Nature Nuggets continues, sort of...

 Readers of my most recent blog will understand why I have not been posting anything lately. I decided to have the month of June devoted to that single post, featuring the passing of my dear wife, Marie. It has been a difficult time, certainly like nothing else I have experienced, which isn't surprising given that we had spent nearly 48 years together.

In spite of this, I did manage to get out for short periods since she passed away, partly to re-live memories, and partly to enjoy the ambiance of nature which was so important to both of us. Also to take a break from the never-ending details that come after the death of a loved one! I purposely chose times and places where I was most apt to be by myself rather than get caught up with many other hikers who were out for very different reasons. But get out I did, and had my camera with me of course. I managed to find a few things to capture on digital film, and some of those highlights will be in this blog. Lots of common things, but worthy in their own right. Since one cannot travel through the natural areas of southwestern Ontario without coming across some less common things, I will include some of them as well.

Certainly one of the highlights, from a bird perspective, was to come across a few Dickcissels. It used to be an extremely rare species in Ontario, but in the last few years has been more or less regular.

They often sit out in the open, near a large grassy field, and sing throughout the day.

Quiet trails worked out nicely for my various outings.

...with the occasional bird song punctuating the woodland atmosphere, such as this Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Wild Turkeys are not often seen, but with a few families of young birds to add to the overall population, there are a few more to be found.

Wood Lilies often catch my eye as they almost glow in the normally dark forest setting.....

..but should not to be confused with the very abundant Day Lily, next, a non-native species that is most likely to be found along Lakeshore Road, as they have escaped from cottage lots.

Purple Flowering Raspberry is scattered along woodland trails. Even though it is a raspberry, it does not produce fruits that we find edible.

There is lots of Mayapple scattered throughout the main forested areas. As the season progresses, they may be heavily spotted with Mayapple Rust.

In the grassy areas, especially those areas which were burned this spring, Butterfly Milkweed is widely found.

There is no question that it is attractive!

A very rare species, the location of which I will not divulge, is American Ginseng. I have been watching this population for many years. This first photo shows what it looks like at about the very end of May. You can see some very small flower buds developing at the central stem.

This next photo shows what it will look like in mid to late June, on the verge of flowering.

I did not get to it this year to see it in flower. By the time I did get to it, flowering was past and fruit pods were developing. They will turn red when ripe.

Canada Anemone has been widespread, although it is mostly past flowering by now.

A non-native orchid can be found scattered in various places. It is Helleborine, a European species.

Fungi are here and there, but will be more noticeable later in the summer and early fall. This one is a White Jelly Fungus.

On one of my forays, I was walking along the road and this young cottontail was nibbling away at some greenery. It did not mind me approaching at all, as I took this photo with my 100 mm macro lens. I am not sure whether it was able to survive for long or not. Just a few minutes earlier, and only a short distance away, I had a Long-tailed Weasel scamper out onto the road. It was only there for a couple of seconds so I was unable to get a photo. But if it scented this little bunny, I am sure it would be after it in a flash, as it would be a perfect meal for this weasel.

Also in the greater Rondeau area, I spent a bit of time along the Erieau Rail Trail. There is always something to see, including Great Blue Herons...

...the inevitable Mute Swans...

..and a few Eastern Kingbirds.

Turtles abound still, although not as much as in late April and early May. Northern Map Turtles, a Species at Risk, are found regularly.

That's all for now. I have been other places, such as Clear Creek Forest Provincial Park and St. Clair NWA, but those outings will have to wait to be featured on a future post.

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The summer begins

The season is merrily rolling along. By the date, summer has been underway for a few days now, although one cannot tell all that much by the weather. I try and choose my days to visit Rondeau this time of year on weekdays, as the crowds are less. On Monday I started out walking the South Point Trail, and immediately had this Gray Catbird greet me. I'm sure he wasn't singing just for my sake, but to let his presence be known to any competing catbirds within hearing range.

The vegetation is dense and lush, almost impenetrable in places. Peeking through the greenery were things like Wood Lily, which served as a place of refuge for its tiny companion at the base of the flower. Midges are abundant, and although they look like giant mosquitoes and even hum like them, fortunately they do not bite. The regular mosquitoes are bad enough!

This Hedge Bindweed below is also appearing here and there. It doesn't have its own upright stems, but weakly twines around adjacent vegetation for support.

Silver-spotted Skippers were around, not as abundantly as many of the other butterfly species mentioned in my previous post, however. These are large butterflies, at least for the skipper group, and are easily identified by a large white patch on the underside. It isn't quite so distinctive when viewed from the top side, as shown in the second photo below.

Butterfly wings are fragile, as this one shows. Generally butterflies don't live long after becoming adults. The adults of many species only live 2-4 weeks, although there are exceptions. Some adults actually over winter! But during this season, the wear and tear on their bodies as they flit through the vegetation, or the likelihood of them being eaten by a predator or ending up on the grille of a vehicle all contribute to an early demise.

I noted the usual Painted Skimmers and Common Whitetails dragonflies, and had a brief look at what appeared to be a spreadwing type of damselfly, but I never got a photo. Some darners were patrolling the more open sections of the trail, but never landed within my sight.

At the lake, several fishing tugs out of Erieau were busily hauling in their catch. Their diesel engines could be heard easily even if they were out 2-3 kilometres. By contrast was this sailboat, using wind power and gliding gently and silently through the slight chop.

There were quite a few gulls loafing along the Southeast Beach, conservatively at least 400. Most were the usual mix of Ring-billed, Herring and Bonaparte's Gulls of various ages, but there were also a few immature Greater Black-backed Gulls and a single immature Little Gull.

Along the Lighthouse Trail offshoot of the South Point Trail, where I had been photographing the Wood Lilies, this male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was giving alarm calls, indicating an active nest or fledged young nearby. I didn't see any other birds of that species, and I have been down this trail several times recently so I don't think there is a nest close by. It was likely recently fledged young that he was concerned about.

The grosbeak was fairly high up in the tree, and usually backlit against a bright sky, so it was definitely a challenge getting a photo of any kind.

I stopped briefly by the Visitor Centre area, where I photographed the Common Hop-tree. In spite of its name, it is not common, at least in Ontario. It does occur abundantly on Pelee Island. On the mainland, at places like Rondeau and Point Pelee, it is not common at all, and there are very few other places in the entire country where it occurs. It is officially a Threatened species in Ontario and Canada and therefore protected by Endangered Species legislation both provincially and nationally.

Its fruit will be wafer-like upon maturity. The three leaflets are characteristic, much like Poison Ivy, but if you note on the hop-tree the central leaflet does not have a longer petiole/stem like Poison Ivy does.

Near the VC parking lot were several Barn Swallows busily gathering mud and fine bits of vegetation with which to build their mud nests. Each year there are usually several nests under the eaves of the Visitor Centre.

It may come as a surprise that Barn Swallows, which used to be extremely common, are undergoing a decline and are a recently designated Species At Risk as well. They are legally ranked as a Threatened species, as are an increasing number of insect eating birds.

I hadn't been around the Spicebush Trail in the last few days so decided to check it out. The heavily overcast sky and calm wind made it conducive for some forest photography. I stopped along Bennett Ave and captured this view of a slough. This particular one has had a Prothonotary Warbler singing in it over the past few weeks. I didn't hear it this day, but hopefully it found a mate and has benefited from the higher water levels this spring. Even so, the water appears to have dropped at least a foot in the last few weeks. Once the trees and other vegetation get growing rampantly, they suck up a lot of the water in the sloughs in spite of the recent rains. It may not be too many weeks before they are mostly dry!

Spicebush Trail always has something of interest. On this day, it was a profusion of ferns. I will be photographing them in earnest one of these times, but this day I only took time to capture the delicate Maidenhair Fern.

There was no one else along the trail, at least of the human realm. I did have many other fauna wanting to visit me, however, but I declined their persistent quest to sample my blood. In fact I confess that I actually killed a few of these....it was either them or me! This bench looked inviting, but I decided using it would only give those pesky blood-sucking mosquitoes more opportunity to take advantage of me.