Late season black lighting fun, part 1

The last couple of times I've been out hiking at Rondeau, I've noticed significantly fewer birds and species. I suspect that cold front of a few days ago, along with the very high winds associated with it which reached ~90km/hr on occasion, probably caused some of them to move on. Hopefully they have arrived at a place more suitable to spend this time of the year.

There is still a good variety of birds around, and as the deer herd reduction process winds up in the next few days, access to the park will be back to normal, giving birders a chance to scour the various habitats to see what birds might be available for the upcoming bird count. Who knows what that cold front and wind blew in from somewhere else, awaiting a birder's eyes?

In the meantime, I want to show a few more moth and other night-time invertebrate photos. I'm way behind. For example I haven't even touched the September black lighting results from several trips to Rondeau. A quick estimate indicates I had documented at least 80-90 species. I had set up at various places to sample various habitats, depending on prevailing wind. These included the Group Campground, the area near the corner of Rondeau Road/Gardiner Ave, as well as the forested and grassy area by the tennis courts. They were all quite profitable.

Here are some of the ones I captured on my digital film. Some you may recognize.

Ailanthus Webworm

Ambiguous Moth

American Idia

Bicolored Pyrausta

Bidens Borer

Black Duckweed Moth

Black-banded Brocade

Canadian Melanolophila

Celery Leaftier

Chestnut-marked Pondweed

Clothes Moth

Pink-mottled Cochylid

A Grass-veneer species

Bent-lined Carpet

Bronzy Macrochilo

And as usual, there are various non-moth critters that show up for the fun.

A Sword-tailed Cricket species

Assassin Bug

A Backswimmer species

Brown-and-green Stinkbug

 I think this is the first time I have ever had a Common Green Darner come for a visit. It sat quite still and gave some excellent opportunity for close-ups!