Two books done, one to go......

 Most readers will be aware of the first two books I have produced. The first one came out in early 2023, and was entitled Life on a Sandspit. It features lots of photos and some habitat description of Rondeau.

Earlier this year, the second book was completed, and is entitled Natural Treasures of Chatham-Kent. It features a broader array of natural habitats that formerly occurred in C-K and where some remain, as well as listing where such habitats are publicly accessible.

Both books are available at the following places:

Friends of Rondeau bookstore, Rondeau Park

Bayview Market, just outside of Rondeau Park

Book Brothers, King St E, Chatham

Lavender and Honey, King St. E, Chatham

Mindful Market & Eco Hub, Blenheim

Mitton's Jeweler's, Ridgetown

The Gift Cabin, Erieau

The Five-Eau, Erieau

I do envision making them more available across Chatham-Kent, but marketing is not my strong point, and I have been, of course, more involved with other priorities in the last few months.

The third book which has been initiated and is in a first draft, will focus on the Prothonotary Warbler. It is probably the most iconic and popular bird species in the Carolinian Life Zone and most certainly at Rondeau, where it was first discovered nesting in Canada back in 1929. It has been discovered nesting elsewhere in Canada, mainly along the north shore of Lake Erie, but Rondeau has generally been considered the primary stronghold for this species ever since.

I have been following this species at Rondeau at various intensities, for 51 years, and have been able to get some wonderful photos. This current year, I spent far less time due to Marie's ill health and eventual passing, which of course changed my priorities considerably. On the rare occasion that I was out this spring, I only managed to photograph the female, shown next.

I do hope to get back to completing this book over the next few months as time and my energy dictates. It will be a much smaller and shorter book compared to the first two, but there is lots to show and tell about the Prothonotary and its relevance to Rondeau.

I did manage to see a few other birds during my occasional outings, along with a few photos, including the following, such as this female American Redstart building a nest.....

....this female Black-and-white Warbler searching for insects to gain the energy it needs to make it to its more northerly breeding territory...

and this Great Crested Flycatcher, perched high above the slough where I was watching and waiting for a Prothonotary to show.

My previous post mentioned that I had been to places other than Rondeau during the month or so after Marie passed away, where I could get some quiet time, focus on nature and refresh my soul. Some of these places included St. Clair NWA as well as the lakeshore nature trails both north and south of Mitchell's Bay. All of these places are along Lake St. Clair, and with their spacious and wide open nature, gave lots of photo opportunities and the usually gentle breezes helped to keep mosquitoes and deer flies in reduced numbers.

American Goldfinches were plentiful, picking away at the mature seed/fluff of Canada Thistle for some nest building material.

Barn Swallows were mostly concentrated near the observation tower at the NWA, as they had built a nest in the upper corner of the tower.

Black Terns used to be quite abundant near large wetland areas, not only feeding but also nesting. In recent years, however, they have been on the decline. They are always nice to see, but due to their rather erratic flight, can be a challenge to photograph!

The Common Snapping Turtle is not all that common, and is on the Species At Risk list. This large female was on the trail looking for a spot to lay her eggs.

Common Yellowthroats are fairly common, and this male was carrying some food item to the nestlings at its well-hidden nest.

Great Egrets nest at some of the offshore islands, but are frequently seen nearby foraging at the coastal wetlands for food. They seem to be more tolerant of hikers once they depart from the shallow marsh and perch up in a tree.

This next one was actually well away from the coastal wetlands, since with all the recent rain there were many flooded fields.

A much smaller heron type, is a Green Heron. As with the egret, it seems to be more tolerant of hikers once it can get safely up in a tree....

...but even then, they have their limit of tolerance.

Northern Leopard Frogs are abundant....

...as are Red-winged Blackbirds. There are many hundreds of them along the coastal wetlands, as well as elsewhere.

Sandhill Cranes are becoming more and more regular and in greater numbers. Before the crops get too far along, they can be seen foraging in fields adjacent to the NWA.....

....or in flight between the fields and the wetlands. A small number of them may be nesting in some secluded area of the marshes.

Tree Swallows are frequently seen foraging for insects over the wetlands. Hopefully they are finding lots of mosquitoes!

In the earlier part of the season, Wild Turkeys will be more often encountered, as the young of the year are prowling around becoming familiar with their local landscape. In the case of this one, it was with a couple of others at the edge of the field along a wide shrubby creek adjacent to the NWA. As the season progresses, there will be fewer and fewer, most likely due to the predatory habits of Eastern Coyotes. Only the strong and wary turkeys will survive.

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Nature Nuggets continues, sort of...

 Readers of my most recent blog will understand why I have not been posting anything lately. I decided to have the month of June devoted to that single post, featuring the passing of my dear wife, Marie. It has been a difficult time, certainly like nothing else I have experienced, which isn't surprising given that we had spent nearly 48 years together.

In spite of this, I did manage to get out for short periods since she passed away, partly to re-live memories, and partly to enjoy the ambiance of nature which was so important to both of us. Also to take a break from the never-ending details that come after the death of a loved one! I purposely chose times and places where I was most apt to be by myself rather than get caught up with many other hikers who were out for very different reasons. But get out I did, and had my camera with me of course. I managed to find a few things to capture on digital film, and some of those highlights will be in this blog. Lots of common things, but worthy in their own right. Since one cannot travel through the natural areas of southwestern Ontario without coming across some less common things, I will include some of them as well.

Certainly one of the highlights, from a bird perspective, was to come across a few Dickcissels. It used to be an extremely rare species in Ontario, but in the last few years has been more or less regular.

They often sit out in the open, near a large grassy field, and sing throughout the day.

Quiet trails worked out nicely for my various outings.

...with the occasional bird song punctuating the woodland atmosphere, such as this Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Wild Turkeys are not often seen, but with a few families of young birds to add to the overall population, there are a few more to be found.

Wood Lilies often catch my eye as they almost glow in the normally dark forest setting.....

..but should not to be confused with the very abundant Day Lily, next, a non-native species that is most likely to be found along Lakeshore Road, as they have escaped from cottage lots.

Purple Flowering Raspberry is scattered along woodland trails. Even though it is a raspberry, it does not produce fruits that we find edible.

There is lots of Mayapple scattered throughout the main forested areas. As the season progresses, they may be heavily spotted with Mayapple Rust.

In the grassy areas, especially those areas which were burned this spring, Butterfly Milkweed is widely found.

There is no question that it is attractive!

A very rare species, the location of which I will not divulge, is American Ginseng. I have been watching this population for many years. This first photo shows what it looks like at about the very end of May. You can see some very small flower buds developing at the central stem.

This next photo shows what it will look like in mid to late June, on the verge of flowering.

I did not get to it this year to see it in flower. By the time I did get to it, flowering was past and fruit pods were developing. They will turn red when ripe.

Canada Anemone has been widespread, although it is mostly past flowering by now.

A non-native orchid can be found scattered in various places. It is Helleborine, a European species.

Fungi are here and there, but will be more noticeable later in the summer and early fall. This one is a White Jelly Fungus.

On one of my forays, I was walking along the road and this young cottontail was nibbling away at some greenery. It did not mind me approaching at all, as I took this photo with my 100 mm macro lens. I am not sure whether it was able to survive for long or not. Just a few minutes earlier, and only a short distance away, I had a Long-tailed Weasel scamper out onto the road. It was only there for a couple of seconds so I was unable to get a photo. But if it scented this little bunny, I am sure it would be after it in a flash, as it would be a perfect meal for this weasel.

Also in the greater Rondeau area, I spent a bit of time along the Erieau Rail Trail. There is always something to see, including Great Blue Herons...

...the inevitable Mute Swans...

..and a few Eastern Kingbirds.

Turtles abound still, although not as much as in late April and early May. Northern Map Turtles, a Species at Risk, are found regularly.

That's all for now. I have been other places, such as Clear Creek Forest Provincial Park and St. Clair NWA, but those outings will have to wait to be featured on a future post.

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The love of my life has passed away!

 Some folks reading my blog may wonder why I have not been as active posting things in this normally busy time of year. Life has taken some heart-rending directions these past few weeks especially. My dear wife and best friend for almost 48 years, Marie, has passed away, as of May 26.

Marie had been dealing with an increasing number of health issues over the past few years, which she was trying to get ahead of via naturopathic doctors, traditional doctors and her own research. However that all came to the unfortunate conclusion a week ago yesterday. Fortunately she was able to spend the final few days of her earthly life at the Four Counties Health Services hospital at Newbury, a small community about half way between Chatham and London.

The purpose of this post is to honour Marie, for the incredible person she was, and to share some highlights along her life's journey, primarily as my wife.

I have long thought that this next photo, when she was about two, was a perfect example of cute, and if a dictionary was wanting a photo to accompany that definition, this photo would be a prime candidate.

I met Marie when we were both attending the University of Guelph in the early 1970s, and we were married in October, 1976. In the years that followed, we enjoyed traveling around Canada and the USA, especially the west. We did not ignore the east, but since we both had many relatives in the west, that determined our direction for the most part. 

One of our first trips included some time at the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Here is a photo of Marie coming down a trail, in her 'super woman' pose.

A few other trips early in our years included the following. The first one shows her walking along a quiet trail at Zion National Park, in Utah.

In Colorado, we came across Great Sand Dunes National Park. Sand and dunes had always been an interest for both of us, and to find this incredible place in the middle of the continent rather than along a coast, was fascinating. We usually made sure we stopped in and camped there on various trips, to enjoy this exceptionally intriguing natural area.

The sand dunes are impressive, with some of them reaching more than 700' above the floor. Here Marie pretends she is an exhausted traveler making her way along the lower dune area.

Nearby are the Sangre de Christos Mountains rising from the arid landscape.

Another fascinating area is Arches National Park, in Utah. The arches are an incredible display of nature in action, where wind and water has formed these arches over thousands of years. As you can see, using Marie as a scale model at the bottom, some of them are huge.

Delicate Arch

We traveled to 46 of the lower 48 states in the USA, and all of the Canadian provinces except for Newfoundland and Labrador, and of course took thousands of photos of those areas.

Life wasn't all about traveling beyond our home area, but we tried to get in as many trips as we could. But even around southern Ontario, and in particular Chatham-Kent, we got out and explored quite often. Rondeau was, of course, one of the regular places, partly because in some of the early years of our life together, we even lived in the park for 5 and a half years. The Tulip Tree Trail was a regular hiking spot....

...and Marie posed in tree-hugger style on one occasion.

Marie loved the beach and shoreline. Our home when living there, looked out over the grassy beach dunes and then out over Lake Erie. Sunrises were often exceptional, which we could enjoy from our bedroom window. Anytime Marie accompanied me to the park, we almost always included a bit of time walking along the beach.....

...even in winter.

And sometimes it would serve as a location just to lie down, rest and enjoy the gentle sounds of the surf.

On one occasion, at the Group Campground, one could stand in the middle of it and call out, and this Ruffed Grouse would emerge from the woods, and come right up. Ruffed Grouse are known for their autumn crazy flight at times, and this was an example of their strange (to us) behaviour.

St. Clair National Wildlife Area had a pleasant trail system, overlooking the ~240 ha of wetland.

And southern Ontario waterfalls were of interest as well. This first one is of Rock Glen falls, in northern Lambton Co.

Next is Marie at the Eau Claire Falls, between North Bay and Mattawa. She is on a rock photographing Kristin and I, who had our cameras pointed at the water tumbling down the falls.

This next one shows Marie near the base of Webster's Falls, in the greater Hamilton area.

On the home front, Marie was busy with various things, of course. Gardening was a priority, and she was always active tending various flowers or fruits and veggies.

Iris

This next one shows her surveying a bumper crop of crab apples, and wondering how best to tackle the numerous fruits!

 

 

Tomatoes...yummy!

 And there were times when she could just relax in the yard, reading and enjoying a snack of something or other.

Marie had an interest in some of the wildlife that occurred in our yard, and regularly reported to me seeing a butterfly so I could photograph it.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 

Tawny Emperor

 Beginning in the mid 1980s, kids were a significant addition to our family. Here Marie is watching a rugby game where our eldest, Tim, was playing, in the early 2000s.

We did some family camping, shown here in the mid 1990s, at Algonquin.

Marie and Kristin, Aug '07

A bit earlier, in Aug '06 while I was attending a North American Prairie Conference, we managed to travel around some other areas, such as this next photo showing Marie and Kristin overlooking an area at the Niobrara Wildlife Management area in Nebraska.

And in October '07, the three of us took a trip west, and here they are standing in the wet and blustery conditions at Yellowstone NP.

In retirement, Marie and I spent a month traveling to the southwest, with a focus on Arizona where we spent two weeks in the middle of the Sonoran Desert just south of Tuscon.

Saguaro National Park

Enjoying the cactus

On the trail at San Bernadino Nat'l Wildlife Refuge

Saguaro National Park sunset

On the return, we stopped at Great Sand Dunes NP again; it is always special.

Photographing the photographer

Photographing the water patterns

Back home, we also took on some butterfly surveys in some planted prairie sites.

Giant Swallowtail

Monarch

There were still some trips, such as one to Grande Prairie and Edmonton, AB, to be present at a niece's wedding. We stopped at the Serpent River in northern Ontario on the return, a quiet river through the wooded and rocky landscape.

And her final trip, to the east coast with Kristin, where she spent a bit of time along a coastal beach.

Marie had been an incredible support to me in so many ways. She was kind, thoughtful, non-judgemental, loving, smart, considerate, practical, fun to be with etc., etc. She was a valuable editor for both of my books, Life on a Sandspit and Natural Treasures of Chatham-Kent, as well as to some of my blog posts.

So many memories to cherish! We love you and miss you, Marie!