Waterbirds continue, Fungi and some backyard wildlife

 The autumn migration continues, with a few more northern warblers filtering southward, as well as shorebird numbers and diversity continuing to build. At the local sewage lagoons, the species and numbers vary, but the lagoons are productive, as evidenced by a good number of 'out-of-town' birders checking them out in addition to us locals.

One of the highlights of recent days was the single day sighting of a Red-necked Phalarope. I didn't get to the lagoons that day, but went the following day. There was at least a dozen birders over the course of the next day, all with the hopes of encountering this rare shorebird. Unfortunately there has been no sign of the phalarope by anyone since, but it is relatively early in the autumn migration so another one might show and stay around. A highlight of this outing, however, was to see my first of the year Baird's Sandpiper.

Short-billed Dowitchers, a shorebird with a long bill, but on average shorter than its Long-billed relative, are also appearing as expected.

There are lots of the diminutive Least Sandpiper around....

....as well as Lesser Yellowlegs....

...and Semipalmated Sandpipers, and others.

Sandhill Cranes continue to be around wetlands, as well as recently harvested fields nearby. At this time of year one might expect to see a third or fourth one, as a family group. It is more likely that this pair was unsuccessful raising any young this year, since there were no young accompanying them.

With the amount of precipitation in recent weeks, it will come as no surprise to see a profusion of fruiting fungal bodies around in the leaf litter or emanating from rotting wood, some of which are quite colourful or at least distinctive. These images were all taken during one or more of my quite recent orchid forays at Rondeau.

Coral Fungus

This next one is a member of the Gomphus genus, without a common name. It might be a relative rarity on the North American landscape, but species identification is yet to be determined.

Next is a member of the Waxcaps group.

And this next one is a member of the Deer Mushrooms group.

This last one is known as Dead Moll's Fingers, a member of the Xylaria genus

There are things of interest much closer to home, which is great for my photographic itch when I don't wander too far. Marie spotted this caterpillar busily trying to get through the grasses. It is an American Dagger Moth.

In the pollinator part of our community garden, the Great Black Digger Wasps are busy....

...as are the various species of wasps and wasp-like critters. The one in the photo below is a member of the Umbrella Paper Wasp group.

A young Short-horned Grasshopper posed for a single photo before leaving for parts unknown.

This Tachinid Fly, which is hard to identify to species with a single photo, was keeping an eye on my camera with ring flash and macro lens coming closer and closer.

Much easier to get photos of was this Giant Swallowtail, once considered an uncommon and even a potential species at risk not that long ago.

Nesting season is still ongoing. We have had a pair of Mourning Doves building a nest just a few metres outside our living room window. They didn't start until after the first of August, and the female is now sitting on the nest almost all the time. Presumably there are one or more eggs. In past years, Mourning Doves have attempted to nest in the same location, but without success. Their nests are flimsy structures, and they could never get any nesting material to stay in place. This pair has found a way, and we will be keeping an eye on how it develops over the next few weeks.

As an update regarding my book 'Life on a Sandspit':

 It is now available at more locations, including:

-Friends of Rondeau bookstore in the Rondeau Visitor Centre;

-Bayview Market, just outside the park gates;

-Mindful, an interesting store in Blenheim at the main intersection of Talbot Trail and Marlborough St

-The Book Brothers, on King St E in Chatham

-via the Sydenham Field Naturalist web site, at https://www.sydenhamfieldnaturalists.ca/publications/

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Shorebirds, Orchids and Leps

This is post #600 of my blog: Nature Nuggets.  Little did I know at the time back in early 2014, how this would unfold. Thanks to many readers, I find doing this highly satisfying.

 It is a great time to be out exploring, with camera in hand, of course.

The local sewage lagoons have been productive, especially for shorebirds, although things have tapered off in the last 3 days or so. But there has been a good variety continuing to show, such as the following:

American Avocet

Baird's Sandpiper

Typically lots of this next one, a Lesser Yellowlegs....

....and always at least a few Pectoral Sandpipers.

Short-billed Dowitcher

A highlight for at least a couple of days, was this young Willet, a species that breeds a fair way to the west of us here.

Not a shorebird, obviously, but a hunter of shorebirds. From one to three Peregrine Falcons have been seen swooping and diving after shorebirds. This young Peregrine one was a fair distance away, but hovered briefly, allowing me to get this shot.

At Rondeau, there are lots of birds moving through, although they are hard to photograph with the dappled/contrasty light, and lots of leaves.

Northern Parula

Philadelphia Vireo

I also saw almost a dozen White-throated Sparrows, the first ones I had seen this late summer. In pretty short order, they will be one of the most common migrants passing through.

In my previous post, I showed some close-ups of the Autumn Coralroot. Here is an overall view, showing how obscure this little orchid really is! It is about 15 cm tall and in full flower.

In the past few days, Great Plain's Ladies'-tresses are showing up in various grassy places at Rondeau.

The flower spikes have a spicy vanilla fragrance, and the centres of each flower shows a creamy colouration.

I always like seeing a young White Pine seedling make an appearance. Will this one survive to maturity, or will it become nutrition for a White-tailed Deer?

I have been to Clear Creek Forest Prov Park a couple of times, partly to look for a very rare butterfly (Marine Blue) that had been seen, but partly just because the open meadows are great for butterflies and the quiet woods of this old growth type forest is just so inspiring.

I didn't find the rare butterfly, but there was a good variety of more typical ones, including, Common Buckeye, which were actually common.....

Common Ringlet

Common Wood-Nymph

This next one, an Eastern Tailed Blue, was as close as I could get to the Marine Blue.

I was pleased to find at least a couple Great Spangled Fritillary busily feeding on various sunflower types.

Viceroys were fairly common. In fact they outnumbered the similar looking Monarchs.

The couple of Monarchs that I did encounter liked the Teasel...

...as did the Orange Sulphurs.

Red Admirals were very few, at least of what I saw.

I only saw this single Silver Spotted Skipper, but there were likely more.

As I was walking through the open meadow, I noticed this dead tree full of roosting Turkey Vultures. They have been gathering and migrating southwesterly, and the local hawk watch sites have reported them in increasing numbers over the last few days. There are tens of thousands on their way!

In other news, last night I had the black light on in the back yard. Most things I got were fairly typical, but I'm glad I paid a little more attention to this one. It is a Coffee-loving Pyrausta, and is the second one I have had come to the lights in my yard. The first one was back in August, 2020, and at the time it was the first record on iNaturalist, and the first record for Canada. Since then, it has been found in a small number of places elsewhere in Ontario, and someone who was digging through their old moth photos, posted one that was photographed near Leamington back in 2017.

This morning, while enjoying my second cup of coffee in the back yard with Marie, I saw this butterfly come in. I got a quick look, then went and grabbed my camera but it disappeared. Fortunately it came back and I managed to get a couple of photos. It is Horace's Duskywing, a late summer migrant from the south. According to iNat, it is the first record for Chatham-Kent, with only a handful of other records in southwestern Ontario. Most are in Essex Co, with a single record in north Lambton and a couple in the Toronto area.

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