Eastern Fringed Prairie Orchid at Ojibway Park + Butler's Garter Snake and Other Stuff

Things have been busy but even still, I've attempted to go for a short hike after work at various areas of the Ojibway Complex almost daily over the last few weeks. Summer is so short that one needs to make serious efforts to get out in nature to witness it. Highlites over the last week or two include a few species FOY Hairstreaks, and some cool video footage of a Butler's Gartersnake!

My best sighting was a from a hike I took this afternoon. I found two Eastern fringed Prairie Orchids at Ojibway! I must have walked 10 km over the years to see these but finally found some habitat at Ojibway that has a few. Sadly, just like the last time, they are a little past their peak freshness but still I was pretty excited to see these. These photos were just taken with my cell phone so exposure and quality are a little lower than what might be expected with the old' DSLR. (*Update: A blogger from Ohio wrote a wonderful writeup on the Eastern Fringed Prairie Orchid here: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.ca/2017/07/one-of-ohios-rare-prairie-fringed.html a great read!)


Edwards Hairstreak and Coral Hairstreaks are pretty easily found in the Springarden area.

This Butler's Gartersnake was on a path that my mother-in-law and I were walking on near South Cameron Woodlot. It stopped just at the edge of the path and allowed me just enough time to record it with my cell phone! Check out the video below. Josh V informed me recently that the Butler's Gartersnake is not a subspecies of the Eastern Gartersnake but rather, its own distinct species. The redish brown colour along the sides is one of the fieldmarks for the Butler's. This species is at risk or even endangered in Ontario. Its range in Ontario is restricted to the Southwestern Ontario. Read more at these two links:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/butlers-gartersnake
http://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/species/speciesDetails_e.cfm?sid=588

I had a brief look at a Baltimore Checkerspot nectaring on Purple Milkweed at Ojibway Park. This was seen in the Provincial Tallgrass Prairie Reserve. 

I think this heart-shaped leaf and vine is from Wild Yam. This is pretty easily seen at Ojibway.

I read recently that just one small section of Ojibway Park - the city owned tallgrass prairie heritage park has 540 plant species. Amazingly, about 20% of those are endangered, and I wanted to make a better effort to document those plants.  My goal is to identify 250 plants at Ojibway this summer! This is going to force me to pay more attention to things that I would have simply ignored or walked by... Such as this Spotted St John's Wort. Common, but never acknowledged until now!

Spreading Dogbane - again - the first time I've acknowledged it on this 7-year old blog. I need to pay more attention!

Good birding, lepping, mothing, herping, and botanizing!
Dwayne

Windsor LaSalle Butterfly Count 2014 (v2)

Monarch on Butterfly Milkweed - Butterfly watchers are happy to see a slight population rebound from last summer

Last July, I did a review of the Windsor LaSalle Butterfly count for 2013 [link]. So I figured I would continue tradition this year. This year's count took place on July 5th, 2014. I actually didn't officially take part in this year's count. My son had a soccer game on that Saturday morning but I was able to catch up with the butterfly census about an hour after it started at Brunet Park in LaSalle.

Its always fun to see a bunch of Hairstreaks nectaring on Butterfly Milkweed

Interesting Notes from this years survey:

•  1,787 individuals of 49 species for the 2014 butterfly count (1,471  of 52 species in 2013)
• 19 Monarch butterflies as opposed to last year's 3 Monarchs [link]! The 10 year running average for Monarchs is 32 for this count (source: http://www.ojibway.ca/nabc2012.pdf). I actually have finally seen a few Monarchs this year (starting with this recent count) at Ojibway and Point Pelee.
• No American Coppers this year (I did see one earlier in the season though)
• No Mulberry Winged Skippers this year- A species that I was going to really try to catch up with...
• A worn Northern Oak Hairstreak was found at Brunet Park a new species for the count!
• Edwards, Acadian, Coral and Banded Hairstreak are pretty easily found at Spring Garden area, and huge numbers of Hickory Hairstreaks were seen at Brunet Park in LaSalle this year (100+)

Here are some pictures I took while butterfly watching on or around the butterfly count...

At one point of our walk, we noticed a giant bumble bee nectaring on milkweed flowers, and then a second giant bumble bee... No... A Snowberry Clearing Moth nectaring on the same plant as a bumble bee! The Snowberry Clearwing moth is a bumble bee mimic and it was cool to see them nectaring side by side!

My son and I also went to Point Pelee after the butterfly count (July 6th) to see what we could find along East Beach ... Lots of butterflies were to be seen but highlights included 1-Pipevine Swallowtail and 4-Striped Hairstreaks.

Good Butterfly Watching!
Dwaynejava

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.