Sun worshippers at the beach and mid-autumn stuff

It has been that kind of week.....some days being quite cool and others much warmer than usual. With the abundance of Turkey Vultures passing through, some have been noted enjoying the sun while resting on the beach. They aren't the normal sun worshippers, but about the only ones out there this time of year.

Beach dunes are good places to find other animal life. While checking the east beach of Rondeau recently to see if any rare geese were mingling with the hundreds of Canadas resting along the water's edge (there wasn't), I came across a life-and-death struggle. A large Chinese Mantid had found a Woolly Bear caterpillar and was proceeding to chow down on it.

Normally the mantid would not allow me to get this close with my macro lens (I was a mere 8 cm away for a couple of these shots), but she was more interested in the meal than escaping me. It was interesting that the caterpillar was still attempting to escape even though the mantid had a very firm grasp, but this is one Woolly Bear that will not have to wait to see what the winter might bring.

While I was on the sand photographing this mantid in action, a type of Ground-hunting Spider came by.

There wasn't much bird activity at the beach that day, so I ventured into the woods. There weren't many birds there either, so I guess it is clear that the fall migration has passed.

Even though the birds weren't very plentiful, there were other things to see and photograph. Earlier this year I had posted about the Boogie Woogie Aphids which are found on American Beech trees. There are still some around doing their thing.

The change in leaf colour is delayed this year compared with most years. According to visitors to central Ontario, even there the leaves are not as far along as they normally are. These next few shots are images taken at Rondeau in the last day or two. While it appears that there are lots of leaves already on the ground, the predominantly green of the trees indicates that the vast majority of them are still holding on quite successfully.

Bennett Ave

Bennett Ave

Rondeau Road

Spicebush Trail

Spicebush Trail

Amidst the leaves on one of the paths of the Spicebush Trail was this large female Eastern Garter Snake. It was in the shade and the ground was cool. The only thing that moved was its tongue as it flicked it in and out trying to determine if I was a threat or not.

Did you see it? Maybe this next photo will make it a bit more obvious.

A year ago, on October 26, some of the same vantage points looked like this:

Bennett Ave

Rondeau Road

This Hawaiian Beet Webworm moth was spotted on my van's door which was parked at the head of one of the trails. It is apparently an uncommon migrant to this area, the northern part of its range.

 
Autumn is a great time for seeing the fruiting bodies of fungi on the decomposing logs and stumps.

Pholiota sp.

Turkey Tail

A stop at one of the local sewage lagoons can add to the day's interest, and one time I stopped at the Ridgetown lagoons. As expected there were several hundred Canada Geese, and after a careful examination, I came across these two blue phase Snow Geese on the water.

They weren't on the water when I first saw them, but at one point something stirred up many of the geese. It turns out that this young Bald Eagle was drifting along right over head, and not all that high up, putting the geese in a bit of a panic. I presume that the geese thought it was safer in the water, so that in case the eagle swooped down, the geese could try and escape by diving under.

There were a few other ducks around, including a couple of dozen Northern Shovelers, most of which which were going through their moult and looking a bit drab.

More action in the prairie patches

Note: my apologies to viewers and commentors on this blog shortly after it was posted. I was making a minor edit, and all of a sudden the entire post disappeared! I think I have it more or less as originally posted.

Dwayne: thanks for your comment. I have been privileged to see lots of neat leps these last few days. And I, too, was slow to get going on ebird, and just recently attempted ebutterfly. Hope to see you on it in 2017.

Blake: thanks for your comment. I wonder what other lep goodies are out there?

 And now, back to the post.......

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I've been checking out a few prairie type patches in Lambton County and also in Chatham-Kent. Butterflies won't be very plentiful for much longer as the weather cools off, so with the sunny and warm days of late, it is worthwhile to get out and see what is lingering this late in the season.

 Bickford Oak Woods Conservation Reserve, in west central Lambton, is a hot spot. There are two areas, each of about 5 ha, that about a decade ago were converted from soybeans to a tallgrass prairie type of vegetation. It isn't exactly pristine by any means, but the dominance of prairie vegetation is encouraging, and according to the leps....they would seem to agree!

During some survey work there in 2014 and 2015, I came across a total of 32 species of butterfly. I've seen almost 20 butterfly species in the last 3 visits, all in September, including 5 species not recorded there in the past. Some of these new species were not unexpected, such as the Black and Spicebush Swallowtails. Common Buckeye wasn't a total surprise, and since it has been a good year for Common Checkered Skipper in southern Ontario this year, it was good to add that one. A mating pair of them was a bonus. The Variegated Fritillary is generally uncommon in southwestern Ontario, so it was nice to get this one on the list as well.

Black Swallowtail

Common Buckeye

Common Checkered Skipper

Spicebush Swallowtail

Variegated Fritillary

There were lots of the more typical species as well.

A few other spots were examined, including a recently planted prairie along the St. Clair Parkway at the Terra/CF Industries property. It had been mowed a few weeks ago to keep down the weedy species, so it wasn't all that exciting, but I was pleased to find a Wild Indigo Duskywing among a few other more common ones.

A private property along Tulloch Line that I had access to was worthwhile, as it had a mix of wildlife shrubs and about 4 ha of planted prairie. A couple of white-tail fawns were there to greet us.

Pearl Crescents were fairly common.

Silver-spotted Skippers were plentiful.

Monarchs are migrating, and often seen nectaring on the various sunflower species that are prevalent in a prairie.

Sometimes there are several on a single plant!

Three's company??

 Eastern-tailed Blues were fairly abundant.

Mating Eastern-tailed Blues

A brief stop at Peer's Wetland just east of Wallaceburg did not have many butterflies in the prairie patch while we were there. But we did see a Common Checkered Skipper.....they are everywhere this year, it seems.

No doubt the most abundant butterfly at any of the sites I've been to are Cabbage Whites. And by the looks of it, more will be on the way.

Not quite as abundant but still one of the more common butterflies is the Clouded Sulphur.....

.....neck in neck with the Orange Sulphur.

 Viceroys are not common at all....only one or two here and there.

Of course there are many other invertebrates using these heavily vegetated patches. Grasshoppers are extremely abundant. Less common are things like this rather large Chinese Mantid. I am always fascinated by the way this species can turn its head to peer at you, and with its protruding green and black eyes on a triangular shaped face, it reminds me of E.T. of movie fame.

Black-and-yellow Garden spiders are abundant, and they often have captured a grasshopper in their web. If you aren't paying attention, it is easy to run into them.

Argiope sp

With all of the goldenrod and asters currently in flower, pollinators are abundant. Honey bees in particular fill the air with buzzing.

A couple of days ago I was at the wetland/prairie complex at the north end of the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Nature trail. Among some of the more common butterflies, I was pleased to find Fiery Skipper and my first of the year, Little Yellow.

Fiery Skipper

Little Yellow

Some late season Black Swallowtail caterpillars are still around. I've seen several in garden patches that have dill or fennel. This one was in a nearby garden plot, and one was still developing in our garden earlier today. It may overwinter in its pupal stage and emerge as an adult in the spring.

I've been entering some of my findings on ebutterfly, which is very similar to ebird. One thing that I find surprising is how few Ontario butterfly records there are submitted to that database, especially since it seems many birders are also keen to watch for butterflies. Any thoughts on why this is so?

A great warm, sunny day at Rondeau

This week has been pleasantly warm, sunny and inviting to be out.....just about perfect autumn weather. And another visit to Rondeau was in store.

On the way, I stopped to check the area just north of the Morpeth Cliffs to see what the WNW winds were blowing in. In less than half an hour, I had a few raptors: Turkey Vulture (9), Bald Eagle (1), Sharp-shinned Hawk (2) and American Kestrel (3). But I felt the tug of Rondeau, so headed to the park and went straight to the South Point Trail. It was not quite a year ago when I was hiking along the south east beach that I came across the fairly fresh carcass of a bird which I determined to be a Cassin's Kingbird! It was only the third record for Ontario, and the first in about 40 years.

Cassin's Kingbird

With the recent reports of Gray Flycatcher showing up in southern Ontario and knowing that flycatchers in general have a habit of showing up way out of their normal range in the fall, I had hopes of discovering another rare flycatcher to add to the Rondeau list. But in spite of not finding anything nearly that exotic, it was a great day to be out anyway.

As expected, there were a few raptors flying through including a Merlin, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawks, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Cooper's Hawk and a young Peregrine Falcon.

Peregrine Falcon

There were a few warblers, but due to the presence of raptors, they were keeping well under cover to the point of being next to impossible to see, let alone photograph. There were Blackpoll, Black-throated Green, Nashville and Yellow-rumped Warblers, at least.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Butterflies were enjoying the bright sunny conditions. At least 150-200 Monarchs were noted flying by, with sometimes 7-8 in a group. They are hard to photograph in flight, especially given the strong wind that was buffeting them around in their struggle to fly to the southern tip to await favourable conditions for the next leg of their journey.

Some were content to hang out on shrubby vegetation, or even just hunker down in the grass.

As mentioned it was a good day for butterfly diversity, and I ended up with 9 species, including Orange Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur, Summer Azure, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Mourning Cloak, Eastern Comma and Cabbage White.

Clouded Sulphur

Orange Sulphur

Other insects were around, including some dragonflies.

Autumn Meadowhawk

 The Autumn Meadowhawks were fairly abundant. While chatting along the trail with a retired couple from Victoria BC, these dragonflies kept landing on our hats or shirts, soaking up the sunlight.

Green Darner

There were a fair number of Green Darners zipping about, but they never seemed to land except for this one.

Right on the path was this pair of Chinese Mantids. They are not native to North America, but were introduced and are now well established in the Great Lakes region. They are easily identified by their large size, up to 10 cm in length, compared to the much smaller native species.

Chinese Mantid

While they may seem to be in an amorous embrace, it is anything but.....unless the male is quick, she may eat him rather than mate with him. And she typically bites off the head of the male before copulation is complete!!!! But shortly after the female has laid her egg mass on some vegetation, she too will die before winter sets in.

Speaking of winter, I have noticed more Woolly Bear caterpillars out and about. The intensity of the upcoming winter is said to reflect the width of the reddish-brown band, with the greater the number of body segments with brown hairs meaning the greater the severity of the winter. However according to some experts, it is probably nothing more than folklore, and if anything, may be an indication of the lateness of when the larvae got started in the spring, thus reflecting the severity of the previous winter.

Woolly Bear caterpillar

The south beach has experienced an ongoing erosion problem, but it has been going on for well over a century. When the pier at Erieau was constructed in the late 1800s, it diverted the shoreline water currents to the extent that natural of the south beach erosion sped up. In fact a coastal engineer doing work for the Rondeau park management planning work of the mid 1970s, determined from examining fixed reference points that one section of the south beach closest to Erieau had migrated north ~550 feet between the mid 1930s and the mid 1970s! And since the Erieau pier is still present, the erosion continues. I have an aerial showing the harbour entrance in April 1989, which I will scan and provide to a future blog post. Prior to the construction of the pier, the shoreline at Erieau and that of the south beach of Rondeau was more or less aligned, with only the outflow of Rondeau Bay keeping them separate. This 1989 photo illustrates what the coastal engineer reported, that the Erieau beach is expanding southward as the water currents drop their load of sand, and then erode the south beach of the park, causing it to move northward.


I captured a few photos of the current state of the shoreline adjacent to the southern most section of the South Point Trail. The trail is nigh impossible to get through, unless one is able to bushwhack their way through.

I attempted a short video clip of the wave action, but have not yet figured out how to get it to function here.

After leaving the south Point Trail area, I stopped at a couple of places along Gardiner Ave and Bennett Ave. At both locations, there were good clusters of warblers, predominantly Yellow-rumped, but with a few others in the mix.

Black-throated Blue Warbler (male)

Palm Warbler

 And my first Hermit Thrush of the fall. Not the greatest of shots, as it was reluctant to leave the shrubbery.

Hermit Thrush