CASO, a newly accessible trail in Chatham-Kent

 The use of railways has changed over the decades, and some have become abandoned or taken over by new interests. Such is the case for the former CASO rail line, which extends throughout Chatham-Kent. It has had various owners over its lifetime, and it was just a few decades ago when it was taken out of use. 

I had the opportunity beginning in 2012 to work with Carolinian Canada staff, doing a cursory life science inventory, starting off with the eastern portion in that year. We tried to document as many of the major groups of flora and fauna that we could, but with only a relatively brief time period. On rare occasions when some vegetation community especially piqued our interests, we would visit a section of the rail trail a second time.

The results were pleasing. Although much of the trail passed through heavily agricultural usage areas, there were places where it went by an interesting woodlot, or even better, a small prairie patch or a wetland.

A buttonbush swamp is considered a rare vegetation community in Ontario.

The few wetlands are popular with turtles.

'Tired' turtles

There were several small prairie patches which were delightful to find. These areas, especially those that were first encountered early in the season, were usually visited a second time to see just what occurred in them during a period when they would be displaying a greater diversity of prairie species.

As a result, we tallied more than 275 species of plants, 50 species of birds (46 with evidence of breeding), 28 species of butterfly, 8 species of reptiles & amphibians and 8 species of mammals. 

There were various highlights. Compass Plant, shown first, is a provincially rare species which was first known for this site back in 2000. It proved to be even more extensive as it occurred in several sections.

The prairie patches sometimes supported an endangered prairie species known as Dense Blazing-star.

 

Other prairie patches had 'just' some of the expected prairie species.

Butterfly Milkweed

Another highlight was coming across a large patch of this prairie species, which was a first record for Chatham-Kent. It is known as Prairie Sundrops (Oenothera pilosella). Due to some shrubby growth, the patch is smaller now than back in 2012.

Due to the presence of many non-native wildflowers, not all that surprising since parts of it have been heavily disturbed, there is an incredible array of plants that attract butterflies and many other pollinating invertebrates. I came across Pipevine Swallowtail in a couple of different areas.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell is much more common than Pipevine, but not seen anywhere all that regularly.

While we were carrying out this inventory, it was always our hope that this would be publicly accessible. It had been posted as off limits at the time, and at one point while conducting some of the field work, I had been reported by a local landowner as being suspicious. This resulted in a local police officer stopping by and checking me out. Fortunately the letter of permission I had with me prevented any further complications.

Fast forward to the last couple of years, and the eastern half has now been made publicly accessible. This is the section beginning at Communication Road (formerly Hwy 40) and going east to the edge of CK at MacPherson Road. The property is jointly owned by Entegrus and the municipality, and is currently underway to be upgraded with signage, etc., for pedestrians and cyclists. Several sections have been upgraded already, with more happening this year, and the entire stretch being completed by 2025.

There are 32 access points. Many sections will already have an entrance marked like this:

A closer look will give much more detail.

Other sections which have not yet been upgraded but where there is access will only have a sign like this:

And this may be of particular interest to birders, especially those who are involved with the current Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas in Region 2. This trail, as mentioned, goes through lots of areas that were previously not accessible, and traverses squares MH19, MH29, MG20 and MG30.

I have been on some of the sections over the last few weeks. As mentioned, some sections have been upgraded and are well signed. The trail is nicely set with lots of room for pedestrians and cyclists, as shown in the following image.

Compass Plant is still present in the usual sections.

They were coming up very close to the rail bed during our 2012 inventory, and even after the trail has had the rails, ties and gravel removed and with a good layer of trail gravel put down, some plants are emerging through the base.

Given the dominant shrubby, open vegetation types, the diversity of birds would fit that habitat type. I haven't been by one of the woodlands or wetlands during the prime breeding period yet. Nonetheless I have encountered almost 40 species of birds so far. With a few dead trees along the route, the open branches provide some decent photo opportunities.

Cedar Waxwing

Indigo Bunting

I haven't seen a lot of butterfly diversity yet, but some of the main pollinator plant species are just coming into their peak period, so I would expect a greater diversity in the next few weeks. I have noted the following things of interest.

Bladdernut is not a common shrub in southern Ontario, and only occurs in a couple of sections along this trail.

Sassafrass, easily identified by its distinctive leaf shapes, is scattered along.

White Mulberry is present along most sections, and is just now coming into fruit. The fruits are quite tasty, so before the birds get them all, you can enjoy a few along the way. A mulberry tree in fruit is always worth keeping an eye on since they are quite popular with several bird species.

Horse-nettle is a Carolinian species but fairly widespread especially along roadsides and other disturbed areas, including this trail.

This insect is probably an Oblique Streaktail (Allograpta obliqua), a type of hoverfly.

Wild Bergamot is widely scattered along the trail, especially in the prairie patches.

Adjacent to one section is a planted prairie, now owned by the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority. Recently the Ohio Spiderwort, an excellent prairie species, was in spectacular form.

So kudos to all who have made this publicly accessible trail available. It is worth checking out for lots of reasons. I hope to see a few more people out there, but not all at once :-).

Additional note: Please be advised that if you are a subscriber to this blog, the blog site has indicated that sometime after July it will no longer be providing automatic email notices of when this blog is published. I will try and get a subscriber's list assembled and let you know, but in the meantime, if you would like to be advised of the publication of future posts of Nature Nuggets, let me know via this email: prairietramper@gmail.com

Spring is over for another year

Today is officially the beginning of summer! And now the days begin to get shorter.....

Over the last precious few days of spring, I have enjoyed a few forays around various parts of Rondeau. The summer visitors have not yet arrived in great numbers, so the trails are relatively quiet. So quiet, at times, that other forms of wildlife are found using them. Many birds have been busily nesting, and I have had some success photographing a few of them, but that will be the subject of another post.

Six-spotted Tiger Beetle

A walk around Tuliptree Trail on Thursday turned up both male and female Prothonotary Warbler at the usual spot. They delighted us with close views, but were constantly on the move searching for caterpillars. Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager and Wood Thrush were all calling or put in a brief appearance as well.

Along the South Point Trail, there were lots of butterflies flitting about in the sun. Lots of Spring Azures (difficult to separate from Summer Azures for the most part, but according to the reference books, it is still more likely to be the flight period for Springs rather than Summers, and given the lateness of this spring, I will defer to calling them Spring Azures) plus various other species.

Spring Azure

Hobomok Skipper

Little Wood Satyr

Northern Crescent

The extra dark line on the right wing of the Northern Crescent is a shadow from a grass stem just above the butterfly.

The highlight lep for me was to discover a Pipevine Swallowtail, along the Lighthouse Trail offshoot of the South Point Trail. This species is considered fairly rare in Ontario. It was busily feeding on puccoon, but never actually lit on the plant. Instead it semi-hovered as it sipped nectar, so getting a good shot was next to impossible. I did manage the following record shots which show the single row of orange spots on the underwing, in a slightly iridescent blue patch, and the lack of much colour on the upper wing other than very dark bluish black. The butterfly being backlit didn't help my photographic efforts.

Another highlight was getting some decent shots of a Painted Skimmer, a species which is not common in southern Ontario, but seems to be seen regularly in various places this year.

As I continued out along this trail to the lake, several Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers voiced their dismay at my presence. No doubt they had a nest or young nearby, but I didn't go looking.

Killdeer

Some other hikers who ventured out along the lake beyond the washout reported they saw several large Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtles just off shore. June is the prime month for turtles to come ashore to lay eggs, and the softshells of the Rondeau area favour the sandy beaches for their egg-laying.

Back along the South Point Trail, I noted an immature male Common Whitetail.

Common Whitetail

A very large American Toad was along the trail. It never moved while I was in the area, and even the occasional cyclist didn't seem to bother it much.

The lush growth of this Carolinian Forest Zone was evident throughout the forest. Vines in particular are taking advantage of some of the extra light available due to the death of ash trees from the effects of the Emerald Ash Borer. Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy are particularly adept at climbing and making use of the supporting structure of such dead trees. Although such vine growth can sometimes shade out and even kill some living trees that are not shade tolerant, the good news is that such lush growth of these vines results in a profusion of berries which will provide nourishment for warblers and other songbirds as they return on their southward migration later this season. Some warblers such as Yellow-rumped Warblers may linger well into the winter if enough berries are available.

Virginia Creeper