Ojibway Prairie Reserve, Windsor:

We traveled to Windsor on May 25th. The weather was great and we luckily had time to visit the Ojibway Prairie Reserve. We walked the trails along the nature centre and the old rail trail.

A small Boardwalk provided nice viewing of the aquatic life below.

One of 2 Common Snapping Turtles swimming through the pond.

The much larger Snapping Turtle!

Midland Painted Turtle

Blue Gill prefer warmer lakes and ponds with slow-moving water and some weed growth.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/bluegill

Common Green Darner pair laying eggs: The female uses a scythe-like ovipositor to inject her elongated eggs into plant stems. (We could actually see the tip of her abdomen penetrating the underwater stem.) Eggs are also injected into leaves, rotten wood or debris that is at or near the surface of the water. Occasionally the eggs are injected directly into the stream or pond sediment.

https://dragonflywebsite.com/dragonfly-life-cycle.cfm

Eastern Forktail, resting on a lily pad. This is the first of many Forktails that will be seen this summer.

Tadpoles in the pond - likely American Toad Tadpoles.

Shapes in Nature! - curled underside of aquatic vegetation forming an almost perfect equilateral triangle!

Silvery Checkerspot caterpillar

A tattered female Eastern-tailed Blue

It's still early in the season for flowering plants. This Fleabane (sp) was covered in hungry insects.

First Hobomok Skipper of the year! Many Hobomoks were flying, but most of them speedily zoomed past us.

Rattlesnakes have been reintroduced at the Ojibway Prairie.

We chatted with a couple who had been doing a butterfly survey. The discussion turned to snakes and we were given a view of the scar that the male received after being bitten by a Massausaga Rattlesnake that he had picked up when he was a kid. He mistakenly thought it was a Fox Snake which are not venomous.

We didn't encounter any Rattlesnakes but did find a couple of other species. Common Garter Snake above.

Eastern Milk Snake

 A Nesting Wood Thrush, Herons, Butterflies and Warblers!

It was an unexpected surprise to find a Wood Thrush sitting on a nest! These secretive birds are heard more often than seen. They have a beautiful flute-like song that rings through deciduous forests in the spring and summer. The easiest place to see them is on the forest floor when they dig through leaf litter for insects.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush/overview

A Great Blue Heron was recently spotted wearing his handsome breeding plumage! (Notice the extra feathers!)  The herons are back at Canatara and hunting in the lake!

Green Herons have also made an appearance! He walked along the edge of the island, often disappearing into the foliage before becoming visible further down the shore.

Although not normally associated closely with water, a White-crowned Sparrow posed nicely at the edge of a pond!

On the warmer days, we've had some success in finding butterflies including this Brown Elfin. These fragile insects must be hoping that the warmer weather is here to stay!!

First Clouded Sulphur of the year!

Eastern Carpenter Bee, hovering so I could take its photo!

Olympia Marble

Northern Yellow Warbler hunting for food in the trees.

American Redstart

Cape May Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Savanah Sparrow sitting in a tree near a pond in Canatara. This was an unexpected location for this bird that typically is found in fields and meadows.

Juvenile Red-winged Blackbird with a fuzzy head and short tail, hiding in the cattails just 2 feet from its nest!

 Colourful Spring Arrivals!

I'm not sure if this female Baltimore Oriole was beginning to weave her nest, or if she had found this tangle of string and was trying to remove it to take to her nesting site. I'll need to keep an eye on the location.

Black and White Warbler deciding upon its next move.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Lots of insects gather at the blossoms for food, making a perfect feeding station for migrating warblers, including a Blackburnian Warbler with his "flame orange" neck!

This Yellow-rumped Warbler caught an insect in flight.

Eastern Bluebird landing on a dried Teasel stem.

The vigilant Bluebird pair were agitated by a Red-winged Blackbird that was flying back and forth near their nest box. They managed to chase it away. If given a chance, the Blackbird would have attempted to eat the Bluebird eggs.

Looks like these Eastern Bluebirds are having a conversation!

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, collecting material to build her nest. The male will help in choosing the location and building the nest.

Warbling Vireo, warbling his beautiful song!

A pair of Warbling Vireos were sitting briefly side-by-side. They didn't seem to be getting along, so I assume they were having a territorial squabble.

While walking along a trail in Canatara I found this nest on the ground. I placed it in a tree to take the photo. One side was damaged, perhaps from the winds the night before. To assist with camouflage, lichens had been attached to the exterior, likely using spider webbing as the sticky "glue". Downy feathers were inside but there was no sign of eggs anywhere. The nest may belong to a vireo, possibly the Warbling Vireo. Hummingbirds also use lichens in the construction of their nests, but this nest was about 3 times larger than the typical Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest.

Veery's travel long distances during migration. Their wintering grounds are restricted to central and southern Brazil. Veeries and many other songbirds migrate long distances at night. Many of these migrants alternate flapping with coasting, but Veeries may flap continuously throughout an entire night's flight! Their efficient wings carry them over longer transoceanic routes than other thrushes can manage.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Veery/overview

Although I have heard their "whip-poor-will" call at dusk, this is only the second time I have actually seen the species. Many thanks to our bird hike leader Tom, for noticing this well camouflaged creature!! Eastern Whip-poor-wills lay their eggs in phase with the lunar cycle so that they hatch on average 10 days before a full moon. When the moon is nearly full, the adults can forage the entire night and capture large quantities of insects to feed to their nestlings!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Whip-poor-will/overview