Spring birds and other fauna

Such a busy time of year shaping up as spring is unfolding. I won't deal with spring wildflowers on this one, but will do so in a future post. For this one, there is lots of fauna, etc., to feature!

A recent trip to St. Clair NWA was fairly productive in seeing things, although the heavy overcast made photography a bit of a challenge.

American Tree Sparrows are still around, but dwindling in numbers. 

Beavers are well established, although not always easy to find and photograph.

Out towards Lake St. Clair, this tree regularly has a few Double-crested Cormorants using it over the course of the day.

A Great Egret or two can be found.

Sandhill Cranes are often in good numbers, sometimes up to about 14, with some even hanging out on the main trail.

It was heavy overcast, as mentioned, so it influenced some of my photo efforts. This was taken from the observation tower, looking eastward.

I try and get to the Mitchell's Bay North trail regularly. Great Egrets are becoming more common, which will likely continue until well into the autumn.

There is lots of shorebird habitat, but most of the time I am only able to find a Greater Yellowlegs, shown next, or a Lesser Yellowlegs.

Midland Painted Turtles are out to enjoy the sunshine, and help out with their egg production phase.

 Heading south, a recent trip to the Erieau Marsh Trail was a worthwhile stop. Right at the beginning of the trail was a Blue-headed Vireo, the first one I had seen this year. Unfortunately it was so busy moving around the branches, or up against the white sky, this is the best photo I managed.

There were several Blue-winged Teal in the sheltered part of the wetland, along with some geese.

I saw a few Chipping Sparrows, just becoming a little more common these days....

...as are Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Of course Rondeau is a favourite destination, and I managed to track down a few species of fauna. Butterflies are becoming more common. This first one is what I would call a Spring Azure, and it fits the description in the fairly recent Butterflies of Ontario book. However there is someone in the Ottawa area who tries to convince people that the only way to tell whether it is this species or one of several others, is to look at it under a microscope, so he lumps them all as Holistic Azures. It's too bad, as that means one has to collect and kill it to identify it! I think I will stick with what the book says.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are becoming quite common...

..as are Mourning Cloaks.

Killdeer have been back for awhile, and I came across this nest a few days ago.

I managed a nice close-up of this House Wren, singing its heart out to attract a mate.

These Green Darners were busy along the trail.

And Brown Creepers are fairly common these days.

If you go to Rondeau these days, you may notice that the spring, prescribed burns have occurred in a couple of places. It will be interesting to watch how the flush of prairie vegetation responds!

 I haven't been out birding quite as regularly or intensively as I used to, but some of the younger more dedicated local birders have come up with some good sightings. What follows are of species that have been recently seen, but I had to dig into my archives to feature them. I might catch up to one or more of these species yet over the next week or so if they stick around, but in the meantime, I will showcase these this way.

Several Marbled Godwits were noted flying by the lake front. This is one I took from my kayak at Mitchell's Bay a few years ago. 

Piping Plovers have historically nested in the area, but due to their overall decline over the decades, are seldom seen other than on migration. One or two have been seen from Erieau looking at the south beach of Rondeau, but only seen via a 'scope. I photographed this one along the south beach several years ago.

Willets are migratory, nesting farther west, as are the Marbled Godwits, but occasionally show up in the area. Several were seen recently along the lake front. I photographed these three at Shrewsbury several years ago. It is a real treat to see any of these three species, and I hope an indication of things to come!

 

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Some of nature's diversity besides birds

 It is such a wonderful time of year to be out. So many things to photograph, or just to see and appreciate for their beauty as the world of nature continues to awaken from their dormant period. This post will focus not on birds, but other things.

One of the highlights at the beginning of the season is to see a few Common Five-lined Skinks, Ontario's only lizard. It is considered an Endangered species. Fortunately it can be found in a variety of places at Rondeau. 

 While walking this trail, I came across another reptile, a Common Snapping Turtle, a Near Threatened species at risk. Again, it is relatively widespread in the wetlands of southern Ontario, and can be found in the marsh as well as the larger sloughs of Rondeau. This was a very large female, seen right along the Tuliptree Trail, just poking her head above the surface.

 Another official Species At Risk is this next one, American Ginseng. I have seen it in a very few places, and due to it being a popular item for collection, will not mention where I found it. 

The flowers are just starting to form in a tight bud. I will try and feature it in good flower a little later in the season.

Much more common is Canadian Lousewort, next, and can be found in various colours as shown in the next couple of photos.

Also fairly common is Cut-leaved Toothwort, quite abundant in the rich beech-maple forest.

 There have been a few bright, sunny warm days of late, and a few butterflies and other things can be seen, such as this Eastern Comma....

....and this Eastern Gartersnake.

Very similar to the Eastern Gartersnake is this Ribbon Snake, with striping a little different but one of the easier features to see without handling it, is the small white spot in front of its eye.

Ontario's official flower, the White Trillium, can be abundant. However due to the very high population of White-tailed Deer in the past, the numbers of this species is not what it should be. This first photo shows a nice stand of these trilliums inside one of the deer exclosures, which have been in place since 1978, protected from hungry deer.

Immediately outside the deer exclosure is an example of what spring wildflowers can look like when they are available to those hungry deer. There is hardly a single spring wildflower in flower. There are developing leaves, but no flowers! Quite dramatic!

In yet another part of Rondeau is this rare wildflower, officially Vulnerable. It is Goldenseal. The flowers only last for a short time before small red berries begin to form.

 Some more spring wildflowers include:

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Large-flowered Bellwort

This next one is Large-leaved White Violet. I came across a small population of them along the Black Oak Trail, and it is new to the park's plant list. The petals are white both front and back, except for the purplish centre at the front, and the leaves are separate from the flowering stem and fairly broad with a pointed tip.

Wild, or Red Columbine, is in peak flower these days.

Red Trilliums are mostly past flowering....

...as the new leaves of this next tree appears, and initially look like flowers. But they are the developing/emerging leaves of Shagbark Hickory.

In some of the more open sloughs with a fair bit of water, there is an abundance of this next one, the Yellow Water Crowfoot, a member of the buttercup family.
 

Along various trails is Wild Geranium....

...but very limited in it abundance at Rondeau is this next one, the Twoleaf Mitrewort. The flowers are quite small as you can see, but are very attractive.

Two-leaved Toothwort

Fairly common is Starry False Solomon's Seal, next, and just becoming quite abundant....

.....whereas Spicebush, also quite abundant, has mostly finished flowering, and the red berries are slowly developing.

Sometimes a small green beetle will be actively wandering the trails or other open areas. It is the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle.

One of the 18 species of orchids known from Rondeau is this next one, the Showy Orchis, and it has been considered a Species At Risk, but is not officially yet. It is quite rare at Rondeau, only occurring in a couple of places as far as I know, but due to the presence of ticks, I spend a lot less time off the trails in my search for things than I used to. I have contracted Lyme Disease 5-6 times, and fortunately have not been as negatively affected as some, but I don't want to press my luck, so I mostly remain on trails. I assume there are many wonderful things to see away from the trails, but I will try and limit my time off trails.

An unfortunate presence in the forest of Rondeau, and elsewhere in extreme southern Ontario, is this next thing, called Beech Leaf Disease. I have hardly come across any American Beech tree at Rondeau that doesn't show at least some sign of it. At this time of year, as the leaves are developing, they will be crinkled with brown areas between the veins. As time goes on, the brown will turn to black, and many leaves will not develop properly. Some mature beech trees are now dead, mostly because of this disease, but to a lesser extent, due to very high water levels some years. This does not bode well for the Endangered Acadian Flycatcher, which nests almost entirely in these beech trees.

While hiking at St. Clair NWA not long ago, I managed to get this photo of a Beaver swimming by.....

...and I saw these two large female Snapping Turtles in a territorial dispute. 

  

 

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