More atlassing and related explorations

 Collecting data for the current Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas is beginning to wind down. Not that there won't be some birds in nesting mode for a few weeks yet. One year I was able to photograph a nest full of Cedar Waxwings as late as the first week of September! But for many birds, things are more likely to be gearing up for migration, which for some shorebird species, is already underway.

I've been out several times over the last few days. And as usual, even though I'm more or less focusing on birds, there are so many other things to be distracted with.

On one occasion I was out at the McKerrall Forest, a few kilometres north of Chatham. The birds weren't overly vocal, at least for my ears. I mostly saw or heard the usual woodland species, but did get a good, but distant look at a male Orchard Oriole.

I'm not really 'into' sedges, but this one usually gets my attention. It is called Gray's Sedge, a relatively common woodland species.

If I come across American Beech trees, I check for Beech Leaf Disease, an insidious relatively new disease that may play havoc with any beech trees that have survived other stresses. The disease is relatively identifiable with its dark, blackish bands in between the leaf veins.

When I got to the one end of the forest, I looked out across the bean and wheat field, and noticed a couple of ears sticking up. They quickly morphed into the head of this deer.

After a few moments it decided I wasn't any real threat, so it continued along its way.....

....always keeping an eye on me, but eventually emerging almost totally. However when I finally moved, it decided enough was enough, and so it quickly bounded away to the woodlot at the far side of the field.

I've also been on the CASO trail again, which I described in some detail in my previous post. The light wasn't great, and I didn't get any bird photos. I was able to update or confirm breeding for a few species. I also took note of more of the developing plants along the corridor. Here are a couple of quite frequently encountered ones, and not surprisingly, both are non-native.

Chicory

Globe Thistle

I also had the opportunity to visit Moravian First Nation, also known as the Delaware Nation of the Thames. My friend Darren, a member of this Delaware Nation, had invited me out to explore some parts of it. In part he wanted to show me the devastation by the Gypsy Moths, which can almost totally defoliate a tree. It is certainly at a peak of their 7-10 year cycle, and early in the season the effects can be quite worrisome. However the trees seldom die, but after the hatch of larvae have done their deed in devouring the new leaves, the tree will leaf out, but with smaller leaves.

Gypsy Moth larva

The adults don't live for very long, just a few days. Even though the female, shown here with the lighter colour, has wings, it seldom flies. It emits a pheromone to attract a male, and mating can take place for up to an hour.

I checked a few American Beech trees, and some showed signs of the Beech Leaf Disease.

On a brighter note, we checked one of the populations of Heart-leaved Plantain, a legally endangered species. It flowers in mid to late spring, and at this time of year, only the leaves are visible.

Heart-leaved Plantain looks a lot like another wetland species: Skunk Cabbage, which is fairly common throughout wet woods in southern Ontario. Here the two species are side-by-side, with the plantain on the left and the cabbage on the right.

Another highlight was to see a large stand of Pawpaw, one of the largest stands I have ever seen. Some individuals were almost 40 feet high. I use the term individuals lightly, while they appear as individual stems above ground, it quite likely is one very large clone.

Another nice find was this Silvery Spleenwort, a somewhat rare woodland fern.

It is identified by its long fronds, and especially by the silvery sori on the underside of the leaves.

 Late last week I received a phone call from a friend, who heard a bird call he couldn't identify. Even while he was talking on the phone, I could hear what I thought was a Northern Bobwhite calling. Marie and I went out to see, but the bird had gone quiet, and even after almost an hour, it did not call, so we left. No sooner had I gotten home when Marcel called again to say it was back, so back I went. The bird was calling from the trees in the front yard, and after a very few minutes, I located the bird in the thick of a birch tree. The backlit bird against a rather bland sky made it a challenge to photograph and process.

This is an endangered species also and there were several factors making it difficult to advertise this bird. While I was assessing this conundrum, I found out that it was a released bird, so birders intent on adding this to their list really had no reason to check it out, since only wild birds are considered legitimate.

On Saturday I re-visited the Dealtown Crown Land Prairie. It isn't the easiest place to get to, but well worth it if you like grassland and shrubland birds, as well as lots of tallgrass prairie plant species. The prairie site was established in the early 1990s as a tallgrass prairie species seed nursery. Seeds produced here were harvested and used for various prairie planting in the tri-county area and beyond. It was used for a few years, but then the seed nursery was situated at a better place in Lambton so this site was left alone. While the diversity remains intact, it is becoming much more shrubby, and is in dire need of a prescribed burn. There is lots of grasses of the tallgrass prairie type and when they are as dense as they can be, the vegetation is quite wet. I was soaked well above the knees in fairly short order. Such is the life of prairie trampers!

Immediately upon getting past the forest and entering the prairie site, I was met with this stand of Purple Coneflower. While it is an impressive species, and certainly native to the mid-western tallgrass prairies, it is not native to Ontario. It is most definitely popular with gardeners, however, and shows up in many places.

The butterflies enjoy nectaring on this species.

Hobomok Skipper

There were probably at least 100 individuals of this next one scattered across the Dealtown Prairie, the Common Wood-nymph.

Climbing Prairie Rose is a species designated as 'Special Concern' in Ontario and Canada. It was planted here more than two decades ago.

Compass Plant, another rarity, is thriving here.....

...the relatively small and less conspicuous Flowering Spurge is nice to see.

Grey-headed Coneflower is scattered throughout.

Swamp Milkweed is not limited to prairies or swamps, which is fortunate for the many butterfly species that come to visit it.

Wild Bergamot is also scattered here and there.

As for birds, I found a few to upgrade or add to the overall list, including things like Field Sparrow, and Northern Mockingbird, but I didn't get any photos of either of them. I did have this Eastern Kingbird sit up in an open spot.

 

I was a little surprised to see this Green Heron hanging around, but they seem to be more plentiful than usual in the area this year.

I had hoped that I might find and photograph a Dickcissel, which was relatively common here during the invasion of 2017. Fairly early in my meanderings here I did hear one. Usually they sit up in nice view, but the area I heard it from was quite shrubby. I eventually was able to see through a gap in the shrubs and find this individual on an open branch, but lower than I usually expect it.

It eventually moved to what I consider a more typical spot, and fortunately the light and background made it a quite successful photo op. I saw two males at this site, but no females, so presumably (hopefully!) they might be on a nest.

Additional note: Please be advised that if you are a subscriber to this blog, the blog site has indicated that sometime after July it will no longer be providing automatic email notices of when this blog is published. I will try and get a subscriber's list assembled and let you know, but in the meantime, if you would like to be advised of the publication of future posts of Nature Nuggets, let me know via this email: prairietramper@gmail.com.

The blog post appears to still have the email subscription function. The blog feeder has just indicated that it will discontinue after July.

CASO, a newly accessible trail in Chatham-Kent

 The use of railways has changed over the decades, and some have become abandoned or taken over by new interests. Such is the case for the former CASO rail line, which extends throughout Chatham-Kent. It has had various owners over its lifetime, and it was just a few decades ago when it was taken out of use. 

I had the opportunity beginning in 2012 to work with Carolinian Canada staff, doing a cursory life science inventory, starting off with the eastern portion in that year. We tried to document as many of the major groups of flora and fauna that we could, but with only a relatively brief time period. On rare occasions when some vegetation community especially piqued our interests, we would visit a section of the rail trail a second time.

The results were pleasing. Although much of the trail passed through heavily agricultural usage areas, there were places where it went by an interesting woodlot, or even better, a small prairie patch or a wetland.

A buttonbush swamp is considered a rare vegetation community in Ontario.

The few wetlands are popular with turtles.

'Tired' turtles

There were several small prairie patches which were delightful to find. These areas, especially those that were first encountered early in the season, were usually visited a second time to see just what occurred in them during a period when they would be displaying a greater diversity of prairie species.

As a result, we tallied more than 275 species of plants, 50 species of birds (46 with evidence of breeding), 28 species of butterfly, 8 species of reptiles & amphibians and 8 species of mammals. 

There were various highlights. Compass Plant, shown first, is a provincially rare species which was first known for this site back in 2000. It proved to be even more extensive as it occurred in several sections.

The prairie patches sometimes supported an endangered prairie species known as Dense Blazing-star.

 

Other prairie patches had 'just' some of the expected prairie species.

Butterfly Milkweed

Another highlight was coming across a large patch of this prairie species, which was a first record for Chatham-Kent. It is known as Prairie Sundrops (Oenothera pilosella). Due to some shrubby growth, the patch is smaller now than back in 2012.

Due to the presence of many non-native wildflowers, not all that surprising since parts of it have been heavily disturbed, there is an incredible array of plants that attract butterflies and many other pollinating invertebrates. I came across Pipevine Swallowtail in a couple of different areas.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell is much more common than Pipevine, but not seen anywhere all that regularly.

While we were carrying out this inventory, it was always our hope that this would be publicly accessible. It had been posted as off limits at the time, and at one point while conducting some of the field work, I had been reported by a local landowner as being suspicious. This resulted in a local police officer stopping by and checking me out. Fortunately the letter of permission I had with me prevented any further complications.

Fast forward to the last couple of years, and the eastern half has now been made publicly accessible. This is the section beginning at Communication Road (formerly Hwy 40) and going east to the edge of CK at MacPherson Road. The property is jointly owned by Entegrus and the municipality, and is currently underway to be upgraded with signage, etc., for pedestrians and cyclists. Several sections have been upgraded already, with more happening this year, and the entire stretch being completed by 2025.

There are 32 access points. Many sections will already have an entrance marked like this:

A closer look will give much more detail.

Other sections which have not yet been upgraded but where there is access will only have a sign like this:

And this may be of particular interest to birders, especially those who are involved with the current Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas in Region 2. This trail, as mentioned, goes through lots of areas that were previously not accessible, and traverses squares MH19, MH29, MG20 and MG30.

I have been on some of the sections over the last few weeks. As mentioned, some sections have been upgraded and are well signed. The trail is nicely set with lots of room for pedestrians and cyclists, as shown in the following image.

Compass Plant is still present in the usual sections.

They were coming up very close to the rail bed during our 2012 inventory, and even after the trail has had the rails, ties and gravel removed and with a good layer of trail gravel put down, some plants are emerging through the base.

Given the dominant shrubby, open vegetation types, the diversity of birds would fit that habitat type. I haven't been by one of the woodlands or wetlands during the prime breeding period yet. Nonetheless I have encountered almost 40 species of birds so far. With a few dead trees along the route, the open branches provide some decent photo opportunities.

Cedar Waxwing

Indigo Bunting

I haven't seen a lot of butterfly diversity yet, but some of the main pollinator plant species are just coming into their peak period, so I would expect a greater diversity in the next few weeks. I have noted the following things of interest.

Bladdernut is not a common shrub in southern Ontario, and only occurs in a couple of sections along this trail.

Sassafrass, easily identified by its distinctive leaf shapes, is scattered along.

White Mulberry is present along most sections, and is just now coming into fruit. The fruits are quite tasty, so before the birds get them all, you can enjoy a few along the way. A mulberry tree in fruit is always worth keeping an eye on since they are quite popular with several bird species.

Horse-nettle is a Carolinian species but fairly widespread especially along roadsides and other disturbed areas, including this trail.

This insect is probably an Oblique Streaktail (Allograpta obliqua), a type of hoverfly.

Wild Bergamot is widely scattered along the trail, especially in the prairie patches.

Adjacent to one section is a planted prairie, now owned by the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority. Recently the Ohio Spiderwort, an excellent prairie species, was in spectacular form.

So kudos to all who have made this publicly accessible trail available. It is worth checking out for lots of reasons. I hope to see a few more people out there, but not all at once :-).

Additional note: Please be advised that if you are a subscriber to this blog, the blog site has indicated that sometime after July it will no longer be providing automatic email notices of when this blog is published. I will try and get a subscriber's list assembled and let you know, but in the meantime, if you would like to be advised of the publication of future posts of Nature Nuggets, let me know via this email: prairietramper@gmail.com