Birds, bugs and butterflies

I've been roaming a bit lately, as the mood strikes, the weather cooperates and the opportunities arise. For example I got a message from a friend in the greater Mitchell's Bay area a short time ago indicating that the Cattle Egret that showed up periodically in the spring, had been around. My first attempt to see it was not very successful, due to the distance and heat haze. But my second attempt was quite a bit more rewarding.

A couple of days ago, Steve Charbonneau reported both a Red-necked Phalarope and a Wilson's Phalarope at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, among a dozen or so species of shorebirds. The Red-necked was reasonably cooperative, from a distance. The light was quite good so even with a lot of magnification and cropping, the results were satisfying. It is a first year bird.

The Wilson's Phalarope was not nearly as cooperative, as a raptor flew over and startled many of the shorebirds into flight. In spite of several of us on the look out for the Wilson's Phalarope, it has not been seen since. I only got a very brief look and no photos. This next photo is of a female I saw there earlier this year.

Wilson's Phalarope in between two Lesser Yellowlegs

I made it to Skunk's Misery for a few hours one day. The mosquitoes weren't as horrendous as they sometimes are, but they were fairly plentiful. Fortunately there were a few butterflies and other things to keep me distracted. I liked the way this Eastern Comma was posed.

 There were several Giant Swallowtails checking out various flowering plants, such as this Great Lobelia.

Azures were fairly common, but since the taxonomy is being revised, some of the butterfly experts refuse to call this one a Summer Azure, and just lump it in as a Celastrina, which is the genus. Regardless, some of these summer time ones are looking rather worn at this time of year.

Hackberry Emperors are not a sure thing, but certainly is a butterfly one hopes to find there. This one was perched fairly high up, so I just got this profile.

 There were a few skippers, such as this Northern Broken Dash. Some butterfly experts were reluctant to put a name on it, and I realize that the lack of detail given the back lit photo makes identifying skippers even more challenging than usual. A butterfly specialist on BugGuide called it a Northern Broken Dash, as I thought it was, but some specialists on iNaturalist were non-committal.

 There was a consensus on this next one as being a Dun Skipper.

There were other butterfly species, but none that I photographed.

While photographing some Boneset......

......I noticed this flower beetle at the lower left hand side of the plant.

Banded Longhorn Beetle (Typocerus velutinus)

Some other bugs I noted on some of my forays included the following:

Transverse Flower Fly

Northern Flatid Planthopper

Pelecinid Wasp

This next one doesn't have a common name that I have come across, so I just refer to it as a small, black-dotted green bug. It is a type of plant bug whose scientific name is Ilnacora stalii.

Giants, Lizards and River Cruisers

Yesterday I wandered through parts of Lambton County that I hadn't been to yet this year. Butterflies have been fewer than normal...maybe that is the new normal. Anyway, I hadn't come across any Giant Swallowtails yet this year, which is unusual given how far the summer is along. They were totally absent or in very low numbers on some of the local butterfly counts.

I often found a few in the past at the Bickford Oak Woods Conservation Reserve in west central Lambton, so that was one of my targets. There are two large grassy tallgrass prairie patches at BOWCR, each of several hectares in size They were planted into predominantly prairie vegetation about 15 years ago. I had no sooner started out into the prairie patch when I noticed a large butterfly fluttering in the distance. Bingo, not one, not two, but three Giant Swallowtails.

Some were on Swamp Milkweed, but there was an abundance of Teasel, and although it is not a native species, the butterflies didn't seem to mind at all. In fact Teasel seemed to be the preferred species. I saw at least seven of these giants at BOWCR and about 14 species of butterfly altogether in the BOWCR area.

 There is an abundance of tallgrass prairie plants at BOWCR, some of which are quite rare. This first one is Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum). It grows fairly tall, standing well above many other prairie plants. It is arguably native in Ontario, although that isn't without some debate. Regardless, there are populations of it in Essex, Chatham-Kent and Elgin.

 This next one, Grey-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) is not nearly as rare, but still quite uncommon in prairie and prairie type settings. It is restricted mainly to Essex, Lambton and Chatham-Kent.

 Dense Blazing-star (Liatris spicata) shown next, is protected under Ontario's Endangered Species Act. It is restricted largely to Essex, Lambton and Chatham-Kent as well.

Painted Lady

Viceroy

A bit further east from BOWCR is the Moore Wildlife Area. A section of the Sydenham River goes through it, and although with the high water earlier in the year making the trail impassible, the water level had dropped considerably, and as long as one could make it through the extensive dense stands of Giant Ragweed that reached well over two metres in height, one could make it to the river in a couple of places.

As is typical of various sections of the Sydenham River, Lizard's-tail is quite abundant even though it is rare in Ontario. I saw several patches.

 Not surprisingly there was a bit of Swamp Milkweed along the lower and wetter areas near the river, and Monarchs were using them from time to time.

 This Monarch was resting on a milkweed leaf. Clearly it has seen better times, but in spite of its damaged wings, it was doing its best to carry on butterfly activities while it could.

 There were lots and lots of damselflies, and especially abundant were Ebony Jewelwings.

male

female

 The photo above is that of White Vervain (Verbena urticifolia). Its tiny, delicate white flowers go almost unnoticed to the casual eye.

I had a Hackberry Emperor stop by, allowing me a couple of quick photos before a gust of wind caused the Giant Ragweed to blow too hard, dislodging its fluttery occupant.

Another one I came across is this Common Wood-Nymph.

There were lots of dragonflies along the river, and I saw good numbers of Common Whitetail and Widow Skimmer.

But the real highlight for me was to see at least two individuals of this large dragonfly patrolling the river, sometimes disappearing around a bend but eventually coming back my way. It is a Royal River Cruiser. I had never photographed one before, and I did not have a lot of success this time, but at least a few shots were identifiable. It never landed within view, and its fast and often erratic flight made it challenging to say the least.

Another target area I had for the day was to stop by Long Creek, a tributary of the Sydenham River a bit northeast of Dresden. There is a bridge that crosses the creek along Kent Road, which is the boundary between Lambton and Chatham-Kent. Right at the bridge I found....are you ready for it.....Lizard's-tail! Both upstream in Lambton and downstream in Chatham-Kent.

 I came across a couple of stems of Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) ust coming into flower.

 A close-up of the stem, below, shows the "wings".

 This next one is Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa) and is although it doesn't have any official status under the ES Act either, it is ranked as S1, which means there are five or fewer known populations in Ontario. It grows along Kent Line on both sides of the county line.

Before getting all the way home, I stopped along a roadside a bit northeast of Chatham to see if this shrub species, ranked S3, was still around. Although it has been cut numerous times during roadside maintenance, it persists but is not in great shape. It is Pawpaw (Asimina triloba).