Blacklighting and more at Sydenham River Nature Reserve

 Sydenham River Nature Reserve (SRNR) is a fascinating natural area overlapping the border of Lambton and Middlesex counties. The Sydenham River is of high quality and, naturally, meanders through this woodland and floodplain. The SRNR is owned by Ontario Nature, and is adjacent to the wooded McAlpine Tract, owned by the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority. Altogether, this mosaic of extensive woodland upstream and downstream makes for an impressive natural area.

One of the things that, in my opinion, makes the SRNR stand out is its impressive array of an uncommon spring wildflower, Virginia Bluebells. There are hectares and hectares of it, and it is truly a highlight of spring.

One of the most impressive views is along the river itself.

The woodland is inviting during the freshness of springtime, where the water flows quickly and quietly. This quite large Sycamore tree is a landmark of sorts....

...but even in the quiet of autumn, where smaller watercourses meander before entering the Sydenham, the atmosphere can be refreshing and inspiring.

I don't get to the SRNR frequently, but mainly for specific purposes, such as to view and photograph the bluebells. But it is also a very worthwhile location to set up my black lights, to see what I can attract to my illuminated sheets. Surely such a high quality natural area might have a good diversity of species, right? At least that is the hope, and although I have only had the lights on at SRNR on three occasions over the last couple of years (so far) it has always been worthwhile.

It isn't easy to get to many parts of the reserve for black lighting. So far I have only set up at one location, and that is at the end of a dead end road at the bottom of a hill, where I am surrounded by wooded portion of the nature reserve, as well as the McAlpine Tract and an open area recently planted into prairie vegetation. It is quiet, sheltered from the wind, with only occasional sounds of traffic from the paved road more than a kilometre away. One can really enjoy the remoteness of this spot.

I set up one of my lights on a sheet covering part of my vehicle, at the end of the road. The other sheet is over a rope tied between two trees down a woodland trail, about 100 metres or so away. The sky darkens, the wind calms down, the temperature and humidity are promising for lots of insect action, and so I turn on the lights. And wait.

The first few insects to arrive are caddisflies, tiny beetles and always at least a few mosquitoes. Fortunately the mosquitoes have never been a huge problem. It is usually a few minutes before the first moths arrive. 

Caddisflies are not easy to identify. iNaturalist is helpful, and this one turns out to be of the genus Pycnopsyche.

In about 3 hours of black lighting on each of three occasions, I've photographed well over 100 species of moths, and a few dozen non-moth critters. Some are quite colourful and nicely patterned, while others are much more drab to the human eye, or so worn that they are almost impossible to identify. Here are some of the more distinctly patterned ones, partly due to their freshness.

Banded Tussock Moth

Beautiful Wood Nymph

Black-banded Brocade

Blackberry Looper

Chickweed Geometer

Dark Olethreutes

This next one is quite uncommon in Ontario. It is related to the Grass-veneers, and is called a Delightful Donacaula.

A small, but fairly common Grass-veneer is this Elegant Grass-veneer.

Friendly Probole

Some have odd, to us, stances, such as this Grapevine Looper.

Green Leuconycta

Hairnet Acleris

Some aren't so vividly marked, but have well-defined patterns, such as this Interrupted Dagger.

Those Wooly Bear Caterpillars you see roaming about in the fall, early spring or even on warmish days in winter, will develop into this next one, the Isabella Tiger Moth.

A very distinctly patterned moth, as well as being colourful is this next one. It is known as Moonseed Moth, not at all common in Ontario, but widely scattered.

Painted Lichen Moth

Showy Emerald

Soft-lined Wave

Striped Oak Webworm

The Badwing

Thin-winged Owlet

Three-spotted Filip

Two-banded Petrophila

White-spotted Hedya

American Idia

Arcigera Flower Moth

One thing that moth-ers are always on the lookout for are members of the silk moth family, such as Cecropia or Luna moths, or members of the underwing group, noted for their flashy underwings. Most of the silkworm moths would have been present a bit earlier than my visits, so maybe next year. This next one is a member of the underwing group called The Bride, which has a hindwing of golden and black bands, when it is visible.

Clover Hayworm

Cross-lined Wave

Indigo Stem Borer Moth

Large Tolype

White-lined Snout

Of course along with the brightly and/or distinctly patterned moths, there are always too many less distinctly marked ones, due to their specific species, or just because they have been damaged or have had to many of the colourful scales worn off. And some are very small and harder to distinguish. This Black Duckweed Moth, shown next, is very small, with a body length of only about 6-7 mm.

The Canadian Melanophila, is often less distinctly patterned, especially when worn.

Some species even when fresh are a bit challenging, This next one is quite worn as well, but is likely a member of the Leucania genus.

Some worn and damaged ones are likely to show up on the sheet, such as this next one which is not confirmed, but is probably a Wavy-lined Fanfoot.

As mentioned there are always a few non-moths creatures attracted to the light, and they can be fun to add to the photographic collection. Here are a few examples.

Green Stinkbug

This next one doesn't have a common name, but is a type of Weevils

Conotrachelus elegans

Northern Flatid Planthopper

Next is a Treehopper, probably of the Telamona genus.

Leafhoppers are often present and both fun and challenging to photograph. Some are only 3-4 mm long, while the largest ones may be 5-6 mm long. Some are quite distinctly, even wildly, coloured.

Saddleback Leafhopper

I'm not sure of a common name for this next one, but it is Tylozygus bifidus.

One of my all-time favourite leafhopper species to find and photograph is this appropriately named Red-banded Leafhopper.

Each visit results in finding some fascinating elements of nature. It is a bonus to get some decent photos of them. And even in between photographing the visitors to the illuminated sheet, there are other satisfying aspects of a night-time outing to a natural area such as the SRNR. It may be listening to coyotes howling back and forth to each other off in the distance, or giving a whistle-trill of an Eastern Screech Owl and have them respond close by. Or watching a 3/4 moon arise through the trees before illuminating the grassy meadow nearby while a deer forages along the edges. The joy of such an outing is so rewarding amidst all of the daily hustle and bustle that we are normally subject to. I hope to get to the SRNR again before the season is over.

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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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