Sightings Through the Smoke As We Head Downhill

 As time flies by, I have been out and about to places not far from home.  After June 22 we are on a downward slide as the days start getting shorter!  It was a Smokey week.

Almost every day I have been checking Reid CA for hairstreaks to no avail.  Obviously there was some event that decimated the population.  Last year's dry summer?  This spring's cold and damp weather?  A combination of things?  One can only speculate.

Here are some insects at Reid and other places locally.

Eastern Comma

Appalachian Brown

Blue Dasher

Eastern Pondhawk (F)

Stream Bluet

Delaware Skipper

A couple of days ago, I had the urge to go to Point Pelee.  Once again, nothing of note showed up during my visit!  It is a good time for gulls, and there seems to be an inordinate number of gulls around Pelee and Kingsville.

I spent most of the time at the Tip.  Lots of gulls, but not even a Little Gull!  A few terns (3 species) were around as well.

The only ducks were a male Lesser Scaup (unusual this time of year), and a female Red-breasted Merganser.

It was cloudy to start, but the sun came out for a while.  However, on the way home it clouded up and we had some drizzle.  I made a quick stop at the end of Zion Road east of Wheatley, which proved worthwhile.

I noticed quite a few gulls in the field (inc. one Lesser Black-backed), but as I approached the end of the road, something different in flight caught my eye.  An American Avocet!  As it is my favourite shorebird type, I was quite pleased to see it.

Shorebirds are already showing up as "fall" migrants, so I would consider this one a very early fall migrant.

Today, I had to go a bit farther for a change in scenery.  I went to Strathroy to check out the lagoons.  Currently, there is a fabulous mudflat, very attractive for shorebirds.  It should be good in the coming weeks.

There were oodles of Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers, but fall migrants included about a half dozen Least Sandpipers, and at least one Lesser Yellowlegs.

The Black-necked Stilts are present, but elusive.  I did not see the young, but once in a while a birder can get a glimpse of them.

Lots of ducks!  I saw three families of Blue-winged Teal here.

After the better part of two hours there, I went over to Clark Wright CA on Walker's Line.  It is a neat little spot for a variety of birds and insects.  Pine Warbler (heard one singing today) nests here.

In the past, I have had American Copper here, but the trail has been re-routed away from that particular spot. Only one Monarch here today.

I was pretty much done in the area after the walk here, so headed down to Shetland CA boat launch.  It was cloudy to start, but luckily the sun came out and I spent the better part of two hours here.  Odes were still a bit sparse, but I did see a few Blue-ringed Dancers (an imperiled species).

Other dancers included Powdered, Violet, Blue-fronted, Blue-tipped, but no Dusky yet.  

Blue-tipped Dancer

Powdered Dancer

Variable Dancer

Stream Bluets are plentiful here, as well as American Rubyspots.

It is good for rare dragonflies as well, but the only one I saw was a Black-shouldered Spinyleg.

One must keep an eye out for other rare things, such as the threatened Spiny Softshell Turtle.  I saw two large ones here today.  If you look closely, there are two here!

A bit later, I noticed a Map Turtle visiting with the softshell.

As well, it is a good spot for another species of concern, the Blackstripe Topminnow.  There are lots here!

After getting my fill of odes, I headed out and then made another stop at Reid CA.  I wanted to meet Rick Cavasin who was there on my arrival.  Rick put together that excellent laminated pocket field guide to Butterflies of Southern and Eastern Ontario (now in its 5th edition).  

We did not find any hairstreaks, needless to say!  However, a nice visit discussing various things.

I had been seeing the critically imperiled Royal River Cruiser for a few days, but today I finally had the opportunity to photograph my favourite dragonfly.

As we enter the holiday weekend, hopefully the smoke clears and we have a good time outdoors!

Usual Sightings, Plus Surprises and Disappointments

 A few days ago I went for the long walk at Joany's Woods along the Ausable River in Middlesex County.  I usually check the place out sometime in June.

It is a good spot to observe breeding birds and insects.  Blue-winged Warblers are quite plentiful there (I saw/heard about 8 singing males), and one was even carrying food indicating nesting activity.

Some less common birds for the area included Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Ruffed Grouse.

I was a bit early in the day, so insects were not that plentiful, except mosquitoes!  From past experiences, the mosquitoes were not all that bad.

With regards to insects, at one point, I am sure I saw a spiketail, but it kept going and I never saw it again despite waiting for some time at a little boardwalk.

A few butterflies were seen, including my one and only hairstreak of this year. Where are the hairstreaks?  More on that later.

Banded Hairstreak

Hackberry Emperor

Black-shouldered Spinyleg at a bad angle!

Here is my eBird list link:

S142282529

After walking over 7km, I left and headed down the road to Fossil Road where there is a good spot to look for odonates.  Like most places this year, there were not that many!  Some unphotographed species included Swift River Cruiser and clubtails such as Midland.  I did not notice any Green-faced Clubtails, though I have seen this uncommon species here before.

Variable Dancer

Blue-tipped Dancer

American Rubyspot

Another stop for the day was Shetland boat launch.  Dancers included Powdered, Blue-fronted, Blue-tipped and Variable.  No Blue-ringed or Dusky yet.  Stream Bluets were quite plentiful.

In the fish department, there were several, some of which were Black-striped Top Minnows.

Turtles included, Painted, Map and even a little Spiny Soft-shelled which I failed to get a photo.

The last stop was at Reid CA where no hairstreaks had yet appeared.  Hobomok Skippers were still being seen.

The next day, I stayed fairly local checking out Reid CA again, and McKeough.  Another hairstreak-less day!

Blue-fronted Dancer

Four-spotted Skimmer

Reid is within my assigned atlas square, and it is now well-covered.  Still a little work to do though!  This Yellow Warbler I noticed, was feeding a Brown-headed Cowbird (unfortunately).

At McKeough, Pronghorn Clubtail was on the the wing in the usual spot.

They are listed as rare by NHIC, but can be locally common such as at McKeough.

And, I got a little surprise in the bird department.  A Clay-colored Sparrow was singing beside the old Callahan Road.  There is suitable nesting habitat in the area.  Not often we got them around here in the breeding season.  I was on the wrong side of it to get a good photo!

Friday was drizzly all day, so nothing worthwhile accomplished.

Saturday I was so bored from Friday, I went down to walk Keith McLean C. L. and then over to Erieau.  The usual stuff was seen, and nothing noteworthy.  apparently some southbound shorebirds are showing up, as one might expect.

Common Gallinule at Erieau

Mid-day, it brightened up (not enough really!) to check out Reid CA again.  Still no hairstreaks.  Another disappointment

A large and somewhat attractive moth called a Nessus Sphinx, caught my eye.  It was down in the grasses so I was unable to get a proper photo.

Today was a very nice day, and I did a tour south of Wallaceburg for atlas records.  It is mainly monoculture of agricultural fields, so nothing exciting.  However, I did get something decent in the way of a family of Ring-necked Pheasants.  For whatever reason, I did not take a photo, but they were right at roadside.  This species, although non-countable anymore, is difficult to find these days.  It was not entirely unexpected, as I heard one here two years ago in the first season of the atlas.

I continued on and eventually ended up at Reid CA.  Despite a valiant effort, no hairstreaks were found.  Something is afoot this year, as I should have seen at least some several days ago.  Was there some event that wiped them out for this year?  It is still early, but well into the season for the Northern Oak Hairstreak.  It is quite worrisome.  I left very disappointed.

Some species are doing well this year, including the crescents, Silver-spotted Skipper, Little Wood Satyrs.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Not many skippers of other species around, but this Peck's was there this morning.

I saw my first Appalachian Brown yesterday, and a couple more today.

A quick stop at McKeough revealed the Pronghorn Clubtails again.  Soon, I hope to see Flag-tailed Spinylegs!

In any case, it is the "slowest" year I have ever seen for leps and odes.  Hopefully things will turn around, but it is a sign of bad times.

Clear Creek Butterfly Count July 11

Another interesting butterfly count in my area is the Clear Creek.  Started back in 2000 by Mathis Natvik, this is a popular count with lots of old rail line to explore.

Looking West

Today, I only worked the morning as I wanted to take part in another outing in the afternoon (more on that later!).  Our first stop was at the Chatham-Kent/Elgin border where two parallel rail lines pass through at MacPherson Line.  On the Elgin side, we walked to an interesting area locally known as Taylor's Pond.

It was originally used by the railroad, but has a large pond with wooded area and plantings of Scotch Pine and some open areas. Naturally, it has been growing in since I first saw the place many years ago.

We go here to mainly to get the Coral Hairstreaks.

Nice One!

We found perhaps up to 8.  Often there is also Acadian here, but not today.

One Striped Hairstreak was found on White Sweet Clover.

As one would expect, a few odes were here.  I believe this is a Variable Dancer which is common here.

There was not much along the rail lines, but that is typcial of the year we are having.

Great-spangled Fritillary

A Hickory Hairstreak was found by 'Uncle Paul' just before we left.

There were no surprise bird sightings, but a Sora was calling in the little marsh at MacPherson Road between the two old rail lines.

Later in the morning we checked out the Benishek property south of Highgate.  Much of the old farmland has been planted as tall-grass prairie.

We were surprised at how few butterflies there were.  In one back corner I found some hairstreaks which included a couple of Striped and a few Banded.

Also at that particular location, we found a Gray Treefrog perched on a Common Milkweed! As these frogs adapt their colour to the surroundings, this one too one a pale green colour.

Spider-wort

Since I pass through Thamesville on the way home, I had to stop at the bridge south of the village where American Rubyspots are found.  Sure enough I found a few.

It is a messy place to get into with the steep river bank and overgrown areas.  I could not get very close due to the steep bank.
Later in the summer we will see Smokey Rubyspots here as well.

The afternoon portion of my day went well with a surprise just after we started walking.  More on that in the next post!