Lots of cool little creatures!

 Insects seldom get their due. Sure, they are tiny, often times hard to see clearly enough to know what they are, and there are so, so many of them! And some are annoying, but they all have a purpose, and some are quite beautiful! Some are important pollinators, others are food for other, larger creatures. 

I enjoy looking for them, and trying to photograph them, even though they are constantly on the move and don't seem to appreciate me trying to capture their activities. Here are some that I have photographed recently. I'll start off with a large and easily identifiable one, the American Snout butterfly, which came to my yard.

Brown-belted Bumblebee

Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee

These next two are photos of a rare species, and it was in my yard. It is a Beebalm Shortface.

Ailanthus Webworm Moth

A type of Long-legged Fly

Eastern Comma

Great Golden Digger Wasp

These next three photos show a Hickory Tiger Moth caterpillar. I first encountered it suspended on a long silken thread at about eye level, and it was slowly dropping to the ground. The second photo here shows it in suspension. But as it got to the ground vegetation, it latched onto a leaf stem, then crawled onto the leaf.

Lunate Longhorn-cuckoo Bee

Margined Leatherwing Beetle

Marsh Greenbottle Fly

There have been quite a few Monarch butterflies around, and occasionally a female will stop by and quickly deposit an egg on the underside of a Common Milkweed. The eggs are very tiny!

Unfortunately some don't make it. This Monarch caterpillar got caught up in a spider web, and that was the end.

Fortunately some do make it to adult hood.

Another butterfly is this Mourning Cloak.

Pennsylvania Ambush Bug

Potter's Grass Spider

Question Mark

Red-spotted Purple

I go out along the grassy beach dunes on occasion, as Marie enjoyed walking along the beach, so I have memories of her. And I keep a lookout for something, such as this Seaside Grasshopper.

I also came across this American Sand Wasp, busily digging into the sand.

Resting on a milkweed leaf was this Small Bird-dropping Moth...

...and on another occasion I came across this caterpillar of the Spotted Apatelodes Moth.

On a railing along the boardwalk was this Striped Horse Fly...

...and a Swamp Milkweed Beetle....

...on a Swamp Milkweed.

Two-spotted Longhorn Bee

And finally, for this post, a Viceroy, looking much the same as a Monarch, except for its slightly smaller size, and the black median stripe on the hind wing is fairly straight, not a u-shape.

Lots more creatures of various types to photograph and show!

 

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Wetlands, shorebirds and a couple of orchids

 There are so many things to see and photograph! I've been out periodically when it hasn't been super hot and humid, and try and pick times of the day when it is most comfortable. This is a good time of year to see shorebirds, especially when the conditions at sewage lagoons are highly attractive for them. A recent visit didn't turn up any American Avocets, like I saw a couple of weeks earlier, but the following ones were fairly typical.

Least Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Pectoral Sandpiper

This next one isn't a shorebird, obviously, but a regular inhabitant of the open grassy conditions surrounding the various cells. It is a Savannah Sparrow, and nests here.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper, still in partial breeding plumage

This next one is also a Spotted Sandpiper, but in a juvenile plumage.

One of the more sought after shorebirds to see at this time of year is this next one. It is a Stilt Sandpiper. Note the slight droop at the end of the bill, and the fairly heavily barring on its flanks.

And when it comes out of the water, its dull yellow legs are visible.

 I stopped by the Erieau Marsh Trail on one occasion, thinking that the mud flats might have attracted some shorebirds. I didn't see any, but came across this photo op.

Tired Turtles

I check out the open wetland areas along Lake St. Clair fairly regularly, as there is always something of interest there. Turkey Vultures are a bit more common these days. It won't be too many more weeks until they are passing through in huge numbers!

Swamp Rose Mallow, a provincial Species At Risk, is fairly common in the best quality wetlands.

American White Water Lily

There are lots of flowering plants along the trail, so butterflies are regularly flitting about.

Black Swallowtail

Monarch butterflies are sometimes quite commonly seen.

Sandhill Cranes continue, but are typically wary of people.

On the other hand, members of the swallow group are quite abundant. They really like the open wetland habitat for feeding on the hordes of insects, as well as for resting opportunities in dead trees. At the moment, I find Purple Martins are the most abundant.

Marsh Wrens continue to occupy the cattail part of the wetlands...

...and Great Egrets have finished breeding, so they frequently hang out in or near the wetlands. At this spot at St. Clair NWA, I counted 14 perched in the broken tree complex.....

...and another dozen in the vicinity of the Mitchell's Bay North Trail.

Eastern Kingbirds have fledged, and are busily feeding their young.

Of course when aren't Canada Geese common! But if they provide a photo op, I will sometimes take it.

Also near open wetland are things like Buttonbush......

...and Bull Thistle.

Meanwhile, American Goldfinches are picking away at the fluffy seedheads of Canada Thistle.

And I usually get out to Rondeau from time to time....no surprise there! First photo is that of an American Green Crab Spider, resting on a boardwalk railing.

Nearby were some flowers of Bittersweet Nightshade hanging over the trail.

A non-native orchid, but an orchid nonetheless, is the Broad-leaved Helleborine.

Along woodland edges is Fringed Loosestrife, with their downward facing flowers.

Last, but certainly not least, is one of my most sought after plants, and one of the most endangered plants in Canada. It is the Nodding Pogonia. I went out specifically looking to see how it was developing in spite of the relatively hot dry weather, which normally does not bode well for it, and was quite pleased to find at least a dozen in flower! I expect to have more to say and show about this orchid in a future post, so will only include one of several photos I took on this occasion.

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