Lots of colours and diversity!

 First of all, I need to apologize for not responding to the many comments readers have shared with me over the past few months. I used to get immediate notifications when a comment was made, but something changed, and so comments that were made since the beginning of 2025 seemed to be tucked away in a different manner, and I only came across them today. I have tried to respond to all of those that were made since then!

June is the prime month for Tulip Trees to show off their impressive flowers. 

 The Tulip Tree Trail is one of my favourite trails at Rondeau for various reasons that I might explain in my other post. At any rate, there are lots of Tulip Trees, but unfortunately for the normal hiker, the flowers are hard to see as the flowers like lots of sunlight so are most abundant near the uppermost parts of the tree. A telephoto lens was necessary to get this next photo.

At ground level, fortunately, there are lots to see at this stage of the season. It is always nice to lock eyes on a butterfly!

Northern Crescent

Wildflowers are more apt to stay put for the camera. This next flower is a Narrow-leaved Blue-eyed Grass.

Another critter came into view: it is a Morbid Owlet, a moth, which was not very active and preferred the shadier parts along the trail. Not sure who comes up with these names, as I don't see anything morbid about it.

Butterflies are fairly active especially on sunnier days. If it doesn't get too hot, I expect they will really like the next few days as it becomes the warmest of the year so far!

Little Wood-satyr

A colourful wildflower that likes open grassy areas, such as at the edge of a prairie/savannah with lots of sun is this next one: Hairy Beardtongue, a native species.

 

 Purple-flowered Raspberry is starting to be more noticeable at the woodlot edges, as the deep red flower appear. Although it is a member of the raspberry family, the fruits are not edible.

And in a few places, one might encounter the Endangered, Red Mulberry. There are a few places scattered around Rondeau where this species can be found, and it is in flower right now.

 In some of the wetter areas, one will come across this next wildflower, Tufted Loosestrife.

Also along trail edges, but not a native species, is Common Mouse-ear Chickweed, named because the 5 petals are partially split, looking like a pair of ears.

And then another moth comes into view. It is known as a Black-bit Moth.

 An even smaller creature resting on a leaf was this Basal Click Beetle, barely a centimetre in total length.

Not a flower in the normal sense of what one might expect, is this next one: American Cancer-root, formerly known as Squawroot. It is parasitic on the roots of various trees, mainly oaks and beech trees, although this particular one was part of a clump at the base of a White Pine. But since the roots of trees intermingle underground, it could easily have been connected to an oak, which was nearby. It doesn't have leaves and flowers like most flowering plants, and what is seen above ground is really just the flowering/fruiting body.

One can come across Ontario's only lizard at Rondeau, the Common Five-line Skink. I know I have featured them in recent posts, but I thought this one was worth showing. I refer to these particular ones  as 'Love Skinks'. The male has the orange facial area. I have never seen a pair of them this close, and with the male having his right front arm over the back of the female!

While we were watching this pair, we had what we determined was likely a Short-tailed Weasel pop up on the boardwalk less than two metres of my feet, grab something and disappear. I suspect that as we had slowly walked along the boardwalk approaching this spot, the weasel dropped what it had in its mouth, and scampered away, but was reluctant to give up its meal and so returned. It all happened so fast I was unable to get a photo of the weasel. I didn't get a solid look at what it came back for, but the person I was with said it looked like a small skink, perhaps part of the extended family of the pair we were watching. I had seen young skinks in this immediate vicinity on previous visits, so it was entirely likely. Certainly an interesting time watching nature in action, much to the chagrin of the little skink.
 

Visitors to Rondeau earlier this season likely would have noticed where the park's prescribed burn efforts were this year. Several areas looked like this:

In only a short period of time, the grasses responded well, and even now, several weeks later, the growth has been quite lush, as expected. The burn keeps the numerous shrubs, some of which are not native and aggressive, in check, so that the native grasses and wildflowers continue to represent an important part of the park's vegetation mix.

I was going to feature some more early season orchids, but that may be in the next blog. And check out my new-themed blog, Life Is A Journey, at this link. I plan to post my next one on this blog very soon.

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

Summer wetlands

World Wetlands Day is in early February but in this part of the world, wetlands are entrenched in their winter solitude at that time. This post will highlight some of wetland values at the current, more active time of year.

Wetlands are hugely important to a healthy landscape. For example they help contain runoff from rainfall so there is less soil erosion and degradation of our lakes, rivers and streams. They recharge the ground water table which keeps water wells supplied and forests healthy. Unfortunately their benefits have been ignored by many, so the majority of them have been drained for various kinds of development. Based on soils and early surveys, it is estimated that at the time of settlement more than 66% of what is now Chatham-Kent was one type of wetland or another (marsh or swamp). By 1982 less than 4% of the municipality was in wetland. That has since dwindled further, as currently only about 4% of the entire municipality is in any kind of natural cover.

Wetlands are a fun place to explore, but the best time is in the early morning or evening, unless you like the heat! There is an abundance of plant and animal life out there, although some of it takes more than a bit of effort to find.

June is prime egg-laying month for many turtles.

Midland Painted Turtle

Sometimes you see them up laying, but more often than not, the first hint of turtle egg-laying activity is this, where the buried eggs have been dug out of the hole and only fragments of egg shells remain.

The culprit? Raccoons are probably the most likely one, although skunks, foxes and opossums will take advantage of these fresh eggs as well. I remember on one occasion watching a snapping turtle laying eggs, and a raccoon was sitting right behind it, pulling each egg out of the nest hole as it was laid. It doesn't get any fresher than that!

Turtles are long-lived, so in order to keep turtle populations healthy, they only need to have a small number of eggs successfully hatch and the young reaching maturity to eventually replace the adults in the population. So even though the majority of turtle eggs are eaten, it may not do any significant damage to the overall turtle population.

The openness of the wetland landscape is great for seeing a multitude of birds. Waterbirds, including herons, egrets and terns are frequently seen.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Green Heron

Forster's Tern

Unfortunately there is an expanding population of Mute Swans in our wetlands. While they are attractive birds in their own way, this non-native species is very aggressive and chases out our native waterfowl.

Mute Swan and cygnets

Much smaller things with wings are common, especially dragonflies. The Calico Pennant is one of the more striking dragonflies, in my opinion.

Calico Pennant

 Blue Dashers are much more abundant.

Blue Dasher male

Blue Dasher female

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

The Black Horsefly is a huge fly, with the body length up to 28mm. Fortunately it seldom bites humans, but it can be a nuisance to livestock.

This Black Horsefly was low down on a dead stalk of Phragmites, just a bit above the water. It might have ended up as a snack for a Bullfrog, which is by far the largest frog in Ontario. Bullfrogs are easily identified by their resonant 'jug-o-rum' call that you can hear from quite a distance. When you get to see one, you can tell it from the somewhat similar, but smaller, Green Frog, since the Bullfrog does not have ridges that go from behind the eye down the back almost to the hind legs. Bullfrogs are quite the vicious predator, in the sense that they will eat fish, other frogs, small snakes and even small birds.

Bullfrog

Plants are numerous in a healthy wetland, with a constantly changing array in flower. Right now, things like Fragrant Water Lilies (Nymphaea odorata) dot the surface of wetlands, poking up through the covering of lily pads.

Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) is not a weed at all, but an attractive flower which pollinators such as bees like.

Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) is a common plant in shallower water.

A less obvious wetland plant is Giant Bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum).

Giant Bur-reed, male flowers

Giant Bur-reed, female flowers

Tufted Loosestrife (Lysimachia thrysifolia) is found along wetland edges.

There are many, many more things to get your attention.....I encourage you to get out and enjoy a wetland!