Black-necked Stilts, Pelicans, Phalaropes, June flowers and...Orchids!

 I really had planned on getting more posts out in June, but it has been busy! Lots of the normal things to deal with, and I have been getting back into black lighting in a much bigger way than the past 2-3 years. It involves a lot of preparation time, actual black lighting for hours at a time, and then 'recovery time' as well as processing hundreds of photos. I will be including a black lighting post or two over the next month, which happens to be Moth Month. I am also preparing on a post regarding the saga of Prickly Pear Cactus at Rondeau, which is more complicated than it might seem. And of course taking time to get my head around, and produce the occasional post in my Life Is A Journey blog.

With that being said, this post might be a little longer than average, as there is so much to catch up on. Most of my efforts have been concentrated in the southern part of Chatham-Kent, but also includes a couple of forays to search for orchids elsewhere in C-K and beyond. 

Bird migration has slowed down, but there have been some interesting things to see. I mentioned Dickcissels having arrived in CK in my previous post, and they continue to be present there, as well as at other places. For example some friends who have a combination woodlot and planted prairie a bit north of Blenheim have had at least two pairs of Dickcissels present, and I spent at least a couple of hours quite recently watching and photographing them. They weren't often very close, but I managed to get some fair photos, with the first one showing a nicely coloured male in full song. What is handy about this species is that it will sing fairly frequently throughout most of the day.

The female, shown next, isn't up and nicely visible nearly as often as the male, as she is likely tending the nest. Her markings are more subdued.

Much more common than Dickcissels are Savannah Sparrows, and they occupy very similar habitat. I saw at least a dozen of them in the vicinity.

At the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, there has been a pair of Black-necked Stilts busily feeding in one of the cells. The male is on the left, and has the black back....

...while the female has more of a brownish/black back.

Also at these lagoons, there was quite an 'invasion' of Wilson's Phalaropes earlier in June, at least 5 mated pairs, which I featured in my previous blog. After most of them left, there was a single male still present for several days. For this species, after the female has laid her eggs, she will typically leave the area in search of another mate, and the male will carry on with the incubation of the eggs in a grassy nest, and raising the young. I had hoped that this might happen since a male was present for several days after the female disappeared, but as far as I am aware, nothing like that happened. 

Male Wilson's Phalarope

Perhaps the mowing around the cells, or perhaps the greatly fluctuating water in the sprinkler cells was not conducive.  At any rate, my last two visits to these lagoons did not have any phalaropes present. I am aware of only one occasion when nesting of this species actually occurred here, as they are mainly a much more western species. But back in about 1980, there was a nest and I managed to get a photo of the male sitting on it.

Another unusual wetland bird species showed up at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands for 2-3 days. It was an American White Pelican.

It must have felt a little out of place, as even before I got very close, I could sense that it was getting restless. In just a few moments it got up and flew out to Rondeau Bay but I managed to get a few heavily cropped photos.

Much more common bird species are this one: Field Sparrow, a pair of which perched reasonably close by, enabling me to get this photo of the pair. They were busy flitting about a fairly large area, which must have been their breeding territory, but at least one periodically came back to this perch.

While the spring wildflower varieties have tapered off somewhat, there are still a few of the usual, mostly colourful ones present, and some are in fair abundance. This first one is False Indigo Bush, a bit of a provincial rarity, but unofficially introduced to Rondeau by someone.

A naturally occurring rarity is next: Green Milkweed. It doesn't seem to be as abundant these last few years, so I was pleased to see this one.

Much more common are:

Bladder Campion

Canada Anemone

Fringed Loosestrife

Ground Ivy

Pale-spike Lobelia

Hairy Beard's-tongue

Poke Milkweed

These next three often get the attention of even the casual walker:

Purple Flowering Raspberry

Wood Lily

Butterfly Milkweed

 One may encounter other elements of wildlife as one travels around. First off is a type of dragonfly, likely a White-faced Meadowhawk due to the season and the relative commonness of this species although the actual face cannot be seen to know for sure.

Lots of these little guys around, and on occasion they will even sit long enough for the camera.

Much less common is this next one: a Blanding's Turtle, which is a provincial rarity. It was crossing the main road in the Rondeau forest, seemingly out of its normal wetland habitat.

Finally, a bit on some successful orchid hunting. Earlier in June I ventured into northern Lambton Co, hunting for some specific orchids. I had hoped to find a Ram's-head Orchid, with the known location being the most southerly location in Ontario for it. But it was not found. However a Pink Lady's-slipper is always a treat to see, and usually are farther north in Ontario than where I venture most of the time.

Next is Hooker's Orchid, a much less colourful orchid, and I have seen it at Rondeau but not for many years. It may still occur, but I don't spend as much time off the trails as I used to, due to the risk of Lyme Disease.

At Clear Creek Forest Prov Park in eastern CK, I caught up to these two orchids. First is Large Twayblade, a provincial rarity.

More widespread but less showy is this Fen Orchid.

 That does it for this post. Hopefully the next one will show up sooner!

 

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Bird migration continues, with regular, rare and very rare sightings

 Now that we have entered the middle third of May, birders expect lots of bird action. While it seldom is as active as most birders would like, there has been a steady stream of birds arriving.

I have been to Rondeau a couple of times lately, of course. The lake effect of the wind off the water keeps things cooler than inland, and so the leaves on the trees have not developed as far along as trees inland. Therefore the birds even high in the trees are a little more visible.

Almost all of the expected warblers, vireos and flycatchers have been recorded, although not in very great abundance. Here are some of the ones I've been able to capture on digital film so far.

 While looking for a reported Kirtland's Warbler, along with several dozen other birders, this Cape May Warbler obliged at the top of a low red cedar. The Kirtland's never did show up again.

Chestnut-sided Warblers were one of the more common warblers in the last few days.

Magnolia Warblers are beginning to increase in numbers.

Nashville Warbler

One of the warbler highlights of spring, and throughout the summer breeding period, is to see a Prothonotary Warbler. They never cease to draw oohhs and aahhs from any birder observing one.

Only the males have shown up so far, although the females will be arriving soon if they haven't already. Rondeau happens to be the first location in Canada where this species was discovered nesting, and it has remained the main stronghold for this very rare species.

Aside from warblers, things like Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are widely scattered. They are constantly on the move, and get into a variety of postures as they attempt to glean insects from the twigs, etc.

Great-crested Flycatcher is a breeding flycatcher at Rondeau.

Lincoln's Sparrow, on the other hand, is not a breeding species, and they are typically quite furtive along trails and forest edges.

Northern Cardinals are not uncommon, but when one pops up for a photo, I will take it. They are heard regularly throughout the park.

White-throated Sparrows were around by the dozens, even the hundreds, for a few days. Their numbers seem to be dropping now, as they have moved on to their more northern breeding locales. This one was enjoying some morning sun on an otherwise cool morning, and allowed me to approach fairly closely.

Wood Thrush is not a common species, and due to its overall decline in Ontario, is considered a species at risk. Their flute-like calls are always nice to hear in the quiet of evening.

On one occasion, I was heading down a trail to get GPS coordinates of a rare orchid that I had discovered a new location for a few days earlier. I noticed this Turkey Vulture preening and soaking up some early morning sunshine.

On another trail, I heard the distinctive churring of a Red-headed Woodpecker, and located it on a dead tree not far away. It seemed to be staking out its territory, checking out some holes in the tree, and otherwise looking quite at home. While this species is on the decline, the numbers reported at Rondeau this year seem to be a bit higher than the past few years, so hopefully it is a good sign.

American Woodcocks have been back for several weeks, and are well underway in the nesting process. They rely on the cryptic coloration, and so allow quite a close approach.

On sunnier days, one has to be vigilant regarding where one is walking. This Ribbon Snake was on Harrison Trail, and I could have easily missed it.

It is a species at risk, and although it looks generally similar to the much more common Eastern Gartersnake, can be told via its more distinctive yellow lines, and the small white patch in front of the eye.

Red Trilliums are starting to be in good bloom these last few days. They are typically in flower a bit earlier than White Trillium, shown following, and are also starting to appear rapidly in the considerably warmer temperatures of late.

I made a brief stop at Bannerstone Conservation Area, just north of Rondeau. I saw a Bay-breasted Warbler, normally a species that shows in the latter part of the warbler migration...

....and the Tree Swallow boxes look like they have been claimed by some for this season.

I got wind of a pair of Black-necked Stilts being at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons yesterday, so of course I decided to stop in and look. Sure enough, along with numerous Dunlin, Lesser Yellowlegs and a single Wilson's Phalarope and such, there were the two stilts.

 Quite a few birders had already seen them during the day, but they still allowed a couple of distant photos. These are cropped quite a bit. This is a species that normally will be found in the mid-west, but occasionally show up here in southern Ontario on migration, much to the delight of birders.

The male has a completely black back....

...whereas the female has a brownish back.

I've also spent a bit of time at St. Clair NWA where the large managed wetland complex is a wonderful and accessible spot for finding marsh birds.

Common Yellowthroats are, rather common, although one is more likely to hear them than see them. On occasion a male will sit up in an open spot at the top of the cattails, or in this case the invasive Phragmites, and belt out its call.

Black Terns are a somewhat declining species. On this day, I saw about 18, with many of them flying north along the lake shore so were likely continuing their travels to their breeding grounds. A few will likely remain. They fly a bit erratically, so getting photos is not an easy thing to do!

Eastern Kingbirds like the openness along the wetland complex edges.

Blue-headed Vireos were using the shrubby edges to rest and forage before moving northwards.....

....an Eastern Wood-pewee was also there, but just using the shrubby edges for resting and feeding as well.

Warbling Vireos, on the other hand, like the openness of the cottonwood edges and at least a few will likely stay to nest.

The next few days look quite promising for bird migration, so I plan to be out a few times putting my camera to good use!

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