Sunday 31 July 2016

A walk in the woods can turn up many things!

A healthy woodland is always interesting to explore. There are breeding birds, of course, but not always as obvious with the heavy foliage. Here, a Great Horned Owl is peering out at me.


There is so much more diversity in the other types of wildlife and vegetation, however. And often the human crowds are not much of a problem, at least on some of the more remote trails.
Some things are brightly coloured and easily noticed, such as this Chicken-of-the-woods fungus. They can be seen at anytime, from June through September.

Other orange things include this Wood Lily (Lilium phildelphicum), found along some of the more open sections of woodland.....

...as well as this Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense).

A bit earlier in the season, one can see this orangey scene at various places of a woodland.
These oblong cavities are characteristic of where a Pileated Woodpecker has drilled into the trunk of a Hop-hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) digging out insects. The indirect result is the ensuing run of sap. Sap contains good concentrations of sugars especially in the spring, and these sugars are attractive to yeasts for feeding on. The type of yeast here is Cryptococcus macerans. It can appear on many different types of tree and even on wild grape vines and is often seen where there has been a wound that lets the sap out.

There isn't a lot of sunlight getting to the forest floor these days, and wildflowers are not abundant.
You are more apt to see the spring wildflowers in this condition, with their seeds ripening, such as this Large-flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandifolia).


Where a tree has died, or fallen over, it lets a bit more sunlight to the forest floor, and it is there where there is a greater profusion of vegetative growth. This American Beech tree (Fagus grandifolia) has fallen over, and the growth on the forest floor is beginning to become more prevalent than in the  adjacent shaded area.
 
There are a few flowering plants, however, even in the somewhat subdued light. Purple-flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus) is scattered about. Its fruit is not considered edible like many other  raspberries are.

Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata) may be found in some of the damper sections.
 A close-up of the leaf stem shows the fringe, which gives this plant its name.

Another plant found in rich woodlands these days, and mostly restricted to the Carolinian Life Zone, is Richweed (Collinsonia canadensis).
It wasn't until I got these images on the computer that I noticed the colourful little critter on the stem...a Red-banded Leafhopper!
I usually see these leafhoppers on milkweed plants in more open areas, so I was a bit surprised to see this one here.

A close-up from a previous year

Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana) is not all that colourful, but is distinctive.

This vine, named Wild Yamroot (Dioscorea villosa), is not common, and the flowers are not particularly impressive. Its seeds are more obvious than the flowers, and in the fall, the heart-shaped leaves turn an attractive golden brown.

Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum) is quite abundant in these southern hardwood forests. It is one of the more delicate fern species, and will disappear with the first frosts.

Bottlebrush Grass (Elymus hystrix) is an obvious grass species well represented along the trails.

Occasionally one might come across a fork (Forcus plasticus) in the trail :-).

If you look closely to where you are stepping, the distinctly marked caterpillar of a Mourning Cloak butterfly may be crossing the trail.

This next image shows a Brown Stink Bug (Menacles insertus). I didn't handle it to see if it lived up to its name.

Even in the forest, dragonflies occur. Here is presumably a female White-faced Meadowhawk, well away from its normal wetland haunts. The various species of meadowhawk are notoriously difficult to tell apart in the field, especially the females.

Even during these dog days of summer, there is lots to see!







Thursday 28 July 2016

Avocet and other shorebirds

Fall bird migration has been underway for several weeks now, and one of the best places to observe it right now is at sewage lagoons.

The Blenheim Sewage Lagoons were not very productive for shorebirds in the spring, as two of the sprinkler cells were totally dry due to some maintenance, and the other two cells were mostly void of water due to the dryness of the season.

Fortunately for birders, this has improved.....and just in time. Two of the sprinkler cells that had maintenance done since the spring now have lots of water....almost too much. But the other two cells have a bit of water, so there is something for everyone...short-legged and long-legged shorebirds are welcome!

There are lots of Killdeer, of course. It is not uncommon to see 30-50 birds scattered about. Least and Semiplamated Sandpipers are building in numbers, both species of yellowlegs are present and an occasional Stilt Sandpiper, more common in fall than spring, is around.
Stilt Sandpiper with smaller peeps


A small number of Pectoral Sandpipers are appearing.

Pectoral Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitchers are around in small numbers.
Short-billed Dowitchers

Yesterday morning, an American Avocet was reported. It is one of the larger, and more striking shorebirds, in my opinion. Some shorebirds can be quite challenging to identify....not so with the American Avocet! It is much more common in the mid-west, where it breeds in the vicinity of sloughs on the mixed grass prairies. But after breeding, when birds tend to wander, sewage ponds may look for all intents and purposes like a prairie slough, so on occasion when an avocet might be passing through the area, sewage lagoons will attract them.

I got a text from Garry Sadler that the bird was still there in the late afternoon, so I decided to head out and try for it, as I don't see them every year. And there it was. This one still has some of its brownish-orange colouring of a breeding bird, but that will disappear in a few weeks as it turns to pale gray and the rest of the bird will be black and white. The amount of curvature in the beak leads me to believe it is likely a female, as the male has less of a curve. It is a bit hard to tell for sure, as the amount of curvature appears to change depending on the angle one views it.
American Avocet
The bird was a bit skittish, and didn't allow me all that close. In spite of the appearance of these photos suggesting I was quite close, my camera and telephoto lens combination was the equivalent of a 22X binocular, and the image was cropped about 50%. Also I was on the lower side of the berm with just my head showing, but even at that the bird was reluctant to stay right where it was.
After a short time, it decided to move elsewhere in the sewage lagoon complex. I watched it as it flew over the larger ponds, and it was on the southern shore of one of the other ponds last time I saw it.

Will it stick around? Who knows......but one year one remained in the general area long enough for me to find it at Long Pond in Rondeau during our Christmas Bird Count!

Sunday 24 July 2016

Backyard Wildlife

With the recent hot and humid weather, I found it difficult to spend much time outside. So it was great to have a variety of plants in the back yard to attract wildlife. I can get out for brief periods, and head back to the A/C when necessary.

The drier than normal conditions have not been conducive for a lot of butterfly activity, as anyone who has participated in recent butterfly counts will be aware. Marie noted in her facebook entry of 5 years ago on this date, that we had 7 species in our yard that day. This year I've only seen about a dozen species all season! But there has been some interesting action on the butterfly front.

One day I noted a male, and then a female, Black Swallowtail. The male was busily feeding on milkweed, while the female was searching for a place to lay eggs on the dill. At one point, I saw her lay an egg and was able to pick it out from the edge of a dill leaf. Out came the camera with 100 mm macro lens as well as all the extension tubes. This first image is of an egg, and it is barely one mm in diameter. I didn't notice until later, that there was an even tinier aphid type critter on another dill leaf, just a bit lower and to the left of the egg.

I watched it for a few days, and then one day it disappeared. Thinking that something had come along and picked it off, I figured I wouldn't see any larva, but then I read where upon hatching, it then consumes what is left of the egg. A few days later, I saw a tiny larva on the dill. At this point, it is quite dark, except for a light-coloured saddle across its middle, and is between 5-10 mm in length.
 The 'saddle' gradually disappears as it goes through several instars, or stages.
 It has a voracious appetite.
Once it gets looking like this, with the saddle all gone, it disappears from the dill plant and looks for a suitably obscure place to form a chrysalis or pupa. The pupa is hard to find if it is left in the wild.
During the early part of the season, after a couple of weeks more or less, it will emerge as an adult. Pupae that are formed in the late part of the season will overwinter as such, and emerge in the spring.

Monarchs, too, have been in the yard.
The egg is laid on the underside of a young milkweed leaf. It is slightly oblong, is about the same diameter as that of a Black Swallowtail and has slight grooves from top to bottom.
After a few days, a caterpillar hatches out, and feeds voraciously on milkweed leaves. In my experience, they seem to prefer Common Milkweed over most of the other milkweed species. I have over 100 milkweed plants in the yard, hoping to attract lots of Monarchs. However the numbers have been down this year throughout their range, due to an unfortunate severe weather event just as they were leaving their Mexican wintering ground, where an estimated half of the population died off. The two caterpillars in this next image left the milkweed plant the next day, presumably to find a suitable place to form their chrysalis.

Other butterflies have been through the yard, including Red-spotted Purples.

Silver-spotted Skippers
 Question Marks
 Red Admirals
 and the ubiquitous Cabbage Whites, plus others. There isn't a day that goes by without at least one or two Cabbage Whites around.
 And at least some of them lay eggs, hatch larvae and get to the pupal stage, as shown next.
 This next image shows one just emerging from the pupa.

With so many plants in the yard, there is lots of other invertebrate action, often around one of the milkweed plants. This next image shows the Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus), a fairly large wasp often found on milkweeds.
An even larger and more formidable looking one is the Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus), shown next. Its body can be up to 35 mm long, and looks menacing. However in its frantic flight, it is expending energy either looking for nectar or looking for katydids. These wasps specialize in capturing katydids and other members of the Orthopteran (grasshopper) group. After capturing one, they sting them to paralyze them and then deposit them at the end of a tunnel under ground where the adult wasp lays an egg. The paralyzed katydid will live for a few days until the wasp larva emerges from the egg to feed on the katydid.

Apparently they very seldom sting people, unless they are handled, and so it is purely a defensive action if they do sting. In fact with so many plants providing sources of nectar, the yard is sometimes quite a-buzz with bees and bee-like critters. I always move slowly, so as to not threaten them. I often can use a macro lens and flash for them, and they don't seem to be bothered a bit.
 Milkweed beetles abound.
 One other attractive, although not desirable critter if you have squash or similar vegetables, is the Squash Vine Borer.

Mayflies did not seem to be as abundant as some years, although some were around.

A few dragonflies passed through, such as this female Blue Dasher, either for a rest or on the search for other flying insects that would do for a meal.


Wildlife action isn't limited to invertebrates. House Wrens like the abundance of insects in our yard. This family group was busy in our yard for weeks while feeding themselves and eventually their young. I suspect some of the small caterpillar larvae disappeared from the plants I was watching them on and went down the hatch of the youngsters in the wren box.

What's in your back yard?