So much flora and fauna!

 What a dilemma...so much to see in nature this time of year, as well as so much to keep up-to-date with at home. What makes this time of year especially challenging is that on May 26, it was the two year anniversary of my wife/best friend's passing. For anyone not aware of a post I did shortly after she passed, here is the link to that.

Also, about a year ago I started a new blog called Life Is A Journey, which gives some insight on who I am featuring so many challenges and blessings. I have over 35 posts on it, so far. If you are interested, here is the link to the first post. It starts early in life, as it is a journey.

But on to Nature Nuggets and some of the things I have noted over the last little while. I will refrain from birds, since on the last post I featured just birds, and neglected so many other things. Much of my time has been at Rondeau, of course. The Common Five-lined Skink is one of my favourite things to see this time of year, as they are found on fallen logs connected to a tree root and with at least part of it well exposed to the sun. They are a cold-blooded reptile, so the sun is beneficial. They are also a species at risk, and Ontario's only lizard. The male, at this time of year, has an orangey face.

The female is almost the same size, but with no orange on the face.

A real treat was to photograph a pair of them, which I call Love Skinks!

 

A young one has a blue tail, and is why they are sometimes called Blue-tailed Skinks.

A distinctive emerging item is called American Cancer Root, looking like a pale yellowish pine cone emerging. 

On a visit to the Erieau Marsh Trail, I watched a couple of large, female Common Snapping Turtles, vying for territory as they thrashed about the shallow water. Males are much smaller.

Continuing with another reptile, Eastern Garter Snakes are regularly seen....

.....unlike the very similar Northern Ribbon Snake, next. They are quite similar, although the ribbon snake prefers wetter sites, is usually more distinctly lined and perhaps one of the easier features if you can get a look, is that there is a small white spot immediately in front of the eye, as the next photo shows.

Changing up a bit, I was out last evening along the east beach of Rondeau. I noted yet another reptile. This little guy was right on the path, and due to its very small size, is undoubtedly a hatchling this year.

I also came across something that is very hard to capture photographically. It may not be immediately apparent of what it is, but just at dusk, millions....no make that billions....of insects start to swarm in very large mass groups. They are constantly on the move as they swirl around, and along the lake shore one can see numerous swarms. It was really hard to keep the camera's focus on them!

 A bit later in the evening, I got a photo of the second full moon of May, a.k.a. a Blue Moon, being the second one in the month.

 After I got home, I also noticed my first tick of the season! It was just crawling up my leg, so hadn't dug into me yet. I picked it off and photographed it on the back of my hand. The month of May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, which is sort of suitable that I got my first tick of the year in May. Hopefully it is the last one, and I am glad it wasn't a Black-legged Tick, a.k.a Deer Tick which is the transmitter of Lyme Disease. I have had LD at least 5 times, and while I haven't been as seriously affected as some, I do have a long-term/ongoing issue of fatigue ever since my first encounter with LD back in September of 1976!

American Dog Tick

 A few of the wildflowers that have recently made an appearance include:

Wild Geranium

Golden Ragwort close-up

Golden Ragwort 

A rare plant, which may not even be present at Rondeau naturally, but that is another story, is a species at risk called Goldenseal, shown in the next two photos.

Long-spurred Violet

Canadian Lousewort, yellow

Canadian Lousewort, purplish

Wild Columbine

Next, what is initially perceived as a flower, is actually the emerging leaves of Shagbark Hickory.

Starry False Solomon's Seal

Mayapple

Next is not a flower, but a plant, known as Sap Yeast which often occurs in the spring oozing from a damaged part of a tree trunk.

Wood Anemone

Next is an orchid that one doesn't normally associate with Rondeau. It is Large Yellow Ladies'-slipper. I rarely come across them unless I am looking specifically for them, as I have only known them to occur at three spots in the park. One spot no longer supports them, a second spot only has one or two if any, and the third spot supports a dozen or so but is a long way from any trail.

 A couple of other critters:

Bronze Jumping Spider

Spicebush Swallowtail

And lastly, just a view along the west South Point Trail, one of my favourite places to meander in Rondeau especially once the crowds of May have subsided.

 

 

 

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Lyme disease.....an update

Some readers may remember a post I wrote in early May of this year [Tick Talk....it's Lyme Tyme], where I described the experiences I have had in dealing with Lyme Disease for almost 40 years. I contracted Lyme Disease (LD) again in late April of this year, for the 6th time, which prompted me to share my experiences and concerns with anyone who is interested. In case you missed it and are interested, you can read about it via this link.

There are two types of ticks that humans are most likely to encounter in Ontario: the tiny Black-legged Tick, a.k.a. Deer Tick, which is believed to be the main, or even only, vector of the spirochete which causes LD, as shown in this first image.

And the American Dog Tick, a.k.a. Wood Tick shown next, which is at least twice the size of the Black-legged Tick:

Note the way that the tick is situated on a blade of grass, with its front legs outstretched waiting for an animal to pass by. There are tiny hooks on the end of the front legs, which will snag the fur of a mammal, the feathers of a bird, or the pant leg of a human.

The Black-legged Tick that hitched a ride on my clothing was one that I missed in spite of my usually vigilant checks for ticks which I do after knowingly hiking in their territory. Not all Black-legged Ticks carry LD, fortunately, as I expect I have been bitten in the past but did not end up getting LD. This time, however, I was not so lucky and its bite on my lower leg resulted in the usual first stage symptoms that are very similar to feeling like one is coming down with the flu (e.g. joint and muscle aches, tiredness, fever). After a few days this bull's-eye rash appeared. A rash resulting from a LD carrying tick is not itchy, but may feel slightly warm, which this one did. All of these are classic characteristics of a recent encounter with a tick passing along LD.

I still had the tick, so I took it to the local public health unit. There the staff person agreed that it was likely a case of LD, and shortly after I went to the doctor, who also agreed with my diagnosis, and so I was put on three weeks of antibiotics.

The local health unit representative sent the tick away to the lab that is authorized to test for LD, but she advised me that it would take several weeks to get the results.

A few weeks later, I got a call from this same health unit representative who passed along the results from the lab. Their testing concluded that the tick I submitted did not test positive for LD!!!

In some ways, I wasn't surprised. I have read from people quite knowledgeable about the nuances of LD that the labs in Canada only test for one strain of the spirochete. Unfortunately, there are several strains that can also result in LD that are missed by this overly simplistic testing process, which presumably is what happened in my case.

So the bottom line is that if you suspect you may have contracted LD, at this time it is not enough to only expect the medical establishment to properly diagnose it for you. Learn all you can from sources that are considered reliable and go armed with the information as you seek treatment. It is a lot easier to treat while it is at the first stage and in your blood stream than once it becomes established in organs and systems where it is a lot more difficult. One of the best sources I know of for this information is from the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation .