Dickcissel, Wilson's Phalarope, BC Night-Heron, Least Bittern, Tiger Beetle and lots more!

I thought it was time to change the header, giving the Red Squirrel a rest. It is still around the park, but Prothonotary Warblers are one of the most sought after species to find. I got many photos of this cooperative male earlier in the spring. 

I've been out to various places in Chatham-Kent over the last few days. It is a great time to be out before more of the hot, humid weather is here to stay, with summer being just around the corner in spite of quite a few recent days giving hints of things to come.

Going to Rondeau is a regular destination of choice for me as readers will know. What is a little more appealing in the warmer weather is the effect of breezes off the water keeping things a bit cooler. And now that the spring birding frenzy of May is past, the trails are a little quieter.

A small type of plant that catches people's eye is first: it is American Cancer-root. 

Certainly not a rarity, but special in their own way is the species shown in the next two photos. It is the Brown-headed Cowbird, a species not everyone can appreciate due to their laying eggs in other bird's nests. I wrote about this in a previous post entitled "Bison Birds". 

Male

Female

More to people's liking is the Cedar Waxwing, next.

On the sunnier days of spring, before it gets too hot, the Common Five-lined Skinks are out and about. The first photo is of a first year skink, sometimes called a Blue-tailed Skink for obvious reasons.

A female skink is next.

Eastern Kingbirds are regular nesting species here.

I came across a Green Heron along Tulip Tree Trail. Sometimes its crest is raised.....

...but more often it isn't.

Of course Tulip Tree Trail has many Tulip Trees, and they are in flower now.

Little Wood Satyr butterflies are flitting about along trails...

...and a much smaller little creature is the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle. They are quite plentiful along most trails, but often are flighty so don't give a good view. This one enabled me to get quite close even with my macro lens!

A little farther north of Rondeau, I encountered a colourful bird hanging out at a sizeable grassy field. It is a Dickcissel, generally considered an uncommon species but which has been increasing in the last few years.

Inhabiting the same grassy field is this more common Savannah Sparrow.

Continuing a little farther north again, this time at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, there has been somewhat of an invasion of a fairly rare bird: Wilson's Phalarope. On one occasion when I was there, I came across 10 birds, all of which seemed to be mated pairs. This first photo shows a pair, with the female on the left and male on the right. In this species, the females are more colourful, and it is the male that does most of the work on incubating the eggs!

On another occasion, they were very cooperative for my camera, and I got this great close-up of a female.

I had hoped that at least one of the pairs might have stayed to nest, but as of the last couple of days, it is apparent that all have left. I remember back in about 1980, there was a pair that nested at the lagoons, and I got a photo of the male on the nest. Maybe next year.....

With the significant changing of the water levels of the sprinkler cells, it is less attractive for shorebirds, and at my last visit I had a mere 3 Semiplamated Sandpipers, a single Least Sandpiper, and the occasional Spotted Sandpiper, along with a handful of Killdeer.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

For any regular, or even periodic, birders checking the lagoons, you might have seen this truck working away. It is a special vehicle owned by Republic Services, and it was on site to suction off some of the oily sheen that was covering one of the lagoons. It so happens that my son is with Republic Services, and travels widely across southwestern Ontario in particular providing environmental clean-up services at various industrial sites, etc. He was operating this truck, and he told me he was going to be there for several hours, so I stopped by and saw him in action.

Continuing northwards again, I have been to St. Clair NWA on several occasions, as it is a great place to see and hear nature in action.  Black-crowned Night-Herons used to be a bit more commonly seen, but for some reason they are less numerous now. I did manage to get this photo of one flying relatively close by on one evening.

 Sandhill Cranes are fairly regular fly-overs, sometimes giving good photo ops.

June is egg-laying time for many turtles, so I wasn't surprised to see several Common Snapping Turtles roaming about the trail looking for a place to dig a hole and deposit their eggs.

Great Egrets are scattered about...

...and there are at least a few Least Bitterns inhabiting this NWA. They are much more often heard than seen, so I felt fortunate to get this photo of one as it flew by and disappeared into the cattails.

White-tailed Deer are periodically seen right on the trail...

...and on once occasion I saw this doe and her two fawns roaming along the edge of one of the more distant islands.

 

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So much flora and fauna!

 What a dilemma...so much to see in nature this time of year, as well as so much to keep up-to-date with at home. What makes this time of year especially challenging is that on May 26, it was the two year anniversary of my wife/best friend's passing. For anyone not aware of a post I did shortly after she passed, here is the link to that.

Also, about a year ago I started a new blog called Life Is A Journey, which gives some insight on who I am featuring so many challenges and blessings. I have over 35 posts on it, so far. If you are interested, here is the link to the first post. It starts early in life, as it is a journey.

But on to Nature Nuggets and some of the things I have noted over the last little while. I will refrain from birds, since on the last post I featured just birds, and neglected so many other things. Much of my time has been at Rondeau, of course. The Common Five-lined Skink is one of my favourite things to see this time of year, as they are found on fallen logs connected to a tree root and with at least part of it well exposed to the sun. They are a cold-blooded reptile, so the sun is beneficial. They are also a species at risk, and Ontario's only lizard. The male, at this time of year, has an orangey face.

The female is almost the same size, but with no orange on the face.

A real treat was to photograph a pair of them, which I call Love Skinks!

 

A young one has a blue tail, and is why they are sometimes called Blue-tailed Skinks.

A distinctive emerging item is called American Cancer Root, looking like a pale yellowish pine cone emerging. 

On a visit to the Erieau Marsh Trail, I watched a couple of large, female Common Snapping Turtles, vying for territory as they thrashed about the shallow water. Males are much smaller.

Continuing with another reptile, Eastern Garter Snakes are regularly seen....

.....unlike the very similar Northern Ribbon Snake, next. They are quite similar, although the ribbon snake prefers wetter sites, is usually more distinctly lined and perhaps one of the easier features if you can get a look, is that there is a small white spot immediately in front of the eye, as the next photo shows.

Changing up a bit, I was out last evening along the east beach of Rondeau. I noted yet another reptile. This little guy was right on the path, and due to its very small size, is undoubtedly a hatchling this year.

I also came across something that is very hard to capture photographically. It may not be immediately apparent of what it is, but just at dusk, millions....no make that billions....of insects start to swarm in very large mass groups. They are constantly on the move as they swirl around, and along the lake shore one can see numerous swarms. It was really hard to keep the camera's focus on them!

 A bit later in the evening, I got a photo of the second full moon of May, a.k.a. a Blue Moon, being the second one in the month.

 After I got home, I also noticed my first tick of the season! It was just crawling up my leg, so hadn't dug into me yet. I picked it off and photographed it on the back of my hand. The month of May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, which is sort of suitable that I got my first tick of the year in May. Hopefully it is the last one, and I am glad it wasn't a Black-legged Tick, a.k.a Deer Tick which is the transmitter of Lyme Disease. I have had LD at least 5 times, and while I haven't been as seriously affected as some, I do have a long-term/ongoing issue of fatigue ever since my first encounter with LD back in September of 1976!

American Dog Tick

 A few of the wildflowers that have recently made an appearance include:

Wild Geranium

Golden Ragwort close-up

Golden Ragwort 

A rare plant, which may not even be present at Rondeau naturally, but that is another story, is a species at risk called Goldenseal, shown in the next two photos.

Long-spurred Violet

Canadian Lousewort, yellow

Canadian Lousewort, purplish

Wild Columbine

Next, what is initially perceived as a flower, is actually the emerging leaves of Shagbark Hickory.

Starry False Solomon's Seal

Mayapple

Next is not a flower, but a plant, known as Sap Yeast which often occurs in the spring oozing from a damaged part of a tree trunk.

Wood Anemone

Next is an orchid that one doesn't normally associate with Rondeau. It is Large Yellow Ladies'-slipper. I rarely come across them unless I am looking specifically for them, as I have only known them to occur at three spots in the park. One spot no longer supports them, a second spot only has one or two if any, and the third spot supports a dozen or so but is a long way from any trail.

 A couple of other critters:

Bronze Jumping Spider

Spicebush Swallowtail

And lastly, just a view along the west South Point Trail, one of my favourite places to meander in Rondeau especially once the crowds of May have subsided.

 

 

 

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