Things are hopping, flying, singing, swimming and slithering out there!

It is a great time of year, especially with the mostly favourable weather we have enjoyed these first few days of spring. There are more and more things to see in nature, and it is just a taste of what will be appearing over the next few weeks.

On a couple of the warmer, sunny days we've had, I purposely went out to Rondeau Prov Park to see what butterflies I could catch up to. I was pleased to have encountered about a dozen individuals altogether, of the following two species:

Eastern Comma

Mourning Cloak

Both species overwinter as adults, so are among the first to emerge when the weather is suitable.

While hiking the sheltered trails, I also came across these critters, that either hop or slither.

Leopard Frog

Green Frog

Green Frog

Green Frogs can vary in colour and pattern quite a bit. The first one above is probably an older male, whereas the lower one is a younger individual. One easy way to tell Green Frogs is by the ridge extending down their back, behind the eyes.

Wood Frog

I heard other frogs as well, including Spring Peepers and Western Chorus Frogs, but got no photos. This is the first snake species I have seen so far, but others are likely out and about.

Eastern Garter Snake

In the flying category, besides the butterflies shown above, the bird diversity is on the upswing. With a little bit of work, one can usually find about 50 species in a few hours. Here are some that I saw and had cooperate for the camera over the last few days, mostly at Rondeau.

 American Tree Sparrows, shown first, are one of the most common winter sparrow species, but are steadily declining now.

Eastern Screech Owls are permanent residents, but are not always easy to find. This one likes this particular cavity lately.

Another permanent resident is much more noticeable due to its bright plumage. It can be heard quite regularly bursting out in song to declare its territory.

Black-capped Chickadees are mostly migrants although a small number over winter. There seems to be a few more these days.

American Robins have become quite plentiful in the last couple of weeks, as you likely know. Most of them are males, told by their darker head. The females will be arriving in larger numbers soon, and nesting will begin shortly.

One of the highlights of early spring birding is seeing Fox Sparrows. Even when they are passing through to or from their northern range, they are most often found partially hidden in scrubby, shrubby areas, making getting a clear photo difficult..

Common Grackles are, well, quite common these days. Hundreds can be seen entering the marsh at dusk, or emerging at daylight. During the day they are scattered everywhere, especially if there is a feeder nearby. The time I stopped at the Visitor Centre feeder there were at least a couple of dozen coming and going and scratching underneath the feeders to see what they could find.

Another regular at an active feeder is the Eastern Grey Squirrel.

I walked the Tuliptree Trail shortly afterwards, and watched this Muskrat feeding ravenously on some aquatic tubers.....

....and photographed these pollen flowers of a Silver Maple.

On a short visit to Clear Creek Forest Prov Park, I wanted to check on the Skunk Cabbage that occurs in one small spot. It was just emerging.

While I was listening to some Western Chorus Frogs in a large pool at Clear Creek, I noticed this pupa of a Promethea Moth. It looked healthy and intact, and hopefully it will emerge successfully this coming June. We had photographed an adult last year here.

 

On the way to Clear Creek Forest, I had stopped at the Ridgetown lagoons, as waterfowl can be relatively easy to see and photograph right from the vehicle. Ring-necked Ducks, shown first, were quite plentiful.

Snow Geese have often been seen, and on this occasion I encountered 17, mostly in the closest pond.

However they gradually moved over to the far side....

....and eventually had a rest on the berm in between the ponds. While many of the geese have moved on closer to their sub-arctic breeding ground, there were at least three Snow Geese reported at Ridgetown yesterday.

Our back yard isn't quite as productive as a place like Rondeau or Clear Creek, but there have been some interesting sightings in the last couple of days. An American Toad was seen hopping across the grass.....

...and the moth season has begun. I had the black light on in the yard for a few hours on two separate nights. The insects that came were not abundant, but I had two moth species show up:

Green Cloverworm

Morrison's Sallow

...as well as these next two visitors.

Lacewing species

Winter Cranefly

With the slight cooling and damp spell looming over the next few days, things will slow down a bit. But the much needed rain, that will really get things growing!