Ojibway's Spiranthes Orchids - Late Bloomers - Literally

I was walking at Ojibway recently with the intention of finding some Spiranthes orchid species.  I'm so new in my botany efforts I had just assumed in the past that I was just observing Nodding Ladies Tressses -  but a recent interaction with I-Naturalist gave me some alarming feedback. One photo that I randomly posted was clearly another Spiranthes Orchid species: A Great Plains Ladies Tresses!

At the Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie last night, I counted 22 different plants within an area of 50 meters of pathway. I must admit that I still don't quite have this species understood - and my eyes are green when it comes to this group (genus/ taxa). 

One other Spiranthes Orchid species that Ojiway hosts is called Shining Ladies Tresses - which could probably be identified by its earlier flowering date - Early June! [link].

There is so much beauty and diversity in nature. So much to learn. I'm amazed that so many people in the world have not seriously dived into nature beyond just the most obvious observations.


Good Botanizing!


PS: I snapped a few photos of American Copper and Common Checkered Skipper over the last week or two. Lots of Common Nighthawks overhead at dusk as well. This might be one of the first times I've seen a Checkered Skipper with its wings showing the Ventral perspective!

Yellow Crowned Night Heron - Eating Crayfish

A Yellow crowned night heron was recently photographed by an Amhurstburg woman who posted it on a facebook group wondering what it was. Amazingly, a few local birders caught wind of the photo and identified it as a  Juvie YC Night Heron.

To see it eating crayfish was pretty amazing. It would catch the fish, bring it over to the grass, rip off its two claws, then swallow the body whole. In one hour, it must have caught 5 crayfish. Amazing. Its hard to think that all those crayfish could fit in its abdomen!

A local photographer (Dennis Dupuis) has a gallery here on facebook featuring this bird catching and eating a spiny softshell turtle. Click here to see his facebook gallery.

Here are some photos taken recently. 

Good Birding!

Dwayne

Red headed Woodpeckers at Ojibway Park in Windsor + Ojibway Legal Fund

Ojibway keeps proving itself to be a sparkling diamond in Windsor's West End.

Occasionally people ask me what my favorite bird is. Its a hard question to answer!?!!? Its difficult to even round out your ten favorite warblers, or your top three owls or shorebirds. But overall, I could almost say that with the 403 bird species that I've seen... the Red headed Woodpecker has to be #1.

To my absolute amazement, a local birder/photographer mentioned a breeding family of Red headed Woodpeckers earlier today, and well, I had to stop by and see if I could find them. Sure enough, almost as I got out of my car I saw one fly over my head. I think there are two adults and two juvies... A cute family of four if I'm not mistaken. I only stopped by Ojibway for 10 minutes but almost immediately witnessed the scene above with a juvenile being fed. A breathtaking scene - breeding Red headed woodpeckers in West Windsor! This is just one more reason Windsor should be making Ojibway better and keeping it as a place that future generations can enjoy - rather than degrading it with commercial development, and increased traffic. I'm sure you are probably aware of this but the Red-headed Woodpecker is a "Species of Concern" in Ontario which means it is close to becoming a "threatened" species. See this link for more: https://www.ontario.ca/page/red-headed-woodpecker

I don't know if blog readers have read about the "Save Ojibway" organization that was fighting to have the government stop development next to Ojibway Park. The group founder, Nancy Pancheshan has been fighting and attending municipal meetings, OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) hearings etc. The OMB went with the City and the Developer who are now allowed to go full steam on their "Big Box Development". Save Ojibway was rightfully concerned that Ojbiway Park is one of the most bio-diverse parks in the province, and it has many species at risk. So if there are endangered species laws... why are they building here?  (Good Question!) The developer sued Nancy for $750,000.00 ,  and supposedly spent $40,000 on the lawsuit to sue her. The judge (perhaps wanting to warn environmentalists to bugger off) fined the two women who spearheaded Save Ojibway with almost $12,000 to Coco Paving for their legal costs.  Someone in the community made a "Go Fund Me" account for these two women, and I'm happy to say that 200 donations have added up to $9000 in just 3 days. See these two links below:

http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/gofundme-campaign-launched-to-help-ojibway-park-activists 
https://www.gofundme.com/save-ojibway 


To me, Nancy P is a hero in our community. She is trying to get the government to follow its own endangered species laws ... and she has been dragged into the media with many people that would rather that she just "shut up and go away". She didn't. She fought hard to save Ojibway, but after a 6+ year battle, the Ontario Municipal Board sided with the builder. I don't want to obligate any of my readers, but if you care to support her, and stand behind her for standing up for the environment - I would greatly appreciate it. Obviously, I made a contribution because I think her fight demonstrates what it means to be a citizen in a country like Canada.  I could write pages of content about how special a place Ojibway is but the few people that read this blog probably already know.

On a lighter note, I would like to end with some sightings from Ojibway. I walked through a sedge meadow (shown above) earlier today to try to find my nemisis butterfly - but no luck. I feel that I saw Tawny-edged skippers, Duke's Skippers and Broad-winged Skippers. But no Mulberry Winged !!!

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Duke's Skipper and an unlikely Little Sulphur (Eurema lisa) -v2

Dukes Skipper on Chicory

I stopped by Brunet Park in LaSalle this morning, and to my amazement, photographed a skipper species that I had never seen, but recognized. This skipper had a long streak (or ray) on the underside of its hindwing that hinted of Duke's Skipper. Duke's Skipper and Dion's are quite similar, but the forest-edge habitat that Dukes frequents hinted that I had a pretty rare butterfly on my hands! Thankfully, I emailed the experts to get confirmation. Alan Wormington and Blake Mann confirmed the identification for me. 

More on Dukes Skippers:

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Euphyes-dukesi

http://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/abstracts/zoology/Euphyes_dukesi.pdf

Another rarity (in my opinion anyway) was a "Little Yellow" I saw at Point Pelee yesterday. I saw it for just 5 seconds... I obtained this crappy but diagnostic photo.  Very cool! Just to get a sense of how rare these two are, neither of them were on the Ojibway Butterfly Count tally results [Link]... So pretty rare butterflies! 

I've never seen a Little Yellow in Canada. I had seen some along the road during my last trip to Florida, but was unable to get out and really look at them (I was stopped at an intersection). 

Hickory Hairstreak - Another Brunet Park Gem

Back to some more common butterflies...

Good butterfly watching!
Dwayne

Windsor / LaSalle Butterfly Count 2013

Coral Hairstreak Butterfly. We saw at least 6 or so of these today.

I joined Blake Mann this morning, along with (Jeff Larson, Paul Desjardens, Ian Woodfield) to assist in the local butterfly count. I've been tagging along now for two or three years, mainly for the purpose of learning more about the fine art of butterfly watching. I've really enjoyed butterfly watching, and Windsor/LaSalle have some great spots, not to mention the other natural areas in Essex such as Holiday Beach, Cedar Creek and Point Pelee.

It was nice to finally see some hairstreak butterflies today, as I had not seen any this year yet. The best butterfly of the day for me was finding an American Copper in a particular meadow within the Spring Garden  area of Ojibway. Edward's Hairstreak was a new life butterfly for me and was very exciting for me to identify it with my butterfly field guide while referring to the photo I had taken.

Edward's Hairstreak is a life butterfly

This American Copper butterfly below is my first in Canada. I had seen one at Oak Openings Metropark in Ohio a few summers ago. Just a gorgeous butterfly!

This was a stunning butterfly. It gave such good looks, it must have sat on this one flower (common knapweed) for 10 minutes. What perspective is more beautiful for this butterfly? Dorsal or ventral?

Dorsal Perspective of the American Copper butterfly

It was a good morning of butterfly watching. Most people that are into Ontario Butterfly Watching would probably agree that this year is 'slow' and crappy for some strange reason. Perhaps the extended winter we had, or abundant rain this summer? Or maybe last years butterfly watching (comparitively) was so good. There were no Fiery Skippers, Checkered Skippers or Variegated Fritillaries this year (to my knowledge). Still nice to get out and see these winged gems! I hope the final tallies from today are listed somewhere. Perhaps the Ontario Butterflies Google Group?

Good Birding & Butterfly Watching!
Dwayne

PS: Bonus Images - Great spangled Fritillary & Baltimore Checkerspot from Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie early this week.