My day on the Rondeau Area Butterfly Count

Yesterday was the most recent butterfly count for the Rondeau area. The day was sunny, with light winds to start off, but they steadily increased until by mid day, they were often above 30 km/hr with gusts to 40 or more. Certainly not the conditions one would hope for, and I'm sure the butterflies weren't happy with it either. But at least there was minimal cloud cover and no rain.

I started off in the Erieau vicinity, covering the McGeachy Pond Trail and then the Rail Trail. There were lots of flowering plants, including Canada Thistle, Common Milkweed, Sowthistle, Common Yarrow and such. Except for the yarrow, most flowering plants are non-native, but the butterflies made use of what was available. The butterflies were scattered but not overly abundant.

There were a few Monarchs, but almost all were constantly on the move. This faded individual took a rest for a few moments before moving on.

(Summer) Azures were here and there.

A nice surprise, and perhaps my most interesting sighting of the day, were two Bronze Coppers. I don't think I have ever had them on this count before. They were quite fresh looking and cooperated nicely.

The Rail Trail is mostly shaded at this time of year, but did have a few sunny spots where a few butterflies hung out. I got my only American Lady of the day here.

By late morning, I met up with Steve, Keith and Jim who had been butterflying elsewhere. We normally meet up to cover a nice weedy field close to Blenheim. The milkweed is abundant, as are a few other species that attract butterflies. Highlights here included:

Mourning Cloak

Delaware Skipper

 This next one had the two of us who saw it perplexed at the time. I managed to get one shot, and it was eventually decided it was a more boldly marked than usual Northern Broken Dash. (Thanks, Blake.)

Little Wood-Satyrs were more plentiful here than anywhere else I was over the day.

Common Wood Nymphs were, well, relatively common compared with most other species noted in various places on the day.

 On the other hand, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were not common. I only saw two all day.

After enjoying a fairly productive time at this large milkweed patch, I went on my way leaving the other three to continue on with various spots. I made several stops at grassy/weedy fields in the Blenheim area, including some railroad track areas, the grassy field NE of Blenheim that has harboured several Dickcissel and Bobolink in the last few weeks, and ended up at a 40 ha pasture a little farther NE of Blenheim where I have had as many as 19 Dickcissels. But the windy conditions were getting a little out of hand, and with the exception of Monarchs fighting the wind somewhat successfully, there was very little else. I did find my one and only Black Swallowtail in a field of horticultural wildflowers. I tried several shots, but there was always too much movement. In a very brief lull this individual managed to hang on to a Wild Carrot (a.k.a Queen Anne's Lace) where I got one shot that was worth keeping.

Altogether I managed to see 21 species of butterfly, which isn't too bad considering the windy conditions and the fact that I had no woodland area to work with. However I tallied fewer than 150 individuals for the day, a bit less than normal.

There were other interesting sightings of winged things over the day, which just might make it into a future blog post.

Butterflies, birds and a new location for a rare plant

It was an almost perfect day for a butterfly count this past Sunday....sunny, hi temp of about 28C and not much wind. The only thing that was missing was the abundance of butterflies that everyone was hoping for! Of course the very dry conditions over the last couple of months, with the exception of the last week, was undoubtedly a factor.

Regardless, intrepid butterflyers headed out to their respective territories in the Rondeau Provincial Park area. My territory included areas in the Erieau McGeachy Pond/Rail Trail area, as well as various old fields, pastures, etc around Blenheim.

There were lots of flowering plants for nectaring, including:

Common Milkweed

Bird'sfoot Trefoil

Catnip

Common Sow Thistle

Crown Vetch

Wild Bergamot

Swamp Milkweed

Yarrow

Only the milkweeds, Yarrow and Wild Bergamot are native. The rest are not, but butterflies and other pollinators don't seem to know the difference.

Cabbage Whites ruled the day, at least in terms of numbers.

Cabbage White on Sow Thistle

 Sulphurs weren't far behind.

Skippers were not plentiful where I was, but Silver-spotted were the most common.

Silver-spotted Skipper

 A few Northern Broken-dash were recorded.

Where Common Milkweed was common, one would find a few Monarchs. I haven't found them very abundant this year, but more so than last year so far.

Monarch on Common Milkweed

I noted a single Black Swallowtail.

There were lots of Common Wood-Nymphs. Normally their bouncy and erratic flight makes them impossible to photograph, and when they land, they are usually in a heavily shaded or vegetated area so also next to impossible to photograph. Fortunately (for me) these two were busy and let me get a couple of shots.

Common Wood-Nymph

Little Wood-Satyrs were not as abundant as I found them in the past week or two, but still were around in small numbers.

Little Wood-Satyr

 There were a few Great Spangled Fritillaries, but often were rather worn like this one.

I only saw a single Question Mark.

There were a few Eastern Tailed Blues around.

The butterfly highlight of the day for me was Common Buckeye. I saw one while I was walking the road along a railroad corridor and small wooded area along Fargo Road north of Blenheim.

Of course while out looking primarily for butterflies, there were a few other things that caught my eye from time to time. Along this same Fargo Road I came to a soon-to-be-harvested wheat field, and I noted two brown ears sticking out a little higher than the grain.

It got a little nervous with me aiming my camera at it. Undoubtedly the short train that rolled past behind me at this time, increased its nervousness, so off it bounded for cover. The light wasn't the best, but you can see some white spots, indicating it is this year's fawn.

Wild Turkeys are fairly common across the landscape these days, but one doesn't see them as often this time of year with all the vegetation cover. This one scooted across the road fairly quickly, giving me only one shot.

Another highlight for me along Fargo Road was discovering a new population of a Species At Risk plant: Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera). It is designated as Special Concern in Canada and Ontario. In Canada it is most common in Essex County, but also occurs in good numbers scattered across the western part of Chatham-Kent. There are very few records of it east of Chatham-Kent. I noted at least 30 clusters of plants, most of which were just a bit past their best.

Climbing Prairie Rose

With all of the shrubby, old field type habitat I was walking through, I noted the usual shrubby, old field habitat type birds, including Gray Catbird, Willow Flycatcher, Song Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, American Goldfinch, etc.

American Goldfinch male

Eastern Pondhawk is one of the more distinctive and striking dragonflies, in my opinion.

While at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, keeping an eye open for birds is recommended. The sprinkler cells that were bone dry all spring, have now been repaired and there was lots of water in them. Shorebirds were fairly plentiful too, for the season. I noted a couple of Greater Yellowlegs, probably 30 Lesser Yellowlegs, and several dozen small sandpipers, most of which were either Least or Semipalmated, and the usually abundant Killdeer. The least expected shorebird species were these two Short-billed Dowitchers.

Lesser Yellowlegs (l); 2 Short-billed Dowitcher (r)

So while it wasn't a banner year for butterflies in my territory, it was a good day to be out, and there is always something of interest.

Life on a milkweed

I'm a big fan of milkweeds. There are 9 species that are native to southwestern Ontario, some of which are quite rare. The most common species is...you guessed it...Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). It can vary in colour......

...but they all seem to be very fragrant. To me, it seems to be the most fragrant of all of the Asclepias species, and judging by the number of pollinators and others that can be found on it during the time it flowers, it is quite fragrant to all of these insects as well.

Fortunately I have a dozen or more plants in my yard, which enables me to keep close tabs on what insects are visiting, and many of the following photos were taken there. But whenever I am out in a natural area, I try and take a look to see what I can find and photograph on the milkweeds there.

Some of the critters are quite tiny. This first image shows the Ailanthus moth, which is named for its association with Tree-of-heaven. This tree is not native, but does well in disturbed areas and abandoned city lots. They are also invasive in even higher quality natural areas, unfortunately, but at least the moth is colourful.

Ailanthus moth

This next one is a very small day flying moth, called a Currant Clearwing. The larvae feed on raspberries, which we have in fair abundance in our yard.

Currant Clearwing

 An even tinier flying insect is this iridescent Long-legged Fly resting on the milkweed leaf. It is incredibly fast. I couldn't use the Through The Lens flash metering system of the camera as that system sends a quick burst of light to the subject to evaluate how much light is needed before generating a second flash during the actual photo. In the less than 1/1000 sec between the initial burst and the one given during the time the photo was taken, the fly had disappeared completely out of the frame, so I had to resort to manual flash where just a single burst is given.

Long-legged Fly (Condylostylus sp)

 This next one is a One-spotted Stinkbug. I didn't get a chance to see if it lived up to its name. This was photographed at Bickford Oak Woods and is the second time I have seen and photographed one there.

One-spotted Stinkbug

 Next is the aptly named Red Milkweed Beetle. They are fairly abundant.

In a previous blog post I highlighted how death comes to insects looking for nectar. This next image shows a medium-sized bee that has just been 'caught'. Note its right hind leg which is outstretched behind and up into the flower. The bee struggled and struggled and eventually was able to escape.

Even butterflies can end up with their legs caught. This Mourning Cloak in the next image

is a good-sized butterfly, but it was caught. At first I just thought it was busily feeding on the nectar, but after awhile I realized it couldn't get away. It struggled for a long time. I eventually gently grabbed its leg and tugged just enough to get its leg out intact, whereupon the butterfly moved over to an Echinacea plant nearby and just sat there for the longest time, presumably exhausted by its struggle and trying to decide whether the nectar at that fragrant milkweed was worth the risk.

Mourning Cloak

 Other butterflies include this Banded Hairstreak, only the second one I have noted in our yard.

Banded Hairstreak

Northern Broken-Dash Skipper

Question Mark

Tawny-edged Skipper (tentative ID)

 Sometimes one comes across a more vicious looking creature. While prowling around looking for something tiny to photograph, I came across this cluster of Earwigs tucked in waiting for darkness so they could head out searching for plant or insect matter to feed on. Those pincers are impressive!

Another impressive looking insect is this quite large Great Golden Digger Wasp. Most members of the bee and wasp family that are found here are mostly interested in the nectar or other insects. I've never been bothered even though I am using a macro lens and flash. Moving slowly and carefully is the key, I think. There is one extremely large bluish black wasp that I have yet to photograph, but when it comes around it is constantly on the move and I haven't been able to get close enough....yet.

Great Golden Digger Wasp

 This next critter is one of the several different kinds of Flower Long-horned Beetles that can be found visiting flowers. Characteristic of this group is the very long antennae, usually at least half the total length of the insect's body.

Flower Long-horned Beetle

It looks like I can expect another generation of Red-banded Leafhoppers on my milkweed next season!

Red-banded Leafhopper

We don't have any squash growing in our yard, but we had this Squash Vine Borer, another type of day-flying moth, visiting the milkweed.

Squash Vine Borer moth

There isn't much water near by, but we get the occasional dragonfly. This female White-faced Meadowhawk is just using the milkweed as a resting place, and probably waiting to launch itself out to capture a flying insect for its next meal.

Milkweeds are indeed, great places to look for wildlife!