Autumn warmth continues, as does the bird migration

 The unseasonable warmth continues, but birds are migrating nonetheless. Bald Eagles are both resident, and migratory. Here an adult is passing through, visible from the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail...

...while this sub-adult is also on the wing.

The water levels of Lake St. Clair are down considerably over the last couple of months. This first photo shows the view from the observation point closest to the lake, in early August.

This next one shows the same area, but on November 2.

Clearly there is a lot more exposed mud, which can be attractive to shorebirds. Normally I wouldn't consider this trail to be especially good for shorebirds, but they are making use of it this year. I've shown a few species seen on previous visits, in previous posts, such as Wilson's Snipe and Lesser Yellowlegs. Killdeer are fairly common, of course, and a few Greater Yellowlegs have been noted.

Great Egrets are usually fairly reliable throughout the season. I had at least a dozen on the last visit, but they were a little way up the shoreline, so not the greatest photo of individual birds....

...unlike the much closer proximity they were earlier in the season.

Turkey Vultures are still going through on their migration out of the province, but in much smaller numbers than even a week or so ago.

A visit to St. Clair NWA is always worth while, although the birds are often a challenge to get good photos of. Northern Harriers dip and dive fairly low to the marsh, so are hard to grab and maintain good focus.

This adult Red-tailed Hawk swooped by, but then hung out in the trees along the edge of the NWA. It was suspicious of me sticking my telephoto lens out the vehicle window.

Swans are building in numbers, such as these Tundra Swans. Soon there will be hundreds, even thousands in the area.

Here are a few things I have 'shot' with my camera in other locations. This first image shows a Black-bellied Plover feeding on the mud at Keith McLean Conservation Area, with a Killdeer for size comparison.

 A lone Ruddy Duck was in the more open water at McLean's. There are lots elsewhere!

 

With the warmth continuing, butterflies are still around feeding on flowers that continue to have blooms. This is a Clouded Sulphur.

Next is a Dunlin I photographed along the Erieau shoreline. I had hoped to see a Purple Sandpiper, but it was too windy and wavy on the pier where it had been seen the day before. It had probably escaped to the more sheltered side of the South Beach of Rondeau, a short distance away.

This Great Blue Heron was nicely posed on a dead tree overlooking the marsh along the Erieau Rail Trail.

I've been hiking in a few places at Rondeau, mainly to enjoy the autumn colours and get some fresh air and exercise, as well as remember times here with Marie . The colours are quickly winding down, as the windy conditions especially of late have blown a lot of the leaves off.

I came across this Northern Brown Snake sunning along the same trail. It is also known as a Dekay's Snake.

And working their way in between cottage lots, were a couple of Wild Turkeys. They seem to have had a productive year this year, as 3-4 are seen fairly regularly

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Some prairie inhabitants of mid-summer

Although local butterfly counts seem to be over for the season, it is always nice to get out and explore areas for them to see what is still around. I've been out in a few places, concentrating for the most part in areas where tallgrass prairie has been planted in the last decade or so.

Many of the sites I've visited don't have a lot of prairie grasses, but lots of forbs (wildflowers) which are attractive although in a healthy prairie, should make up only about 30%-40% of the total vegetation, not the 75-80% it seems that most newly planted prairies are made up of. There is a whole topic for a future post on prairie ecology there, to be sure, but that isn't the intent of this post....maybe a future one.

At this time of year, some of the most showy prairie wildflowers are:

Prairie Milkweed

Butterflyweed

Ohio Spiderwort

Compass Plant

Gray-headed Coneflower

Mountain-mint

Some of these plants are more preferred as nectaring plants than others. But they are all part of the prairie vegetation, and are great to see.

Most of the butterflies I was able to track down are not specific to prairies but were certainly enjoying what the prairie wildflowers had to offer. This Painted Lady was visiting a clump of Mountain-mint.

 Another Painted Lady was enjoying the presumably tasty nectar of Black-eyed Susan.

 Monarchs, of course, are probably the best known butterfly. This female was resting on a Gray-headed Coneflower

 This Clouded Sulphur, with its vibrant pink edging, was sipping from a False Oxeye.

Common Wood-Nymphs are common to some degree, but they are most often seen flitting briskly over and through the vegetation. When they do land for a short time, they are often partially obscured and challenging to photograph.

Delaware Skippers seem to be fairly common in several places

 Eastern Tailed Blues are common, but not always easy to photograph.

 Sometimes it helps if they are distracted by something else.

 Viceroys are not plentiful, but are seen occasionally right now.

A butterfly I don't see often is this next one: Common Sootywing. Being as small (about 21-27mm or about one inch) and as skittish as it is, it isn't often seen by anyone I expect. I only managed to get a couple of distant shots, and this one is greatly cropped.

While it isn't a prairie site, the Reid Conservation Area north of Wallaceburg is a great spot for butterflies. I managed to catch up to a few Banded Hairstreaks earlier, but missed the Oak Hairstreak the site is known for. Apparently it wasn't a good year for the Oaks. Just yesterday I stopped by again, and saw several species, including Great Spangled Fritillary, Eastern Comma and a Least Skipper, among others.

Least Skipper

I had been hoping for a Duke's Skipper, and am quite sure I saw one, albeit briefly. However the evenly dark upper wing surface and the dark under surface with the telltale wide pale band going the length of the hindwing were fairly convincing. When photographing skippers up close, one has to move slowly. Unfortunately on this occasion, I either didn't move slowly enough and spooked the little rascal or I didn't move fast enough since just as I was focusing on it, it decided to skedaddle, and in spite of searching for it, did not see it again.

There are always lots of other things to be on the lookout for, especially when there is a lull in butterfly action. On some occasions I have seen lots more dragonflies than butterflies. It has been a good year for both of these next two species.

Eastern Pondhawk

Halloween Pennant

Pennant pair in wheel

This next one is attractive as well but not nearly as common as the previous ones.

Calico Pennant

 There are lots of moths to be found in prairies. One usually encounters them as they scurry away and hide, after being spooked when one is walking through the vegetation. The critter in this next photo is a Hummingbird Clearwing, a member of the Sphinx moth group, and can be seen flying in broad daylight. This one is sipping on Wild Bergamot.

Just to add a little more diversity to this post, I will include a photo of a Green Frog, one of the more common frog species of southern Ontario. I found several cooling off in a puddle near a prairie.

And what would a hike in the vicinity of prairies and wetlands be without a photo of a snake. This photo is of a medium sized adult Eastern Fox Snake, an endangered species in Ontario. It was quite approachable, and a close look may explain why. Note the eye on the left side of the critter. It is whitish, which means it is getting ready to shed. The outermost layer of skin, which is about to be shed, includes the covering of the eye, so at this point the eyes are cloudy and the snake has very poor eyesight. Also take a look at the right hands side of the snake's mouth and notice that it looks slightly askew.

 A closer look at this right hand side of the snake's head shows, in this next photo, that it has been damaged, and there is no eye at all! Clearly this snake has had a serious injury at some point, but it has healed over and the snake has survived. Fortunately for the snake, they have a keen sense of smell, so in spite of the poor eyesight, it can still find some food. However this individual has had more than its share of challenges to survive.

The flowering season is finally over!

No kidding!

The lingering autumn allowed at least a few plant species to continue to flower a lot later than they normally might have. But with the onset of below freezing temperatures and even snow in the last few days (with a lot more on its way, apparently), even the hardiest plants have called it quits. And so have some of the insects that took advantage of the lingering mild weather.

For example, this Clouded Sulphur butterfly was around less than two weeks ago, on a very windy day at the Tilbury Sewage Lagoons (it seems that sewage lagoons are always windy.....). It had a hard time hanging on to this dandelion seed head.

Somewhat more surprising, was the existence of these active Cabbage White larvae on our kale as late as yesterday!

Sewage lagoons are good spots to find some late flowering plants. These next ones were all seen recently at the Blenheim sewage lagoons.

Butter-and-eggs (Linnaria vulgaris)

Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)

Mustard species

Sowthistle (Sonchus sp)

Perhaps it is the presence of warm water outlets that make a slightly milder micro climate.  It is also good for late shorebirds, as many readers will know, since a few Dunlin and a Western Sandpiper have been regularly seen at the Blenheim lagoons as late as today, but the open water is diminishing.

Of the four plants shown above, three of them are not native. Only Evening Primrose is native. Persisting in such extreme conditions must be a helpful survival strategy for these colonizers of disturbed areas.

Natural areas may also have a few flowers persisting. This next image, of a native Aster species, was seen in the sand dunes of Rondeau not too long ago.

The plants in this next image have finished flowering (yes...grasses do have flowers), but I think they look particularly attractive at this stage. This is a common tallgrass prairie species, and frequently found in the beach dunes of Rondeau.

Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans)

Just another three and a half months or so until the next flowering season begins!