Early spring wildflower parade, and the silliness of social media

 A few weeks ago, someone posted a photograph of a beautiful Tulip-tree flower in excellent bloom. The leaves were fully developed and the flower looked quite attractive. Here is a photo of what it would look like in peak flowering.

The person who posted it got it from a friend, who was adamant that because of the warmer than usual winter southern Ontario had experienced, the Tulip-tree flowers at Rondeau Provincial Park were in full bloom even in late March! Even though it was pointed out that this was highly unlikely, the person who posted it stuck to the narrative, and at least a few others who saw the post bought into it.

Totally ridiculous!!!

Here is what the Rondeau forest looked like on April 14. 

There are lots of Spicebush coming into flower, as detected by the yellowish cast of the lower woody plants, but of course they flower before the leaves develop. There are Tulip Trees in this photo, but the leaves are undeveloped and there certainly are no flowers. The normal flowering date for this species is at least late May, depending on the year, but more often in early June.

Conclusion: it just goes to show how mis-leading, even somewhat useless, social media can be. I am sure that most readers of Nature Nuggets would not have fallen for such a silly post.

On to the real world.

With the sunnier, warmer days that have sometimes occurred in recent weeks, some of the early spring wildflowers are a bit ahead of themselves, at least by a few days. I have been out exploring some inland woodlots, such as Clear Creek Forest Prov Park, as well as the McKerrall Forest and Sinclair's Bush, all of which are a bit warmer than Rondeau which is very much affected by the surrounding cool waters of Lake Erie. While the trees are not yet in leaf, the spring wildflowers take advantage of all of the sunlight reaching the forest floor, as shown in this next photo of Clear Creek Forest.There is a hint of greenery, from the smaller spring wildflowers, shown here.

Here are some of the ones I was able to photograph at various places.

Bloodroot is normally one of the earliest, and they are still in flower.

As the forest photo of Rondeau shows above, the abundance of Spicebush is obvious, in part due to the decline of mature beech and ash trees which has allowed a lot more sunlight to get to the forest floor. This results in a huge profusion of Spicebush.

Virginia Spring Beauty

Dutchman's Breeches

Early Blue Cohosh

Cut-leaved Toothwort

Purple Cress

Red Trillium typically opens in flower slightly earlier than their white counterpart, and sure enough I saw more Reds in flower than Whites.

Most of the White Trilliums were open enough to see which species it was, as shown next....

...and I did see the occasional one completely open, especially if it was on a south facing slope which made it slightly warmer.

Yellow Trout Lily has lots and lots of the typical leaves visible scattered across the forest floor. A fair number of the plants may be in full flower if it is a sunny day.

Skunk Cabbage typically flowers before showing the leaves. A previous post showed the flowers, with virtually no leaf parts showing. Now, the opposite is the case, as the large green leaves are well developed and the purplish/yellow flower at the base is much harder to see.

Virginia Bluebells are a rather rare spring wildflower, and normally does not open up much until at least the end of the first week in May. I have a small clump in my yard, and this has been open for a few days. This photo was taken today, April 23.

The sandy soils of open places at Rondeau have many of the Early Butttercup in good flower.

When on the prowl looking for wildflowers, there are other things within view which I try and photograph. Butterflies are fairly plentiful due to the influx of Red Admiral and American Painted Lady.

Red Admiral

American Painted Lady

There are others as well, such as Eastern Comma and Spring Azure, although some butterfly persona would just call the latter species an Azure of the Celastrina complex.

Just for a bit more diversity, here are some turtles that are enjoying the sunnier days. Midland Painted Turtles, shown first, are quite abundant....

...whereas the Northern Map Turtle, next, is considerably less common.

Birds are showing up in greater numbers and diversity. I expect the next post to feature primarily birds.

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Roaming around south Chatham-Kent

 There have been lots of nice days to be out lately. Other things pop up so I don't get out every day, but in spite of the current lock down, I've managed to check out a few places.

Erieau, both the town site and nearby McGeachy Pond CA and Rail Trail sites near by have been some of my target places. The Bonaparte's Gulls have arrived in fairly good numbers for the time of year, and the marina at Erieau is a great spot to get a close view with photo opportunities. While the Bonaparte's are plentiful one always can hope for something a little less common. The Bonies are in various stages of plumage development, and this first one is looking pretty well complete in its breeding plumage.

Forster's Terns have arrived, pretty much on schedule. They can be hard to photograph, as they dipsy-doodle around and not always in the best light.

Horned Grebes are fairly abundant. These next shots show the variability in plumage as they shift from basic winter to alternate breeding plumage.

Killdeer have been back for awhile, and are well into the nesting cycle. When I pulled in to a parking spot to look over the marina, I no sooner turned the vehicle off that this one came right up to me squawking. Clearly I knew that a nest was likely near by, so I didn't move or even get out of the truck for awhile.

The adult put on quite a show, trying to lure me out of the area with its broken-wing act.

I eventually got out and walked carefully so as not to step on any eggs. I figured I had either parked right over top or had driven over the nest, so wanted to look around to see. After a bit of gull and tern shooting, I discovered this nest with one egg, and carefully moved the vehicle and left.

A subsequent trip two days later indicated that the nesting process had continued with now three eggs. I parked along the roadside since I knew where the nest was, and didn't want to upset the adults any further. They were a lot less concerned on this visit. But with the nest right in the middle of a parking area, it might not remain undamaged to completion.

Along the McGeachy Pond trail there weren't many birds to see close by, but there were several hundred birds of various species out on the lake, including at least 100 Red-breasted Mergansers and 150 or more Bonaparte's Gulls, all diving after what I presume was a school of fish swimming below. There were a few Ring-billed Gulls mixed in, as well as a Little Gull, but I couldn't get its photo.

There were a few logs along the trail that had turtles busy soaking up some sun. Most were Blanding's Turtle, the larger turtle with the yellow throat and considered Rare in Ontario, and a few Midland Painted Turtles, the two smaller turtles to the right of this next photo.

The Rail Trail is often worth a visit, and the light for photography is usually better later in the afternoon. There were several pairs of Northern Shovelers near by.....

 

.....and lots of Blue-winged Teal.

Several Canada Geese were quietly resting....

...and then all of a sudden, there was a mass exodus of many of the ducks. Before I discovered what the confusion was, the ducks had noticed this adult Bald Eagle approaching overhead and not all that high up.

Teal in flight

Gadwall

 The resident Mute Swans did not seem to be bothered, however.

Female Mute Swan on a nest

Around home we don't have a lot of bird action, but sometimes it pays to keep an eye out the window. Unfortunately with the window facing east, the light isn't the best for early birds, but you do what you can. We have had 2-3 Red-breasted Nuthatches hanging around for several days....

.....and three female Brown-headed Cowbirds sat on a nearby limb for a few minutes.

A recent stop at the Keith McLean Conservation Area resulted in seeing much the same species of waterfowl as what I had noted at the Rail Trail. But a couple of Great Egrets were present, although decided to get up and leave to a more distant part of the wetland complex.

Getting to Rondeau is always worth the time, although on occasion one wonders where the birds might be. There are often a few spring wildflowers to check out, including:

Carolina Spring Beauty

Cut-leaved Toothwort

Colt's-foot (not native)

Other things aren't surviving quite as well. This little Northern Brown Snake was attempting to cross the road at the designated crossing on Lakeshore Road for the Tuliptree Trail. Unfortunately it lingered too long, or the driver did not see it, or both. It will now likely be a meal for some scavenger.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are arriving in small numbers, and a few other warbler species have shown up in ones or twos. It won't be long, hopefully, that there will be 25-30 species seen in a single day!

I had this male Eastern Bluebird hanging out in what appears to be a good territory for it. I didn't see its mate, but will keep a lookout for it to confirm nesting for the current Breeding Bird Atlas.

There is no question that the bird highlight of the last few days has been the sighting of a Black Vulture initially along the east side of the park. I was otherwise occupied, doing some gardening things at home so wasn't able to get to the park to see it. However I have seen this rarity a couple of times before, including one inside the park back in 2000, and the one below, just outside the park.

March 15, 2009

Maybe this one will stick around for a few more days to greet the birders who are exploring the area.