Winged Things, (mostly)!

A Red-winged Blackbird Mom with hungry babies has her mouth full! I can see the tails of 2 adult Mayflies, and a green caterpillar in her beak!

Baltimore Checkerspot - one of my favourite butterflies!

Eastern Yellow-backed Laphria eating a Seven-spotted Lady Beetle. Although the Laphria resembles a Bumblebee, it is a actually a species of Robber Fly.

Foxtail Barley

Great-crested Flycatcher, actively catching butterflies in the Canatara Meadow. It was amazing to watch its aerial twisting and turning in pursuit of food!

Halloween Pennant

Monarchs and their caterpillars have been few and far between this year. I saw a Monarch in my backyard a few days ago. Hopefully she laid some eggs on the milkweed!

The spiky caterpillar of a Question Mark Butterfly!

A very Hungry Caterpillar took only a few seconds to chew a chunk off the leaf. Notice the smooth edge on the right side of the leaf in the top photo. Anchored by its hind feet on the twig, the caterpillar made 4 passes while chewing along the edge and quickly put another big dent in the leaf! I believe it is one of the Geometer Moths but haven't identified it to species yet.

Turkey Vulture in the morning light. He likely roosted on this branch overnight.

I was lucky to find a Wood Thrush nest this year! I was able to view it from a path and always took a quick look before moving on, so as not to disturb them or draw attention to it. The babies have now hatched and there were possibly 4 nestlings.

On my last day of seeing them, one of the youngsters was ready to "launch"! Looking closely at the photo, I could see the beak of one of its siblings on the right side, just behind this bird. There was another sibling on a branch about 2 feet from the nest. I was happy to see them successfully develop to the fledgling stage!

4 Eastern Phoebe's ready to leave the nest at any time. Phoebes make their nests under overhangs on buildings, and sometimes even bridges.

While rounding a corner on a path, I startled a family of Northern Flickers that was feeding on the ground. This one hung around to have it's picture taken, although it was likely just keeping an eye on me and his kids!

Ghost Pipe is a perennial herb that doesn't photosynthesize. Instead, it gets its nutrients by parasitizing a network of fungi in the soil. The fungus is engaged in a symbiotic relationship with nearby trees, exchanging nutrients for sugars. The delicate, triple-layered relationship between the plant, fungus and host tree requires intact forest conditions to survive. 

https://biologyinsights.com/what-is-ghost-pipe-tincture-and-how-is-it-used/

A Very Cool Fungus - Wrinkled Peach!

Rough Hermit Beetle

This photo of a Cooper's Hawk was taken through my living room window! I heard a squawking commotion from Blue Jays and Robins which made me look outside. I believe the hawk dined on Mourning Dove for breakfast that day.

Made me giggle!

 Sandy Lake Road & Turtle Rescues!

Some butterfly enthusiasts suggest that Sandy Lake Road could be the best butterfly road in Ontario! Pictured is a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail.

Two years ago, we visited Sandy Lake Road for the first time. Unfortunately a grader was improving the road surface when we arrived. This year, we also arrived on "grader" day. All we could do was laugh at the coincidence. The loose surface made it easy for butterflies to access salt and minerals on the dirt road, so it wasn't all bad.

Several butterfly species in the area are unlikely to be found in South-western Ontario, including this Harris's Checkerspot.

Beautiful patterns on the underwing of the same Harris's Checkerspot.

Upperwing and Underwing of a Silver-bordered Fritillary

Silvery Blue: This species has migrated to SW Ontario in the past few years.

Tricoloured Bumblebee - notice the orange, yellow and black bands on the abdomen.

The quick crawling movement of this large spider surprised me! Woodland Giant Wolf Spider: The tiny yellow dots on her abdomen are her babies that she is carrying!

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker snacking on an ant.

Dragonflies were often found during the week including a female Calico Pennant.

Crab Spider "hiding" on a daisy.

Diervilla Clearwing moth

Elfin Skimmer - Ontario's smallest dragonfly

Frosted Whiteface

Racquet-tailed Emerald

Taiga Bluet

It's egg laying season for turtles. Unfortunately many turtles are killed or injured when crossing roads to get to their nesting grounds. This Blanding's Turtle was at the edge of a busy road with speeding dump trucks. We were able to rescue this individual and 2 others during the week by safely carrying them across the road.

We learned that Blanding's Turtles and possibly all turtles, will hiss when picked up! It's important to carry a turtle to the side of the road in which it is pointing; otherwise it will just turn around and cross the road to where it was headed in the first place.

Silent Lake Provincial Park

View of Silent Lake from the day use beach.

This picturesque trail was our most mosquito intensive walk of the week! While attempting to record bird songs, playback revealed very loud mosquito buzzing which drowned out the sounds of the birds. Heavy rains had fallen the night before and some of the down-sloping trail sections had water running down them. We didn't spend much time standing still, but did enjoy the walk.

Trail Terrain.

Moss covered rock reminded me of a bird spreading its wings to land. (or perhaps it crash-landed?)

When Bonnie's Pond  was logged during the mid 1800's, horses skidded huge White Pine logs across the frozen pond as it was the easiest route to take during the winter months. One of the horses, named Bonnie, fell through the ice. The horse was lost and from that point on, loggers referred to the area as Bonnie's Pond.

For the most part, these trail markers were well placed, but we had to scan carefully to ensure we stayed on the trail. We did lose sight of the trail towards the end and later learned from a staff person that these markers are occasionally stolen.

After our 3 km tour at Bonnie's Pond, we headed to the beach by the visitors area. The open area meant fewer mosquitos and we had success finding insects drying out as they waited for the sun to shine. Great Tiger Moth is above.

Nymphula Moth

Blue Jay eating an Ant snack.

Exuvia (exoskeleton) of a dragonfly nymph, was left behind on a plant after the nymph crawled out of the water. The adult emerged, sporting its new wings and flew away. Dragonfly nymphs will swim in the water up to 4 years before developing into winged adults.

The Fifteen-spotted Lady Beetle is a master of disguise. Its transformation into a dark purple colour is thought to help it absorb more heat from the sun in the cooler forest canopy, while also making it look less like a tasty treat to birds. It is significantly larger and more oval-shaped than the average lady beetle. They often reach nearly 10mm in length, nearly double the size of common garden varieties.

https://plantiary.com/insect/anatis-labiculata_7368.html

 Egan's Chutes Provincial Park

Egan Chutes was established in 1989 as a non-operating provincial Nature Reserve to protect natural habitats and landform features. Interpretive information was located at the parking location. 

We were interested in the waterfalls at Egan Chutes. An unmaintained road alongside the York River provided suitable hiking terrain. When we heard the sound of rushing water, we followed foot trails to the waterfalls. We initially chose the wrong side of the river on which to walk. The more picturesque views were on the opposite side of the river. In our backtracking, we walked over 18,000 steps to view both sides, but the views were worth it!

 It was a very “mothy day” Hydriomena Moth 

 Petraphora Moth

 Probole Moth - Initially, I thought it was just a crumpled leaf.

The movement of the caterpillar caught my attention. It was busy snacking on the end of a stem. I wonder if it knew that “something was sneaking up on it??”