Dion Skipper - Life butterfly at #119!

Dion Skipper

This morning I went for a bike ride along the Essex Country Greenway bike path. I was hoping to find some sedge patches that might host one of the last species in Southwestern Ontario that I hadn't really seen, photographed or "lifered". Oddly enough, I feel that I've been out on some butterfly counts where "Dion" was mentioned but I didn't really get a chance to observe the field marks or photograph it.  I had seen "several" sedge skippers this morning but none were convincingly "Dion" - the most common Sedge skipper in Essex is probably the Dukes Skipper, which is a little bit of a provincial rarity that is endemic to Essex County.

Dion Skipper's host plant is: Carex lacustris (Lake Sedge)
Mulberry wing Skipper's host plant is: Carex stricta (Tussock Sedge)

Along that greenway I has spotted some other butterflies and moths as well. They include:
Snowberry Clearwing Moth on Catnip
Horace's Duskywing
Red Spotted Purple
Eastern Comma
Monarchs
Giant Swallowtail
Common Buckeye
Duke's Skipper

Some birds included:
Brown Thrashers
Baltimore Orioles
Indigo Buntings
among many other common birds

Later near Oxley, I noticed a Northern Mockingbird on a wire - they are a little more common near Kingsville it seems. Still - a pretty cool bird to spot while driving.

Good birding!

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

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 :-)

Great Horned Owl & Short Billed Dowitcher

I had a great day at Point Pelee National Park (PPNP) today! I met up with Rick from Leamington and he expertly showed me the location of two Great Horned Owls (along with Kevin, the Owl whisperer).

Rick and I later did some Butterflying on the west beach area, where we saw Giant Swallowtail, Yellow Sulpher, Painted Lady, Pearl Crescent, Monarch and Common Buckeye (thanks to Blake for the heads up on the Buckeye). We also saw Snout butterflies while talking to a butterfly researcher at the researcher's lodge.

Later in the afternoon, I kayaked the PPNP marsh ... which was pretty quiet, but I did see some roosts of Terns, Black Terns, Short Billed Dowitcher (lifer), Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, G/L Yellowlegs, Sanderling. At one point, a young Black Crowned Night Heron flew from the reeds and landed on a nearby peat island.

Good day overall, but I think I need to invest in a wide brimmed hat! I think I'm aging myself with so much sun exposure lately.

Good Birding & Butterflying,
Dwayne

Ojibway Park Butterflies

I've photographed several butterflies since late June. I'm still a noob (newbie) with butterflies and I would not even classify myself as a butterflyer
... I should buy a guide before I do that! Here are some that I've photographed since late June. I figured if I don't post these beauties to my blog, they will get buried in my computer and forgotten about. The odd thing about photographing butterflies with my birding lens is that I have a minimum focal length of 8 feet, so I can really only take horizontal shots. 

I'm still learning alot about Butterflies so these may be mis-labeled. A recent butterfly count in the Ojibway area had over 50 species identified.

I've always wondered why a Question Mark butterfly was named like that. This photo actually shows the question mark symbol on the bottom of its wings. It looks like someone drew a question mark symbol with a metalic silver marker.

This photo was composed from two photographs... One with the tops of its wings, and the other with the bottoms.

And this one from last fall at Point Pelee a Giant Swallowtail  ...