Splendid Weather for Thanksgiving Weekend

On first appearance the Strathroy sewage lagoons looked almost empty.  All I could see was a few geese and mallards.  With the sun shining and magnificent clouds, I decided to walk the circumference of the north cell, anyways.   Waterfowl appeared in groups: 40 or so ruddy ducks, pied-billed grebes, northern shovelers, american coot, ring-billed, horned grebes, and scaups.

South cell of Stathroy Sewage Lagoons looking east

Strathroy Sewage Lagoons, south cell looking south

With purple knapweed, goldenrod, new england aster still in bloom there were still active pollinators.  Most prevalent were bee mimic flies, followed by asian lady beetles, bombus, sulphurs and cabbage white butterflies.  As well, I spied a single darner dragonfly, a crescent (?) butterfly and a solitary ambush bug. 

The Strathroy wetlands were quite. Good weather made for an enjoyable walk, but there wasn't any visible/audible wildlife to investigate, so my time spent there was brief.

Strathroy Wetlands (Victoria Ave. and Metcalfe Street). 

I also made a kayak trip up the Thames River, starting at the boat launch at Fanshawe and paddling up to the Thorndale Bridge.  It was a spectacular paddle which reminded me of much more remote areas.  The water in the lake was glassy.  Up river the current was strong, making for great exercise.

Eagles carrying branches, basking cormorants, and egrets shared the river with us.  The warmth encouraged peepers to call. And flocks of vocal red-winged blackbirds flew along reedy banks. 

Ever since the trip I have been thinking about how awesome if was. I can't wait to go again.

Thames River, north of  Fanshawe CA - photo taken from my kayak. 

Face-to-Face with a Black Saddlebags Dragonfly

Black Saddlebags is one of the migratory species of dragonflies found in our area.  Yesterday at Hawk Cliff near Port Stanley  numerous Saddlebags and Green Darners went through.  

It is interesting to note that the face of this species is blue. Something I wound't have know until I zoomed right in. 

Fall wildflowers - Gentian/Gentiana

The camera can't quite capture the brilliance of fringed and bottle gentian which seem to glow.  Many gentians are difficult to grow outside their wild habitat, so they can be relatively rare.  It is always a good surprise to find them in a new location.

 The are late bloomers. Some of these photos were taken a late as last Saturday. As my last two posts show there is lots of interesting wildlife to see this time of year.

Bottle Gentian ( G. clausa) from St. Clair Township

Fringed Gentian (G. crinita)  from St. Thomas area

Amazing Mushrooms

As I brush up on mushrooms, anticipating the fungal foray at the end of this month, I have gone on a few self-guided and one group mushroom walk in the last week.  I have seen some pretty interesting mushrooms around, but nothing as spectacular as the grove I found at Clark Wright Conservation Area in Strathroy today.

The rain over the last couple days made for excellent growing conditions.  Get out there and see them while you can!

Large (caps up to 20 cm diameter) Amanitas

This one is for scale... you can see that these Amanitas are enormous. 

Here's another (slightly out of focus) so you can see the scale. 

Here is a map to the location, in case you would like to check them out yourself:
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zNgYPr2eoQfI.kOXqHRAHEVls

Announcing: Fungus Bio-Blitz at Newport Forest

Sunday, October  27, 1:00pm—4:00PM

Rain Date:  Sunday, November 3

Newport Forest is at 22130 Fleming Line near Wardsville, ON

Please bring any of the following items to share with the group:

¨ Mushroom field guides

¨ Hand lens

¨ Specimen containers

fun·gus  (n. pl. fun·gi or fun·gus·es): Any of numerous eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Fungi, which lack chlorophyll and vascular tissue and range in form from a single cell to a body mass of branched filamentous hyphae that often produce specialized fruiting bodies. The kingdom includes the yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.

The Fungus Bio-blitz is all about learning more about this under-appreciated kingdom.  Activities will be led by Dr. Greg Thorn,  expert mycologist from Western University and three amateur fungophiles: Kee Dewdney, Bruce Parker and Erin Carroll. 

If conditions look unfavourable for October 27, an email will be sent Saturday October 26 at about 8pm letting all registrants know about change of date to November 3.

Please register with Erin Carroll: erin.carroll@gmail.com
Registration is limited, please sign-up early to reserve your spot.Directions will be provided with registration confirmation.

Royal River Cruiser, Petrolia!

I found this dragonfly at Bridgeview CA in Petrolia. MNR confirmed for me that it is indeed a Royal River Cruiser - the first record they have so high up on Bear Creek.  An exciting find for me.

Royal River Cruiser 

Find the Green Darner

Botanizing and other things at Newport Forest, Wardsville ON

It was a blissfully relaxing day at Newport.  All who joined in had a enjoyable time investigating the plants and animals.  For a full write-up of the day, see Kee's bulletin here: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~akd/newport-forest/

This coyote/fox (? tail seems too skinny)  frolicked in the hay field near Newport. 

This plant at first a stumper, keyed out to be a Showy Tick-trefoil (Desmodium canadense).  Rounded seed pods and dense pubescence on the mid-vein. 

Purple Joe Pye Weed , Eupatorium purpureum

The "beach" along the Thames has excellent species diversity. Highlights for me - all found in this small hotspot,  were an American Rubyspot Damselfly, American Snout butterfly, Kingfisher and the Hackberry Emperor pictured above.  

Wild lettuce?  

This giant fly bit me. OUCH!  I caught it and harassed it in return.

Probably Spotted Pye Weed

Cup plant, almost done flowering.  I have always liked the look of haggard flowers.

Rainbow Darter from Fleming Creek

Mayfly of Fleming Creek

Some Butterflies and Odes of Clark Wright CA in Strathroy

For two days I scavenged Clark Wright for all the odes and butterflies that I could find.  I didn't find anything too rare, but it there was good butterfly diversity. 

Meadowhawk sp. 

From top left clockwise: Widow Skimmer (male), Ebony Jewelwing, Widow Skimmer (female), Eastern Pondhawk, Twelve  Spotted Skimmer, Meadowhawk sp., Meadowhawk sp., Spreadwing, and in the middle a Green Darner. 

Dun Skipper

Cabbage White

 From top left clockwise Hobomok Skipper, European Skipper, Peck's Skipper, Eastern Comma, Common Wood Nymph, Little Wood-Satyr,  Milbert's Tortoiseshell, Great Spangled Fritillary, Little Glassywing, Silver-spotted Skipper. 

 Small wood frog.  Maybe one of the ones I reared and released this year?

Kingfisher Family

Darren Jacobs and  Pat Dewdney spotted this family of four Kingfishers upriver of Newport Forest (near Wardsville ON) on the Thames River on Sunday. They also spotted a Bald Eagle, Spotted Sandpipers,
and an Osprey on their trip.  Most regrettably, I was home sick, but Darren kindly shared these photos. for me to post.

A full report on the trip, including the butterfly count results, is available at: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~akd/newport-forest/2013_07_07.pdf

Upland Sandpiper

June 2, McArthur Rd. and Olde Dr. Middlesex

Bye the Bay, Rondeau

Last weekend Jake and I stayed at the recently re-opened "Bye the Bay" B&B in Rondeau.  It was a great stay for many reasons:  the view from our third floor balcony which overlooked the vast yard, watercourse and bay. Our hosts were welcoming and generous. The homemade breakfast was better than a restaurant.  Would strongly recommend the resort to anyone looking to enjoy Rondeau in comfort.  

I was able to get to the park early while it was still cool and all the birds were singing loudly.  There were many vireos.  Below are some pictures of my other finds:

Blackburnian Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Red-headed Woodpecker

Dreamy Duskywing found at Newport Forest, Wardsville

Pat and Kee Dewdney found this Dreamy Duskywing at Newport May 18, puddling at the edge of  the Thames River. 

Initially, using the Kaufman butterfly guide I thought it was a  Sleepy Duskywing.  As I have since found, Sleepy and Dreamy Duskywings are notoriously hard to tell apart. 

Dreamy vs. Sleepy

Analysis based mainly on the following resource:
http://wisconsinbutterflies.org/butterfly/species/117-dreamy-duskywing

Distinguishing Feature	Source	Pat and Kee's Specimen	Dreamy(D) or Sleepy (S)
The Dreamy has a more defined silvery light patch at the on the leading edge of the forewing, that is usually more obvious than in the Sleepy.	wisconsinbutterflies.org	Silvery patch fairly obvious	D
This darker part of the bands is not as distinct in the Dreamy as it is in the Sleepy and usually the second, inner band is also more obvious in the Sleepy Duskywing.	wisconsinbutterflies.org	Second inner band obscure	D
Dreamy Duskywings host plants are mainly willows and poplar in Wisconsin, and as such are often found in moister habitats than the Sleepy Duskywing. But they can be found, especially when they are nectaring, in many of the same drier habitats where Sleepy Duskywings are found.	wisconsinbutterflies.org	Found in river habitat - few oaks present.	D
At present, Sleepy is known to occur in only three areas of southern Ontario: Lambton County (Pinery Provincial Park area), Norfolk County (St. Williams area), and the south shore of Lake Ontario (Hamilton to Grimsby).	Butterflies of Canada	Newport Forest is not near to any known occurrence for the species.	D

If this identification is correct, it is an incredible find.  According to Kee: "There are two "official" locality records listed in Layberry (Butterflies of Canada) for Middle-sex County (neither one all that close to Skunk's Misery), and no specimens listed for Elgin County."  Nice find Pat and Kee!

Spring flowers

Since some of these plants are endangered I wont say where I was.  These were the most blissful finds.  

Yellow Puccoon

Blue-eyed Grass

Small White Lady's Slipper

Small White Lady's Slipper

Wood Betony

A single plant flowers both purple and yellow. 

Wood Betony(Pedicularis canadensis)

Trapped Oriole

This Baltimore Oriole was trapped when I found her.  A small thread was wrapped around both feet and then around vines.      As I approached she tried to fly away, but the string would not yield. She flapped wildly.   After a few seconds, her energy depleted, she was left hanging upside down.  I held her steady while I cut the thread with my teeth.  She flinched at the sight of my mouth coming towards her. I methodically worked at the thread making sure to free each toe before letting her free. I snapped a quick photo before opening my hand and letting her free.  She chirped once as she flew away.

Spring Birds at Clark Wright CA in Strathroy

There were lots of spring birds this afternoon including FOY Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds and Tree Sparrows.  A hooded merganser swimming around the side pond was a surprise.  I even saw two frogs and heard an unknown sound that sounded like an amphibian call coming from the front pond. The rain tomorrow should bring more activity.

Almost forgot to mention: I also heard a Killdeer.

Clockwise from top left: Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow, Hooded Merganser, Canada Geese.

Newport Forest, Wardsville ON

Red-tailed hawk kept watched me as I approached
Fleming Creek.

On Sunday Kee and I enjoyed a stellar visit to Newport Forest.  Winter can be a little sleepy, but not yesterday.  We started our visit with the usual routine of weather observations and topping up the feeders. Right away there was activity - a chipmunk and cottontail made an appearance followed by a downy and red-bellied woodpecker.  A few nuthatches and chickadees soon joined the group. 

Greenside (?) Darter. 

Spurred by a curiosity to know exactly what animal life is active in Fleming Creek in the winter I cautiously crept down to the water to take a small sample.  A red-tailed hawk screeched at me as I made my way down the bank.  After a few seconds of kicking and sweeping bottom substrate a small fish appeared in the net.  Ooh.. Kee will like to see this I thought to myself.  It appeared to be a greenside darter - not too brightly coloured at this time of year.  I kicked for a few minutes while Kee and I chatted away. The water was not much more than a foot deep, so it was easy to maneuver in my rubber boots.  I peaked into my net a few times to see if there was anything squiggling ... no movement.  Oh well, I put the apparently lifeless gravel into a peanut jar for further inspection at home. I took a separate grab sample for Kee, who wanted to investigate the oligochaetes (aquatic worms). 

Vocal red squirrel

Next we wanted to go check out the Thames River.  As we made our way along the trail, we noted turkey, meadow vole, and squirrel tracks. With winter dragging on, we noted the increasing effort squirrels have put into removing valuable walnuts from the frozen ground. There were a series of excavations along just off the side of the trail. At the river we saw about 20 Canada Geese, a few Mallards and some turkeys (flying across the river). We also checked three trail cameras, leaving one in place and collecting the others.

Back at the nook a vocal red squirrel greeted us with chattering calls. Emboldened by hunger, the animals took turns visiting the feeder to fill their empty winter bellies.  Even a tufted titmouse showed up.  I continued to spy birds while Kee set up a trail cam in the trailer, to hopefully capture an image of the weasel which has recently made its presence known (mostly in the form of many droppings).  A little while later Kee let me know he was packing up camp for the day.  As we drove up to the road 13 turkeys rose from the upper meadow. 

Later at home I looked through my peanut butter jar of creek water and mud to find more life than I

originally expected. A few stoneflies (taeniopterygidae and leuctridea families), craneflies, caddisflies (bright green hydropsychidae), fingernail clams, midges and worms thrashed about in the water.  I experimented a little with photographing the more interesting specimens (a completely biased selection).  John Bittorf helped me identify the Early Black Stonefly Taeniopteryx nivalis, a very common stonefly in the East.  He also gifted me a wonderful ID key, which I meant to ask if I could share here. That's a new family for the Newport forest ATBI http://www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/akd/newport-forest/ref/ATBI.pdf.

  

Taeniopteryx nivalis 

Kee and I both enjoyed ourselves greatly.  Not only did we see lots of interesting animals, we enjoyed Pat's homemade coffee cake and sandwiches.  Hard to beat a day like that, even in spring (my favourite season).

Rhyacophilidae