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!

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Giants, Lizards and River Cruisers

Yesterday I wandered through parts of Lambton County that I hadn't been to yet this year. Butterflies have been fewer than normal...maybe that is the new normal. Anyway, I hadn't come across any Giant Swallowtails yet this year, which is unusual given how far the summer is along. They were totally absent or in very low numbers on some of the local butterfly counts.

I often found a few in the past at the Bickford Oak Woods Conservation Reserve in west central Lambton, so that was one of my targets. There are two large grassy tallgrass prairie patches at BOWCR, each of several hectares in size They were planted into predominantly prairie vegetation about 15 years ago. I had no sooner started out into the prairie patch when I noticed a large butterfly fluttering in the distance. Bingo, not one, not two, but three Giant Swallowtails.

Some were on Swamp Milkweed, but there was an abundance of Teasel, and although it is not a native species, the butterflies didn't seem to mind at all. In fact Teasel seemed to be the preferred species. I saw at least seven of these giants at BOWCR and about 14 species of butterfly altogether in the BOWCR area.

 There is an abundance of tallgrass prairie plants at BOWCR, some of which are quite rare. This first one is Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum). It grows fairly tall, standing well above many other prairie plants. It is arguably native in Ontario, although that isn't without some debate. Regardless, there are populations of it in Essex, Chatham-Kent and Elgin.

 This next one, Grey-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) is not nearly as rare, but still quite uncommon in prairie and prairie type settings. It is restricted mainly to Essex, Lambton and Chatham-Kent.

 Dense Blazing-star (Liatris spicata) shown next, is protected under Ontario's Endangered Species Act. It is restricted largely to Essex, Lambton and Chatham-Kent as well.

Painted Lady

Viceroy

A bit further east from BOWCR is the Moore Wildlife Area. A section of the Sydenham River goes through it, and although with the high water earlier in the year making the trail impassible, the water level had dropped considerably, and as long as one could make it through the extensive dense stands of Giant Ragweed that reached well over two metres in height, one could make it to the river in a couple of places.

As is typical of various sections of the Sydenham River, Lizard's-tail is quite abundant even though it is rare in Ontario. I saw several patches.

 Not surprisingly there was a bit of Swamp Milkweed along the lower and wetter areas near the river, and Monarchs were using them from time to time.

 This Monarch was resting on a milkweed leaf. Clearly it has seen better times, but in spite of its damaged wings, it was doing its best to carry on butterfly activities while it could.

 There were lots and lots of damselflies, and especially abundant were Ebony Jewelwings.

male

female

 The photo above is that of White Vervain (Verbena urticifolia). Its tiny, delicate white flowers go almost unnoticed to the casual eye.

I had a Hackberry Emperor stop by, allowing me a couple of quick photos before a gust of wind caused the Giant Ragweed to blow too hard, dislodging its fluttery occupant.

Another one I came across is this Common Wood-Nymph.

There were lots of dragonflies along the river, and I saw good numbers of Common Whitetail and Widow Skimmer.

But the real highlight for me was to see at least two individuals of this large dragonfly patrolling the river, sometimes disappearing around a bend but eventually coming back my way. It is a Royal River Cruiser. I had never photographed one before, and I did not have a lot of success this time, but at least a few shots were identifiable. It never landed within view, and its fast and often erratic flight made it challenging to say the least.

Another target area I had for the day was to stop by Long Creek, a tributary of the Sydenham River a bit northeast of Dresden. There is a bridge that crosses the creek along Kent Road, which is the boundary between Lambton and Chatham-Kent. Right at the bridge I found....are you ready for it.....Lizard's-tail! Both upstream in Lambton and downstream in Chatham-Kent.

 I came across a couple of stems of Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) ust coming into flower.

 A close-up of the stem, below, shows the "wings".

 This next one is Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa) and is although it doesn't have any official status under the ES Act either, it is ranked as S1, which means there are five or fewer known populations in Ontario. It grows along Kent Line on both sides of the county line.

Before getting all the way home, I stopped along a roadside a bit northeast of Chatham to see if this shrub species, ranked S3, was still around. Although it has been cut numerous times during roadside maintenance, it persists but is not in great shape. It is Pawpaw (Asimina triloba).