So much flora and fauna!

 What a dilemma...so much to see in nature this time of year, as well as so much to keep up-to-date with at home. What makes this time of year especially challenging is that on May 26, it was the two year anniversary of my wife/best friend's passing. For anyone not aware of a post I did shortly after she passed, here is the link to that.

Also, about a year ago I started a new blog called Life Is A Journey, which gives some insight on who I am featuring so many challenges and blessings. I have over 35 posts on it, so far. If you are interested, here is the link to the first post. It starts early in life, as it is a journey.

But on to Nature Nuggets and some of the things I have noted over the last little while. I will refrain from birds, since on the last post I featured just birds, and neglected so many other things. Much of my time has been at Rondeau, of course. The Common Five-lined Skink is one of my favourite things to see this time of year, as they are found on fallen logs connected to a tree root and with at least part of it well exposed to the sun. They are a cold-blooded reptile, so the sun is beneficial. They are also a species at risk, and Ontario's only lizard. The male, at this time of year, has an orangey face.

The female is almost the same size, but with no orange on the face.

A real treat was to photograph a pair of them, which I call Love Skinks!

 

A young one has a blue tail, and is why they are sometimes called Blue-tailed Skinks.

A distinctive emerging item is called American Cancer Root, looking like a pale yellowish pine cone emerging. 

On a visit to the Erieau Marsh Trail, I watched a couple of large, female Common Snapping Turtles, vying for territory as they thrashed about the shallow water. Males are much smaller.

Continuing with another reptile, Eastern Garter Snakes are regularly seen....

.....unlike the very similar Northern Ribbon Snake, next. They are quite similar, although the ribbon snake prefers wetter sites, is usually more distinctly lined and perhaps one of the easier features if you can get a look, is that there is a small white spot immediately in front of the eye, as the next photo shows.

Changing up a bit, I was out last evening along the east beach of Rondeau. I noted yet another reptile. This little guy was right on the path, and due to its very small size, is undoubtedly a hatchling this year.

I also came across something that is very hard to capture photographically. It may not be immediately apparent of what it is, but just at dusk, millions....no make that billions....of insects start to swarm in very large mass groups. They are constantly on the move as they swirl around, and along the lake shore one can see numerous swarms. It was really hard to keep the camera's focus on them!

 A bit later in the evening, I got a photo of the second full moon of May, a.k.a. a Blue Moon, being the second one in the month.

 After I got home, I also noticed my first tick of the season! It was just crawling up my leg, so hadn't dug into me yet. I picked it off and photographed it on the back of my hand. The month of May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, which is sort of suitable that I got my first tick of the year in May. Hopefully it is the last one, and I am glad it wasn't a Black-legged Tick, a.k.a Deer Tick which is the transmitter of Lyme Disease. I have had LD at least 5 times, and while I haven't been as seriously affected as some, I do have a long-term/ongoing issue of fatigue ever since my first encounter with LD back in September of 1976!

American Dog Tick

 A few of the wildflowers that have recently made an appearance include:

Wild Geranium

Golden Ragwort close-up

Golden Ragwort 

A rare plant, which may not even be present at Rondeau naturally, but that is another story, is a species at risk called Goldenseal, shown in the next two photos.

Long-spurred Violet

Canadian Lousewort, yellow

Canadian Lousewort, purplish

Wild Columbine

Next, what is initially perceived as a flower, is actually the emerging leaves of Shagbark Hickory.

Starry False Solomon's Seal

Mayapple

Next is not a flower, but a plant, known as Sap Yeast which often occurs in the spring oozing from a damaged part of a tree trunk.

Wood Anemone

Next is an orchid that one doesn't normally associate with Rondeau. It is Large Yellow Ladies'-slipper. I rarely come across them unless I am looking specifically for them, as I have only known them to occur at three spots in the park. One spot no longer supports them, a second spot only has one or two if any, and the third spot supports a dozen or so but is a long way from any trail.

 A couple of other critters:

Bronze Jumping Spider

Spicebush Swallowtail

And lastly, just a view along the west South Point Trail, one of my favourite places to meander in Rondeau especially once the crowds of May have subsided.

 

 

 

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Some of nature's diversity besides birds

 It is such a wonderful time of year to be out. So many things to photograph, or just to see and appreciate for their beauty as the world of nature continues to awaken from their dormant period. This post will focus not on birds, but other things.

One of the highlights at the beginning of the season is to see a few Common Five-lined Skinks, Ontario's only lizard. It is considered an Endangered species. Fortunately it can be found in a variety of places at Rondeau. 

 While walking this trail, I came across another reptile, a Common Snapping Turtle, a Near Threatened species at risk. Again, it is relatively widespread in the wetlands of southern Ontario, and can be found in the marsh as well as the larger sloughs of Rondeau. This was a very large female, seen right along the Tuliptree Trail, just poking her head above the surface.

 Another official Species At Risk is this next one, American Ginseng. I have seen it in a very few places, and due to it being a popular item for collection, will not mention where I found it. 

The flowers are just starting to form in a tight bud. I will try and feature it in good flower a little later in the season.

Much more common is Canadian Lousewort, next, and can be found in various colours as shown in the next couple of photos.

Also fairly common is Cut-leaved Toothwort, quite abundant in the rich beech-maple forest.

 There have been a few bright, sunny warm days of late, and a few butterflies and other things can be seen, such as this Eastern Comma....

....and this Eastern Gartersnake.

Very similar to the Eastern Gartersnake is this Ribbon Snake, with striping a little different but one of the easier features to see without handling it, is the small white spot in front of its eye.

Ontario's official flower, the White Trillium, can be abundant. However due to the very high population of White-tailed Deer in the past, the numbers of this species is not what it should be. This first photo shows a nice stand of these trilliums inside one of the deer exclosures, which have been in place since 1978, protected from hungry deer.

Immediately outside the deer exclosure is an example of what spring wildflowers can look like when they are available to those hungry deer. There is hardly a single spring wildflower in flower. There are developing leaves, but no flowers! Quite dramatic!

In yet another part of Rondeau is this rare wildflower, officially Vulnerable. It is Goldenseal. The flowers only last for a short time before small red berries begin to form.

 Some more spring wildflowers include:

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Large-flowered Bellwort

This next one is Large-leaved White Violet. I came across a small population of them along the Black Oak Trail, and it is new to the park's plant list. The petals are white both front and back, except for the purplish centre at the front, and the leaves are separate from the flowering stem and fairly broad with a pointed tip.

Wild, or Red Columbine, is in peak flower these days.

Red Trilliums are mostly past flowering....

...as the new leaves of this next tree appears, and initially look like flowers. But they are the developing/emerging leaves of Shagbark Hickory.

In some of the more open sloughs with a fair bit of water, there is an abundance of this next one, the Yellow Water Crowfoot, a member of the buttercup family.
 

Along various trails is Wild Geranium....

...but very limited in it abundance at Rondeau is this next one, the Twoleaf Mitrewort. The flowers are quite small as you can see, but are very attractive.

Two-leaved Toothwort

Fairly common is Starry False Solomon's Seal, next, and just becoming quite abundant....

.....whereas Spicebush, also quite abundant, has mostly finished flowering, and the red berries are slowly developing.

Sometimes a small green beetle will be actively wandering the trails or other open areas. It is the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle.

One of the 18 species of orchids known from Rondeau is this next one, the Showy Orchis, and it has been considered a Species At Risk, but is not officially yet. It is quite rare at Rondeau, only occurring in a couple of places as far as I know, but due to the presence of ticks, I spend a lot less time off the trails in my search for things than I used to. I have contracted Lyme Disease 5-6 times, and fortunately have not been as negatively affected as some, but I don't want to press my luck, so I mostly remain on trails. I assume there are many wonderful things to see away from the trails, but I will try and limit my time off trails.

An unfortunate presence in the forest of Rondeau, and elsewhere in extreme southern Ontario, is this next thing, called Beech Leaf Disease. I have hardly come across any American Beech tree at Rondeau that doesn't show at least some sign of it. At this time of year, as the leaves are developing, they will be crinkled with brown areas between the veins. As time goes on, the brown will turn to black, and many leaves will not develop properly. Some mature beech trees are now dead, mostly because of this disease, but to a lesser extent, due to very high water levels some years. This does not bode well for the Endangered Acadian Flycatcher, which nests almost entirely in these beech trees.

While hiking at St. Clair NWA not long ago, I managed to get this photo of a Beaver swimming by.....

...and I saw these two large female Snapping Turtles in a territorial dispute. 

  

 

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