealed several Duke's Skippers, but getting worn as one would expect.

Royal River Cruisers are not as plentiful this year it seems.

Halloween Pennant

Today, I got the notion to walk around Hillman Marsh.  I walked the entire dike, something that I had never done before.  It is a very interesting walk!  Various birds and insects were encountered, not to mention plants.  It certainly has potential for something of interest.

I did not realize there was so much American Lotus there.

A nice surprise was a Red-headed Woodpecker. 

Red-headed Woodpecker

Trumpeter Swans with youngter!

Broad-winged Skipper

Swamp Rose-Mallow

Red-spotted Purple

After that, I headed over to Blenheim Lagoons.  Lots of shorebirds, but nothing new.  I did finally get a photo of a Fiery Skipper for this year.

A Buff-breasted Sandpiper was reported at Keith McLean C. L. earlier, so I headed there in hopes of seeing it, even though I had not intended to visit the place today.  There were lots of shorebirds, but no sign of Buffy.  It is early, so more to come...I hope!

Tomorrow we will try the Clear Creek butterfly count.

I have to dash(er)!

Blue Dasher

Things With Wings and Ode to Joy

We have had some good weather recently, despite some heavy rains.  I thought it was finally going to be a drier year, but NOT!  Boots have been a necessity for walks in the woods this week.

It has been an intersting spring.  I have found that there are fewer birds in most locations than in the past.  Butterflies have been scarce as well, perhaps due to the cold spring.  Odonates have done well though!

Late Thursday, I went for a walk at Reid CA.  Still lots of dragonflies, and as I mentioned before, Racket-tailed Emeralds and Four-spotted Skimmers are in big numbers this year.

Friday, I decided to do some bird records for the atlas.  I did not find anything spectacular, but a Mourning Warbler at Port Lambton was a decent find for the area.

Late morning I got the urge to go to Mitchell's Bay south shore nature trail. Surprises can be had there on occasion!  Nothing unusual, but some turtles were putting themselves on the map.  

Map Turtles

There were oodles of them!

A nice Black-crowned Night-Heron was in the same ditch.

Halloween Pennant

The afternoon was so nice, I could not pass up a long walk at Reid CA.  The woods were rather quiet (again!).  

Still lots of Racket-tailed Emeralds and Four-spotted Skimmers.  I have never seen so many as in this year.  

A couple of Juvenal's Duskywings were still hanging around.

A Grey Comma was nearby.

On the road I found a Fox Snake. Not often I seen them anymore.  This is one I remember when I was kid, where we found lots of them.  Unfortunately, many of them were roadkill.

Today, I thought it was a nice time to go to Skunk's Misery.  I first walked Sitler Woods, a Thames Talbot Land Trust property recently acquired. 

Acadian Flycatchers have alway been at this location, and today was no exception.  They remained unseen though!

I toured the rest of the Misery for the next two hours.  Hooded Warblers do not seem to be as numerous as in the past.  I did find two or three Cerulean Warblers singing away.

An American Woodcock got in my way at one point.

Some odes along the way:

female Twelve-spotted Skimmer

male

Leps were few and far between.

Eight-spotted Forester moth

Not far away, Wardsville Woods was my next stop.  I have always liked this place.  It can be good for leps and odes.  Again, not many butterfllies, but some odes were flying.

A year ago, I had a large dragonfly go past me that I was certain a Twin-spotted Spiketail.  It got away and I never saw it again.  Today, I went to the spot, and immediately saw a suspicious ode perched.  I knew it had to be what I was looking for, and as I got closer, there was my target!  Just like it was waiting for me!

Twin-spotted Spiketails are certainly rare in the area, but I do not know the status of them in Middlesex.  It was a first for me!

During my stay, I saw a couple others flying around.  One for sure was a Twin-spotted, but the last one I took a photo. It was a side view, and not thinking, I assumed it was a Twin-spotted.

I got home and brought it up on the computer screen, and duh!, it looked like an Arrowhead Spiketail.  This is even rarer!

This species is uncommon to rare in Ontario, and to see one this far south in Ontario is unique.  I have seen the Arrowhead at Sydenham River Nature Reserve the last couple of years where they are known.

It was not even on my radar today, but certainly an excellent find for Middlesex.

Perhaps next weekend I will seen some Arrowhead Spiketails at SRNR when we do an ode survey......