Return to West Perth Wetlands

This extremely hot weather lately makes it hard to get out and bird as much as I would like.  On top of that, it's summer and birding hasn't turned up much unusual lately since spring migration is long past and fall migration has barely started.  However I still enjoy getting out when I can and today I visited the West Perth Wetlands later on in the day when the heat had eased off a little bit.  It was also a great opportunity to try out my latest purchase, a spotting scope and tripod. 

You can see that I got caught in a brief shower.

It allowed me much closer views which were not possible with my binoculars.


There were many birds about today.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Eastern Kingbird

Wood ducks

Canada Goose

Goldfinch in thistle.

Overall, a good time in West Perth.

Muskrat

An Afternoon of Birds and Butterflies

I was glad to have a free afternoon and good weather on the same day and decided to walk a route around the farm.  Birds were my primary focus, but many species of butterflies and dragonflies also quickly caught my interest.  For the most part, it was the insects that were the most co-operative for photos.

With monarchs being relatively scarce this year I was surprised to find this individual hanging around a patch of milkweed.  I plan to return to this spot and check for eggs.

Common whitetail dragonflies were the dominant dragonfly of the afternoon.

Continuing on down the lane, I passed several wet patches that proved to be excellent buffets for the butterflies.

 

It was at one of these wet holes that I spotted my only mourning cloak of the day.

The tall grass also held numerous insects.

Skipper butterfly.  I don't know this family well enough to say what kind of skipper.

The mosquitoes were not so bad today, but the deer flies were out in full force and they all seemed to want a taste of me.  Finally leaving the deer flies behind, I had a chance to taste some of the many black raspberries currently in season.

I saw and heard a wide variety of bird species today, but only got one half decent photo, a young wood duck.

Milkweed Visitors

I took some time this morning to observe the insect visitors around one of our patches of milkweed plants.  Most of the milkweed that I checked today was starting to flower.  Milkweed can really be an attractive native plant to have around, both in looks and butterfly friendliness.  Now that it has been removed from the noxious weed list here in Ontario, hopefully more gardeners and nature lovers can see the potential of this native species.

Likely when you think of milkweed, the monarch is the first insect that you would associate with it.  However many other bugs take advantage of the plant as well.

Ctenucha moth

Red Admiral

Comma Butterfly

Northern Pearly Eye

Red Milkweed Beetle

Other insect life that I saw but did not photograph included mourning cloak, cabbage butterflies and common whitetail, our most regularly seen dragonfly around here.

The monarchs themselves have been rather scarce so far this year.  I have seen only one adult, but  have seen several eggs.  Each year I raise some monarchs, usually starting them from whatever eggs I can find.  The  two I have are doing well.

Scenes of Summer

Summertime on the farm means a busy schedule and it is sometimes harder to to fit in birding.  During my free time, I am often exploring around the farm or some other birding hotspot in the area.  No special rarities around our area lately. The last one for me was a drake northern pintail at the Mitchel Sewage Lagoons, somewhat unusual for this time of year.

Regardless of rarities or not, birding is still enjoyable and I thought I would share some recent pictures taken over the past week.

Many swallows around home have left the nest, but this tree swallow was still in residence at the Mitchel Sewage Lagoons.

Lots of eastern kingbirds around.

Plenty of great-crested flycatchers as well.

The resident bobolinks have been quite active.

And of course nice days like this are a great opportunity to catch up on some preening.

Birds n Bugs, Some Recent Observations

A casual check of a patch of milkweed near our house revealed what I have been looking forward to for a long time.

Monarch butterfly sightings are beginning to dot the map in Ontario, but this is my first sighting this year.  I know an egg means an adult butterfly passed through here.  I have experience raising monarchs in the past and this year hope to purchase monarch tags from monarch watch in time for fall migration.

A few other recent pictures:

Ebony jewelwing female.  Jewelwings are common this time of year.

Ebony jewelwing male.

Savannah sparrow, there are many of them nesting on our farm.

Another common sight, our ponds raise big batches of Canada geese each year.

It's a great time of year to be outdoors.

Birds and Butterflies on the Ellice Swamp Rail Trail

I spent part of my afternoon walking the rail trail of the Ellice Swamp.  I had been wanting to return to this location for a while and even though I only had half an hour, I decided to walk the trail.  Cloud cover was slowly rolling in and the wind had picked up as I arrived.

  As I prepared to enter the trail, I noticed a painted turtle along the shoulder of the road, slowly attempting to cross.  It is common to see turtles attempting to cross roads this time of year and sadly many are hit while doing so.  I could see which direction this turtle was headed and so I moved it to the other side safely off the road.

The turtle pulled into its shell when I came over.

Safely on the other side of the road.

With my turtle transporting complete, I headed off along the trail.  The wind was blowing fairly strong at this point and the turkey vultures were some of the first birds I saw soaring on the wind currents.

Turkey vultures against the clouds.  I could have cropped the image, but I liked the look of the immense size of the sky.

I saw a buttrefly fluttering around and at first thought it was a first-of-year monarch.  I didn't get a close look, but based on size and brief glimpses, I concluded it must have been the monarch look-alike, the viceroy.

This photo of a viceroy was taken a couple years ago near Erieau Ontario.  Note the vertical black stripe on the bottom wing that can set it apart from monarchs.

The monarchs lack the stripe on the bottom wing and are slightly larger than the viceroy as seen in this picture taken last year.

The milkweed along the trail was ready for the monarchs whenever they do arrive.

Afternoon on the Avon

My mom, sister and my three nephews decided to take a walk around the Lake Victoria section of the Avon river in Stratford this afternoon.  The major push of migrating waterfowl has passed through our area, but I was still hopeful to see something interesting among the summer residents.

The first part of the walk yielded a mallard hen with ducklings.  The first ducklings that I have seen this year.

Mallard Ducklings

A bit further on I was surprised to find a male ring-necked duck along the far shore.  These guys are really quite unusual for this area this time of year so it was an interesting find.  Unfortunately he was too far for a picture.

Stratford's resident mute swans were out and about on the river.  They were quite co-operative for photos.

Nesting

The canada geese had goslings too.

The birds around the river here are used to people making them easier to photograph.  Had home, I would not be able to get as close as I could here.

Lilacs are also out in full bloom, adding a pleasant perfume to the air.

We ended our walk at a waterfall near the river, the end of an enjoyable afternoon.