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

Wilson's Phalarope whilst kayaking...

A recent kayak trip to PPNP had most of the easily seen peeps... Not much different than last week, Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers, Least and Spotted Sandpipers were easily seen. Several hundred Black Terns were out in the main marsh area. The highlight of the trip was a first summer Wilson's Phalarope, which completely ignored me and my bright red 16.5' kayak as it foraged the small muddy islands in PPNP's marsh (see video). This WP was so close at one point, it was closer than the minimal focus distance on my lens! Very cool!

Good Birding!
Dwaynejava

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