Aberrant Azure

Last weekend, I went out to Pelee in an effort to meet up a few friends that were birding the park. I was late getting there and ended up walking west beach footpath on my own. I found this aberrant Summer Azure along west beach, oddly enough, on the same plant that hosted the Olive Hairstreak a few days before!  I later showed the image to 'A-Worm' and he quickly shattered my hopes of this being perhaps a silvery blue or maybe a cherry gall azure. He simply described it as being an aberrant Summer Azure. This blog [link] seems to have found the same aberrant version of this summer azure. The blog mentions that its not uncommon to have smearing or stretching in the ventral wing maculations of coppers, blues and hairstreaks.

Tawny Emporer on the Pelee Tram. I often see at least one good butterfly on the roof of the tram...

Giant Swallowtail

Later, I kayaked the Pelee Marsh. I've done this now for the last three summers in August, and  get a great chance to see some shorebirds up close. No major rarities this time around, although I guess a nice look at Wilson's Snipe is always nice.

Black Tern - Juvenile

Pectoral Sandpipers

Wilson's Snipe

Late August is a great time to get out and see shorebirds, or to visit a natural area and see the late summer wildflower show!

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Cylindrical Rough Blazingstar at Ojibway

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

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