Orchids...spring wildflowers, and birds!

 Okay it isn't really orchid flowering season, nor is there much of anything else flowering for that matter. However the leafless season is one of the best times to find this one:

It is called Puttyroot (Aplectrum hyemale) and is an Endangered Species in Ontario and Canada. Rondeau is fortunate to have had several populations known from various parts of the park over the years, and I have been able to track down 7 different ones. Unfortunately at least two of those populations have disappeared, whether it is due to forest floor changes as a result of canopy cover alteration from the arrival of Emerald Ash Borer, which decimated the ash trees that were dominant in the canopy. Or maybe due to fluctuating water levels. Or something else entirely. 

At this time of year, they are not in flower, but their overwintering leaves are distinctive and if one is concentrating sufficiently on the leaf litter, they can stand out nicely. Each leaf represents an individual plant, but very few will actually flower in a given year. In the main population, which I have been following for more than 3 decades, I have sometimes seen up to about 75 leaves, but never seen any more than about 20 with a flowering stem and in flower and that was in a good year. More typically I only see a dozen or so in flower at the most.

While out looking around a few weeks ago, I cane across a new-to-me population with 7 leaves, a single leaf of this new population is shown next. Given the habitat that this species occurs in, I expect there are more populations as yet unseen. There are hundreds and hundreds of what appears to be suitable habitat. The leaves are starting to dry and they will almost totally disappear before long.

It will be interesting to see how many flowering stems are found this year.

There are other things that are actually in flower. This first one is called Snowdrops. It flowers early, and is not native. It often occurs in fairly abundant little patches. This patch occurred next to a cottage in the park.

One that is native, but not often seen, is called Skunk Cabbage. The green and purple stems emerge from a fairly wet area, sometimes where standing water is present at least in early spring. It doesn't occur at Rondeau. I have been keeping an eye on this small population at Clear Creek Forest Prov Park.

A closer look inside one of the purple leaves, known as a spathe, may show the little cluster of flowers, as seen here.

Over the next few weeks, I am looking forward to finding a lot of other spring wildflowers! In the meantime, there is hopefully an increasing number and variety of birds to look for and try and photograph. American Robins are becoming quite numerous, with sometimes several dozen seen on even a short outing. On one occasion on a cold day and driving through a small town, I drove by what looked to be a type of crabapple tree. Underneath were at least 30 robins groping around in the lawn, looking for crabapple residue.

American Pelicans have appeared in southwestern Ontario in recent days. Of course a birder and photographer always hopes to get views such as this next one, which I photographed flying over Rondeau Bay near Erieau last year. Opportunities such as this do not occur very often.....

....as this next photo illustrates. This photo was taken from the Mitchell's Bay South Nature Trail, where as many as a dozen pelicans were resting on the sheltered edge of a large stand of cattails. In viewing them through binoculars, it was difficult to know for sure that they were in fact pelicans, or some of the many large swans that were also in the area. I know of at least a few birders who ventured out to try and see these birds, but were not successful. However a high powered 'scope confirmed them as pelicans, as every few minutes one would get up, stretch its neck and it large orange bill would be obvious. At other times one would stretch its wings, and the black wing tips and outer primaries would be distinctive. The photo below is the best I could do. Even with my top quality lens, this photo was taken, and subsequently cropped to be at slightly more than 100X.

More predictable are Bald Eagles. At least some of the known nests are being occupied, such as this one at Rondeau, visible from the west South Point Trail.

But lots of eagles are on their migration to nesting areas farther to the north. On one occasion in the last few days, while on the east South Point Trail, I saw about 11 and most were adults.

Brown Creepers are arriving.

Downy Woodpeckers are permanent residents, and are a little more noticeable as they start to establish territories.

Eastern Phoebes are arriving, and there are a few flying insects for this flycatcher to feed on.

Killdeer are fairly widespread in muddy fields and marsh edges.

Northern Flickers are present in increasing numbers, searching for ants on lawns.

Pileated Woodpeckers are also residents, and are more often noted due to their loud drumming to demarcate their territory. When I was out today, I heard three different birds calling from my one vantage point, one was fairly close and the other two were a fair way either north or south of the closest one.

Turkey Vultures are fairly plentiful these days, depending on the wind. On one occasion I saw about 40 circling a wooded area late in the day, presumably looking for an overnight roost.

Wild Turkeys are also permanent residents, and a little more visible now than sometimes. I stopped one day to look for the Wilson's Snipe that sometimes occurs at this wide creek, but only saw this turkey hopping across.

And these two were roaming about a farm field near St. Clair NWA.

I saw my first of the year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker a few days ago, but only got some record shots.

Local Canada Geese are paired up.

I saw my first of the year Great Egret fly over a few days ago, just north of Mitchell's Bay, where during the summer and fall season it is common to see a dozen or more, as they nest in some of the offshore cattail islands.

 Sandhill Cranes continue to be around, although they are starting to pair up and instead of large groups, are often in groups of four or fewer.

Of course Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived in large numbers especially in wetland areas, where they are seen and heard giving their choke-er-ee calls attempting to lure in a female as they arrive.

Not to be left out of the wildlife scene of late, are turtles especially on some of the warmer days. Blanding's Turtles are an Endangered Species. I usually see a few, such as this next one, along the Marsh Trail near Erieau.

On the other hand, Midland Painted Turtles are fairly abundant. On this day I counted at least 40 all sunning on a log or some similar spot.

There is always lots to see!

 

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Some of the numerous, little things in nature that go largely unnoticed

 During the leafless seasons, there isn't nearly as much to see and photograph in nature. Winter forest scenes look much like this:

 The snow is gone, at least for now, but it is still March! Nonetheless, the tree trunks and other surfaces are quite exposed, and it is where numerous elements of nature exist. I am talking about lichens.

 Lichens are a combination of algae growing with fungi, sort of as a hybrid colony. There are thousands of kinds, perhaps as many as 20,000 or more across the world's habitats from desert to tundra and everywhere in between. 

One of the things I try and do during the leafless season is to wander the trails of Rondeau, and photograph lichens that I find which may be identifiable. I don't profess to know a lot about them, but I find them interesting nonetheless.

Lichens can grow on a number of surfaces, from tree trunks, to stones, to leaves and even on other lichens. And they do not absorb nutrients from the surface they are growing on. They just use it as a substrate to grow on. They can live, growing very slowly, for many, many years. They can be a source of food for various fauna, such as reindeer (think reindeer moss of the arctic), nematodes and species of insects. 

What makes them challenging to identify is that some need to be examined under a microscope, or subjected to a type of chemical to determine what kind of a response the chemical causes. So much for just a quick identification in the field!

Some of the ones I have photographed, and are relatively sure of their identification, (thanks to a book I have, as well as iNaturalist) are as follows.

Common Dusk Lichen

These next two are Common Greenshield Lichen. They look much the same, but somewhat different from each other.

Common Powderhorn

These next two are fairly abundant, and can vary somewhat in appearance. It is the Common Script Lichen, getting its name from the little dark lines that loosely resemble script writing I suppose.

 

Powdered Speckled Shield Lichen

Orange-cored Shadow Lichen

Dilated Scalewort

This next one actually has a fungus as the most obvious part. The orange part is known as Crowded Parchment. I am not sure what the lichen it is growing on is.

White Blanket

Star Rosette Lichen

Powdery-margined Cryptic Shade Lichen

Powdery Sunburst Lichen

And then there are others that I have not been able to discover what their names are.

This next one may be related to the Common Script Lichen, although there may be another species associated with it.

What complicates things a bit, is that a single tree trunk may have many different kinds of lichens, all striving for a spot on the bark. 

So next time you are out walking in nature and wondering what to look for since the birds are few in woodlands over the winter, take a closer look at the tree trunks around you!

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Some late winter encounters

 There certainly have been some ups and downs of the weather as of late! But it is March, being March, so it is to be expected. Hopefully there won't be a major ice storm like there was in early March of 1976, when almost every tree in Rondeau (and likely elsewhere) was affected to some extent, resulting in the park being closed for several days due to the massive clean-up required.

One of the highlights of the last couple of weeks was to continue on my photographic search for owls. In my previous post, I managed a poor record shot of a Long-eared Owl. A few days later this one perched in quite an open spot, allowing this photo.

There have sometimes been several birds roosting in this thick cedar hedge, but are hard to see, with the occasional exception such as this.

Open water is becoming more prevalent, now that temperatures are getting above the regular intensity of cold over the last few weeks, and this has resulted in more waterbirds being visible.  At one location a bit northeast of Chatham, I came across this Great Blue Heron, presumably hoping for a small fish to come by and become a meal.

Swimming by just in front the heron, note the heron's legs, was this pair of Hooded Mergansers.

Nearby were some Wood Duck boxes, with an Eastern Screech Owl residing in one.

 Elsewhere in open water spots near Erieau was a variety of ducks in relative close proximity. There were lots of other ducks, but most were too far to even identify easily, let alone photograph. With the approach of the breeding season, many of the males are showing their attractive colours and patterns.

Bufflehead

This next one is of a Canvasback, a young male not quite in its prime breeding plumage.

This next one shows an older male, in its prime pattern. However a closer look shows that its right eye appears to be damaged. I see that somewhat regularly, and especially if food is a bit scarce, there is some fighting going on when a duck emerges with something. Other waterfowl of various species will fight to gain possession, and some damage can occur.

These next two photos are of Greater Scaup, with the male first, and a pair which follows.

Redheads, especially males, are quite distinctive....

...as are male Ring-necked Ducks, one of my favourites.

I stopped at McGeachy Pond CA on one occasion, and finally caught up to a long-staying Northern Mockingbird, surviving on some of the berries that linger. Most of the berries that persist this late in winter are that of European Highbush Cranberry. The berries look tempting, but are quite bitter early in the winter. They become more palatable to birds later in the season.

On another day at McGeachy Pond, I watched and waited for a River Otter to appear. One has been seen on a couple of occasions in the past week or so, in the proximity of the beaver lodge. River Otters are not typically found in this part of southern Ontario. However I recall back in the 1970s, when we were trying to assemble mammal records for Rondeau, a mammalogy specialist from the University of Guelph, a former professor of mine, was in the park checking on things. He reported seeing River Otter tracks near the south end of the park, but there was never a confirmed sighting of an actual animal. It is interesting to note that one was seen at McGeachy Pond, just a short distance from Rondeau, about 50 years later! Of course it wouldn't be the same one, but it just goes to show that some mammals can be present but hard to confirm. Whether the species is a short or long-term resident of the area is open to speculation, but the habitat is suitable. As in the case of beavers, they were almost totally gone from southwestern Ontario in the latter half of last century, but there is no question that they have re-established themselves in many aquatic habitats here in the southwest.

While I didn't seen any sign of the otter, I did photograph this pair of Mute Swans, even exhibiting courtship and breeding behaviour. It won't be long before their nesting is underway.

Sandhill Cranes have continued here and there, in small numbers. They are often quite a distance from the road, so even with a good photo lens, they are not as crisp as I would like, and the sunlight haze over the distance interferes with the clarity to some extent. These two were part of a group of five, foraging in a field near St. Clair NWA.

Typically by late February, birds such as Horned Larks are well represented near agricultural fields. They were almost non-existent in January and early February, especially with the snow and cold, but since that weather is abating, this species is fairly common in small groups. They will be forming up pairs, soon to be nesting. Many of them get underway well before agricultural activity begins, in the hopes that they can raise a brood before having the nest turned under by equipment. Others will continue to move north, nesting in the wide open tundra habitat of the Hudson Bay lowlands.

 Here is a photo of a nesting Horned Lark that I took while doing wildlife surveys in Polar Bear Prov Park back in 1991.

As hints of spring arrive, species like Killdeer are beginning to show up, at least on those occasional days with southerly winds and relatively warmer temperatures. There have been a few reported already in the last few days, but I haven't caught up to one yet. This next photo is of a lingering one I photographed in January.

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