Moths....in winter!

 Okay maybe that title is a bit misleading as adult moths are not likely to be found in southern Ontario at this time of year, especially under the conditions that most of the winter has been. However I had planned on doing a brief post late last winter to feature late season adult moths that I had photographed in recent years, but the topic was just on the back burner for too long. 

However, in a brief period recently where the daytime temperature reached +1C, as I was hiking along the west South Point Trail at Rondeau, in between some patches of snow I came across a caterpillar along the trail. One can sometimes expect a Wooly Bear Caterpillar so show up during such times, but it was clear this was not one of them. The bristles are too long and spiky. In addition, a close-up of the area between some of the bristles show some orange. It is the caterpillar of the Giant Leopard Moth, officially a vulnerable species of moth in Ontario, making it even more unlikely to find wandering about in February!

This is what an adult Giant Leopard Moth looks like, next. I have photographed an adult coming to one of my black lights on several occasions, but only at Rondeau and Clear Creek Forest Provincial Parks. They definitely stand out!

There are a few moths that will come to a black light relatively late in the season, but ideally when the temperature remains above 10C. Sometimes they may even be seen flitting about in daylight. Here are a few examples of ones I have photographed even as late as late November, either at Rondeau or in my back yard. The advantage of Rondeau is that later in the season, with the effect of the warmer lake, it may stay above 10C a little longer.

Autumnal Moth

Bicolored Sallow

Bilobed Looper Moth

Box Tree Moth

These next two are the Bruce Spanworm Moth, showing a variable pattern and colour.

Common Tan Wave

The next two are the Corn Earworm Moth, showing different perspectives.

Green Cloverworm

Next is not a moth, but a regular but very small, visitor to black lights known as a Brown Lacewing.

Soybean Looper Moth

Tomato Looper Moth

 That's it, at least for now. With spring not far off, and as temperatures rise, I hope to get out to various places and add some new species to the list of ~750 species I have already photographed!

My next post will likely focus on late season birding highlights, unless something more interesting comes along. I do have a future post planned about the saga of the endangered Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus at Rondeau in the plans, so stay tuned.

 

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More birds, less winter??

 It has been nice to see the intensive wintry conditions subside, at least a bit. So I have managed to get out to a few local places to see what is around. 

 A recent visit to St. Clair NWA wasn't terribly productive, but the combination of a nice walk and a few birds made it worthwhile. American Tree Sparrows are often around, scrounging on the now exposed grassy trail and retreating to the adjacent cattails when a hiker disturbs them.

A few Canada Geese are going to and fro, but not stopping in the still frozen NWA.

Views of the frozen NWA, taken from the observation tower, follow. It won't be many weeks until there is lots of open water, and hopefully lots of water birds!

Rock Pigeons are here and there, and on a really cold day they seldom fly, but as the weather warms up a bit they become less tolerant of a stopped vehicle with something pointed out at them. These three were part of a group that was a little more tolerant. 

I decided to make another trip up along the St. Clair River. There is still lots of ice floating around, making it difficult to get close enough to many of the waterfowl. I was hoping to catch up to a couple of Trumpeter Swans that are here and there, and although I did see them, I didn't get any photos of them. This next photo is of two I saw a few years ago.

A few other, much more common species of waterfowl, were more available for my photographic attempts. This first one features a male Ring-necked Duck in the foreground, and a male Redhead in the background.
 

male Common Merganser

male Canvasback

On another outing, I headed a bit east, into southeastern Lambton County, where it seems that eagles tend to over winter. I have seen and photographed Golden Eagles here in the past. However on this occasion I only saw one Bald Eagle, but didn't get an acceptable photo. I did manage a few other things, such as a fair number of Horned Larks in scattered locations, so I spent a bit of time capturing a few photos of them as they hung out in the fields adjacent to the road. They blend in quite well when in the corn stubble.

Horned Larks are fun to watch, and photograph. It is the the Bird of the Year for the American Birding Association.

A Red-tailed Hawk hung out on a tree quite a way from the road, but enabled me to get this heavily cropped photo.

Closer to home, I spent a bit of time hiking some of the less snowy/slushy roads and trails at Rondeau. I got a good hike or two in, but didn't photograph many birds. This male Pileated Woodpecker was the most successful of my efforts, and didn't seem to mind my camera pointed at him for several minutes.
 

I came across this workings of this Poplar Vagabond Aphid. I hadn't paid much attention to them in the past but they are more abundant than I thought. It looks quite a bit different in the mid-summer, and will try and get photos of it later this year.

Even closer to home, I checked out the water treatment plant outlet just downstream from Chatham. The open area is not large, but there are a few dozen ducks making use of it. Amongst the mostly Mallards, were a couple of others, such as this female Common Goldeneye, shown first...

...and this female Common Merganser. A Green-winged Teal was also there but I didn't get any photos of it.

 And even closer to home, were some American Crows, not surprisingly, and I took this through the kitchen window. Doesn't get any closer than that!

 

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Wintry landscapes, lots of ice, and a few birds

 I managed to get out to the southern part of Chatham-Kent a couple of times, but the birds were not all that plentiful. There was virtually no open water along the east beach, although small open spots well out had a few waterfowl. The ice formations were attractive, however.

 The east beach was attractive to a few Bald Eagles. I think I have seen at least 2-3 on every time I made it out.

 There were some scenic parts of the woodland, even though the birds were almost non-existent.

However at a couple of feeders at the north end of the park, there were often at least some bird activity. A Carolina Wren isn't very common in the winter, but on occasion they can be found visiting a feeder under the current wintry conditions.

Here a Black-capped Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker were putting up with each other on opposite sides of the feeder.

I went over to Erieau, hoping there were two or three open spots in the Lake's ice to appeal to at least a few ducks, but it wasn't to be, at least unless a change in the wind caused some openings.

For something different, I went up along the St. Clair River as there is usually enough movement in the river to create some openings.

There was a small group of swans well out on the ice, and resting so it was hard to tell what species they were. I had some Mute Swans elsewhere. The bit of gray on some of the plumages suggest they were likely Tundra Swans, which isn't surprising, although a few Trumpeter Swans have also been seen. However getting a look at their beak would have been really helpful

One of many Redheads was constantly diving for something. I didn't see that it caught anything for its efforts.

Others seemed to be content to mostly just swim around.

These are a few Mute Swans, easily identified by their bill.

A few Common Mergansers were in the area....

...as were Common Goldeneye...

...and Canvasback.

I also spent a bit of time roaming around the former Dover Twp. There was no shortage of American Crows.

At St. Clair NWA, now that it is open to hikers again, there were a couple of dozen American Tree Sparrow feeding on the open grassier sections of the trail.

This Beaver lodge is, I think, new. I don't recall seeing it along the usual stretch of trail I hike along, but with the NWA being closed from October to the end of December, there was time for them to build one.

 The view of the NWA from the observation tower is rather bleak. Not much interest there for birds at the moment, but come spring....I will be there regularly!

 At a usual spot that has several Wood Duck nesting boxes, Eastern Screech Owls will take up one as a wintering residence, peaking out to capture some of the sun's warming rays.

This next item is what is probably the result of a Poplar Vagabond Aphid causing some deformation on the outer buds of a Poplar tree.

Where there is a bit of open area in a field, you can sometimes find a few Wild Turkeys. There were at least 40 birds gathered in this open space.

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