Salamanders, a newt and an (early) American Lady

Won't say where, but I saw about 15 salamanders today.

The eastern newt or red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) is a common salamander of eastern North America.

 

What is this?!?  Jefferson-dominant hybrid?  I will likely go back to collect a DNA sample today. Exciting. (Hope it's still in the same place I left it).

The Spotted Salamander or Yellow-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) is a mole salamander common in the eastern United States and Canada.

The blue-spotted salamander, or Ambystoma laterale, is a mole salamander native to the Great Lakes states and northeastern United States, and parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada.

The red back (or redback or red-backed) salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is a small, hardy woodland salamander. It inhabits wooded slopes in Eastern North America; west to Missouri; south to North Carolina; and north from southern Quebec and the Maritime Provinces in Canada to Minnesota.

This American LAdy is about a month early according to my field guide.

Beautiful Green Darner

Yellow-Rumped Warbler - this one was doing a wing flutter (mating?) dance.

Red-tailed Hawk

1st Year Red-Tailed Hawk

Black coloured Green Frog, Lithobates clamitans

Green Frog, Lithobates clamitans

Newport Forest, Wardsville, Work Day April 21, 2012

The Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica; also Virginia Cowslip, Lungwort Oysterleaf, Roanoke Bells) is a spring ephemeral plant with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers opening from pink buds, native to moist woodland in eastern North America.

A report by Kee Dewdney on the day's activities: 
Newport Forest

Weather: Prec. 4 mm; RH 87%; BP 101.4 kPa; ovcst; N 5-15 kmh, T 6º C
Purpose: TTLT Work Day
Participants: Pat, Kee, Jane Bowles (plus volunteers listed below)

It was, as my father used to say about unnaturally cold days, “good working
weather”. By 1:30 pm some 17 volunteers had shown up in the Lower Meadow,
ready to fix road and trail, cut thorn trees, and pull Garlic Mustard. Pat kept tabs
on personnel & materiel from the trailer headquarters, coordinated the food
supply, and gathered bird reports. Jane Bowles had arrived an hour earlier to
check the boundary line that runs through the Fleming Creek Forest.

The road crew headed to the Upper Meadow, where they leveled the Mudhole,
then spread gravel over the surface. It was thought that a drain beneath the
mudhole would help to fix the problem of getting through it during wet seasons,
but the idea was nixed by a TTLT Property Management Committee wishing to
be strict about not adding non-natural materials to the site. With the graveling
done, Jane had the road crew cutting thorn trees. This is part of the ongoing effort
to preserve habitat for Bobolinks & Meadowlarks.

More can be said about the trail crew because this writer accompanied them.
Thanks to a bit of recent rain, several wet spots along the River Bluffs portion of
the trail had become soggy. A wonderfully labor-intensive operation was to create
a corduroy of inch-thick sticks. Volunteers scrambled through underbrush in
search of dead branches to break into trail-wide lengths. Even as Terry Keep, ably
assisted by his very young son, Alexander, rebuilt the safety steps on an especially
steep portion of the bluffs leg of the trail. Working ahead of us, Ron Casier kept
his chainsaw busy on deadfalls and trees leaning over the trail.

The volunteers moved into the Riverside Forest, marveling at the Bluebells, even
as they searched out slender logs in the adjacent forest to line the trail. At one
point a Wild Turkey flew through the forest, just below the canopy. All heads
turned up. The sight could hardly have been more dramatic if an airliner had
flown through the woods. While all this was going on, Darren Jacobs and his
friend Richard Hopkins were pulling Garlic Mustard wherever they could find it.

Back at the Nook, the Work Day volunteers straggled in by twos and threes until
the snack-and-drink table became crowded with hungry hands. At one point Pat
was asking who saw the Bald Eagle when the bird itself flew over.

Saturday April 21 2012

12:45 - 6:00 pm

As she was about to leave, Jane remarked that she had never seen the Bluebells in
bloom. I volunteered to take her. Jane was already behind schedule. “We’ll have
to run!” Like an idiot I agreed. She ran ahead, but this former track and field guy
didn’t even try to keep up, waiting for her to tire, instead. Puff puff pant pant.
Three heart attacks and one stroke later, I caught up with her on the bluffs, where
she was inspecting the trailwork. Finally we arrived at Bluebell Woods. Jane took
several pictures for the record and we then double-timed back to camp.

After everyone had gone, Pat and I cleaned up. We both seemed to have the same
aches & pains, but nothing a shower of hot liniment wouldn’t take care of.

Volunteers: (18)

Muriel Andreae (T), Peter Andreae (R), Jane Bowles (Coordinator), Erin Carroll
(T), Ron Casier (T), Terry Grawey (T), Richard Hopkins (G), Darren Jacobs (G),
Alexander Keep (T), Terry Keep (T), Ron Martin (R), Carolyn McDonald (R),
Linda McDougall (T), Bruce Parker (T), Joel Parker (T), Gordon Price (T), Jim
Rule (T), Jennifer Slauenwhite (T), Diane VonBommel (R)

Note: ‘T’ denotes trail worker, ‘R’ denotes road worker (& thorn-cutting), ‘G’
denotes Garlic Mustard puller.

Birds: (19)

American Crow (EW); American Robin (LM); Bald Eagle (TR); Black-capped
Chickadee (GF); Blue Jay (Tr); Brown-headed Cowbird (Tr); Canada Goose
(TR); Downy Woodpecker (Tr); Eastern Towhee (BCF); Field Sparrow (UM);
Mourning Dove (GF); Northern Cardinal (Tr); Northern Flicker (UM/ER); Red-
bellied Woodpecker (RSF); Song Sparrow (LM); Turkey Vulture (LM); White-
breasted Nuthatch (Tr); Wild Turkey (RSF); Wood Duck (FCF)

Strathroy Sewage Lagoons...Bonaparte's Gulls, Coots, Ruddy Ducks, Canada Goose hatchlings and other things

Bonaparte's Gulls?

Bonaparte's Gulls?

American Coot

Northern Flicker

Female Buffleheads

Killdeer

Song Sparrow

Canada Goose goslings!

Question Mark Butterfly

Ruddy Duck

Male Bufflehead

Male Ruddy Duck (left), Male Gadwall (right)

Any sick or malformed Leopard Frogs in our area?

There is growing concern in recent years about impact of certain fungi and viruses on amphibians worldwide.  Chytrid Fungus http://www.amphibianark.org/the-crisis/chytrid-fungus/  and Ranavirus (http://savethefrogs.com/chytrid/ranavirus/index.html).  

I was recently contacted by a PhD student who is looking to study emerging ampibian infectious diseases.  She will have a few people in our area collect leopard for toenail clippings in order to attain a better understanding.  You can help by providing her with your local knowledge:

Hi all,

My name is Kirsten McMillan and I have just begun my doctoral studies with Dr. David Lesbarrères (Laurentian University, Sudbury) and Dr. Trenton Garner (Zoological Society of London, UK). My project focuses on the effect of landscape on amphibian emerging infectious diseases.

For the following four years, throughout the summer months (May-September) I will be carrying out extensive fieldwork within Ontario. I will be focusing on the Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates (Rana) pipiens) and two of its pathogens: the Chytrid Fungus and Ranavirus. In order to get an idea of the prevalence of both diseases, I need to test at least 30 individuals within a population, and look at 130 separate populations. Consequently, in order to complete my work efficiently and comprehensively (within the time frame), I am appealing for information regarding:

1. The presence and abundance of Northern Leopard frogs within Ontario:
Are there populations in your area? If so, where (GPS, river name etc.)? Could you estimate the population size (less than OR more than 30 individuals)?

2. The presence of either pathogen:
Have you witnessed any dead, dying or malformed frogs (of any species) within or near to Northern Leopard frog populations?

3. The beginning of the Northern Leopard frog breeding season:
At what time of the year do they appear and remain within your area? 

This year, I will be carrying out my fieldwork between late May and early September. If you could provide me with any information, it would be greatly appreciated. My work aims to enhance plans to decrease amphibian population decline while reducing the potential costs of disease management. Any help you can provide will inform the development of disease control strategies and the future management of epidemics.

Thank you for your time.

Kirsten McMillan

PhD candidate
Genetics and Ecology of Amphibians Research Group (GEARG)
Laurentian University
Department of Biology, S625
Ramsey Lake Road
Sudbury
Ontario
P3E2C6

Rate my blog

Rate my blog http://natureblognetwork.com/index.php?a=stats&u=ErinCarroll  I am open to constructive criticism.

Quite day today....

After all the excitement over Red Admirals and butterfly fallout, today was a little anti-climactic. Some  common birds threw me a bone....White Throated Sparrows and Ruddy Ducks were hanging around for close-up shots.

White Throated Sparrow, Clark Wright CA, Strathroy

Ruddy Ducks, Strathroy Sewage Lagoons

Butterfly Fallout

In Strathroy I started noticing a procession of Red Admirals at Clark Wright CA at about 4:15pm on April 15 proceeding the light afternoon showers. One every 30 seconds or so one flittered overhead. I was not at all alone in this observation. The bounty of butterflies continues today.   I have collected some of the online observations into this blog (I hope no one minds),  in an attempt to show how widespread the this event is.

Posts from April 16, 2012:

There is a post by Stuart Immonen on sitta canadenis: Admiral Invasion that includes beautiful pictures of buterflies amongst spring blossoms.

From the Michigan Birding List:

Subject: Re: Birders OT: irruption of red admiral butterflies
From: susan miller
 Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:59:55 -0400

yes! tons of red admirals in eastern Jackson County as well as Ann Arbor for 
the last 2 weeks 

Sue Miller
On Apr 15, 2012, at 10:37 PM, John C Farmer wrote:

Anyone else noticing a very strong irruption of Red Admiral butterflies 
(Vanessa atalanta) this spring? During a 3 1/2 mile walk today I counted 80 of 
them. Many were nectaring on dandelions and redbud blossoms when not flying 
fast toward the northeast, assisted by a fair tailwind. During the same walk I 
counted only 13 Cabbage Whites (Pieris rapae), typically the most plentiful 
butterfly in S.E. Michigan at this time of year. 

 
John Farmer
Milan 

************

Subject: Re: Birders OT: irruption of red admiral butterflies


Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:35:15 +0000

they were everywhere at Magee Marsh yesterday. Feeding on the garlic mustard of 
all things. Had them in the evening when I got home (A2) too. 


Linda Ar
Ann Arbor
******

Subject: Re: Birders OT: irruption of red admiral butterflies
From: Bruce McCulloch 
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:35:24 -0400

Lots of them in all of the flowering trees in the neighborhood here in Canton.

Sent from my iPhone
 
 *******


Subject: Re: Birders OT: irruption of red admiral butterflies
From: "Bond, Melody" 
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:22:05 +0000

AHHH, I was just going to post about them when I saw this. My crabapple trees 
were LOADED with red admirals and questions marks!!! I estimated at least 100 
and maybe 20 QMs. It was a beautiful thing. The trees were also loaded with 
blooms. A beautiful day for me to begin my shade garden underneath. Gonna be 
camera ready tonite, just in case they are still around. 


From: Jan Berry [mailto:jeberry AT umich.edu]
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 6:13 AM
To: birders AT umich.edu
Subject: [birders] Re: Birders OT: irruption of red admiral butterflies

Yes! We noticed them especially yesterday. Even saw one on the orange I put out 
for any early arriving orioles. 


Jan B
Superior Township
Washtenaw County 
 
******** 

The following are an assortment of comments cut and paste from April 15 posts to the Yahoo! Group Middlesex/Elgin/Oxford Natural History Observations:


Sunday we also had dozens of Red Admiral butterflies, they are still around today even with this wind. They were in dandelion and grape hyacinths blossoms.
Our house wren is back this morning, brown thrasher, field sparrow, rough winged swallow, chipping and song sparrows are also back. We also have a white throat sparrow still singing.
Our bluebird is nesting in the bluebird house along our laneway. We still have lots of junco's feeding. Also many gold finches feeding still.
We have at least 6 turkey vultures regularly. Wild turkeys are calling in the morning.
Ev and Brian Turnbull

*******************

This afternoon I took a walk in Meadowlily ESA. I thought with the wind there would probably be no butterflies about, but there were dozens and dozens of Red Admirals. All the ones I saw nectaring were on Dandelions. I wonder if they felt more secure lower down in the strong wind.

I have been checking back records. There was a big migration in 1997 and in 2001 there were hundreds about later in the year. I should imagine that there will be lots again for butterfly counts when all these produce offspring. In 2001 there was also a big migration of American Ladies  and in 2002 there was an influx of Painted Ladies. As Hugh mentioned these three species are in the same family, Vanessa, and migrate here, although it is possible in warm winters that the American Lady and Red Admiral, which hibernate as adults, could perhaps overwinter here.  

Also flying were Cabbage White, Spring Azure and Mourning Cloak in small numbers.

White Trilliums, Violets, (purple, white and Yellow),Wood Anemone , Marsh Marigolds and Trout Lily all in flower.

Ann [White]

********

This is an amazing event.  None of the long-time insect watchers can remember these sorts of numbers.  Too bad Dr. Judd has died.   The three species of the Vanessa species that we get here (Red Admiral, Painted Lady, American Lady) breed in Central America and Mexico.  In most years they recolonize most of North America.  Some go as far north as the Arctic circle.  That is why seeing the species is a hit and miss affair.  But this year, ....  Most of North America had a milder than usual winter.  Perhaps overwintering chrysalises survived more than usual.  A few adults can survive too but all the individuals I checked look to be very fresh.  I have not found any good answers for this yet.  BTW - I'm not the best person to know what is actually going on.  James Holdsworth, for one, is more up on insects than I.  Perhaps working on The Cardinal gives me a little more bravado.

To post to the Middlesex Elgin listserv just send an email to

midd_elgi_observations@yahoogroups.com

At least I assume that is where you wanted to post to.

There are a number of Question Marks mixed in with the Admirals.  I have had 3 in the yard today.

Hi to Candy

Hugh [Casbourn]

***********

 Hi Hugh:

I saw all the buzz about the Red Admirals, but I can't seem to post.  Not important anyway but not knowing anything about butterflies I was wondering last evening when dozens at a time were swarming past me whether this was some sort of a mass early spring emergence or a migration aided by the brisk south wind.  By the sounds of it they were migrating and if so it is quite amazing to me, something I've never witnessed before like this.  They were like locusts for awhile!  So I just wanted to ask someone who knows what was actually going on.

Best - Paul [Prevett]

__._,_.___

************

Red Admirals were less numerous in our yard this afternoon with dozens, not hundreds. Question Marks increased in numbers though. My high count at our Wild Plum was 6 but they were moving around and there could have been more.
Dave and Linda [Martin]

Select posts from Twitter (April 16):
Al Sinclair ‏ @ajssinc

Mass migration of Red Admiral butterflies arrived in #Muskoka today, large numbers as far north as Ottawa #butterflies http://pic.twitter.com/G7wxBVN5

Conservation Halton ‏ @CH_Comm
Anyone else see the waves of Red Admiral butterflies migrating thru the GTA? Spotted about 70 ourselves http://ow.ly/i/zlvy

Posts from April 15, 2012:

Blake Mann's report from Blog Burg Birder (http://burgbirder.blogspot.ca/):

 "On this 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic highlight of the day was the migration of Red Admiral butterflies.  Although it rained most of the morning (birding was a bust today), by early afternoon it was evident that a mass migration of Red Admirals was underway.  I notice quite a few yesterday, but today they were absolutely everywhere.  The first spot I really noticed was when I walked the Marsh Trail (aka R/R) at Erieau.  I decided to walk the entire trail since there were many sparrows, etc. to look at.

All afternoon where-ever I went there was a constant easterly movement.  I birded Blenheim Lagoons with Mike Nelson and we noted the number there as well.  I noticed what I believe was a Question Mark as well.

I did not get home until 7 p.m. but noticed the Red Admirals all the way home.  About 50 were flying about my yard here when I arrived home.
I am not sure one can even begin to estimate the number in southern Ontario right now!"


The following are an assortment of comments cut and paste from April 15 posts to the Yahoo! Group Middlesex/Elgin/Oxford Natural History Observations:

We had dozens of Red Admirals at any given time and we could see that there was a constant turn over on our big clump of Wild Plum which is at peak bloom at the moment. We live in southeast Middlesex.
Ross Snider who lives just east of Ingersoll in Oxford County sent the following email. "Today the  property was alive with Red Admirals throughout the day, several hundred at least here." 

We wanted to get a better feel of how many admirals were passing through / over our yard and so watched for a while from different locations and angles. We noticed that the 10 metre gap in our spruce hedgerow was a good place to count the admirals because we could tell at this location whether any of them were backtracking. We made five one-minute counts at the gap and got a range of 3 to 6 admirals per minute with an average of 4.5 per minute which translates to 180 to 360 per hour with an average of 270 per hour.

If we extrapolate our findings at just our place of 270 admirals per hour over a 10 metre wide space to a front of say 50 km long [Lake Erie inland to London] - the number of Red Admirals passing by would be 1.35 million per hour. Ross Snider says that they were active throughout the day at his place. If this was happening throughout Elgin and Middlesex then the number of Red Admirals for the day may have  exceeded 10 million.

Estimates of hundreds of 1000s of Admirals in Ontario may actually be quite low and probably not indicative of what was really happening. A more likely scenario is that millions of Red Admirals entered Ontario today.

Apparently, this is not unheard of. Red Admirals and the two Lady species are known to irrupt out of Mexico and the southern states in immense numbers. The strong south and southwest winds yesterday and today likely brought them up this far.

Dave and Linda and Ross
*******
I started seeing them about 7 pm, and [unusually] all were headed south, through my yard. I only counted 16 but they were averaging about one a minute.

There have been reports of huge numbers of READ just south of the great lakes, waiting for suitable warm winds.......like today.

James H.
*******
I, too, have experienced a fallout here in Old South this evening. I was outside around 4 pm and things started to really pick up by 5:30 when something akin to what else has been described by others happened here right up until dark. It is interesting to get a grasp of just how widespread this phenomenal event is - surely there are hundreds of thousands of butterflies involved. Did other folks in the other parts of the reporting region experience anything like this today, and at what time?

Peter [Burke]

*******
Yes, about 6pm on an early leafing maple behind our condo on Cadeau Terrace in Byron. I am not a butterfly namer but did definitely notice a great many.

sharon jorgensen

*******

__._,_.___

We had dozens of them in our backyard this evening, in NE London, near Fanshawe CA. Some of these were in groups of up to 10 at a time. I even had a couple land on me. Never seen anything like this before! Quite a show!

Paul
*******
I had a few (5 - 10) through my yard at Wonderland/ Sarnia probably around 18 hr. Didn't get a good look, but looked like a mixture of Vanessa spp.

Mhairi McFarlane

********
I was at Pelee last Saturday and there were hundreds of red admirals in Tildens and the Nature Trail. Also lots of Mourning cloak, comma, and some small blue ones that I wasn't sure what they were.

Ellen Smout
********
At least 50 at my place near cherry hill mall. Mostly on a tree with white flowers that I'm unfamiliar with. Started around 4, peaked at around 6:30-7

John Luke Wheatley
*********
Tonight at 7.00 P.M. my backyard was invaded by swarms of Red Admirals.

They were swarming/buzzing all over the yard, trees and bushes. Hard to count but there were 50+ at least.

I reside in the East end of St. Thomas near Canadian Tire Store.
Regards
Jim Dunn
********
I too have had my yard full of Red Admiral butterflies. They especially like the Flowering Almond tree right by my kitchen window. I feel like I am in a butterfly garden.

Wonderful,
Gail McNeil
******
With the passing of the warm front there has been an impressive number of Red Admiral butterflies moving through our yard.  At 16:45 I counted 5 individuals in 3 minutes.  Along with the Painted and American lady butterflies (all three are of the same genus, Vanessa), the butterflies we see overwinter further south and migrate into our area each year. 

Hugh

*********

Indeed! I noticed the first Red Admiral around 5:30 PM when leaving a friend's home in Pond Mills. When I arrived home in Byron shortly after 6 PM they were all over the backyard. There were a couple of instances where a "swirl" of five or more ascended in an spiral and flew over the house.

Chris Baldcock

__._,_.___

A little bit of everything....

Clark Wright had a different assortment of sights than usual. First I flushed a wild turkey at the edge of the field - where I was looking for an American Woodcook or Brown Thrasher. Every time I go looking for one bird, another jumps out at me. I wasn't more than three feet away when it started to take off. That got my heart racing.

Moving on a groundhog gave me the stare down at the sand mounds around the pond again on the agricultural field. I think to myself, wouldn't a badger love to live here?

In the area of the pine trees there wasn't much bird activity, likely because it was windy and cool. So I took some time to look at the spring flowers that will soon be gone again. 

Trout lily, Erythronium americanum

Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica

Red Trillium, Trillium erectum

Red Trillium, Trillium erectum (white form)?? Tentative ID

Red Trillium, Trillium erectum (white form)??

There was lot of activity at the pond...

Eastern Towhee, Pipilo erythrophthalmus

As I left Clark Wright I was happy to hear frogs and toad calling again.  Singing in anticipation of rain?  The Woodcock also peented periodically as I was leaving to the parking lot.


I spent the day at Eberhardt forest, near Seabringville, ON pulling garlic mustard.  I was close enough to the ground to enjoy newly sprouting Jack-in the-Pulpit and other spring sights....