Lake McLean, flooding, orchids and butterflies

There is a new lake in Chatham-Kent. Well not totally new, as part of it has been around due to the high water levels of the last couple of years. But currently it is at likely close to the largest size it has ever been. I'm talking about the flooded fields at Keith McLean Conservation Lands. For those of you who had been there over the last year or so, searching for bird rarities such as Red Knot, Snowy Egret, Glossy Ibis, Black-necked Stilt or Nelson's Sparrow, or even just out enjoying some of the other 208 species of birds now known for the area, or the general landscape, you will know that parts of it have been more than a little wet. But if you haven't been there in the last few weeks, you may be quite surprised.

I was there just last Saturday for the first time in several days. This first photo is taken from Google maps, and shows a good portion of the most accessible part of the KMCL. (Click on the image for a larger version.) The blue line encloses what I have named Lake McLean, where the current water levels have invaded on the agricultural fields. The P is the parking lot, the B is the bridge, the W is the wetland area shown in the second photo which has been under water for well over a year. The M is the wetland along the causeway. I used to live right across from Keith McLean's place, and knew him quite well at the time. He told me that he remembered a time when the water levels were so low that the area I've marked as M was dry enough one year that they actually plowed it and planted a crop! I think the farmer who normally puts a crop in on the McLean property this year will be severely curtailed in his efforts.

 I took this next photo while standing on the bridge that crosses the creek system, marked as B on the map above, and looks onto the area marked as W.

 The creek has always been very close to the field, of course, but as the water in the creek rose, it got perilously close to the top. In the next photo you may be able to see the brownish colour on the vegetation at this very narrow point, as the water spilled over from the creek and flowed into the field. These next photos were taken at a time when the water levels were actually down a slight bit.

 These next two photos were taken from the road.  I am standing with my heels at the edge of the pavement, and the water is only a couple of metres away. These were taken on Saturday, June 8. When I came by on June 12, it was even worse. In fact I couldn't have stood at that same spot, as someone, possibly from the roads dept, had come along and piled mounds of earth all along the side of the road to prevent the water from spilling over across the road. At the beginning of this post, I indicated the current level might be close to having created the largest lake here. However I have 35mm slides of June 1985, when the water was actually spilling over the road at the bridge/causeway.

 The photo above shows the tops of some evergreen trees planted here several years ago, as well as a post. If you take a close look at what it says on the sign in the next photo, it says "No motor vehicles" and specifically shows ATVs, snowmobiles and motor bikes. I think they will have to update their sign to include motorboats!

 Water birds are, naturally, loving it. There have been lots of ducks using it from time to time, including this female Hooded Merganser.

 Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets are regularly seen, especially the former species. With the reports of several Snowy Egrets in various places in southern Ontario lately, I keep checking to see if one will show up here. So far none have, but a couple did show up last year.

 There are sometimes up to a couple of hundred gulls and terns using the lake. Caspian Terns are usually found around large bodies of water. I guess they consider Lake McLean a large enough body of water for now. It probably is a little late for gulls to consider the area as a nesting site, but who knows?

Almost all of the migrating shorebirds have left the area for their more northerly breeding grounds, but from mid May until just a few days ago, flooded fields like this were very attractive to shorebirds. In fact it was not uncommon to see a greater diversity and number of shorebirds in flooded fields than it was at sewage lagoons. In just a few weeks from now some shorebirds will be returning and may find these flooded fields, assuming they are still flooded, to be quite to their liking. Stay tuned.....

As mentioned, I have been back to Rondeau on a couple of occasions in the last few days. I wanted to do some more orchid photography, and was focusing on Puttyroot. I found 15 plants in flower, four of which are shown here. You can see the single faded leaf at the bottom of the stem.

 Another plant that I have been keeping an eye on is American Gromwell, which up until I re-discovered it at Rondeau in 2017, had not been seen in Chatham-Kent in at least 30 years.

 One of the purposes of my latest foray at Rondeau was to try and locate an Acadian Flycatcher nest that had been reported. It was not in the typical habitat, and in spite of my efforts, was not able to locate it yet. But I did come across lots of other birds including this recently fledged Brown Thrasher scurrying about in a shrubby tangle.

 The adults were very close by, keeping watch over their youngster and 'chucking' their alarm call on a regular basis.

 There were also lots of butterflies out along the trails and forest edges. I must have seen at least 50 Azure types, mostly flitting.

 Little Wood-Satyrs were scattered here and there, with their ditsy-doodling flight in the low vegetation.

 I came across at least a dozen skippers, almost all of which were Hobomok, and the only skipper I was able to photograph. The only other skipper I could tell for sure was my first of the season Silver-spotted Skipper.

Only a few more weeks until the butterfly count!