Southern Dogface Butterfly Visits Southwestern Ontario

 

This last week of early to mid September had a chance sighting of a southern butterfly species called a Southern Dogface butterfly. I had seen this butterfly in the past (as I have been to Texas as well as several other states in the southern US)  --- but only this week did I come to realize this butterfly's namesake and most interesting field mark!

I had always assumed the field mark was a sharp pointed forwing! But it turns out - this butterfly has its upper forwing as completely black for the outer 1/3 of its wing. This black outline makes the silouette of a dog, complete with a black spot for its eyes. Compare this outline with Orange Sulphur or Clouded Sulphur. In flight, its make a distinct black-yellow display as the butterfly flaps its wings.

As luck would have it - I had seen a Grey Hairstreak as well --- just north of the NW beach parking lot. This area was a little more shady (literally) and perhaps my camera's exposure had been set 1-2 stops too dark. It was an exciting find as I had not seen a hairstreak for a good 1-2 months.  I was at Pelee after work on Friday Sept 13th - and met a Toronto area butterfly enthusiast who I was able to point this out to. 

A few Fiery Skippers were around as well. I captured this photo below with my cell phone. Its a first of year sighting of this particular species. 

Good butterfly watching!

Dwayne

Final Images:  Great Plains Ladies Tresses Orchid --- At the Ojibway tallgrass preserve + Fringed Gentian. Both are extraordinarily late bloomers...

Mid October Birding - Golden Eagle, Cattle Egret & Hudsonian Godwit

Common Buckeye (with blue in wings)

(Note: This posting was from Saturday Oct 15th, 2016)

I visited Holiday Beach this morning with my four-year old son Michael. After spending a good part of an hour on the tower, my son and I walked around the beach to do some birding and butterfly watching. Eastern Comma and Common Buckeyes were well seen. This Common Buckeye above had a blueish tinge on its wing --- pretty cool!

As I was walking along the beach, my phone vibrated - an ontbirds post that a Golden Eagle was in Harrow. Just a few minutes later, I had a Golden Eagle flying towards me just 25' off the ground! At first, I assumed it was a turkey vulture - but the white windows under its wings hinted that I was dealing with a finer species of bird! Sadly, I had just switched my autofocus to manual a few minutes before so I only was able to photograph this Eagle as it flew past me to the west. From the beach, I shouted northward to the tower "Hey ---Golden Eagle at the beach!!!" ... but the three people on the tower never heard me or saw the Eagle.

Golden Eagle

I had photographed a Golden Eagle a few years ago at Holiday Beach, and that photo is now featured on All About Birds. org  - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Golden_Eagle/id

I was about to head home when an Ontbirds posting mentioned Cattle Egret & Hudsonian Godwit at Hillman, so I couldn't resist. Also, a Cloudless Sulphur butterfly was seen at the Blue Heron area at Point Pelee - so I figured I would try for that as well.

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret & Hudsonian Godwit

Eastern Fox Snake

A baby Eastern Fox snake at Hillman ended off my nice afternoon of nature viewing. Paul Pratt had found it and had it in hand - and allowed me to hold it- the first snake I've ever held! It was pretty amazing.

Good Birding, Herping & Lepping!

Olive Sided Flycatcher & Ojibway Park's Slender Bush-Clover

A recent WEPBird posting mentioned an Olive sided Flycatcher along with some other warblers at Point Pelee so I made an effort to go out. I carpooled with Kit - who is a new and enthusiastic birder from Windsor. We walked Woodland Nature Trail at Pelee and Redbud trail then went to Sparrow Field. Lots of birds to sort through but some highlights included Red breasted Nuthatch - which is rare in my opinion - and an Olive sided Flycatcher. In Sparrow Field we had a Carolina  Wren singing as we sorted through flycatchers, warblers and vireos. Its been said by many experienced birders that Pelee is a better migration trap in the fall than in the Spring! In Sparrow Field, I had also noted a fresh hairstreak butterfly on Goldenrod, but as I switched my camera lens, it flushed not to be refound. I'm 95% sure it was a Grey Hairstreak.

Back at Ojibway, I was walking along a path recently and noted an interpretive sign mentioning that a small meadow had Slender Bush-Clover! I had read about this plant as being very rare in Ontario and Canada. Its so rare, that Ojibway Park is the only place in Canada for this plant! Its rated S1 according to this COSEWIC report[link]. I looked around the meadow, being ultra careful of where I was stepping and I immediately found my target plant. Slender Bush-Clover looks a little like Showy tick Trefoil as well as Round-headed Bush-Clover (they are all in the pea family). Its smaller than the previous two plants, and is like a narrow stem shooting upwards with 3-part leaves and little flower clusters along the stem. Its not a stunning plant by any means, 999/1000 people would walk by it and not even notice it. I was  interested in seeing this plant as its on the rarity list on the Ojibway Website and I want to appreciate Ojibway Park by viewing its botanical, lep, herp, avian and habitat diversity.

Round-Headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata) at Ojibway Park in Windsor

Slender Bush Clover  (Lespedeza virginica) at Ojibway Park

Its difficult to photograph plants. One would think its way easier to photograph a plant than a bird - but somehow I think I struggle more to photograph plants than birds. Its hard to capture the "essence" of this plant and it seems that its flowering period is very short - blink and you miss the flowering stage till next year...


Good Birding, Lepping, Botanizing, Herping, Gardening and anything else related to nature!
Dwayne

Butterflies of Holiday Beach

Hackberry Emporers can be found in late August at Holiday Beach (Aug 19th, 2012)

After work tonight, I stopped by Holiday Beach to see if any passerines or raptors were around at Holiday Beach. This is my favorite spot to go birding at this time of year, and its much closer to home than Point Pelee.

While walking towards the hawk tower tonight, I realized it was very quiet. I went to take a photo with my camera and realized that my camera was dead, no batteries or response at all. So, when I had good looks at Tennessee Warbler and Black throated Green Warblers, I had to just enjoy them with my binoculars.

At the hawk tower, it was quiet as well. It was a cloudy, wind-less day and very little was moving. I spoke to the hawk counter about how amazing it was to see giant pumps pumping water into big creek from Lake Erie. Two giant tubes, perhaps two feet in diameter were pumping water into Big Creek in preparation for duck hunting season. Two Sharp shinned Hawks flew overhead, as well as a fly-by of an Adult and Juvenile Bald Eagle. A few Green Herons were in the pond below the tower, and as usual, the call of Carolina Wrens and Belted Kingfishers filled the air.

I walked along a power-line right-of-way tonight on the way back to my car and was amazed at some of the butterflies I saw. Giant Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Black Swallowtail, Common Buckeye (20), Grey Hairstreak (12), Common Checkered Skipper (1), Fiery Skipper (4), Monarchs (4). At one point, I saw a breathtaking Question Mark butterfly on the sand, gently lit with the late afternoon sunlight. I reached for my camera in vain.

Then... I saw a butterfly that I've never seen before. It was a Bronze Copper! I realized I still had my cell phone, so I tried a few bino-scoped photos but they were awful. I gave up on Bino-scoping the butterfly and slowly approached it. Eventually, I was one foot away, kneeling in front of a goldenrod plant, with two Grey Hairstreak butterflies and a Bronze Copper! They were not bothered by my presence! All three butterflies were fresh, with bright crisp colours and patterns. How exciting. Some cell-phone photos below:

Grey Hairstreak... Wish it was a White-M...

Amazing life butterfly, Bronze Copper. Photo taken with my cell phone!

I'm brand new to butterfly watching, but I don't really know if many butterfly watchers are aware of this small area at Holiday Beach. There is lush Goldenrod everywhere and butterflies are everywhere. Holiday Beach is surround by a huge swamp, has grassy areas and carolinian forest, so this mix of habitat makes this a great magnet for butterflies. 


Since I had no camera tonight, I figure I will post some photos from September 1st. I was looking for birds that day and I had walked this same right-of-way along the shore of Holiday Beach. Butterflies were everywhere, and my camera was actually working at that point. Even though these photos below are a week late, I figure I will post them as well.

Monarchs are abundant at any park along the north shore of Lake Erie

Fresh Giant Swallowtail... Ignored me while it fed on Goldenrod nectar.

Female Fiery Skipper with webworm moth

Common Buckeye... Gorgeous and abundant at Holiday Beach

Snout

As a person newer to birding, I see how other birders have taken to butterfly watching during the summer and fall season. I think that if you're reading this blog you'll agree... that nature is the greatest show on earth!

Good birding (and butterfly watching)!
Dwaynejava

PS: I couldn't help but notice that my page-view counter clicked to over 50,000 page views today! Amazing! Thanks for reading Nerdy for Birdy :-)

Checkered Skipper and Green Heron Fledglings at Ojibway v2

Common Checkered Skipper (Not Eastern :-)   )

The last two weeks have been super busy for me. Seeing the Rondeau Frigatebird was basically not an option for me. I was hoping it would stick around a little more but maybe it found its way back to the east coast, where it belongs. In March of 2011, I saw a Magnificent Frigatebird flying over my car on Sanibel Island during my lil' birding trip to Florida.

With all the butterfly counts in the last week, it was interesting to read about what was seen and I was reminded about how good Essex County has it with respect to butterfly diversity. A few bloggers mentioned Common Checkered Skipper Checkerspots and that really sparked my interest in finding them myself. A quick check of the Ontario Butterfly Group resulted in some good news: Common Checkered Skipper at Ojibway Park, just minutes from my house... Nice! This butterfly is so rare, that its not even featured in my butterfly guide for Southern Ontario (and it has a rarities section!). I'm not sure if the butterfly I photographed above is a male or female since my photo was not showing enough detail on the edges of the hindwing. According to butterfliesandmoths.org "Upperside of male is blue-gray; female is black. Both sexes have large white spots which form median bands across both wings. Fringes of male checkered but black checks often reach only halfway to edge of fringe." (Butterfliesandmoths.org) See this site for more info in ID'ing the gender of this butterfly.

Here are some others from the last week or two. I saw a Fiery Skipper and Hackberry Emperor recently at Holiday Beach but no photos. Another butterfly I would really like to see is an Olive Hairstreak!

 

 

Breeding birds at Ojibway park include Field Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds , Orchard Orioles, Tufted Titmouse, Indigo Buntings, and so many others. Two that I took note of this week though was this chance find of a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher nest and a Green Heron nest, complete with downy Green Heron Fledglings!

Love this photo. This is what its all about.

Green Heron is one of my *sparkbirds*!

Good birding,
Dwaynejava


Sources:
butterfliesandmoths.org, "Common Checkered Skipper", ND, July 10, 2012, WEB, http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Pyrgus-communis 

Bonus Bird Photos:

Found at Spring Garden area of Ojibway Park

Found at Brunet Park, LaSalle Ontario

Five lined Skink and other Pelee Flora and Fauna

I've never seen a Five lined Skink before so I figured I would go to Pelee today an try my luck at finding it. I heard that they can be found on the South side of the visitor center (they like the warm bricks) and around the West Beach access paths. I think one thing that prevented me from seeing it earlier is that its size is so small. Its probably only 2" long and quickly run off the west beach access paths as you make yourself visible to them. The five lined skink is one of only five lizards that are native to Canada's geographic regions. See this site for more details: http://www.simplywildcanada.com/Lizards_of_Canada.html .

I walked the West Beach footpath to the tip parking lot and saw tonnes of butterflies. Most numerous today was Giant Swallowtail, Eastern tiger Swallowtail, Common Buckeye, Monarch, and singles of Hackberry Emperors and Red Spotted Purple. Summer Azure was abundant as well. There is a tonne of Common Knapweed along West Beach. This is good for the butterflies even though its a non-native species. It thrives in the dry, hot environment on the West Beach. The park wanted to remove Common Knapweed as discussed in this Windsor Star article.

Summer Azure

 Hackberry Emperor (butterfly lifer)- This actually landed on me!

 Common Buckeye

 Giant Swallowtail on Common Knapweed. Common Knapweed is abundant on the west beach...

Common Buckeye on Prickly Pear Cactus

I also kayaked the Point Pelee Marsh and headed straight to the small islands of muddy sediment that attract shorebirds. Some seen today included Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs ... and I must confess I've had a tough time identifying some of the birds. My problem with identification is the following: Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers are very close in size (6-6 1/4"), but there was a shorebird that was noticibly larger...possibly a Sanderling? Sanderlings are small, but still about 2" longer than Semipalmated Sandpipers and look very similar, at least in my interpretation of my field guides.

 Sanderling? It's more than a 1/4" bigger than the Least Sandpipers... Do Sanderlings hang out on mudflats? It was also 'running' as it chased the Least Sandpipers.

Three of these 4 shorebird photos are obvious. I have a feeling I've botched the second last photo. What looks like a Semipalmated Sanpiper but is slightly larger? Any shared identification thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. I will check out these mudflats again in August. Hopefully something good shows up!

Good birding,

Dwaynejava