Canada Day! And more.....

Ok officially Canada Day doesn't come for another few weeks. But a couple of days ago, there was an influx of Canada Warblers into the Rondeau area. They were seen in multiple parts of the park, but probably the best location was along Spicebush Trail, where several were seen, including one very cooperative male that gave photo ops for several people. Even during the relative short time I was there, I think I heard at least a thousand shutter clicks.

It was right adjacent to one of the boardwalks, giving people slightly elevated views as it spent several hours flitting back and forth, feeding, resting, searching for food and whatever. It would perch on a stump....

 ....pause and give quizzical looks at the people around.....

 ....flit to a branch....

 ...jump down to the base of a tree hunting for something....

 ...sometimes get bored with the audience....

 ...and occasionally find something to munch on. All in all, it was a very entertaining time with this declining species.

Of course there has been a good variety of other warblers, although I haven't caught up with some of the rarer species.

American Redstart

Blackburnian

Cape May

Common Yellowthroat

Chestnut-sided

Magnolia

 Sometimes you only get a partial view, and hopefully enough to make a positive identification before it disappears.

Nashville

Orange-crowned

There is a good variety of the usual non-warbler species, including those that may now be here to nest.

Baltimore Oriole

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Towhee male

 There had been a Spotted Towhee seen in the campground by a few birders. I wasn't in the area at the time, and so missed seeing it. However from photos I have seen, it wasn't very cooperative. It wouldn't be a new Rondeau species for me, as I had one coming to a feeder back in late 1979 when I was the park naturalist. That was before it became an official separate species rather than a western subspecies, so although it was an interesting sighting back then, it wouldn't have created the same stir as today.

Eastern Towhee female

 I've periodically thought that this next species should be the official bird of the Grand River Conservation Authority, given that its 4-letter bird code name is GRCA.

Gray Catbird

 Vireos have not been very abundant as of yesterday, although that could change any day now. Red-eyed Vireos, one of the most common of all songbirds in the eastern deciduous forests, have been noticeable by their absence. I think I have seen less than five so far this spring.

 Warbling Vireos are a little more common.

 Scarlet Tanagers have been around, although not abundant at all.

 Of course the 'resident' White-winged Dove has been back for a few weeks now, and as before, likes to build a nest on Mel's car.

 An Eastern Screech Owl is back in a frequently occupied hole. There is no guarantee that it will be visible, and if anyone goes off the trail to get a closer look, it will very quickly back up and disappear from view.

Yesterday when I was out, I got word of a Clay-colored Sparrow in the campground (thanks, Mike!). Since I was at the north end of the park at the time, I headed over and met Mike. Even though only a few minutes had passed by, the bird was nowhere to be seen. Which is often what birds do. Mike had indicated he had seen it loosely associating with Chipping Sparrows, so we used that clue to continue and broaden our search. However after another 30-45 minutes went by without seeing it, we decided it was gone. We did see several Chipping Sparrows, including this one which was putting the finishing touches on its nest.

 About 3 minutes after Mike and I had gone our separate ways, I heard him call out that it had re-appeared a little way down the campground road, so I hurried over. It was active, and not willing to allow us to get too close, so the long lenses were put to good use.

 Who knows, with the closed campground and open grassy/shrubby nature of the campground vegetation, might it be appealing for this species to nest if it can find a mate?

There is always something else to see along the way, including things like this Eastern Chipmunk. It has been a good year for chipmunks, and with the less traffic during the time the park was closed, fewer road kills. On some trails I have seen more chipmunks than warblers!

 This Eastern Cottontail was out in a grassy part of the campground.

 Leopard Frogs are widespread. I took a break from photographing the Canada Warbler to shoot this guy who was on the other side of the boardwalk.

 Tiger beetles, such as this Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (which can have either more, or fewer, than six spots) can be seen on sunny days along the trails and roadways.

 While walking along a grassy trail a few days ago, I flushed up a Song Sparrow. Its nest was not too hard to find.

 Spring wildflowers are continuing, such as this rarity known as Goldenseal. It occurs in a couple of places at Rondeau, and as of a few days ago, had just about completed its flowering for this season. Due to its rarity and Species At Risk status, its location will not be divulged.

 A spring-time orchid is this Showy Orchis. It isn't large and showy in spite of its name, as it seldom gets more than 15 cm (6") high.

Last year's flowering stalk

Butterflies have not been too plentiful, not surprising given the cool, windy conditions. With the promise of summer-like temperatures in the next few days, I anticipate a lot greater variety very soon!

Red Admiral

Birds, butterflies and orchids, mostly in Chatham-Kent

I haven't gone too far these last few days, but enough to find some interesting things.

Dickcissels are around again, but not in nearly the numbers of 2017, nor in 2018. I had found a few at the Dealtown Crown Land prairie both of those years, and have been there twice this year.  I had a good variety of shrubby/grassland birds as well as aerial insectivores, some of which gave me some good photo ops, but no Dickcissel.

Bank Swallows were quite abundant, not surprising though since this site is only about a kilometre from Lake Erie where the steep clay cliffs often have this species nesting in.

Bank Swallow

 No Bobolinks this year either, but a couple of Eastern Meadowlarks are there.

There are some early southern-bound shorebird migrants. Usually the local sewage lagoons are the places to find them, and there is a very small number there, but with all of the flooded fields to choose from, they will be spread out wherever there is shallow water. Lesser Yellowlegs are the more common shorebird so far, although a few others have also shown up.

 I've checked the flooded fields along Lagoon Road where a lingering Franklin's Gull has been seen on occasion, but I did not catch up to it. There were Lesser Yellowlegs and lots of Killdeer. A few of the typical summering gulls were around, as well as a few Caspian Terns.

 The Blenheim lagoons have good conditions for shorebirds, but except for lots of Killdeer and a few Lesser Yellowlegs, the shorebirds have not made a point of hanging out there yet. But there are a few other waterbirds, including a few Ruddy Ducks, this pair of Blue-winged Teal....

....and a Ring-necked Duck. There had been a pair of Ring-necks not that long ago, but the male was not visible on this visit.

I stopped at Erieau on one occasion. As has been the case throughout the spring, the water continues to be very high. The pier gets washed over periodically, even when there is very little wave action.

 On the vegetated part of the beach dunes, the Common Hop-tree is in full flower. It is Special Concern, one notch lower than Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Of course I managed to get to Rondeau a couple of times. Birds have been fairly typical, just the usual breeding species or vagrants. American Redstarts are scattered about the forest.

 A couple of pairs of Prothonotary Warblers continue along the Tuliptree Trail. I can never get enough of these critters!

While watching the Prothonotaries for awhile, this Green Frog was plinking like a banjo string in the slough nearby. It is surrounded by a plant called Frog-bit, which is not native to North America but arrived several decades ago. It was first discovered at Rondeau in 1976 when I was out canoeing in the Rondeau marsh with my university Aquatic Vascular Plants professor. It has expanded at Rondeau considerably since then, being found almost anywhere there is some sunny, quiet water.

The White-winged Dove continues along Lakeshore Road, south of the Visitor Centre. The stainless steel chimney at 17168 continues to be a favourite hang-out.

Earlier in the week I was out to show some friends a small population of Puttyroot, an orchid they had never seen before. The Puttyroot had finished flowering and had developing seed capsules. But before these folks left the park, they checked out a couple of trails and came across another orchid: Ragged-fringed Orchid. It is not a common species anywhere, but can be found in wet woods and sometimes in wet grassy meadows. This particular individual was at the base of a tree in a slough. I had access to a pair of hip waders to get close enough for these photos.

On one occasion I ventured beyond the boundaries of Chatham-Kent. Fellow blogger Blake had reported that the Oak Hairstreaks had appeared at the Reid Conservation Area in southern Lambton, so one partly sunny and very hot morning I headed there. There were lots of European Skippers, several Banded Hairstreaks, and at least two Oak Hairstreaks.

Banded Hairstreak

Oak Hairstreak

The butterflies were not as prevalent as they often have been for the time of year, so it will be interesting to see if the upcoming butterfly counts show this trend or not.