Catching Up

Over the last month or two - I've been working on a home renovation project (basement project video 1, 2 ) - which has prevented me from doing more natural history exploration. Work and coaching obligations have piled up as well but even still - I have had some interesting highlights:

Little Yellow Butterfly - at McGeechy Pond near Erieau Ontario.
















King Rail - new life bird. I have read about this endangered bird on so many occasions over the last ten years of birding - so to finally cross paths with one was very special.  This photo below shows a juvenile bird. I left the area soon after seeing this bird so as to not disturb it. What a special part of our great lakes wetland ecosystem habitat and natural history. Hopefully more wetlands can be restored and give this species a chance at not becoming extirpated or worse - extinct.

Bottle Gentian - Seen while walking though Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie (provincial reserve). I looked for Fringed Gentian this year but did not find a single specimen.

Great Plains Ladies Tresses - Great story here - I had posted a photo of this species to Inaturalist a few years ago, and I had assumed I was photographing the more common nodding laddies tresses. I was informed that the great plains tresses species has a nice vanilla smell - and with this sighting - I was able to make note of the scent.

Backyard Warblers - Occasionally over the last month, I have been in my back yard and noted warblers (Palm and Nashville) in the hedgerow behind my back yard fence.

Swamp White Oak - I was at a playground on Windsor's east end with my kids and we walked through a short pathway that dissected a tiny forested area. One Oak tree had its branches hanging over the pathway and I plucked a leaf from the branch - I was interested in identifying the leaf by using I naturalist.


 

Black throated Green Warbler - Side on a sidewalk - most definitely caused by a window strike.

Two interesting articles / videos:

• Conservative Government in Ontario reduces environmental restrictions for gravel mines:   https://ontarionature.org/pits-and-quarries
• Youtube video: 10 reasons why birding is awesome   https://youtu.be/4QsDG_JyVXA 

Good Birding, Botanizing and Naturing
Dwayne



Life List Update
 Western Screech Owl 453 (AZ)
 Scaled Quail 454  (AZ)
 Graces Warbler 455  (AZ)
 Painted Redstart 456  (AZ)
 Yellow Eyed Junco 457  (AZ)
 Blue throated Hummingbird 458 (AZ)
 Elegant Trogon 459 (AZ)
 King Rail 460

Birding Holiday Beach on Labour Day Weekend + Black Witch at Point Pelee

I birded Holiday Beach for an hour or two this afternoon. It was cloudy and started raining, but I figured I would go for a walk with my umbrella!

As always - Labour Day Weekend is a great time to go birding in Essex County - with southbound warbler migration in full swing. Today, I had over 10 species of warblers at Holiday Beach. There were many birds to sort through and many went un-identified.  Blackburnian Warblers were abundant and seemed to greatly outnumber all the other species present.

I think I photographed an Olive sided Flycatcher - although I might be mistaken on its ID. It was a little more in the interior canopy than I am used to seeing them!

Rick from Leamington informed me on Saturday that there was a Black Witch Moth being seen at the Barn Swallow Canopy by the tip of Pelee. I was unable to twitch this moth but Rick was gracious in sharing his photo with the blog readers.  Thanks Rick!

Good birding!
-Dwayne

Underwing Moths of Ojibway - Aug 2019 + Moth Event at Pelee this Weekend

Last night, I went for a walk with a great naturalist and friend, Moe Bottos. Moe has been a passionate teacher and naturalist for many years. He has traveled the world to discover all forms of wildlife and developed a fondness for insects and in particular - Moths in the Catocala genus.

It was a cool evening and at about 9pm I met Moe and his wife (and dog!) for a moth walk. Its always a treat because Moe knows his moths! His name is even printed in the Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America as some of his photos are used in the guide.

We were looking to mainly focus on Catocala moth species, and more specifically - we were hoping to see the Sad Underwing.  I'm 'sad' to say that we didn't see it on this particular evening.

But, there were two new catocala moth species that I did get to see. One was the Clouded Underwing, and the other being the Inconsolable Underwing (Catocala insolabilis). I did not get a photo of the Inconsolable Underwing... and I was pretty upset about that for the whole night. I guess you could say that I was inconsolable! lol

We ended up seeing 30+ catocala specimens with about 6 different varieties.


My Catocala life list features the following species:

Sweetheart Underwing
Darling Underwing
Widow Underwing
Sad Underwing (new for Canada [link])
Residua Underwing
Obscure Underwing
Yellow-gray Underwing
Yellow banded Underwing
The Penitent Underwing
Old wife Underwing
Ilia Underwing
Ultronia Underwing* (seen earlier in the summer in past mothing trips)
Locust Underwing  ** (not really a catocala genus moth)
Clouded Underwing (NEW!)
Inconsolable Underwing (NEW!)


Anyway, Maurice is hosting a moth event at Point Pelee this Saturday night at 9pm. Moth sheets will be up, and underwing moth walks will most definately be taking place.

Here is a link if you are interested in going!
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/pelee/activ/calendrier-calendar/e564d6d3-458b-4a2e-91c1-0520b3c60d68





Good Mothing!
Dwayne

PS: Here are some former moth postings if interested:
http://dwaynejava.blogspot.com/2018/09/catocala-moths-of-late-august.html
http://dwaynejava.blogspot.com/2016/07/mid-july-moth-watching-at-ojibway-park.html

Also, Paul Pratt wrote a great writeup on Catocala species at this link on the ojbiway park website:
http://www.ojibway.ca/catocala.htm

Part 7 of 7 - Hummingbirds of Southeast Arizona in Late July -Early August + Trip Final Thoughts

I saw the following 8 species in SE Arizona during the last few days of July 2019. Yes - I have already covered these sightings over this 7-part series, but I thought it would be cool to list all of them in one spot.

Its seems that each mountain range [see my travel map from posting #1 of 7] had its 3-5 species, and to get 8 species, you would have to travel around like I did. There were many hummingbirds that I had seen while driving or had brief, distant views that went unidentified. These are the species that I saw:

1-Black throated Hummingbird (Madera Canyon)
2-Rivoli's Hummingbird (Split from Magnificent Hummingbird)  (Madera Canyon)
3-Broad billed Hummingbird  (Madera Canyon)
4-Violet Capped Hummingbird (Patagonia)
5-Broad tailed Hummingbird (Miller Canyon)
6-Blue throated Hummingbird (Mountain Gem) (Cave Creek Canyon)
7-Anna's Hummingbird  (Brown Canyon)
8-Rufous Hummingbird (Patagonia)



All of these hummingbirds are equally amazing ... but I must say that seeing the Anna's Hummingbird at Brown Canyon --- nowhere near a feeder - just out in nature was breathtaking. Seeing a male Anna's with its pink gorget reflection in perfect sunlight is an amazing thing to witness and will not soon be forgotten! The most common hummingbird in SE Arizona during this time period is the thick-billed hummingbird. Its a gorgeous hummingbird - but as one naturalist put it - familiarity breed discontentment.

Some other life birds that I did not mention in my previous series of posts are below. There are some other birds that are lifers as well - such as a female/juvenile Scott's Oriole that I saw in Box Canyon. I never took a photo because - it was just a distant, brief sighting. I had photographed some Ravens as I drove through New Mexico which I'm quite certain were Mexican Ravens (Chihuahuan Raven) --- but I accidentally erased them from my memory card! Another photo that I lost accidentally was Violet Crowned Hummingbirds. I had some stunning photos of this hummingbird perched on a tree branch but somehow, I forgot to protect it from getting erased. (I did have a basic photo at a feeder saved though).

If I had to go back - I wouldn't change much. I think my biggest regret is perhaps not calling the Chiricahua National Monument to see if I could drive through to Portal AZ through the mountains (the road was closed due to heavy rains making the road impassable). Even though I was unable to drive through - and I lost several hours of birding time to driving, I would still state that seeing that national monument (organ-pipe rock formations) was quite stunning.

One other regret was not visiting high elevation sites in the Chiricahua Mountains (partly due to the road closure mentioned above). Even from the Portal AZ side, it was so removed from gas stations, and cellular connectivity, or WIFI - I just didn't have my bearings on getting to some higher elevation parks within that mountain range which could have given me: Mexican Chickadees, Red-faced Warbler and perhaps Zone tailed Hawks.  I was told that the research station staff would be helpful but... the lady there didn't seem to be a naturalist.

Another painful miss was the Rose-throated Becard that was being seen at Tumacácori National Historical Park. Amazingly - someone had gone as far as posting GPS co-ordinates - but I was simply too offline to even consider attempting to use tech out in the field.

I hope you enjoyed this 7-part report on Birding in SE Arizona.
Good birding!
Dwayne


Trip Lifer Summary !!!!

 Cactus Wren 412
 Verdin 413
 Brown Crested Flycatcher 414
 Curve billed Thrasher 415
 Road Runner 416
 Bridled Titmouse 417
 Lesser Goldfinch 418
 Gila Woodpecker 419
 Phainlopepla 420
 Tropical Kingbird 421
 Black throated Hummingbird 422
 Rivoli's Hummingbird (Genetically split from Magnificent Hummingbird) 423
 Broad billed Hummingbird 424
 Hepatic Tanager 425
 Arizona Woodpecker 426
 Harris's Hawk 427
 Dusky Capped Flycatcher 427
 Acorn Woodpecker 428
 Ladder Backed Woodpecker 429
 Canyon Towhee 430
 Botteri's Sparrow 431
 Montezuma Quail 431 (Heard only)
 Anna's Hummingbird 432
 Pyrrhuloxia 433
 Mexican Jay 434
 Ladder backed Woodpecker 435
 Violet Capped Hummingbird 436
 Black Phoebe 437
 Inca Dove 438
 Gambels Quail 439
 Cassin's Sparrow 440 (grasslands between canyons near Patagonia-Sonoita AZ)
 Phainopepla 441
 Five-lined Sparrow 442
 Ruffous capped Sparrow 443
 Black throated Sparrow 444
 Varied Bunting 445
 Grey Hawk 446
 Broad tailed Hummingbird 447
 Albert's Towhee 448
 Gilded Flicker ? 
Scotts Oriole 449
 Sulphur-bellied flycatcher 450
 Chihuahuan Raven 451
 Cassin's Kingbird 452
 Western Screech Owl 453
 Scaled Quail 454
 Graces Warbler 455
 Painted Redstart 456
 Yellow Eyed Junco 457
 Blue throated Hummingbird 458
 Elegant Trogon 459