Natural Areas of Chatham-Kent, Part 11 (McGeachy Pond)

McGeachy Pond is located along the Lake Erie shoreline, just before the village of Erieau. This first image shows this triangular wetland's location. The trail goes along the dyke between the lake and the wetland, although you can walk around the entire periphery if you want to walk along the road sides. If you look at the surrounding farmland, you will note that it is quite black, and is typical of soils produced by wetlands. The dyke was constructed a little over a century ago to protect the low lying farmland and residential areas from flooding during wave action and high water levels of Lake Erie.

There are small parking areas at either end of this Conservation Area, shown by the 'X'.

 This site is under the jurisdiction of the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority.

 There is an observation tower along the trail, looking out over the lake.

 It is a great spot to watch for water birds out on the lake, as well as boats, or people using the trail. The east end of the trail continues right into the village of Erieau.

The location is fabulous for watching wildlife...birds and butterflies especially. As of this post date, there have been ~215 species of birds observed here. Waterfowl are fairly abundant, either passing overhead or resting up for the next leg of their migration journey.

Tundra Swans

Northern Pintail

 The shrubby/treed area is good for those species that like such habitat for nesting such as the next two species.

Gray Catbird

Eastern Kingbird

 This next species is a frequent non-breeding resident.

Great Blue Heron

The heron is wading through a large patch of Pickerelweed, a common and distinctive aquatic plant of shallow wetlands.

The current water levels are controlled, but before the water control system was installed, the water levels naturally fluctuated. As a result the habitat was more variable. It was during this time in about 1978 that a friend of mine discovered the nest of a King Rail and I had a chance to see it and briefly photograph it. King Rails have never been common in Canada, but the wetlands along Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair were where they were most likely to occur. King Rail has gradually declined even from the low numbers of that era to the point of it being legally Endangered in Canada. Although there are still a few breeding records of it in some of its more popular haunts, I believe this 1978 record is the last time an actual nest was found in Ontario.

Many migrating birds follow the shoreline especially on their southward migration, so it is a good spot to check. In the last couple of years these next two species have put in an appearance.

Bohemian Waxwing

American White Pelican

A much more regular winter resident is Snowy Owl, often seen in the fields immediately adjacent to the site.

This is a great spot to find butterflies as well. The openness of the vegetation which supports many flowering plants throughout the growing season, as well as being along the shoreline which, like the birds, facilitates migration movement, are two of the factors that make it productive for butterflies. The presence of a large butterfly bush adjacent to the western parking lot doesn't hurt either! As a result it is a regular spot to look for butterflies during the annual Butterfly Count in mid-July, but can be useful to check almost any time of the wildflower growing season.

The first two images show one or more Bronze Coppers. They can sometimes be quite numerous. On one occasion I counted 55 of them!

 Monarchs are here during much of the season, but are particularly abundant in September as they are migrating through on their way to the wintering grounds in the highlands of Mexico.

 The abundance of New England Aster in late summer is popular with many butterflies.

As mentioned, there is a large butterfly bush adjacent to the west end parking area. Butterflies are drawn to it in impressive numbers. On one occasion I saw at least 8 species using it simultaneously. These included:

Fiery Skipper

Gray Hairstreak

Monarch

Painted Lady

American Lady

Peck's Skipper

Question Mark (under side)

Question Mark (upper side)

In addition to seeing a diversity of wildlife, it is a great spot just to enjoy the lake side setting, listen to the wave action and feel the gentle, cooling breezes off the water in summer. And it has many wonderful photographic opportunities as well, especially at sunrise!

Wetland Wanderings

Wetlands are fun places to explore, especially if you can keep dry. Fortunately there are various opportunities in the area with trails traversing these habitats and include Rondeau Provincial Park, St. Clair National Wildlife Area and the two trails up along the Lake St. Clair shoreline both north and south of Mitchell's Bay.

I decided to check out some wetlands in the Mitchell's Bay area recently. Some friends (Bill & Judy) who have waterfront property on the lake near one of the trails, has a very nice wetland right in front, where waterbirds are seen daily. I had been particularly interested in photographing one of the pair of Common Gallinules that occur in the wetland, and Bill has been able to get numerous fabulous full frame shots. Unfortunately the two times I was there recently, they decided to stay well hidden. I did get some decent photos of the resident Pied-billed Grebes. This first one is of an adult.

 There were several full grown young around as well.

I spent a bit more time at the Mitchell's Bay North Nature Trail. It is always fun to check, since it goes through various wetland areas. Some of the drier sections have been planted into tallgrass prairie. One of the plants quite noticeable now is Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum).

 You can see by the way the leaves are joined where it gets its name.

There used to be a lot of wet prairie along the shoreline of Lake St. Clair. Some small pockets remain.

Maybe at some point, parts of the wetland at Mitchell's Bay will look like the photo above. If so, maybe the endangered Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid (Platanthera leucophaea), as shown in the next three photos, will appear.

Note the very long spur tube extending behind the more obvious flower. It is pollinated by night flying sphinx moths, which extend their long proboscis down the tube.

But on this trip, it was mainly the more typical wetland plants that were the prevalent ones.

Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphea odorata)

Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)

Arrowhead (Sagittaria sp)

Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos)

There were the usual bird species around.....Caspian, Common and Forster's Terns, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, etc, etc, but very few that were close enough to bother photographing (not to mention that a few that I did try and shoot were heavily backlit and did not turn out). But a family of Eastern Kingbirds were around.

The always present Mute Swans were here and there......

....and a couple of Northern Harriers flew by along the edge.

Summer wetlands

World Wetlands Day is in early February but in this part of the world, wetlands are entrenched in their winter solitude at that time. This post will highlight some of wetland values at the current, more active time of year.

Wetlands are hugely important to a healthy landscape. For example they help contain runoff from rainfall so there is less soil erosion and degradation of our lakes, rivers and streams. They recharge the ground water table which keeps water wells supplied and forests healthy. Unfortunately their benefits have been ignored by many, so the majority of them have been drained for various kinds of development. Based on soils and early surveys, it is estimated that at the time of settlement more than 66% of what is now Chatham-Kent was one type of wetland or another (marsh or swamp). By 1982 less than 4% of the municipality was in wetland. That has since dwindled further, as currently only about 4% of the entire municipality is in any kind of natural cover.

Wetlands are a fun place to explore, but the best time is in the early morning or evening, unless you like the heat! There is an abundance of plant and animal life out there, although some of it takes more than a bit of effort to find.

June is prime egg-laying month for many turtles.

Midland Painted Turtle

Sometimes you see them up laying, but more often than not, the first hint of turtle egg-laying activity is this, where the buried eggs have been dug out of the hole and only fragments of egg shells remain.

The culprit? Raccoons are probably the most likely one, although skunks, foxes and opossums will take advantage of these fresh eggs as well. I remember on one occasion watching a snapping turtle laying eggs, and a raccoon was sitting right behind it, pulling each egg out of the nest hole as it was laid. It doesn't get any fresher than that!

Turtles are long-lived, so in order to keep turtle populations healthy, they only need to have a small number of eggs successfully hatch and the young reaching maturity to eventually replace the adults in the population. So even though the majority of turtle eggs are eaten, it may not do any significant damage to the overall turtle population.

The openness of the wetland landscape is great for seeing a multitude of birds. Waterbirds, including herons, egrets and terns are frequently seen.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Green Heron

Forster's Tern

Unfortunately there is an expanding population of Mute Swans in our wetlands. While they are attractive birds in their own way, this non-native species is very aggressive and chases out our native waterfowl.

Mute Swan and cygnets

Much smaller things with wings are common, especially dragonflies. The Calico Pennant is one of the more striking dragonflies, in my opinion.

Calico Pennant

 Blue Dashers are much more abundant.

Blue Dasher male

Blue Dasher female

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

The Black Horsefly is a huge fly, with the body length up to 28mm. Fortunately it seldom bites humans, but it can be a nuisance to livestock.

This Black Horsefly was low down on a dead stalk of Phragmites, just a bit above the water. It might have ended up as a snack for a Bullfrog, which is by far the largest frog in Ontario. Bullfrogs are easily identified by their resonant 'jug-o-rum' call that you can hear from quite a distance. When you get to see one, you can tell it from the somewhat similar, but smaller, Green Frog, since the Bullfrog does not have ridges that go from behind the eye down the back almost to the hind legs. Bullfrogs are quite the vicious predator, in the sense that they will eat fish, other frogs, small snakes and even small birds.

Bullfrog

Plants are numerous in a healthy wetland, with a constantly changing array in flower. Right now, things like Fragrant Water Lilies (Nymphaea odorata) dot the surface of wetlands, poking up through the covering of lily pads.

Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) is not a weed at all, but an attractive flower which pollinators such as bees like.

Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) is a common plant in shallower water.

A less obvious wetland plant is Giant Bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum).

Giant Bur-reed, male flowers

Giant Bur-reed, female flowers

Tufted Loosestrife (Lysimachia thrysifolia) is found along wetland edges.

There are many, many more things to get your attention.....I encourage you to get out and enjoy a wetland!