Early season black lighting

 I had planned to post a few times over the last few months, to feature moth images and highlight some of the finds of late last year. Not sure where the time went, and my spring posts so far have mostly featured migrating birds, and spring wildflowers. However I will take a short break from that theme. Before the spring gets too far along, I want to feature some moths of 2021. The nights have not been great, overall, but on some evenings there has been a bit of action, even back in March. I have had the light set up in the back yard a few times, with only moderate success so far.

Earlier this week Kevin and I set up our lights at Clear Creek Forest Provincial Park, in eastern Chatham-Kent. It is a great spot for all sorts of reasons, and I always enjoy poking around the various habitats. Last year we didn't attempt any black lighting there until later in July. Our priority was to black light at Rondeau as much as possible, but by July the mosquitoes were making it quite unbearable, so we moved our efforts to Clear Creek, and found there were no mosquitoes after dark at all! What a contrast, and a delight!

Since we didn't start until July last year, clearly we had missed the early season moths, so it was time to catch up with them. It is a tad warmer in spring than at Rondeau, simply because Rondeau is affected by the cooler temperatures from the lake and bay that surround it, whereas Clear Creek Forest is a couple of kilometres inland from the lake.

Our first effort at Clear Creek was fairly satisfying. We had three lights and white sheets set up along the trail, and got about 25 species of moth in about 2.5 hours. I'm sure if we had stayed a few more hours there would have been more, but when one gets up relatively early for birds, one cannot stay out too late for moths!

Here are some of the more distinctive moths, many of which looked quite fresh and clean so were likely recent emergent individuals rather than over wintering individuals I suspect. Clicking on the image will make it larger and easier to appreciate the finer details of these delicate creatures.

This first one is an Apical Prominent, and clearly has an atypical shape, at least compared to many moths.

Bicolored Woodgrain

 This next one, the Brown-collared Agonopterix, is quite small, being only about one centimetre in length.

Canadian Melanolophila

Clover Looper

Distinct Quaker

This next one is the Double-lined Gray. A closer look at this fresh specimen shows some linear warm brown markings which can be distinctive, along with the white spot towards the outer edge of the wings.

Honest Pero

I think this next one is quite striking. It is the American Lappet Moth. While it is not uncommon, I have only seen and photographed it on one other occasion.

Linden Prominent

The emeralds are quite attractive. This one is the Red-fringed Emerald, with the first photo showing its more common pose. The second image is the same individual, but one does not often see it posed like this.

Reddish Speckled Dart

Small Engrailed Moth

The following individual is a Tawny Pug. It isn't particularly rare, but is the first time I have seen and photographed it. The body is quite short, about 7 mm in length, but the wing span at about 20 mm is impressive for the overall size of it.

Toothed Brown Carpet

Not all of them come to the lit up sheet. Some will alight on the tripod holding up the black light, and are much more difficult to see and photograph. This fresh looking individual is a Variable Carpet Moth, again, the first time I have seen and photographed it.

These are just a hint of what is to come. I intend to set up my black light at various spots again in 2021. Some will be the same as in previous years, but perhaps at a different time to see what comes in. I have a couple of new spots in mind, one in particular looks like it has an unusual habitat mix, and could provide some really interesting critters. Having found two new species for Ontario in the last year or two, I am hoping the trend continues and more new species will show up. 

There are more than 3200 species of moth known for Ontario, and with the level of interest shown in this group over the last few years, undoubtedly more are likely to be discovered. Stay tuned!

Birds, Wildflowers and Snow!

 During some of the nice weather, I've been out. On some of the wintry days, I've also been out!

On one occasion I spent some time at McKerrall Woods, a few kilometres north east of Chatham. It is about 20 hectares of variable upland and lowland forest, and has a nice variety of spring wildflowers. Since the warmer weather of a few days before triggered an earlier emergence of said wildflowers, I thought I had better get out before I missed them. 

Dutchman's Breeches is always nice to see.....

....a very close relative is Squirrel Corn, a species that I don't see around here nearly as often.

Most everyone knows Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

Red Trillium is fairly plentiful, and comes out a little earlier than the white one. I didn't see any whites in flower, although some were showing signs.

Spring Beauty is an early flowering species; it is small, but is easily identifiable with its pink stripes.

There are quite a few violet species. This one is Downy Yellow Violet.

The forest floor is almost covered in some areas, with leaves of the Trout Lily, a.k.a. Dog-tooth Violet, but only a very small number of plants will actually put up a flowering stem.

In our yard, the Virginia Bluebells had begun to flower nicely, a little earlier than normal.

 The next day I went out intending to go to St. Clair NWA, but judging by the number of cars at either end of the trail, it was too busy for my liking so instead spent some time roaming around the former Dover Twp. There wasn't a lot to see or photograph, but I did come across a lingering Snowy Owl.

That evening I went back to SCNWA and had the place to myself. I heard things like Am Bittern, Marsh Wren and Swamp Sparrow but didn't get any photos. I saw a pair of Northern Harriers fly by not too far away, and a couple of Sandhill Cranes off in the distance. I only successfully photographed these next two, however.

On Monday it was another great day to be out, so off I went to Rondeau. The birds were few and far between, but I enjoyed the ambiance of the forest in early spring. Spicebush is really dominating the understorey of the forest.

Near a few cottage lots is this non-native garden escape, Siberian Squill.

A brief stop at Mel's place did not turn up the White-winged Dove, but this Rock Pigeon was still nearby.

 

A somewhat common sight in the forest at this time of year is this bright orange on certain trees. I see it most often on Ironwood. It is an orange yeast that grows off the sap oozing from the tree where it has been slightly damaged. It may be from a woodpecker drilling holes, or where a limb has broken off and fallen, causing some damage. It doesn't really hurt the tree any more than what a woodpecker does normally.

  A pair of Osprey were hanging out on the nesting platform at Keith McLean CA. It is not unusual to see one or two of this species here in the spring, and occasionally one has brought in a few sticks for a nest. Maybe this will be the year that a pair actually nests?

The forecast snow for over night on Tuesday and Wednesday morning proved to be true. This is what I woke up to, looking out the kitchen window.

Knowing that if there is enough snow covering most of the forest floor, but with some exposed edges along the roads to attract bird searching for a morsel of food, I decided to head out to Rondeau again. This is what the forest looked like from Bennett Ave.

The Spicebush was now looking like this.

 There were birds along the roadside as expected, but not in great diversity. Most were Am Robins and Common Grackles. I decided to walk along Harrison Trail north of Gardiner, then along Bennett and back along Rondeau Road since there wouldn't be much traffic, if any, to scare birds away. Again, there were lots of robins, but also at least 18 Hermit Thrush, along with a few Dark-eyed Juncos, a couple of Northern Flickers, a Song Sparrow, a Northern Cardinal and a Mallard. The Hermit Thrushes were the highlight, and some actually cooperated reasonably well for the camera.

There is a bit of snow still falling in this next photo, which made me decide not to crop it quite as tightly.

The resident Eastern Screech Owl was resting in its usual spot. A greatly cropped shot, so as to not disturb it from its morning reverie.

I made a quick trip to Erieau before returning home. The main highlight was the abundance of Bonaparte's Gulls diving and cavorting in the vicinity of the marina. Here are some showing off their courtship display.

Many are in prime breeding plumage, and will be soon departing for their nesting ground in the spruce forests of northern Ontario.