Preview of a butterfly count

'Tis the season for butterfly counts. Several in southwestern Ontario have already taken place, and the Rondeau one is coming up this weekend. In preparation for it, I have been out scouting around a bit to see what to expect. With the drier than normal weather, early indications are that butterfly diversity and abundance is down from normal.

Patches of Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) are well known for their attractiveness to butterflies. I visited a large patch a couple of days ago. This area is affectionately known as the Dillon Dump, as it was used as a temporary holding place for debris such as brush, branches, stumps, etc before they were burned. It is located along what remains of the former Dillon Trail, which used to be a driveable road across the southern part of the park. The entire route is next to impossible to find now unless one is quite familiar with the layout of it, and one has some good high rubber boots. Regardless, this open area near the beginning and driest part of the Dillon Trail is now dominated by Common Milkweed. If there was one plant, there had to be at least 1000, and many of them were in some stage of flowering.

Partial view of the Dillon Dump area

Needless to say, this is a hotspot for butterflies. By far one of the more common ones on this occasion was Silver-spotted Skipper, the largest skipper we have. There must have been 50 or more.

Silver-spotted Skipper

The next image shows a view of the Silver-spotted Skipper that one doesn't see nearly as often as the one in the previous image.

There were some smaller skippers around...mostly European Skippers, and some other small butterflies such as Summer Azure, which I didn't photograph. But there were larger butterflies on the wing, such as this Eastern Comma.

Eastern Comma

 The comma is more obvious on the underside of the wing.

Great Spangled Fritillaries were there as well, although the handful I saw all seemed to be a bit faded and not very fresh looking. This one is a little battered as well, with its right hind-wing showing some wear and tear.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were noticeable due to their size and flashy colours. There were at least 8 of them there.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

There were a few Little Wood-Satyrs around.

Little Wood-Satyr

A couple of Appalachian Browns were there, one of which was quite fresh looking as well as being cooperative.

Appalachian Brown

With all of the milkweed, I was hoping for a good number of hairstreaks. Alas, I only saw one....this Banded Hairstreak, below. With all of the oaks in the vicinity, I was sure there would be more, which there likely were. However they can be surprisingly difficult to see if they are on the far side or underside of a flower head, and they don't seem to fly as often as many other species of butterflies, so can go unnoticed. This site is in Blake's territory, so undoubtedly he will find a few and maybe some other hairstreak species as well. (By the way, Blake....be prepared for chiggers).

Banded Hairstreak

There were a few dragonflies zipping around, but not a lot of diversity in them. By far the most common one was this White-faced Meadowhawk.

White-faced Meadowhawk

There were other species of milkweed in the area, including Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa).

Butterfly Milkweed

For some reason there weren't any butterflies on them while I was looking.

Another milkweed nearby in the grassy beach dunes is Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora). It isn't very colourful, and I have not seen butterflies on them....only ants.

Cluster of Green Milkweed

Sunday looks like a decent day for the butterfly count.....mostly sunny, with temperatures ~28C so hopefully there are lots of butterflies.

Friday flyday

OK not all of the following occurred today, Friday Aug 8, but I liked the title. And since I have the option, I will pop a few in from a trip to Rondeau a couple of days ago.

Fyi the 'fly' part refers to butterflies, dragonflies, and true flies.

The warm summer weather is a great time to see many flying insects, whether in the back yard, where many of these photos were taken, or any natural area. The skies are a-buzz with flies!

Today was a good lepidoptera day in the yard. I saw:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail

Painted Lady

This was quite a fresh looking Painted Lady. More and more of the butterflies I am seeing are showing wear, with tattered wings. So it is always nice to see a fresh individual.

Monarch female

 It has actually been a pretty good year for Monarchs, well at least compared with some recent years. I've seen dozens of them in various places, and probably well over a dozen in the yard. The milkweeds are regularly visited by the females to lay eggs, and we have seen almost two dozen caterpillars of various sizes. No pupae yet, but I am sure they are there. More on that in a future post.....

Red-spotted Purple

Red Admiral

Cabbage White

 I almost didn't put the Cabbage White in.....they are so common! But it isn't their fault, so here is probably one of the few times I will ever post a photo of it. Actually they are often flitting around so steadily, they aren't always easy to get photos of.

Unknown moth

This little moth is quite tiny...no more than about half a centimetre across. It may be one of the Tussock Moths, but I'm still working on its id. If anyone has the latest Moth ID book and can tell me what it is, it would be appreciated.

There were others present in the last day or two that I wasn't able to get photos of, such as a Giant Swallowtail which didn't stick around long enough to allow me to document its presence. And earlier today, I noted one of the few skippers I've had in the backyard this summer. I didn't have the camera in my hands, and by the time I got back about two minutes later, it had vanished. If memory served me correctly, it looked closest to a Dion Skipper, which would be quite unusual considering the habitat, so I can't be sure.

There were other 'flies' present as well. One of the more common ones is this green blowfly.

Green Blowfly

Flower or Hover fly

There are quite a few species of hoverfly to choose from. It seems this one is Toxomerus marginatus, seen here on the tiny flower heads of dill. It is common, but very tiny, with a total body length of only 5-6 mm! Needless to say this is the realm of macro photography, and for this I had my 100mm macro lens on my full frame camera along with three extension tubes totalling 68mm of extension, and then I cropped it on the computer. It is a beneficial species, as the larvae feed on aphids and the larvae of other harmful insects.

Other 'flies' over the last couple of days after a visit to Rondeau, include:

Appalachian Brown

Common Buckeye

 This is only the second Common Buckeye I have seen this year, the first one being on July 24 along a railroad corridor in western Elgin Co where I was doing some inventory work. This species is extremely rare this year, quite unlike a couple of years ago when they were in fact, very common.

Northern Pearly Eye

White-faced Meadowhawk

The White-faced Meadowhawk is certainly one of the most common, if not the most common, dragonfly I've seen anywhere I've gone in the last couple of weeks.

Horsefly species

There were a lot of deerflies (Tabanidae) around while I was hiking at Rondeau, but I didn't let them land so I could get a photo. However this Horsefly, which in general is a lot less common than deerflies, was buzzing around and landed on the path, enabling me to capture this photo without donating a big chunk of my flesh to the cause.

Ribbon Snake

OK....how does a snake fit in with the 'fly' theme? I came across it, belly up, along the road that is closed to vehicles. But something had recently caused its death, and if you look closely you can see some of its innards popping out of its slender body. A cyclist or park vehicle (since it is closed to public vehicles) was undoubtedly the cause of its death. And there were flies on it, attempting to lay eggs, no doubt, so that the larvae (a.k.a. maggots) would be able to feed before becoming adults themselves.

It is quite unfortunate that this Ribbon Snake was killed. It is a declining species in Ontario, and is officially considered Special Concern, which is one short step away from being legally Threatened. Ribbon Snakes like the habitat provided by wooded wetlands, so there is lots of habitat for them at Rondeau. However since paved roads go through or close by lots of the wet woodland habitat at Rondeau, they are at risk of being run over as they bask on the pavement in their attempt to absorb the warmth of the sunlight. For that reason, some roads at Rondeau have been closed for part of the year, especially when reptiles such as the Ribbon Snake may be using them more frequently and thus at greater risk of being harmed.

Some recent wetland visits

Wetlands are fun to visit in mid summer. By now the water has warmed up considerably, with many plants and creatures quite abundant and in prime condition. A visit to any of the wetlands in Chatham-Kent, such as Rondeau, McGeachy Pond or St. Clair NWA or elsewhere is a worthwhile time.

Rondeau Marsh

As the water warms up, aquatic plants send up their stems and many floating plants can be seen. Fragrant Water Lilies have rather large leaves, and in between the leaves are the striking flowers. The flowers provide nectar for pollinators. The leaves provide shade for critters beneath the water, as well as being something for other critters to rest and bask on. Of course they also absorb sunlight energy to provide nourishment for the plant.

Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)

A much smaller floating plant is European Frog-bit. It has very small floating leaves by comparison, with a three-petaled white flower. It is not native to North America, but was discovered in the western part of Lake Ontario several decades ago. The first record for Lake Erie was at Rondeau back in about 1977, when a former university professor of mine who specialized in aquatic vascular plants came to visit me while I was working at Rondeau and during the course of our canoeing through the Rondeau marsh, he discovered it. Since that time, it has become quite abundant in the quiet waters of the Rondeau Marsh and Bay as well as many sloughs. It has also expanded to many other wetlands in the Great Lakes.

European Frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae)

Here, somewhat appropriately, a couple of Green Frogs are seen amidst the abundant frog-bit.

One of my favourite wetland plants is Pickerelweed. Its presence is usually an indicator of somewhat deeper water. Bees love the flowers of these plants. It has unusual flowering arrangement, often with the flowering parts (pistils and stamens) arranged in three different combinations of sizes and lengths, even on the same plant.

Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)

Here a Blanding's Turtle is feeding on aquatic vegetation. It is wandering through an extensive mat of duckweed, those really small floating plants which will have one or several tiny dangling rootlets. This turtle has a high-domed shell and a bright yellow chin and throat. Unfortunately from the perspective of this photo, neither feature is evident.

Dragonflies are abundant as well. Here a Widow Skimmer is at rest, while below is a female White-faced Meadowhawk.

Widow Skimmer

White-faced Meadowhawk

Mid July action

Plants and insects abound right now, providing lots of opportunity to photograph! I've been out regularly, here and there, in the Rondeau area.

Open areas with Common Milkweed and other wildflowers are always good for attracting insects. Along the South Point Trail were things like this American Lady on a Black-eyed Susan.

American Lady

Something that caught my eye was a whole bunch of caterpillars feeding voraciously on some willows. This large distinctive caterpillar is the larva of a Mourning Cloak.

Mourning Cloak larva

Mourning Cloak

On a raspberry leaf, I noted this brightly coloured critter. It is a Red-banded Leafhopper, one of the more bizarrely coloured insects. It is very small, only about 5-6 mm in length, so the way you see it on your screen is several times life size! I find these more often on a milkweed plant than any other species.

A female Eastern Pondhawk was in the area. It is one of the more gorgeous dragonflies, in my opinion.

Other dragonflies were around, including many White-faced Meadowhawks. They would be perched, then dash out before returning. They were catching smaller insects, such as midges and mosquitoes, and are voracious predators.

Here a female of the species chowing down on a recent capture, followed by an 'in-your-face' view.

Woodlands are attractive on a heavily overcast day. I enjoy the Spicebush Trail in these conditions.

The ferns are quite lush at this time of year, with a good diversity: Ostrich Fern, Sensitive Fern, Silvery Spleenwort, Maidenhair Fern, Broad Beech Fern, Marsh Fern, Cinnamon Fern, Royal Fern, Rattlesnake Fern and others are scattered along the trail, sometimes in abundance. A healthy fern diversity means a healthy forest.

Broad Beech Fern

Silvery Speenwort

There is lots of Spicebush along this trail, not surprisingly. Here is a clump of Spicebush stems. Do you see anything else in this photo?

If you look closely on the largest stem, there is a moth. It blends in quite well, and a casual passer-by would easily miss it. It is a moth with the common name of Tulip-tree Beauty.

A common plant in the damp areas of this trail include the Wood Nettle. The flowers are very tiny...not spectacular at all! And yes, being a nettle, the stiff hairs will sting.

Wood Nettle

One reader of a previous post asked why there was no mention of Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) in my post of early season native orchids. Well there are two reasons: first of all it is not a native species, but an orchid that came from Europe. And second of all, at Rondeau it is not an early season orchid. However it is just coming nicely into flower these days, and is quite widespread along this trail. An image is below.

Epipactis helleborine