Late season orchids, shorebirds, etc

I'll take a short break from all the mothing posts, although be warned...there is more to come! But I haven't abandoned some of the other interesting elements of the season.

Actually while I was out getting ready for an evening with moths recently, I had about a dozen Common Nighthawks swooping back and forth not far away, but generally heading south while presumably hoping for a snack along the way.

 Shorebirds have been fairly predictable so far in the area, and that isn't likely to change too much in the next few weeks, but who knows?

Pectoral Sandpiper

 Lake McLean at Keith McLean Conservation Lands continues to be attractive to shorebirds. Probably the best shorebirds in recent days have been as many as 5 Long-billed Dowitchers. I've only stopped a couple of times and did not catch up with any of that species. But their shorter billed relatives have been there, along with a Stilt Sandpiper or two.

Short-billed---Stilt---Short-billed

 This next photo shows a nice comparison between the larger, stockier and longer billed Short-billed Dowitcher and the smaller, more slender and shorter billed Stilt Sandpiper.

Orchids have a fascination all of their own, but most people don't realize how many native orchids there are in Ontario. Even at Rondeau, there are 18 species of native orchid growing there. One of the most abundant orchids at Rondeau and similar habitats this late in the season is the Great Plains Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum). It is fairly large for a Spiranthes, with fairly large flowers which smell a bit like vanilla to some, or a bit like hot plastic to others. Most Spiranthes don't have any fragrance at all, but this species does. I measured an individual at Rondeau the other day, and even though it was not completely in full flower it measured just over 40 cm tall (16").

The rows of individual flowers may be fairly straight, as in this next photo....

 ...or they may be somewhat spiralling, as in this next one.

 Regardless, the individual flowers have a fairly long lower lip, with slightly yellowish centres.

Recently I went out to a spot with a couple of friends, to look at another, smaller, Spiranthes. It is quite rare in Ontario. It is Yellow Ladies-tresses (Spiranthes ochroleuca). The individual flowers are shorter and more hump backed than the previous species, and their lip isn't quite as long, although it, too, has a slightly yellowish centre.

While we were out looking at this Spiranthes, we came across a peculiar growth form of another, and not just of one individual, but of at least 14 individuals in a scattered group.

We initially thought it might be a different species altogether such as one of the really rare, small flowered ones. However after sending the photos to a Spiranthes specialist at the New York Botanical Garden, who did his Ph. D. on revising the Spiranthes cernua group, the explanation goes something like this: at some point in ancient history, a subspecies of Spiranthes cernua hybridized with Spiranthes magnicamporum somewhere in the Great Lakes region. As a result, the progeny of that hybrid is often apomictic, which means it doesn't need to cross-pollinate but can produce viable seeds through self-pollination. The result is that such small, closed flowers are not all that uncommon, and since it continues to produce viable seed through self-pollination, the entire group of 14 or so that we saw is of this growth form. This species has been named Spiranthes incurva.

Another fairly uncommon orchid is this next one: Autumn Coralroot (Corallorhiza odontorhiza). It is small, barely 15 cm tall, and the flowers often droop or don't even open, so this is about as showy as it gets. It used to be considered quite rare in Ontario, but that is mainly because it is so hard to find, even when you know where it is. It typically occurs in forested areas, so the dappled light on the forest floor makes it even more difficult to see.

I was recently out at a high quality savanna in Lambton County, where one of the only three known populations in Canada of White Prairie Gentian occurs.

 Many readers are likely familiar with the Closed or Bottle Gentian, shown next.

 On occasion, a white colour form of Bottle Gentian occurs, which can really get one's attention, hoping for it to be the endangered White Prairie Gentian. However even though this white colour form of Bottle Gentian is uncommon, an easy way to tell the difference is that Bottle Gentian has little fringes at the tip of its petals whereas White Prairie Gentian is not fringed. What makes things a bit more challenging is that both species occur at one of the 3 sites of White Prairie Gentian, leading to some interesting hybrid colour forms, so checking the flower tips is critical to determine which species it really is.

There is, however, a species of blue gentian with very obvious fringes, as shown below. This is called, appropriately, Fringed Gentian. While I photographed this individual on a cloudy day, the petals weren't as open as they would be on a bright sunny day.

On one of the sunnier days I was out at Rondeau, I decided to look along the east beach for some regular, but seldom seen, occupants. It is the Hairy-necked Tiger Beetle. They were really quite common, but only if you were looking intently. I saw perhaps three dozen of them in less than 30 minutes, but they are difficult to approach, and you don't really see the hairy neck without close focusing binoculars, or a good telephoto camera lens and then look at them on the computer. If you click on this image, it should show up larger if you want to see them.

There are some late season wildflowers that are good for attracting late season butterflies and other things. New England Aster is popular, as are other aster and goldenrod species.

Blue-stemmed Goldenrod

 While photographing some butterflies at this patch of asters, I noticed something else. It was a moth, a day-flying one known as Corn Earworm. That is my token moth photo for this blog :-).

Viceroy

Painted Lady

 There are still quite a few Monarchs around, but diminishing as the days go by. I do have one in a chrysalis in my yard, but it is getting darker and will emerge in the next day or so.

 There is the occasional Peck's Skipper still around. I also saw a Common Buckeye a couple of days ago but since I only had my macro lens on the camera, was not able to get a photo of it.

 Goldenrods, if they are still in good flower, can be quite busy with insects. Wasps especially are searching out nectar. This final photo shows a wasp look-alike but is actually a long-horned beetle type known as a Locust Borer.

Things with wings, and endangered plants, September style

I've been at the local sewage lagoons a couple of times recently to take in migrant shorebirds, which are in abundance, and butterflies which are still enjoying the flowers in the bright sun. Yellowlegs, both Greater and Lesser, were well represented.

Greater Yellowlegs

 My real hope was that the western Willet was still around. I missed it the last time I was there. After a bit of searching, it did indeed show up and entertained me with a couple of flybys.

Willet

 Its relative size shows up better in this next image, where Lesser Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper and other shorebirds are all in flight.

 In the sprinkler cells were a couple of adult American Golden Plover, as shown next in proximity to a one-legged Lesser Yellowlegs. A Buff-breasted Sandpiper showed up an hour or so after I left.

American Golden Plover

 The lingering Tundra Swan seems to be getting more tolerant of birders......or else it is getting weaker.

Other winged things were visible on this sunny day, enjoying the late summer show of wildflowers. Monarchs were quite numerous, along with a few Summer Azures, Eastern Tailed Blues and the usual Cabbage Whites and Orange/Clouded Sulphurs.

At least three fresh looking Black Swallowtails were active.

Black Swallowtail

A nice looking Common Ringlet was still around. The Butterflies through Binoculars guide indicates that it isn't normally seen past mid-August at this northern latitude. Guess someone forgot to tell this one.

Common Ringlet

 Another butterfly was this Least Skipper.

Least Skipper

 But the real highlight was catching up to a Common Checkered-Skipper, the first one I have seen this year. A couple had been seen here earlier by others. Unfortunately I didn't get the kind of photo I was hoping for, with its wings outspread to show all of the upper side wing details. It sat like this for a minute and then true to form, skedaddled away low to the ground and behind other vegetation and I never saw it again. Its small size (even with wings outspread, it is only about 22mm across) in the bright, dappled sunlight doesn't make it any easier.

Common Checkered-Skipper

And in other news......I spent some time confirming and photographing another rare late summer orchid: Yellow Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes ochroleuca). It doesn't have any official legal status as Endangered, Threatened or Special Concern, but in reality, it should be Endangered as there are fewer than 10 known locations for it in all of Canada, and some of those have likely been lost in the last decade or so. It likes sand plains, and the small population I am aware of occurs on private property, which I had permission from the landowner to check out.

It looks a lot like others in the Spiranthes genus, but differs in that it:
-is slightly creamy yellow (hence the common name);
-is a little deeper yellow in the throat of the flower;
-is a little more humped at the base than others in that genus, and
-when seen from the angle as shown in the second image, shows that the individual flowers are more separated from the one above, sort of stretched out like, compared to other Spiranthes.

Still on the topic of Endangered plants, the next image shows a few clumps of Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus.

It is endangered....sort of. In the previous iteration of Ontario's Endangered Species Act, this species was only legally protected at the two sites where it was considered to be naturally occurring: Point Pelee National Park, and Fish Point Provincial Nature Reserve (on Pelee Island). There is definite evidence of the species being planted elsewhere in southern Ontario, which is why those other locations were not legally protected. As far as I am aware, that is the current position under the current piece of legislation. To add some confusion, the federal Species At Risk Act does not seem to make the distinction between naturally occurring and planted, but in reality, the feds, as I recall, do not apply their regulations to jurisdictions that have a similar piece of legislation, unless that jurisdiction shows evidence of failing to apply their legislation. Or something like that, but it has been a few years since I had to deal with such issues on the job. (Have I ever indicated that it is very nice to be retired :-).

At any rate, the evidence for the presence of Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus at the location shown in the photo is such that it may well be a naturally occurring population......it isn't 100% conclusive, but probably 90% or greater. Naturally occurring or not, it is unfortunate that this population which has been present for at least 70 years, is under threat due to improper management and unauthorized soil excavation.

On a brighter note, on the same day of visiting the orchid and cactus, I stopped under the bridge south of Thamesville, which crosses the Thames River. I was looking for damsels, but hoping not to find ones in distress. And I had more success than I expected! This is a known location for some interesting and distinctive damselflies: American Rubyspot and Smoky Rubyspot. There were several American Rubyspots, both male and female, and in spite of their reluctance to let me approach with the macro lens, I did get reasonably close with the 100-400 which has a minimum focus distance of slightly less than a metre, even at 400 mm. This first image is of a male American Rubyspot. It looks a little surreal (I've had comments indicating it looks like a painting...not what a photographer wants to hear his photos compared to, however), but the tan background is the result of the out-of-focus colour of the Thames River.

American Rubyspot

 One of my all time favourite damselflies, because it is so distinctive and dazzling, is the Ebony Jewelwing. When it occurs along a shaded forest stream and catches a bit of sunlight, the iridescent green in combination with the black wings is amazing. It wasn't quite so dazzling on this overcast day, but nice just the same.

Ebony Jewelwing

As mentioned, this site is also a known location for a less common damselfly, the Smoky Rubyspot. It wasn't until I got home and saw this one on the computer that I realized I had a shot of a male Smoky Rubyspot perched on a smartweed! It has a blacker body and smoky black wingtips. There is a type that has darker wings, but not all of them, so I was pleased to have shot one of these as well. I only got one useable shot, as this species is known to be more wary than its American relative.

Smoky Rubyspot

Some late season orchids of southern Ontario

The subject of orchids is of interest to a great many people. The average person would not be aware of the fact that there are approximately 60 species of orchids growing wild in Ontario, and 18 of them are found at Rondeau Provincial Park. There are actually 19 species that have been recorded for Rondeau, although one, the Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) is not native.

I wrote about early season orchids quite some time ago, and you can find that post here. This post will carry on with the orchid theme, but focus on species one might find in the later part of the season.

One of the orchids currently in flower at Rondeau is Small Green Wood Orchid (Platanthera clavellata).

 These photos were actually taken a couple of years ago. In checking some of the plants yesterday, I only noted a couple of individual flowers actually open, but in the next few days they should all open up. As one can see from the photos, this orchid isn't spectacularly coloured, and can easily be missed unless an observer knows what to look for. Case in point: they are growing on this rotting log in the slough, which is covered with lots of other vegetation!

The sloughs are, comparatively speaking, full of water this year, making access to such fallen rotting logs difficult. On occasion, one can find them growing in the mucky soil at the edge of the slough.

An orchid that may still be in flower, but does not occur at Rondeau is White Fringed-Orchid (Platanthera blephariglottis). It has been recorded in wet prairie north of here, as well as in fens and bogs. I photographed this orchid in a beautiful bog in Huron County a few years ago.

Somewhat similar in structure but very different in appearance to White Fringed-Orchid is this next one, the Yellow Fringed-Orchid, although it is more orange than yellow.

Sadly this one is likely extirpated (gone) from Ontario. If it were still present, it would likely be in flower in late July to early August. There were historical records from savanna habitat in the Leamington area prior to 1901. And no, I am not old enough to have seen this there, nor did I discover a time machine.....I visited a very nice prairie/savanna area in the greater Toledo, OH area with two other orchid hunter/photographer types in the late 1980s where some of these fabulous plants still occur. The photos here are scanned from my slides taken during that memorable foray.

An attempt was made to grow some plants from seed in the mid-1990s and plant the young plants in promising habitat in the Ojibway Prairie area, where other historical records indicated they once occurred. Follow-up searches to date have not indicated that the plantings were successful, but it takes a few years for plants to mature and flower and it has been ten years or more since anyone last investigated.

One of the rarest orchids in Canada is one that will be flowering as soon as early August: Nodding Pogonia (Triphora trianthophora). It does occur at Rondeau, and is currently the only known location for it in the entire country.

I wrote extensively about this endangered orchid in a previous post, which you can see here.

Towards the middle of August, one of the several species of Ladies'-tresses orchids will appear. A rare one, which does not occur at Rondeau but on rare prairies elsewhere, is the Southern Slender Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes lacera var gracilis). Note the spiralling arrangement of flowers, each of which as a distinctive green centre.

In very early September, one may be able to find one of the smallest of our native orchids, the Autumn Coralroot (Corallorhiza odontorhiza). It has a flowering and a non-flowering form, yet both appear to produce seed. It is about the size and diameter of a pencil, but with its brownish-purple stem and diminutive or non-existent flowers, is very difficult to find even when you know where it is. This next photo shows it in all of its non-flowering glory, greatly magnified!

Another Spiranthes is the Yellow Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes ochroleuca). One of the sites in Chatham-Kent seems to have been destroyed, but another small population on private property is still around. I photographed this in September of 2014, although it is a little past its best. It has a creamy yellow centre of its flower.

The largest Spiranthes in our area is Great Plain's Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum), appearing at Rondeau in good numbers by mid-September and lasting until about the first of October. Its flowers are relatively massive compared to the others in that genus, and it has a distinct scent. Some say it smells a bit like vanilla, but not to me. I think it smells faintly like a soft plastic toy that has been left in the hot sun for too long! Not sure what that says about my olfactory.......

The smallest Spiranthes that grows in Ontario, but has yet to be found at Rondeau, is Oval Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes ovalis). One can tell from this next photo, where it is on the left and S. magnicamporum is on the right, just how small it is.

It is also the latest flowering orchid we have, often not beginning to flower until about the end of September and continuing well October. I even found one still flowering on November 11 one year. It was first found at Walpole Island in the early 1980s, but seems to have disappeared from there. However it is known from several locations on Pelee Island.

Oval Ladies'-tresses

So there is a bit of information on some of the orchids present in southern Ontario in the latter part of the season!