Local wetland explorations

 I've been to Rondeau a few times, but have spent more time exploring some of the wetland habitats along the Lake St. Clair shoreline. The openness and the photo opportunities are great, not to mention the gentle breezes mean fewer annoying insects!

St. Clair NWA is close to home, which is another advantage.

View from the tower, looking E

 

 On the way to the tower, there are things along the way. A few Great Egrets can be seen, including some opportunistic ones if one is ready.

No, it didn't have a line attached to its foot :-), and fortunately I was out of range. It did swing by heading in the other direction, enabling me to get a closer photo.

There is a constant variety of wildflowers along the trail, which adds to the likelihood of finding butterflies.

Monarch on Joe-pye-weed

Black Swallowtail on Milkweed

Some other plants include:

Blue Vervain

Buttonbush

Water-willow

Water-willow close-up

Giant Foxtail

This next one is probably Grass-leaved Arrowhead, but it is similar to other members of the Sagittaria genus, so may be another one. At any rate, it is abundant.

Next is Missouri Ironweed, a tallgrass prairie species at risk. Of course tallgrass prairie dominated the area adjacent to the Lake St. Clair wetlands, so some species like this have lingered, or have been augmented through planting.

The flowers of this species has around 40 individual florets, which can help separate it from another species which usually has less than 30. Also the bracts at the base of the flower head are pointed, but do not have an extended tip, as other ironweed species do.

 A few birds may cooperate for the camera.

Backlit Eastern Kingbird

Green Heron

 

 

 

 

Sandhill Cranes are usually somewhere around, and sometimes are only heard as they are hidden by the tall wetland vegetation, and don't often stick close by when hikers are within view. Flybys are much more common.

Dragonflies are frequent, but typically in flight. On occasion one may catch one resting for a better view, as this Halloween Pennant is doing.

Double-crested Cormorants are usually somewhere around, and typically in a dead tree closer to the lake.

This photo from the tower, looking towards the lake, shows the above tree at the extreme left edge of the photo. You may have to click on the photo to get it larger before you can see them!

I've also been to the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail on occasion. At the end of the trail which goes through the Cadotte wetland, there are always some things to enjoy. An immature Bald Eagle is in a tree at the edge of the wetland...

...and after a short time, decided it was time to move on.

This Belted Kingfisher stopped by for a few moments.

Along another edge of the trail, the section that goes towards the village of Mitchell's Bay, provides a good spot for a family of Common Gallinules to search for a meal. There are two adults and at least 4 young in this photo.

 Along the trail one can find a lot of wildflowers. Again, this area at the time of settlement was partly wetland and partly tallgrass prairie, which would have varied depending on the naturally fluctuation of the Lake St. Clair water levels. While the wetlands have been retained in part, the presence of the tallgrass prairie plants is less certain due to the changes. However some representative species, such as this American Senna, have been planted, as have a multitude of grasses.

In some of the dead trees, Great Egrets will hang out....

...until they decide to come to the wetlands in search for food. Of course no one who reads Nature Nuggets very often would have any idea that I enjoy photographing Great Egrets.....:-).

With the shallow and somewhat muddy shoreline, it has attracted shorebirds, such as this Greater Yellowlegs.

In another dead tree, there are typically a lot of swallows resting in between feeding flights. Sometimes there may be several hundred of them, and at times, mostly Purple Martins.

  

 

 Another shorebird, this Short-billed Dowitcher, is using the shoreline edge.

And as is typical along the marshes of Lake St. Clair, Swamp Rose Mallow is widely scattered, and sometimes quite abundant. It is a species at risk, but one wouldn't know it by their abundance here.

 Sooo many things to see and photograph. The next post will likely feature some recent findings at Rondeau!

 

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An endangered orchid, and lots of odes

 Sometimes the days go slowly, and other times the days go more quickly. Some of it is weather dependent, and at other times, it is in dealing with some of the other major issues in the aftermath of Marie's passing. I have been out roaming around locally as time, weather and energy permits.

One of the priorities in the world of nature during August, is to do some monitoring of an endangered orchid, and specifically the Nodding Pogonia (Triphora trianthophoros), which is only known in Canada to occur at Rondeau. Its location is for the most part, being kept a secret by park staff due to its small nature and endangered status.

 I have been following this special orchid for about 50 years. Given that the individual flowers only remain open for a day, there have been some good days this year, and other days not so good. I expect to devote an entire blog post about this species and my 2024 experience with it, so keep an eye out for it.

This is also a good time to try and track down various species of odonates or odes (damselflies and dragonflies), and I have had some moderate success in this. They are best found near water, of course, and my 'go to' places include a few spots along both the Thames River and Sydenham River, as well as Clear Creek Forest Provincial Park, St. Clair NWA and Rondeau.

On one occasion as I was heading to Clear Creek Forest, I came across an unfortunate scene.

This large adult Eastern Fox Snake, which is a Species At Risk and with its main population primarily limited in Canada to southwestern Ontario, had been crossing Talbot Trail when a vehicle ran over it.

At Clear Creek Forest, things were a bit more positive, and I have been there on more than one occasion to photograph odes and a few other things that provided an opportunity.

Blue Dasher

Blue Dasher

Calico Pennant

Double-striped Bluet

Eastern Amberwing

Eastern Pondhawk female

Eastern Pondhawk male

Variable Dancer

Widow Skimmer

None of the aforementioned odes are particularly unusual, although the Double-striped Bluet is probably the most uncommon of the ones shown. I particularly liked the Variable Dancer, the only damselfly where the male is an obvious pink/purple colour. I did see the rarer Comet Darner on a couple of occasions, but very briefly and there was no opportunity for a photo.

There are typically a few other invertebrates that get my attention here, such as:

Bronzed Tiger Beetle

Great Spangled Fritillary

Tawny-edged Skipper

Viceroy

The local rivers are definitely worth checking out, as they feature some of the more challenging damselflies to see and photograph. With all of the rain over these past several months in their overall watersheds, however, the water levels continue to be a bit high, and the banks are a bit muddy and therefore slippery. Caution to gain access to even the limited places must be adhered to! Nonetheless, with care and a bit of time, there are a few that make it worthwhile. These include:

American Rubyspot

Blue-fronted Dancer

Ebony Jewelwing female

This next one is very rare, even considered endangered in Canada. It is the Smoky Rubyspot and for the most part, is very limited to the rivers of southwestern Ontario.

While on the prowl for odes, I came across this American Snout butterfly busily feeding on some goldenrod. It is not a common species, and I hadn't seen one for quite awhile so was glad to get a few photos.

At other places, such as Rondeau and SCNWA, there are various odes as well, although none that I came across were particularly uncommon.

Halloween Pennant

There were lots of Ruby Meadowhawks, shown next, flitting around.

I only got a frontal photo of this one, and it is likely a Ruby Meadowhawk as well, although there are at least a couple of others that look similar and a careful look at some more obscure feature is required to make definite call on it.

While I was busily focussing on the meadowhawks, I saw this caterpillar roaming around. It is the larval form of the American Dagger Moth.

And on various milkweed pods, I came across clusters of the Large Milkweed Bug.