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!

Labour Day Weekend Birding - Pelee Birding & Snowy Egrets at Holiday Beach

This could be a  is a Least Flycatcher  (ignore the image label)

Labour Day weekend is usually such a great weekend for birding. Southbound migration is in full swing and its the last long weekend of Summer.  I decided to go birding at Point Pelee and my first stop in the park was at Delaurier Trail. I found a really nice pocket of flycatchers and warblers just north of the parking lot. This recently managed area has lots of open cedar savannah with lots of brush piles. Blue grey Gnatcatchers, Nashville, Bay-Poll warblers were seen here as well as Eastern Phoebe, Yellow bellied Flycatcher (could have been a Least to be honest) and Eastern Wood Pewee were seen and heard. Overhead, three or four Common Nighthawks were foraging with spectacular arial maneuvers and showing there nicely marked white bars on their long wings. The octagon area of the Delaurier trail was nice as well with a few more warbler species (black and white), Hummingbirds and more Flycatchers.

Later at Cactus Field - I noted that it was birdy as well. Its really grown in since its grand opening this spring. Its hard to find the trail under all the Goldenrod. Lots of Blue Jays, Carolina and House Wrens, Common Grackels, Goldfinch, Cardinals were around. A Least Flycatcher posed nicely for me but my camera was at a +1 exposure, overexposing this beautiful little avian gem.

Hackberry Emperor in the White Pine Parking Lot.

 

 

 



I saw many birders at the park today including Steve Pike, Blake, Alan, Jeremy B & Josh. Josh and Jeremy invited me to go out to Holiday Beach with them so I joined, because I wanted to get better looks at Snowy Egrets than I had gotten in the last week or two.  On the way, I stopped in Kingsville to see a Common Checkered Skipper colony that is behind the McDonalds lot.

Sure enough at Holiday Beach - Trumpeter Swans were a highlight as well as a Solitary Sandpiper, Green Heron, Kingfishers ... but no Snowy Egrets in sight.  Until we were leaving... Josh called the Snowy in flight - as it landed in the pond adjacent to the hawk watching tower.

I only saw one Snowy Egret, but Kory, Josh and Jeremy had seen two as they left the park.

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Baird's on the Beach

(Editors Note: This posting is about 1 week late. I was going to post it last week, but just couldn't hit the 'publish' button until tonight.)

Baird's Sandpiper on Pelee's East Beach
This past Saturday morning (Sept 7th), my son and I went to Pelee to see if we could find any interesting birds or butterflies.  We parked in the VC parking lot and soon found a worn Tawny Emporer fly by and perch on a nearby shrub. Later, while walking through Sparrow Field, we noted few butterflies other than Cabbage Whites! It would have been nice to see a Grey Hairstreak or Cloudless Sulphur, but no such luck. Going out towards the east beach from Sparrow Field, a large group of gulls were seen, along with a distant shorebird.  Long story short, a nice Baird's Sandpiper (see bottom right of photo below) was there. Just as I was noticing the first shorebird through my binoculars, I noticed it was joined by a small flock of 7 Sanderlings... Then quickly flushed by my 4-year old son!

Marbled Godwit at Harrow
An Ontbird posting on Saturday night revealed that a Marbled Godwit was at Harrow SL. Sadly, most Essex County Lagoons are locked up like Alcatraz. Unlike Blenheim, Port Stanley*, Ridgetown*, Tilbury, which allow birdwatchers to view migrant shorebirds (and sometimes are progressive enough to offer viewing platforms*), to my knowledge, Essex lagoons are locked to the public. Its ironic that Essex does this, but then tries to sell itself as a "Birding and Nature" tourism destination.

First of Year Checkered Skipper
As I was putting some books into the trunk of my car this week, I noticed a small blueish-brown butterfly alight onto a white clover plant adjacent to my car. A closer inspection turned out to be a first-of-year Checkered Skipper! I followed it for a minute and noted that it soon flew into a 'whirl-about' with another Checkered Skipper. There must be 6 or more butterflies at this one parking lot alone (alongside a clover filled courtyard).  I assumed these were recently arrived migrants but Alan Wormington informed me that they are resident in Essex County, and west Windsor has lots of ideal habitat: disturbed, industrial areas with potential for its larval foodplant: Mallow. A cool thing about this butterfly is that it is very common in the Southeastern US but drops off (non-resident) north of the 40th parallel [more on common checkered skippers].

Common Checked Skipper - First of Year - Found alongside a parking lot near ambassador bridge in West Windsor

North American Range for Common Checkered Skipper

I have some cool Holiday Beach hawk-watching photos to share. Stay tuned!

Good Birding (and Butterfly Watching),
Dwaynejava

Update*** --> Could this Tawny Emperor be a record breaking late record??
Photographed Sept 7th near the PPNP VC parking lot.

Tardy Tawny? Lepidopteric Laggard?

Green Frog - Along marsh boardwalk

Hawkfest Birding at Holiday Beach & Pelee

Saturday morning, the family and I headed out to the hawk festival at Holiday Beach.  A few Kestrels flew overhead as we arrived and some kettles of Turkey Vultures and Broad wings (at stratospheric levels) were seen. The Canadian Peregrine Foundation had some captive raptors on display including this Barn Owl above. I find it kinda sad to see any captive bird and was almost reluctant to post this gorgeous bird (he looks so sad!). This weekend was not too great for Hawkwatching. The winds were southerly and little was moving. I guess on Tuesday this week, a huge cold front will push lots of raptors south.

While leaving Holiday Beach, I walked along the scrubby area parallel to the beach with my son and saw a few warblers: Blackpoll, Blackburnian and Nashville Warblers were seen briefly. Nuthatches were heard but not seen. A few flycatchers were around but I did not really have time to really ID them. I think one was an Eastern Pewee, and the other (see below) may be another Olive sided?!?

Audubon Magazine recently had an article which listed out the ten best Hawk-watching places in North America, and Holiday Beach was third in the list!  Pretty cool. See the article here: http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/birds/audubon-guide-hawk-watching

Another Olive sided Flycatcher?

Blackburnian Warbler... Non Cooperative...

Sachem on New England Aster Behind Pelee Inn

Point Pelee Tour with the Family 

A large tree in Sparrow Field always has Hackberry butterflies on it. It may be leaking sap.

Point Pelee was quiet bird-wise until my wife and two sons visited the tip. While leaving the beach and getting onto the west path back to the tram loop, I noticed many birds in the first few trees at the tip of Point Pelee. The trees were crawling with Red-breasted Nuthatches (10+?), Yellow rumped Warblers (6) and Blue grey Gnatcatchers (4).  A single southernmost-Sanderling was trying to avoid tourists walking the beach at the tip of Pelee... the only shorebird. Hundreds of gulls  (some black-backed) and Cormorants were on the three islands that extended out from the tip of Pelee.

Checkered Skipper on Short's Aster

Good birding,
Dwaynejava


PS: A little buzz in Windsor lately about a birding film being shot at various parts of Essex including Ojibway Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ2cWzqjnaA&feature=related
http://www.windsorstar.com/entertainment/Cavanagh+soaring+Birder/7246574/story.html
http://www.ctvwindsor.ca/tag/the-birder/

Praying Mantis. On my son's play-house!

Quick, three beers! Olive sided Flycatcher at Ojibway Prairie

  

After work today, I drove to the Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie for a relaxing walk. I was hoping to see some interesting butterflies, but did not really see any rarities. (Monarch, Buckeyes, Eastern Tailed Blues, Pearl Crescent etc.) I really had been hoping to find an Olive sided Flycatcher this season, and recent sightings by Blake Mann and Paul Pratt reminded me that indeed, they are in season! I was not expecting to see one at Ojibway tonight, but to my utter amazement, one was perched at the top of a dead, leafless tree in the Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie! I am quite confident that I'm identifying it properly, I had mis-identified some Eastern Pewees in the past as Olive sided Flycatchers. This bird was large, had barely visible dusky wingbars, perched at the top of any tree it was perched in. I wish I had heard its call ("quick three beers"), but it was not vocalizing.

The Olive sided Flycatcher is yet another species at risk. According to ROM, its status is "Special Concern Provincially, Threatened Nationally". See http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.php?doc_type=fact&lang=&id=329 for more details. According to the Ibird App on my phone, it indicates that breeding bird surveys are showing alarming negative trends. Its estimated that its population has declined 72% between 1966-2002! Its a life bird at #305. The MNR has another PDF fact sheet here: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@species/documents/document/276684.pdf

Anyone know what tree this is?

Some birds seen this week at Ojibway:
Northern Flicker 1
White breasted Nuthatch 1
Robins 2
Red Breasted Grosbeck 2
Olive Sided Flycatcher 1
Eastern Pewee 4
Eastern Bluebird 2
Common Nighthawk 2
Cedar Waxwings 50
Blue Jays 10
RT Humingbird 2 (chasing a nuthatch!)
Field Sparrow 2
American Goldfinch 10
Blue grey Gnatcatcher 2
Red eyed Vireo 1


While walking back to my car, I noticed a tree that was loaded with berries, and birds! Cedar waxwings were flying in and out of this tree, and a Vireo and BG Gnatcatcher were seen as well.

I took the photo below while picking up my son at my mother in laws house. It was in a residential neighborhood!

Just found: Checkered skipper, looking fresh and blue-ish in my mother-in-laws garden! Taken with my cell-phone!

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Last six lifers:

American Bittern #300
Willow Flycatcher #301
Upland Sandpiper #302
Bank Swallow #303
Cliff Swallow #304
Olive Sided Flycatcher #305


PS: This was a posting from Sunday that I never published, but will add as a post-script to this posting.

 

While waiting to get my hair cut last week, I noticed a bird-related Subaru advertisement behind the cover of a recent Macleans magazine. I went to take a photo of it with my cell phone, but realized I left it in my car. This week, the ABA had a blog posting about the ad, so I couldn't help but re-post.

I've attempted to bird Holiday Beach on Friday (Aug 24, 2012) after work, but not much of note was seen. The place was crawling with Cedar Waxwings. Other birds seen include:
Eastern Pewees,
Downy Woodpeckers
Black capped Chickadees
Warbling and Red eyed Vireos
Black and White Warbler
Blue grey gnatcatcher
Yellow warblers
Northern Flickers
Belted Kingfisher
Bald Eagle (flushing many ducks, egrets and herons)


I was hoping to see an Olive-sided Flycatcher, but no luck! Maybe the birding gods are punishing me, with no lifers in several months!

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

New Binoculars!

Guess which lenses are coated...

 

About two years ago, I purchased my first pair of binoculars, Bushnell Sportsman 10x42s! I've been really impressed with them, but my recent intrest in butterflies highlighted their main shortcoming, the close focus distance of over 7 meters! Amazingly, I only paid $30 for those binoculars! They were marketed at Nascar Fans that might pick up a pair of bright roof-prism binos at Wal-mart in the states. (My new binoculars are marketed towards hunters... I can't afford binoculars marketed to birders). The old pair of binos will be my spare binos that I leave in my trunk just in case!

This week, I picked up a pair of Bushnell XLT Trophy binoculars, which were only $150. They are a little brighter than my original pair, and colours seem a little brighter, but they are a little heavier. The close focus distance of these binoculars is only 2 meters, so they are much better for butterfly watching. I really think that if you take any pair of 10x42 roof-prism binoculars you have a great tool to go birding. Check out the optical specifications for $500, $150, $30 binoculars. The XLT wins on all measures except for weight!

ELITE

XLT Trophy

Sportsman

Magnification X Obj Lens

10 x 42

10 x 42

10 x 42

Close Focus (ft/m)

8.2 / 2.5

8 / 2.4

23 / 7

Lens Coating

Fully Multi

Fully Multi & XTR

Multi

Field of View ft@1000yds / m@1000m

325 / 108

314 / 104.7

305 /

RainGuard® HD

No

no

Eyecups

Twist-Up

Twist-up

Twist-up

Eye Relief

15.2

15.5

13.6

Adapt to Tripod

Yes

Yes

Yes

Focus System

Center

Center

Center

Exit Pupil (mm)

4.2

4.2

4

Prism Glass

BaK-4

BaK-4

BK-7

Water/Fog Proof

Yes

Yes

No

Prism System

Roof

Roof

Roof

Weight (oz/g)

25 / 765

26.1 / 740

22.2

Model

234210

620142ED

141042

Size Class

Standard

Standard

Standard

More Butterfly Watching... Mainly from the Spring garden area of Ojibway

Male and Female Fiery Skipper - Common at Spring garden

Long-dash Skipper

Tawny edged Skipper

Wild Indigo Duskywing

Male Sachem, Unmistakable with large stigma on the upper forwing.

Birding has been slow, although I did notice a (juv?) Humingbird perched in my backyard near my feeder, as well as my first southbound Warbler, which was associating with some Black Capped Chickadees today.

 

My first South-bound warbler for the season. Cool!

Good birding (& Butterfly Watching!)
Dwaynejava

Common Checkered Skipper ... is Common at Spring Garden!