Orchids...spring wildflowers, and birds!

 Okay it isn't really orchid flowering season, nor is there much of anything else flowering for that matter. However the leafless season is one of the best times to find this one:

It is called Puttyroot (Aplectrum hyemale) and is an Endangered Species in Ontario and Canada. Rondeau is fortunate to have had several populations known from various parts of the park over the years, and I have been able to track down 7 different ones. Unfortunately at least two of those populations have disappeared, whether it is due to forest floor changes as a result of canopy cover alteration from the arrival of Emerald Ash Borer, which decimated the ash trees that were dominant in the canopy. Or maybe due to fluctuating water levels. Or something else entirely. 

At this time of year, they are not in flower, but their overwintering leaves are distinctive and if one is concentrating sufficiently on the leaf litter, they can stand out nicely. Each leaf represents an individual plant, but very few will actually flower in a given year. In the main population, which I have been following for more than 3 decades, I have sometimes seen up to about 75 leaves, but never seen any more than about 20 with a flowering stem and in flower and that was in a good year. More typically I only see a dozen or so in flower at the most.

While out looking around a few weeks ago, I cane across a new-to-me population with 7 leaves, a single leaf of this new population is shown next. Given the habitat that this species occurs in, I expect there are more populations as yet unseen. There are hundreds and hundreds of what appears to be suitable habitat. The leaves are starting to dry and they will almost totally disappear before long.

It will be interesting to see how many flowering stems are found this year.

There are other things that are actually in flower. This first one is called Snowdrops. It flowers early, and is not native. It often occurs in fairly abundant little patches. This patch occurred next to a cottage in the park.

One that is native, but not often seen, is called Skunk Cabbage. The green and purple stems emerge from a fairly wet area, sometimes where standing water is present at least in early spring. It doesn't occur at Rondeau. I have been keeping an eye on this small population at Clear Creek Forest Prov Park.

A closer look inside one of the purple leaves, known as a spathe, may show the little cluster of flowers, as seen here.

Over the next few weeks, I am looking forward to finding a lot of other spring wildflowers! In the meantime, there is hopefully an increasing number and variety of birds to look for and try and photograph. American Robins are becoming quite numerous, with sometimes several dozen seen on even a short outing. On one occasion on a cold day and driving through a small town, I drove by what looked to be a type of crabapple tree. Underneath were at least 30 robins groping around in the lawn, looking for crabapple residue.

American Pelicans have appeared in southwestern Ontario in recent days. Of course a birder and photographer always hopes to get views such as this next one, which I photographed flying over Rondeau Bay near Erieau last year. Opportunities such as this do not occur very often.....

....as this next photo illustrates. This photo was taken from the Mitchell's Bay South Nature Trail, where as many as a dozen pelicans were resting on the sheltered edge of a large stand of cattails. In viewing them through binoculars, it was difficult to know for sure that they were in fact pelicans, or some of the many large swans that were also in the area. I know of at least a few birders who ventured out to try and see these birds, but were not successful. However a high powered 'scope confirmed them as pelicans, as every few minutes one would get up, stretch its neck and it large orange bill would be obvious. At other times one would stretch its wings, and the black wing tips and outer primaries would be distinctive. The photo below is the best I could do. Even with my top quality lens, this photo was taken, and subsequently cropped to be at slightly more than 100X.

More predictable are Bald Eagles. At least some of the known nests are being occupied, such as this one at Rondeau, visible from the west South Point Trail.

But lots of eagles are on their migration to nesting areas farther to the north. On one occasion in the last few days, while on the east South Point Trail, I saw about 11 and most were adults.

Brown Creepers are arriving.

Downy Woodpeckers are permanent residents, and are a little more noticeable as they start to establish territories.

Eastern Phoebes are arriving, and there are a few flying insects for this flycatcher to feed on.

Killdeer are fairly widespread in muddy fields and marsh edges.

Northern Flickers are present in increasing numbers, searching for ants on lawns.

Pileated Woodpeckers are also residents, and are more often noted due to their loud drumming to demarcate their territory. When I was out today, I heard three different birds calling from my one vantage point, one was fairly close and the other two were a fair way either north or south of the closest one.

Turkey Vultures are fairly plentiful these days, depending on the wind. On one occasion I saw about 40 circling a wooded area late in the day, presumably looking for an overnight roost.

Wild Turkeys are also permanent residents, and a little more visible now than sometimes. I stopped one day to look for the Wilson's Snipe that sometimes occurs at this wide creek, but only saw this turkey hopping across.

And these two were roaming about a farm field near St. Clair NWA.

I saw my first of the year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker a few days ago, but only got some record shots.

Local Canada Geese are paired up.

I saw my first of the year Great Egret fly over a few days ago, just north of Mitchell's Bay, where during the summer and fall season it is common to see a dozen or more, as they nest in some of the offshore cattail islands.

 Sandhill Cranes continue to be around, although they are starting to pair up and instead of large groups, are often in groups of four or fewer.

Of course Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived in large numbers especially in wetland areas, where they are seen and heard giving their choke-er-ee calls attempting to lure in a female as they arrive.

Not to be left out of the wildlife scene of late, are turtles especially on some of the warmer days. Blanding's Turtles are an Endangered Species. I usually see a few, such as this next one, along the Marsh Trail near Erieau.

On the other hand, Midland Painted Turtles are fairly abundant. On this day I counted at least 40 all sunning on a log or some similar spot.

There is always lots to see!

 

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Nesting season begins, as do some spring wildflowers

 Nesting season is upon us. Of course Bald Eagles and Great Horned Owls usually are at some beginning stage of their nesting season by mid-March or even late February. I have seen eagles on their nests, presumably incubating, in at least three different sites over the last several weeks. However perhaps the biggest surprise this year is the arrival and the nest-building of a species that has never nested in Chatham-Kent that we know of, and in fact has seldom even been seen here. It is the Black-billed Magpie, as shown in the header photo and what follows.

This pair was noted almost two weeks ago, at a residence just north of Shrewsbury. I have no idea how long one or the other had been in C-K, although there was one seen and photographed a bit earlier at the NE corner of Rondeau Bay. But for some reason, this pair came along and decided a residence near the corner of Fargo Road and Bisnett Line was the place for them. They normally live in and nest in open areas, and this site met those conditions.

Normally the magpies are a mid to far western species in Canada, although a small number occur in northwestern Ontario, specifically in the Rainy River/Lake-of-the Woods area. There was one or more birds seen in Elgin and Middlesex Co last year. But here they are.

On the occasion when I saw them, they were out in the field opposite the residence, either foraging for food or looking for nesting material. There have been many folks stopping by and watching them, and some have seen the birds carrying nesting material to the upper part of a tall spruce tree. Of course this nesting activity will be closely monitored over the next several weeks to see what happens, so stay tuned. It is definitely an interesting addition to the current Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, now entering its 4th year.

On one of the warmer and sunnier days in the last week or so, I went to Rondeau doing one of my normal things, just to meander around to see what I could find. There hadn't been a lot of new bird arrivals, but Turkey Vultures are becoming more and more visible. As is sometimes the case, several decades ago it was rather unusual to see a Turkey Vulture in C-K, but nowadays, it is a common occurrence. Even this early in the season there are a few floating around.

Killdeer are getting paired up, and hanging around a likely nesting location.

On one of the sunnier, but not necessarily the warmest of days, Wood Frogs could be heard in some of the larger and more open sloughs. Wood Frogs are about the earliest amphibian to be heard.

On one occasion as I was walking the east South Point Trail, I came across this view. At the big S bend, where the former camp office was located in the 1960s and 1970s, the former road came close to the shoreline of the lake. With the regular east and southeast winds, the erosion has continued to the point where the road, and more recently not much more than a hiking/biking trail, is almost gone right here.

looking west

same vantage point, looking north

The concrete vault that is the remains of the washroom which was part of the camp office, has been seen close to the shoreline for several years. Now, as shown in the photo above, it is well away from the shoreline.

As shorelines of sandspits such as Rondeau regularly undergo changes, it is hard to say what to expect at this point in the near future.

On another occasion I went out to Clear Creek Forest Prov Park in eastern C-K. I was looking in part, for lichens (more on that in a future post), but also wanted to see if any spring wildflowers were showing. It was a bit early, I knew, but with the weather being what is has been, and that the park is a little more inland than Rondeau which results in the earlier showing of plants, I thought it was worth checking out. I saw a few things like Cut-leaved Toothwort and Yellow Trout-lily showing some development, but none in flower. However a really early spring wildflower was well along: it is the Eastern Skunk Cabbage.

When it first appears, even sometimes through the layer of snow, it will show the dark 'spathe' which is where one will find the developing flowers. Older spathes are quite dark in appearance, but younger ones apparently have more of a greenish tinge. The ones I saw were mostly older ones.

Flower developing inside the spathe

Unlike most wildflowers, the relatively large and vividly green leaves develop well after the flowering parts of the plant, and at this point are quite visible even from a little distance. The next two photos were taken in a previous year, as they are not anywhere close to this stage yet.

The leaves are quite a bit taller than the spathe, shown next.

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Wildflower parade continues; Virginia Bluebells are a highlight

 There are lots of birds around these days, but wildflowers often get less attention. Therefore this will be another post which features the magnificence of many landscapes that birders frequent, but may not always pay as much attention to. That being said, I want to start off with a species of wildflower that is overall quite uncommon, but where it occurs, can be overwhelmingly dominant. I am referring to Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica).

It is not a species that occurs in Chatham-Kent as far as I know, at least not naturally. It will be in an occasional private garden. But the populations I know of and have immersed myself in over the last decade or so are in two places in Elgin Co, and another in a nature reserve that borders Lambton and Middlesex.

These wonderful plants are relatively short-lived, but are dominant when in full bloom. The photo above was actually taken a few years ago at the Sydenham River Nature Reserve. The ones that follow were taken along a hiking trail in Elgin Co, where my sister and her husband invited me to join them a few days ago on their annual trek to see these beauties. It took the better part of an hour along the trail to get to the first of three patches, including a few ups and downs along the trail, so definitely not in the relative flatlands of Chatham-Kent! It covered several acres along Dodd Creek. Most were in full flower, with a few pink undeveloped ones yet to appear.

As in many populations of plants, there can be some anomalies, such as this next one which is fully open but has retained its pink colour.

It was a beautiful day and we had the place to ourselves. Sunny, mild with hardly any wind, and the only sounds were a few Baltimore Orioles vying for territory in the trees above, as well as the babbling creek nearby. (Thanks Susan and John!)

All in all it was a wonderful few hours enjoying this piece of creation.

Closer to home, I continue to be on the search for wildflowers while out birding or whatever. This first one is Blue Cohosh, the later blooming species compared to the one I featured a couple of blogs ago. The flowers are noticeably yellowish, not purplish.

Violets continue to be abundant, with this Downy Yellow Violet one of the most common.....

...a far less common species is this aptly named Long-spurred Violet, which grows in small scattered groups rather than being as widespread as either the yellow or blues ones.

Large-flowered Bellwort appears in clusters here and there.

There are still some Red Trilliums, and I have a hard time resisting them.

Skunk Cabbage was in its prime a few weeks ago, but I missed them at that time. It is not common in most places that I travel.

It is mostly visible by its leaves, rather than flowers these days.

A wildflower soon to be out is Canada Mayflower. The leaves, as shown next, are fairly widespread, and I suspect there may be a few out in flower that I haven't caught up to.

White Trillium continues to show well....

...as in this scene from Clear Creek Forest Prov Park.

Wild Blue Phlox is scattered here and there along roadsides and trails at Rondeau.

Wild Geranium is becoming more plentiful, and the flowers can vary a little in appearance.

Wood Anemone is relatively diminutive, but always pleasing to see if you get down close to it.

...and the sloughs of Rondeau, while dropping in water levels slightly due to the lack of precipitation over the last few days, continues to support members of the Yellow Water Crowfoot.

There will be a steady, but slightly decreasing stream of wildflowers appearing in the next few weeks due to the closing of the forest canopy. Some will likely appear in a future post.

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