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.

 

 

 

 If you would like to subscribe to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com

 

Late summer botanizing, birding, chasing damsels and checking out a toppled tractor

 In between some of the hot August nights that I blogged about recently, I have been out doing a bit of botanizing and birding on a casual scale.

The woodlands aren't ablaze with wildflowers like they are in the spring, but there is a steady stream of plants to seek out. For example, along the trails of Rondeau one can find some of the following without too much effort.

Beechdrops are not very colourful, and as a parasitic species, it doesn't need chlorophyll to get its energy as it feeds off the roots of other plants. It can thrive in the shaded understorey of the hardwood forest.

A common plant that doesn't get a lot of attention is Jumpseed. It has tiny flowers arranged tightly on its stem....

...which upon a closer look, can be rather colourful.

This next one is one of the Skullcaps. This one has a pair of flowers only on the one side of the stem.

Another flower of the same colour is Hog Peanut, a member of the Legume family.

 

 Poke Milkweed has completed its flowering and one can find a few seedpods of this uncommon milkweed along the edges of roads and trails through the forest.

 Also along the edges and more open areas within the forest, are large numbers of this Pale-leaved Sunflower....

...with maybe a Northern Crescent resting on it.

 There are lots of ferns. A healthy diversity and abundance of ferns is an indication of a healthy forest! There are about 24 species of ferns at Rondeau. Some are quite abundant and others are quite rare. This first one is Lady Fern, neither abundant nor rare, but widely spread in the more mature beech-maple type forest.

The undersides show the fruit dots, where the spores are developing before being released and sent on their way.

Marsh Fern, next, is quite abundant, especially in the wetter parts of the forest.

This next one is a small version of Ostrich Fern, not a common species at Rondeau.

Sensitive Fern is undoubtedly one of the most common species, found almost exclusively in damp areas, which are abundant at Rondeau. It is called Sensitive due to its sensitivity to colder temperatures.

There are lots of birds on the move these days. I haven't spent a lot of time tracking down migrant warblers, vireos, flycatchers, etc. lately. But even while botanizing, one may come across evidence of a resident bird species. This is a used nest of a Red-eyed Vireo, one of the most common forest bird species at Rondeau.

 I have spent a short time along the lake side, where waterbirds are on the move.

Bonaparte's Gulls are building in numbers.....

.....as are Common Terns.

Double-crested Cormorants, well, they always seem to be fairly plentiful in spring and fall, sometimes in huge numbers. No sign of a smaller Neotropical Cormorant quite yet.

A plant that thrives on the open sandy beach and places slightly inland is this Seaside Spurge. Its flat, ground-hugging nature makes it quite adaptable to the windy environment along the open beach. This is about as tall as it gets!

Elsewhere in the more inland and stable sandy beach area one can find a lot of the colourful Cylindrical Blazing-star.....

....and if one is lucky, a Common Five-lined Skink, Ontario's only lizard.

A friend from the Mitchell's Bay area texted me a few days ago to tell me that a Cattle Egret was visiting their place. It didn't take me long to decide to go and see for myself! And there it was.

Great Egrets, much larger than a Cattle Egret, are the more likely egret to be found in this area, as a large colony of them nest at nearby Walpole Island.

A few days ago I spent some time checking out some areas along the Thames River and various other places in eastern Chatham-Kent. My goal was to find and photograph a couple of particularly interesting damselflies. The first one is the Smoky Rubyspot. It is extremely rare, being categorized as 'Imperiled' in Canada. The only places it is found are along the Thames and Sydenham rivers. I was fortunate to find one or more in three different locations on this day: in two places along the Thames and another location along the Sydenham.

The American Rubyspot, looking quite similar but distinctly different, is much more widespread in both Ontario and Canada, and therefore does not have any official Conservation Status.

When you can get down to the river to look for these delicate damsels you will likely come across some rather large and distinctive flowering plants. Cup-plant, shown first, is also considered 'Imperiled' in Canada. It is shown on iNaturalist as fairly widespread in southern Ontario, but likely some of the occurrences are a result of plantings as it is a popular horticulturally planted species.

Another fairly common species here, but officially 'Vulnerable' in Canada, is Wingstem, named for the  'wings' running along the stem.

I also took time to check out a small railway prairie remnant in the Thamesville area. I should have been there three or more weeks ago. The largest part of the prairie remnant had been cut for hay. Nonetheless I did manage to see some Missouri Ironweed with a few remaining flowers, and several healthy clumps of Prairie Thistle, which is not restricted to prairies, but not common either. There were a couple of Spicebush Swallowtails nectaring on the thistle flowers.

And while I was checking out this little prairie remnant, I had the most unexpected event of the day occur, more or less right in front of me. As I approached the railway remnant, I noted a medium-sized tractor coming towards me on the gravel road. It was pulling a large, awkward looking piece of equipment. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it, as the flowers and butterflies were much more interesting. But all of a sudden I heard a loud 'thunk' and noted that the sound of the tractor had stopped. I looked and this is what I saw:

Toppled Tractor

A second or two later, I noticed that the operator was climbing out of the cab, and getting down onto the road. He appeared okay from a distance, and I noted that he had his phone out and was talking to someone. In a matter of minutes, someone came along on an ATV and talked to the man, then left. I was on my way as well, but thought I would check out the operator just to make sure he was okay and also to find out what happened.

In talking to the operator, he said he was okay, although perhaps he was in a little bit of shock. But he seemed okay. He explained that the sprayer he was pulling was quite top-heavy, and as it was a little wider than the tractor, when the tractor got a little too close to the edge of the road, the wheel of the sprayer dropped off the slightly steep edge and flipped, causing the tractor to turn over as well.

I hope his day improved after that unfortunate event. I know mine did.

And with that, note that autumn colours are appearing in the leaves, as this Silver Maple was showing back on August 23. Who knows whether the colours will be vibrant or muted in the next few weeks?

Happy (almost) end of summer!

Note: if you would like to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to this blog, contact me at prairietramper@gmail.com