Milkweeds (and Monarchs) have a new lease on life!

Probably many of you reading this are aware of recent changes to the Noxious Weed list of Ontario. Up until this spring milkweeds, which includes the entire genus of Asclepias, were on this list and ultimately at risk. Landowners were obligated to remove them from their property, and if they didn't, the weed inspector could authorize someone else to do it for you and send you the bill!

In reality, there was only one species of milkweed that was really any problem, and that species was Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). It could get quite aggressive especially on the farming landscape, as it thrives on disturbed sites. But the list of Noxious Weeds was compiled years before there were chemical controls and other methods of tilling that helped keep it from being too problematic in the agricultural setting.

Asclepias syriaca

The Monarch butterfly is highly dependent on milkweeds, especially Common Milkweed, as the adults lay eggs on the milkweed's leaves and the caterpillars consume the leaves. The milky sap that the caterpillars ingest as they eat the leaves is what makes eating the caterpillars so distasteful to predators. The very distinctive colours of the caterpillar serve as ample warning to caterpillar-eating birds to beware.....they are not a tasty meal!

In recent years, as the Monarch butterfly declined and became legally listed provincially and nationally as a Species At Risk (SAR), there was a conflict with retaining milkweeds on the Noxious Weed list and requiring landowners to destroy the critical plant of a SAR. So it was a major, yet long overdue, event earlier in 2014 when milkweeds were removed from that list.

With that as background, let me introduce you to eight of the other nine milkweeds of Ontario (The 10th species, Four-leaved Milkweed [Asclepias quadrifolia], is extremely rare and in Ontario is currently found only in one or two places in the east. I have yet to see it).

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is a tall species that is commonly found in wet areas, as its name suggests. Wetlands, roadside ditches and the like are great places to see this one. Its reddish purple flowers and relatively long narrow leaves, as well as the habitat, are useful characteristics.

Asclepias incarnata

Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata) is an uncommon species most often found along woodland edges. It has wide leaves, and pinkish white downward hanging clusters of flowers.

Asclepias exaltata

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is probably the most distinctive milkweed of all! It is found in grassy woodland openings, in prairies and on grassy sandy beaches.

Asclepias tuberosa

Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora) is not a plant that many people would recognize as a milkweed. In fact most people would walk by it and not give it much thought at all. This next photo is of a fairly robust plant along a sandy trail through the southeast beach of Rondeau, with closer views following.

Asclepias viridiflora

Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) is generally not common anywhere in Ontario, but where it does occur, can be fairly abundant. The leaves are quite narrow which together with its white flowers, separate it from all other Ontario milkweeds.

Asclepias verticillata

All of the preceding species occur or formerly occurred at Rondeau. Whorled Milkweed has not been seen for at least two decades.

Prairie or Sullivant's Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii) is restricted in Ontario to the extreme southwest. It grows in some of the better quality tallgrass prairies, and also may be found along some highway road allowances where the vegetation may have some structural characteristics of a prairie. It looks a lot like Common Milkweed, but the underside of the leaves are not hairy, the leaves are more upright and the main leaf veins are more purplish.

Asclepias sullivantii

Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) has vivid, deep purple flowers. It is a plant of some of the best quality tallgrass prairie and savanna in southwestern Ontario.

Asclepias purpurascens

One of the rarest milkweeds in Ontario is Tall Green Milkweed (Asclepias hirtella). To date in Ontario it has only been found in the tallgrass prairies of the Ojibway Prairie area in Windsor, and probably totals less than two dozen plants. It is a relatively common species in the mid-western tallgrass prairies, however. The next photo is one I took on a wonderful Missouri prairie in 2007, whereas the second one was taken on film in the 1990s from a small population in the Ojibway area.

Asclepias hirtella

So get out and enjoy some of our native milkweeds....the butterflies sure do!

Here is a bit of additional info: currently there are two stamps for sale via Canadian Postal outlets.....one of a Monarch adult for 22 cents, and a Monarch larva for 2 cents

Rondeau, Blenheim lagoons, etc

I've been out and about regularly these last few days, usually to Rondeau and area. Birds are becoming quieter, since the nesting season is winding down. There are more young out begging their parents for food, and some nesting species are still busily gathering food for their young still in the nest, such as what this Red-headed Woodpecker is doing.

The Red-headed young has now left the nest.

A Prothonotary Warbler is also feeding its just hatched young. Both male (shown here) and female are busily going back and forth regularly.

The spring wildflowers are long gone, well they are not showy, but are putting forth fruit. The interior of the forests are deep green and enjoyable to explore and photograph on a cloudy day.

South Point Trail

Along woodland edges and other open areas, there is a steady stream of newly opened flowers to be viewed. While travelling along Bennett Ave last autumn, I noted the bright red berries of Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), so I checked it out a few days ago, and....bingo....it was just nicely out in flower. This is the first time I have seen it in flower at Rondeau. The camera came out to record the occasion, naturally.

Ilex verticillata

At the north end of the park, along the maintenance loop, were the bright red flowers of about 20 stems of Bee-balm, a.k.a. Oswego Tea (Monarda didyma). It is a very uncommon plant of rich woods in the Carolinian Life Zone. I sometimes see hummingbirds hovering about, feeding on the flowers, but not today.

Monarda didyma

I don't often go along this short trail once the spring migration is over other than to check on the Bee-balm....the mosquitoes are usually quite plentiful here......so I was surprised to see several small stems of the endangered Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) in a couple of locations. Red Mulberry occurs naturally at Rondeau but not at this exact location; in fact some of the best quality stems of any in Ontario can be found at Rondeau. It is likely these individuals were planted a decade or more ago, when a researcher was doing his graduate work on the species here and at a couple of other places where they occur naturally.

Morus rubra

Red Mulberry has very distinctive leaves. They are quite large and roundish, with some of the ones on these trees attaining a length of almost 10". They are a bit rough/hairy above and below, and they have long tips, called 'drip tips', which help shed water after a rainfall.  The leaves show very little, if any, lobing. The much more common, and non-native, White Mulberry, has much smaller, shiny leaves with very little in the way of a drip tip, and they often show lobing.

Along this trail there were quite a few odonates in the sunny open area. Damselflies were abundant. I got a few photos of the dragonfly White-faced Meadowhawk, both male and female.

White-faced Meadowhawk female

White-faced Meadowhawk male

In some sunny openings or at the edge of the forest, one can find the impressive Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense).

I did not use a flash for this image. I simply metered on the bright orange flower, and chose an unlit background, so that the lily would really jump out. Flash can produce similar effects, but with the shiny/waxy flowers, there is more likely to be distracting hotspots produced.

Out along the southeast beach of Rondeau, the Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa) is in flower.

The presence of this species at Rondeau is a conundrum. It doesn't occur in the park naturally, but some well meaning individual who had a particular love of this species planted several clumps along the southeast beach in the mid 1990s. The habitat works well for this species, and it is spreading steadily. There are now at least 20 clumps of varying sizes. The conundrum is that it is a legally endangered species under the provincial Endangered Species Act. And in Ontario it only occurs naturally at Point Pelee National Park and at Fish Point Provincial Nature Reserve (on Pelee Island). The small population at the latter location is not doing well at all. So now there is a planted population in a nature reserve zone of Rondeau.

What to do? Do park managers sacrifice the integrity of a nature reserve zone of one of the most significant provincial parks in the province to allow a legally endangered species from elsewhere persist? Or do they attempt to retain the natural integrity of the park and nature reserve zone by removing it? The questions are easy to come up with; the right answers are not.

Moving along....I hiked part of the Marsh Trail. There is lots of Common Milkweed scattered along it, and I thought I might have seen a few butterflies. They were really few. Some Red Admirals and a couple of Viceroys were about all there was to see on this trip, although the windy conditions might have been a factor.

Viceroy

In a low wet meadow adjacent to the trail was a beautiful display of Swamp Candles (Lysimachia terrestris).

The view from the observation tower is always fun to see, except for the steadily increasing number of wind turbines across the bay. I reported in an earlier post about counting 178 wind turbines from the lower level of the tower. On this most recent visit, from the upper level, I can advise that I counted a total of 203 towers!

If you look towards the south beach, you get this next view, complete with the absence of wind turbines.

I stopped at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons one evening recently as well. The shorebirds are starting to build in numbers and diversity. There were probably as many as 100 shorebirds in all, including a group of small 'peeps' that never landed where I could see them. But there were a dozen or more Least Sandpipers, 9 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Short-billed Dowitchers and the usual Killdeer and Spotted Sandpiper.

Short-billed Dowitchers

Spotted Sandpiper

Duck diversity wasn't high, but this male Canvasback (on the right), shown alongside a male Blue-winged Teal starting its moult, was still around.

Perched in the fence along the east side of the lagoons was this young Baltimore Oriole. It made composing the photo using the 'rule of thirds' a lot easier :-).

Baltimore Oriole

And finally, at the end of the day recently, I raced off to the north end of Bear Line, where one can get a great view of Walpole Island across the Chenal Ecarte, and is a perfect vantage point from which to capture a sunset.

A few more orchids, Bruce Peninsula style

The counties of Grey and Bruce are the hotspot for native orchids in Ontario, with at least 46 species known. Orchid enthusiasts from far and wide visit the Bruce Peninsula every year to search them out.  For a few years way back when, it used to be almost an annual event for me. Of the 46 species in this area, I have been fortunate to have seen and photographed about 40 of them. Some of them were photographed elsewhere, and for some which I was fortunate to find, I had considerable help from other orchid enthusiasts. More than one species was a long way from the car, and it was only with excellent directions that I was able to find them. In spite of the long trek and uncertainty, it was gratifying to be able to find these beauties.

I had intended to do it again in 2014, but just didn't find the time. However I did go a couple of years ago and even in a whirlwind trip, it proved to be fun and satisfying. Most of the following photos are from that trip.

One of the most widespread and easily seen orchids is the Large Yellow Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium calceolus var pubescens). This one is supporting another species of wildlife, waiting to catch an unwary insect that might be approaching to pollinate it. Can you see it?

Cypripedium calceolus var pubescens

Another lady's-slipper that is widespread and on average, much larger, is the aptly named Showy Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae). It grows in clumps along damp roadsides adjacent to White Cedar thickets.

Sometimes the slipper is a deep pink colour.

Cypripedium reginae

On extremely rare occasions, and something I have only seen once, one may encounter a Showy Lady's-slipper that is completely white, and is sometimes referred to as a Snowy Showy. A beautiful clump of these used to occur a bit east of Wiarton. This photo was taken quite a few years ago, on film, and so has been scanned here. The population has since disappeared, a result of residential development.

Fens (a type of wetland) along the west side of the Bruce Peninsula are wonderful places for orchids and other neat plants. I showed a Grass Pink (Calopogon pulchellus) on the previous post, but it is such a beautiful orchid that it deserves a repeat showing here.

Calopogon pulchellus

This species has an interesting pollinating process. When a large insect lands on the upper part of the petal which has the pollen grains, the petal is 'hinged' slightly so that it along with the insect flops down onto the pistil below, thus making sure of the transfer of pollen as the insect visits flower after flower.

Another one in these fens is the Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides), about the same size as the Grass Pink, but with a decidedly different appearance.

Pogonia ophioglossoides

One of the rarer orchids of the Bruce Peninsula is also one of the smallest, known as the Green Adder's Mouth (Malaxis unifolia). It inhabits the edges of small acidic 'lakes', usually at the edge of a white cedar thicket. I had seen this orchid on one occasion more than 20 years earlier, and I wasn't sure I could even find the right lake let alone the orchid, given some changes to the road network. But I persisted, and there right at the edge of the small lake underneath some more dominant vegetation (compared to this orchid, all other vegetation is dominant), were a few that were just beginning to flower. This orchid is a classic example of one that is not showy at all; in fact the only colours are a green and a translucent green! Add to the fact that it is only a few centimetres high, has a single leaf that is at the most 3 cm wide and no wonder it is rarely found. Even when in full flower, it is only about the diameter of your finger! The petals are 'up to' 3 mm in length.....this is definitely macro material! The view of it on your screen is several times life size!

Malaxis unifolia

Close-up of a close-up!

They were even smaller than I remembered them, and there was no way to use a tripod in the wet, hummocky surroundings, so I had to carefully bend over and hand-hold the camera, macro lens (using an extension tube, of course!) and flash, attempting to balance myself without tumbling over. With the macro setup on a full frame camera, it worked out alright, but even then I had to crop the photo a fair bit.

One that is distinctly more showy than the previous one, is next: the Tall White Bog Orchid (Platanthera dilatata), a.k.a. Bog Candles or Fragrant Orchid. I like the last name especially as it is quite fragrant. I find that it smells somewhat like spicy cinnamon.

Platanthera dilatata

I will have to dig through my slides and scan some of the other orchids from my Bruce Peninsula travels....some with exotic sounding names like Arethusa and Calypso the latter of which is magical to find, and others with descriptive names such as Striped Coralroot.

Early season native orchids

The topic of orchid flowers conjures up thoughts of exotic flowers from the tropics, and the ones sometimes used as a corsage on special occasions. But not too many people think about some of the plant species which naturally occur in Ontario as being orchids. The fact is, there are approximately 60 species of orchids that are native to Ontario! And some are quite colourful and exotic looking in their own right. Rondeau Provincial Park can lay claim to 19 species growing within its confines, but the orchid capital of the province are the counties of Bruce and Grey, and especially the Bruce Peninsula, where at least 44 species of orchids are known.

One of the earliest to appear in the southwest is the Showy Orchis, which grows in rich hardwood forests. In spite of its name, it is not that showy unless you get down for a closer look. It seldom gets more than 15 cm (6 ") high, and may be obscured by taller vegetation. At Rondeau, it typically begins to bloom about the third week in May.

Showy Orchis

At about the same time, and in slightly more open woods, may be found the Yellow Lady's-slipper. It occurs as a large form and a small form, which generally occupy different habitats, but there may be some overlap.

Large Yellow Lady's-slipper

The Small Yellow Lady's-slipper can sometimes be found on some of the better quality native tallgrass prairies. There it can hybridize with an extremely rare native orchid, the Small White-Lady-slipper, especially if the flowering times overlap, which they usually do. The hybrids are even rarer than the Small Whites, and can take on some unusual but attractive colour combinations that draws the attention of serious botanists and photographers.

Small White Lady's-slipper

Small White Lady's-slipper

This species is, as its name implies, small, seldom growing over 20 cm (8") high. It does occur in one or two other places in Ontario, but in somewhat different habitats. The bulk of the Ontario population occurs on the private lands of tallgrass prairie in Lambton County. It is an Endangered Species under the various provincial and federal statutes.

Another type of Lady's-slipper is the Pink Lady's-slipper a.k.a. Moccasin Flower. Depending on the latitude, it may be in flower in May but a little farther north, will still be in flower in early June. It prefers the slightly more acidic sandy soils in sand dune systems which have developed to the point of also growing coniferous trees. It also occurs at the edges of bogs, which are not found in extreme southwestern Ontario.

Moccasin Flower

Moccasin Flower

By early June, another orchid appears in flower....the Puttyroot. This occurs in rich hardwood forests, and is not nearly as colourful as the previously shown ones. But it can grow taller than the others.

Puttyroot in flower

Puttyroot flower close-up

The Puttyroot isn't visible in flower for long. One of the ways to find it, however, is to look for their distinctive leaves during a period of late autumn to early spring when there is no snow cover. It is not a really rare species, but is certainly not common in spite of its relatively widespread range in southern Ontario.

Puttyroot leaves

An uncommon orchid in southwestern Ontario, but more common in the marl wetlands and fens of the Bruce Peninsula is the beautiful Grass Pink. In the southwest it may occur in very small numbers in wet grassy areas including tallgrass prairies.

Grass Pink

Later in June, another rare orchid appears, the Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid. In spite of its rarity, it grows in a wide variety of habitats, from high quality tallgrass prairie, to the edges of marl lakes, to fens of eastern Ontario and even along wet ditchbanks! Some type of disturbance or environmental condition to keep the vegetation open seems to be the key to survival, so at least in tallgrass prairies, the regular occurrence of fire at the right time of year is a necessity.

Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid

Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid

One of the interesting aspects of this latter species is that it is pollinated by night-flying moths, and specifically the Sphinx Moth types. I was monitoring a population of this orchid near the former Windsor Raceway in the 1970s and early 1980s. It eventually died out, and one of the main changes in its environment were the extensive night lights that were along the road and the raceway. Moths don't function normally under well lighted conditions, so it is possible that the population of orchids went unpollinated, stopped producing seed, and the older plants eventually died out. Interestingly since that time, another population appeared a few hundred metres away, in a well shaded environment.


More on orchids in a future post....