Weekend Post.

This weekend was hot but sunny and I was outdoors most of the time.  I was quite busy on Saturday (farmers have to take advantage of those sunny days), but I made time to take a walk in the evening and I had arranged to take Sunday afternoon off and head down to the Pinery.

The biggest highlight for me on Saturday was finding this guy.

Usually I will see an adult or eggs before a larvae, but this was my first monarch sighting of the year.


I was looking forward to Sunday afternoon and a trip to Pinery Provincial Park, a place I had not visited before.  We entered the park around 1:45 and right away, there was activity.   Numerous red-eyed vireos were singing as I slowly drove along with the window down.  The vireos would end up being the most numerous species of the day.

First stop was the riverside trail.  I had heard a lot about this trail and was looking forward to checking it out myself.

 Butterflies were extremely active and many red spotted purple and tiger swallowtail were taking advantage of the sunny day.

Upon reaching the Ausable channel, I caught sight of a red-headed woodpecker fly over and disappear into the trees on the other side.  I had heard that the Pinery was a promising place to find one and I'm glad I saw it even if it was brief.

I kept hearing rustling in the leaves and would quickly look down only to find a chipmunk out and about.

 From there it was on to the nearby hickory and bittersweet trails.

I rounded a corner and was surprised to see a pileated woodpecker not far off at the base of a tree.

Peek-a-boo

 I was unfamiliar with bladdernut shrub before today.  The pods growing on the tree were unlike anything I was used to.

Lots of poison ivy showing up as well.

More red-eyed vireos were singing along with a few eastern-wood pewees and a scarlet tanager.  Here and there I could also hear the bouncing ball trill of field sparrows.

Nothing unusual on the remaining trails visited, but still some interesting sightings.

This great blue heron had just caught a meal along the cedar trail.

This red squirrel was stretched out under the feeder at the visitor centre.  It was a hot day.

This common whitetail posed nicely along the carolinian trail.

An ovenbird was quite vocal in the trees at the end of the walk.

It was a good weekend.