While the spring bird migration is all but over, the fall migration is not far away! But there is a whole host of other things to get out to enjoy.
On a recent trip out to Rondeau, I took a look at what used to be the Marsh Trail. This has always been one of my favourite parts of the park, but getting out to enjoy it will be a lot more challenging than it used to be. For anyone familiar with the trail, this first image shows what it is like just past the parking lot gate.
Looking southwards, one can see the Barn Swallow nesting structure, that was put in place following the destruction of the observation tower. It is completely out in the water now, and it is likely only a matter of time before the ice of a future winter takes it out.
The forest canopy has all but closed in with the leaves out in full. Wildflowers are few and far between, compared with the extensive carpets of spring wildflowers just a few weeks ago. There are still a few, however, including Canada Violet. It is fairly easy to identify, being white, with its dark striped, yellow throat....
....and the tinge of pale violet on the back of the petals.
This isn't a wildflower, but a fern, commonly known as Rattlesnake Fern. It is scattered throughout.
One of the few orchids around right now is Puttyroot. It isn't very colourful, and easily blends in with the subdued colours of the forest floor.
On the topic of orchids, a few days ago Marie and I went to northern Lambton County on a search for some orchids that, while they are not abundant even there, they don't occur at Rondeau. I was particularly interested in checking a small population of Ram's-head Lady's-slipper. This population in the Ipperwash area is believed to be the southernmost population in Canada.
Alas, while I did find about 9 plants, only two had attempted to flower, and it appeared that perhaps a slight frost or something had damaged the flowers, so there were no good photographs to be had.
I did look for other orchids that I knew were in the area, and came across a single flowering Pink Lady's-slipper and a couple of non-flowering ones.
Another target of this trip to north Lambton was to see if I could find and photograph the rare Dusted Skipper, which would be a lifer for me. I had noted on Blake's blog that he had seen about 30 in the day or two preceding my visit, so I thought my chances were good. As it turned out, even after searching the area where Blake had seen them, and with directions from Blake (thanks, Blake!), I was only able to come up with two. I suspect the cooler temperatures of around 15C due to the brisk north winds off the lake probably kept some of them in more sheltered areas. But of the two, I did manage to get several photos of this one.
Before actually finding this Dusted Skipper, I was attracted to this Common Roadside Skipper, which in my experience is anything but common.
Some of the more open and sheltered sandy areas had various other flying critters, including this Eastern Sand Tiger Beetle.
On the return home, we stopped at a location along the Ausable River where years ago I had found several individuals of Green Dragon, a fairly rare plant in Ontario. It may be even rarer now, as I was not able to find any sign of it, although with the forest canopy changing due to the loss of ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer, the ground cover was exceedingly dense, and so possibly this dragon species still lives along the Ausable. Maybe next time I will be more successful.
I didn't know that Ram's Heads were found down your way. I've only seen them at Dorcas.
ReplyDeleteYep.....there is a population at Pinery as well as Ipperwash, but Ippie is slightly farther south, of course. I'm not sure if the Pinery population is still present, however, as I recall hearing that it was under threat several decades ago, but don't recall what the threat was. The Pinery population was where I first saw them, back in the late '70s.
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