On the hunt for Marsh Tickseed, and lots to see in other open wetland areas

 Readers of my last post will note that Marsh Tickseed, a species at risk was something I found at St. Clair NWA, and since there were a couple of older records for this species at Rondeau, I tried diligently to find it there. The search got me out to places I hadn't been for awhile, at least not at this time of year, so I was hopeful. The south beach, along the edges of the marsh, was the place to search. Unfortunately the habitat has changed due to variable water levels as well as the onslaught of the non-native Phragmites.

This is the plant that I was looking for. A sort of typical looking sunflower type....

...but with very distinctive finely cut leaves.

I did find a few other things to aim the camera at, however, including this adult Bald Eagle, which did not like me getting any more than about 300 metres away before it left its perch....

...a moth, this Rubbed Dart, feeding on a relative of the Marsh Tickseed (I looked at a lot of tickseed types!)

And this small but colourful plant, the Trailing Fuzzy-Bean, a member of the legume family.

I saw a number of Double-crested Cormorants, as usual but for some reason this one was quite tolerant of my presence.

Elsewhere, while checking out some of the multitude of goldenrods, I came across a Northern Paper Wasp....

....a type of cluster fly...

....and this Bald-faced Hornet.

While some of these critters are capable of giving a painful sting, I have never been stung yet, as they are much too busy feeding on the nectar. I leave them alone as much as possible, but sometimes I use a macro lens and flash, and may only be inches away from them.

On my way to and from the park, I sometimes stop at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, as there is always a good variety of birds to view. On occasion they even are close enough to photograph! Bonaparte's Gulls can be fairly plentiful and sometimes quite close to the edge of the cells.

My target species for this visit to the lagoons, however, was to find one of the Red-necked Phalaropes that have been there lately. It is very much an irregular migrant, and one doesn't see them every year. Unfortunately it is often well out in the middle of the lagoon, making a decent photo hard to come by. This was taken at a magnification of about 22X, and then cropped considerably to more like about 80X.

One of the intriguing birds recently reported in southern Ontario, was a Cinnamon Teal, near Grimsby. It is quite the rarity at any time of year. Apparently hundreds of birders flocked to see it, but I wasn't one of them. I have seen it in Ontario before, as a fairly brightly plumaged spring male was at Rondeau for a brief period back in May of 1994. It was well out along the Marsh Trail and I, along with a good number of others, managed to see it. I didn't get a photo of it, but I do have a photo of one that I took out in southern Saskatchewan in July of 2018, where it was hanging out in a prairie pothole area along with numerous shorebirds, especially Wilson's Phalaropes, shown next. Not a brightly plumaged male.

A trip to St. Clair NWA is almost always worthwhile, and not just to see the Marsh Tickseed. Waterfowl are building in numbers, with Canada Geese numbering in the several hundreds by now.

Tucked well out of the way along the shrubby shoreline of the wetland, was this immature Green Heron. It was likely about 300 metres away, and when I first saw it through binoculars, I thought it might be an immature Black-crowned Night-Heron, but when I got a distant photo and highly cropped it, also to about the equivalent of about 80X, I could see the darker crown and the slightly dull green back. An immature BCNH would show a more evenly coloured brownish back. This bird is a little more fluffed up to make its body look a little more BCNH like, adding to the challenge of identification, especially in poor light and at a considerable distance.

Mallard are in the area, also by the hundreds.

This Northern Flicker was in one of the few trees along the dyke trail.

Sandhill Cranes can often be heard, and occasionally seen and even photographed on their flights to and from the NWA.

Sometimes they will be feeding in a field immediately adjacent to the NWA.

Along the far woodland shore, there often are a few Wood Ducks tucked away, giving only distant views and photos. Sometimes up to 20 can be seen in one or two places....

....and on occasion, a brightly coloured male, shown next, will even linger in the channel adjacent to the trail, and a cautious approach might result in a photo such as this next one.

Northern Harriers are periodically seen, although usually in flight mode, and often heading away, giving a rear view only.

I typically add visiting the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail to one of my more northern forays in Chatham-Kent. The openness means there is often a comfortable breeze. As I have mentioned before, it is a great spot to see a few Great Egrets with typically at least half a dozen seen on each visit. On a cloudy day when they are sitting up in a tree, they may be a bit more challenging to get a good photo, but it is always worth a try.

There is enough shallow water or muddy shoreline along the edge to attract a few shorebirds, such as this Lesser Yellowlegs....

...and a Wilson's Snipe.

This adult Red-tailed Hawk was keeping an eye on me from a safe distance.

My next post may finally get me to do the one I had in mind awhile ago, featuring a variety of late summer orchids, including the endangered Nodding Pogonia, a.k.a. Three-bird's Orchid (Triphora trianthophoros). Stay tuned!

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Waterbirds, an orchid and forest spiders

 Water birds continue to be part of the avian show. A good number of shorebirds have been at the sewage lagoons, including Wilson's Phalarope, which seems to be fairly sporadic and elusive for many birders, but this Red-necked Phalarope was nicely cooperative for the few days it was present.

At times it would fly off a bit to join other shorebirds, but then return in close proximity. My presence did not seem to deter it at all, as long as I was just standing quietly and waiting for it to return. There is often up to 10 or more species of shorebirds to gaze at on any given day right now. Lesser Yellowlegs, shown next, seem to be plentiful with sometimes as many as 20 individuals scattered around.

On occasion I have been to St. Clair NWA, especially in the evening on a quiet weather day. Clearly that would not have been last Thursday, when a severe storm was approaching. The weather radar looked ominous, and shortly after sunset, it arrived with a fury. High winds, with rumours even of a possible tornado just to the north of Chatham, and heavy rain came down. We estimated that we got at least 4" (10 c.m.) in a couple of hours, and the high winds knocked many various sized limbs down. In many places, there were entire trees that came down, sometimes onto vehicles and taking down power lines. We were without hydro for almost 8 hours. Certainly not a fun time, and a relatively sleepless night, wondering how long it would last, and would the sump pump keep going? Fortunately we had a small power pack which did keep ours going as long as it needed to.

But back to the most recent SCNWA visit. There were not a lot of birds to photograph, but a couple of the usual ones cooperated. A couple of Great Egrets flew by....

...this Great Blue Heron seemed to have settled in on its roosting spot for the night.

It is always a highlight to see Swamp Rose Mallow in its peak condition at this time of year. But at SCNWA, it is one of the few places where the white version of it can be found scattered about and partially hidden amongst the other vegetation.

 

As I was leaving, a group of Sandhill Cranes flew over the marsh. Usually you can hear their calls from a kilometre or more away, and sometimes not be able to find them in the sky depending on the distance. This group was totally quiet.

A trip to Clear Creek Forest Prov Park included a brief stop at the Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons along the way. There weren't a lot of things to photograph during my short time there, but this Eastern Kingbird cooperated for a few minutes.

I was looking specifically for fungi to photograph, which I often do in various woodland places after such a wet rainy period of these last few weeks. More on that in a future post. But while there, I saw several of these Citronella Horse Balm still in quite good condition.

There also were a few of the Blue-stemmed Goldenrod coming into flower.

I checked the old gravel pits for odes, but even though it was sunny and not all that cool, there were hardly any to be seen, let alone photographed. I did manage to get this photo of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo sitting out in quite an open spot, a bit unusual for this species.

I have also been to Rondeau on a few occasions, searching for fungi and other things. In some of the open spots there are things like Spicebush Swallowtail....

....and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

I wander into the forest, wearing boots to ward off ticks, chiggers and poison ivy. I came across this seedling Shagbark Hickory....

...and unfortunately, an ongoing display of the dreaded Beech Leaf Disease, which continues to run rampant in the Beech/Maple forest.

Along one particular part of the trail, I came across a new location for a rare orchid. It is Autumn Coralroot, an endangered species in Canada, which I don't usually expect to see until late in the first week of September. This was seen almost a full two weeks earlier.

It isn't very showy, but interesting when you get a closer look. This is the species at its showiest.

I often carry a stick with me when wandering through the forest. Not to tackle ticks or anything, but I wave it in front of me to prevent walking face first into a spider web, which can be numerous. This first one is a Spined Micrantha...

...while this next one I have not yet identified to the species level, but is a member of the quite abundant, and often colourful, orbweaver group.

Until next time.....

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Shorebirds galore!

 Tis the season when shorebirds are probably at their peak numbers, as they make their way southward. They are always looking for places to fatten up so as to continue their journey, and sewage lagoons are high on their preferred sites when the water levels allow for shallow feeding. Such is the case right now at places like the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons.

Birders and bird photographers have been fortunate that these lagoons have been accessible for about 4 decades or so, with a permit.

I've been there a couple of times in the last few days, and there are always other birders there, for good reason. The diversity of shorebirds is quite good. With a bit of patience, one can get 15 species of shorebirds or more in a single visit. 

Here are some of the less common ones I've been able to photograph recently. 

Certainly one of the highlight species is up to three American Avocets, not quite as colourful as when they are in their breeding plumage, but very striking and distinctive nonetheless.

Red Knot is quite a rarity. In fact it is legally Endangered. This one is in its non-breeding plumage, so does not show the red an adult would have shown earlier in the season. It has been present for several days, and is one of the reasons so many birders have been around. It is fairly large and chunky, but can easily be missed, as some have found out. It took me at least a couple of visits in late August before finally seeing it.

Lesser Yellowlegs are fairly abundant now.....

...unlike its larger cousin, the Greater Yellowlegs, where only a handful are present. This one looks a little bedraggled compared to some.

This Red-necked Phalarope has been a crowd-pleaser as well as it is not common. In fact it is considered 'Special Concern' in Ontario due to its rarity.

Related to the Red-necked Phalarope is the larger Wilson's Phalarope, shown next. It is more of a western species, but fairly regular both spring and fall. In fact has even nested at these lagoons in the past.

Stilt Sandpiper, next, with its slightly droopy bill, is also fairly regular both spring and fall......

.....as are Short-billed Dowitchers. The stage of them changing to autumn plumage can vary, as these two birds show.

And finally, for this post, is White-rumped Sandpiper. It is a regular but uncommon migrant. It is a bit larger than the similar looking and much more common Semipalmated Sandpiper. A couple of key characteristics to look for are the slightly longer wings, which at rest as in this one, extend a bit beyond the tail, and in good light and a close look, there is almost always a bit of pale orange at the base of the lower mandible.

The next post may feature late summer orchids, which I have been on a successful hunt for. The photo at the top will give you an idea of some success I have had!

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