Late summer orchids

 This post has been in the works for a few weeks, since there have been a few orchid species typical of the late summer, and several are rather rare. Currently there are 19 species of orchids known from Rondeau, 18 if which are native. I have seen all but one species, so far. Of course one of the highlight orchids is that endangered species, Nodding Pogonia a.k.a. Three-Bird's Orchid, which is currently only known in Canada at Rondeau.

It used to be known from a private woodlot in eastern Essex County, but hasn't been seen there for several decades. Forest changes and activities in the forest have undoubtedly resulted in its demise there, but it is still possible. Access to privately owned properties have become increasingly challenging, since the presence of an endangered species might result in restrictions to what the landowner has planned for their property.

Regardless, this species has been known from Rondeau since about the mid 1960s, and their are several locations in the park. Fortunately for the species, these locations are mostly away from existing trails and roadways, although on rare occasion one or more can pop up within view of a trail. I have been following/surveying this orchid since 1973, when I encountered it during my first year of working on the naturalist staff of Rondeau.

It may begin flowering in very late July and even flower into the middle of September, but its peak flowering time is about the third week in August. What makes this orchid so intriguing is that it is very small, and flowering is very weather dependent. All of the potential buds develop to a certain stage, and then stop. It is only after a significant drop in the overnight temperature, that all of those buds at this stage will open. And then they will only remain open for a day, and it may be a week or so before the next set of buds will open, depending on the temperature triggers.

This is what a developing orchid looks like before flowering. You can see by its size relative to last year's fallen leaves it is emerging through, it is anything but showy.

 Its scientific name, Triphora trianthophoros, as well as the Three-Bird's Orchid name, is based on the fact that usually a plant will produce three buds, and on rare occasions, all three will open on the same day! This next photo shows a single plant, with all three flowers open at once. I don't see this every year, but this photo was taken in 2024.

 

 This photo of the three flowers is located in the extreme upper left of this next photo.

I was quite pleased to come across this concentration of the orchid. Normally they will occur in small groups of three or four, or sometimes just be singles scattered on the forest floor. This was one of the largest concentrations I have seen in recent years. They are so photogenic, I have many dozens of photos from over the years. Certainly a macro lens and flash is required for the best photos.

Sometimes one gets a bit of a surprise along with the photo. This next photo is an example. At first I thought it was just another, typical flower.....

...but when I got a closer look at it on the computer, I noticed something peeking out.

I am not sure exactly what it is, but it is possibly a pollinator. When I was studying this orchid in the 1980s in preparation for writing the official status report, I collected some pollinator insects found on the plants, and it turned out they were mostly of the Halictid group which are types of sweat bees. This individual isn't fully shown, so it is not conclusive, but it has a strong resemblance to members of that group of insects.

A full frontal look at a plant with a single flower, may show the single, small roundish leaf, as in the following photo.

I particularly like the ones that have a tinge of magenta in the flower. Some are almost pure white, but it seems that later flowering ones are more likely to have the magenta tinge. I don't know what causes this, and some years they are almost all white ones.

Moving on to other late summer orchids, I have seen this next one called the Sphinx Ladies'-tresses.

Fairly similar, but flowering a bit later, usually about the middle of September, is this next one, which is called Great Plains Ladies'-tresses. It is a bit larger than the Sphinx and has a slightly yellowish tinge to it, especially when you look down the 'throat' of the flower. It also has a more fragrant scent to it.

The last orchid to flower at Rondeau is this next one, the Autumn Coralroot. And yes, this photo shows it in flower! There are two varieties of this orchid, and one will look like this, with a very small flower that hardly opens and droops downward, but the seed capsule forms anyway. This orchid is fairly rare throughout its range, and although I didn't look intensively for it this year, I only came across this single plant. However being as small as it is, and it isn't exactly showy, it likely occurs in places scattered throughout the pine-oak forest of Rondeau.

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On the hunt for Marsh Tickseed, and lots to see in other open wetland areas

 Readers of my last post will note that Marsh Tickseed, a species at risk was something I found at St. Clair NWA, and since there were a couple of older records for this species at Rondeau, I tried diligently to find it there. The search got me out to places I hadn't been for awhile, at least not at this time of year, so I was hopeful. The south beach, along the edges of the marsh, was the place to search. Unfortunately the habitat has changed due to variable water levels as well as the onslaught of the non-native Phragmites.

This is the plant that I was looking for. A sort of typical looking sunflower type....

...but with very distinctive finely cut leaves.

I did find a few other things to aim the camera at, however, including this adult Bald Eagle, which did not like me getting any more than about 300 metres away before it left its perch....

...a moth, this Rubbed Dart, feeding on a relative of the Marsh Tickseed (I looked at a lot of tickseed types!)

And this small but colourful plant, the Trailing Fuzzy-Bean, a member of the legume family.

I saw a number of Double-crested Cormorants, as usual but for some reason this one was quite tolerant of my presence.

Elsewhere, while checking out some of the multitude of goldenrods, I came across a Northern Paper Wasp....

....a type of cluster fly...

....and this Bald-faced Hornet.

While some of these critters are capable of giving a painful sting, I have never been stung yet, as they are much too busy feeding on the nectar. I leave them alone as much as possible, but sometimes I use a macro lens and flash, and may only be inches away from them.

On my way to and from the park, I sometimes stop at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, as there is always a good variety of birds to view. On occasion they even are close enough to photograph! Bonaparte's Gulls can be fairly plentiful and sometimes quite close to the edge of the cells.

My target species for this visit to the lagoons, however, was to find one of the Red-necked Phalaropes that have been there lately. It is very much an irregular migrant, and one doesn't see them every year. Unfortunately it is often well out in the middle of the lagoon, making a decent photo hard to come by. This was taken at a magnification of about 22X, and then cropped considerably to more like about 80X.

One of the intriguing birds recently reported in southern Ontario, was a Cinnamon Teal, near Grimsby. It is quite the rarity at any time of year. Apparently hundreds of birders flocked to see it, but I wasn't one of them. I have seen it in Ontario before, as a fairly brightly plumaged spring male was at Rondeau for a brief period back in May of 1994. It was well out along the Marsh Trail and I, along with a good number of others, managed to see it. I didn't get a photo of it, but I do have a photo of one that I took out in southern Saskatchewan in July of 2018, where it was hanging out in a prairie pothole area along with numerous shorebirds, especially Wilson's Phalaropes, shown next. Not a brightly plumaged male.

A trip to St. Clair NWA is almost always worthwhile, and not just to see the Marsh Tickseed. Waterfowl are building in numbers, with Canada Geese numbering in the several hundreds by now.

Tucked well out of the way along the shrubby shoreline of the wetland, was this immature Green Heron. It was likely about 300 metres away, and when I first saw it through binoculars, I thought it might be an immature Black-crowned Night-Heron, but when I got a distant photo and highly cropped it, also to about the equivalent of about 80X, I could see the darker crown and the slightly dull green back. An immature BCNH would show a more evenly coloured brownish back. This bird is a little more fluffed up to make its body look a little more BCNH like, adding to the challenge of identification, especially in poor light and at a considerable distance.

Mallard are in the area, also by the hundreds.

This Northern Flicker was in one of the few trees along the dyke trail.

Sandhill Cranes can often be heard, and occasionally seen and even photographed on their flights to and from the NWA.

Sometimes they will be feeding in a field immediately adjacent to the NWA.

Along the far woodland shore, there often are a few Wood Ducks tucked away, giving only distant views and photos. Sometimes up to 20 can be seen in one or two places....

....and on occasion, a brightly coloured male, shown next, will even linger in the channel adjacent to the trail, and a cautious approach might result in a photo such as this next one.

Northern Harriers are periodically seen, although usually in flight mode, and often heading away, giving a rear view only.

I typically add visiting the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail to one of my more northern forays in Chatham-Kent. The openness means there is often a comfortable breeze. As I have mentioned before, it is a great spot to see a few Great Egrets with typically at least half a dozen seen on each visit. On a cloudy day when they are sitting up in a tree, they may be a bit more challenging to get a good photo, but it is always worth a try.

There is enough shallow water or muddy shoreline along the edge to attract a few shorebirds, such as this Lesser Yellowlegs....

...and a Wilson's Snipe.

This adult Red-tailed Hawk was keeping an eye on me from a safe distance.

My next post may finally get me to do the one I had in mind awhile ago, featuring a variety of late summer orchids, including the endangered Nodding Pogonia, a.k.a. Three-bird's Orchid (Triphora trianthophoros). Stay tuned!

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A new to me endangered species, among other photographic findings

 On one of my recent excursions to St. Clair NWA, I came across a plant that was not abundant, but scattered here and there along the cross-dyke trail. After photographing it and searching its identity, I came to discover that it is Marsh Tickseed (Bidens trichosperma). I had never seen it, or at least never noticed it before. It is considered Imperiled in Ontario and Canada.

While at first glance, it could easily just be passed off as a sunflower type, which it is, the key characteristic to note is the large, but finely divided leaves, unlike any other sunflower type that I am aware of.

Of course any visit to SCNWA will turn up other things to aim the camera at, including:

Northern Harrier

While some of the Sandhill Cranes will be out feeding or resting outside the NWA, sometimes mixed in with geese, they often fly into the NWA for over night, so being ready for them in the evening can be successful.

In checking the range and locations for the Marsh Tickseed, I found out that there are a couple of records for Rondeau. I had never seen it there before. Since this was prime time for it to be in flower, and most visible, I decided to check out similar habitat along the Marsh Trail at Rondeau.

While I was not successful in finding it there, yet, I have another location in the park to examine. But over the course of my 10 km hike, I did come across other things that I aimed the camera at.

Straw-coloured Flat Sedge

This next one, Swamp Thistle, looks a lot like one of the other thistles in this group, but its particular colour of purplish as well as the general shape of the flower head and the supporting flower structure is distinctive.

Swamp Thistle

White Turtlehead

Smeared Dagger moth caterpillar on a sedge

I only had my camera with the 100 mm macro lens so as to be able to photograph plants. Had I taken my other camera with the big telephoto lens, I could have gotten some great shots of a pair of adult Bald Eagles soaring not all that high up against a blue sky (much closer than this next photo, which was taken awhile ago)....

....and a close-up of a Sandhill Crane that flushed out of the marsh not far away (again, this is one from awhile ago). But since I knew I was going to be out for a long walk, I didn't want to burden myself with the second, larger camera gear.

On another occasion, while searching for plants in the interdunal meadows of the southeast beach of the park, I came across a few things such as:

Bristly Sedge

Common Buckeye caterpillar

An adult Common Buckeye was busily flitting around close by, sometimes hunkered down amongst the grasses.

Little Green Sedge

This next pink beauty is a Small-flowered False Foxglove, which was quite abundant in the lower damp areas. It was on this species that the Common Buckeye caterpillar was feeding on.

Along a drier trail I found these white forms of Great Blue Lobelia, usually a deep blue colour.

Along the Erieau Marsh Trail, I came across:

Least Sandpiper

..and some skulking Wood Ducks.

A visit to the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail enabled me to get much more open photos of Wood Duck....

...as well as another Common Buckeye...

...a Differential Grasshopper (sometimes hard to figure out where the common name comes from...)...

...this Great Blue Heron...

...and of course one or more of the typical half a dozen Great Egrets that are often found and quite photogenic. This one had just grabbed a fish, which is still showing at the side of it beak.

Last but not least, I made a brief stop at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands, and while photo ops were not plentiful on the visit here this particular time, I did manage to capture one of this Ruby-throated Hummingbird perched at the top of this dogwood shrub.

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