Social Distancing in Rural Lambton County!

Mitchell's Bay June 6, 2020

We spent Saturday morning at Mitchell's Bay. A lot of phragmites has been removed since our last visit and we had a better view of the extended boardwalk. Unfortunately, due to erosion, the boardwalk is off limits. It is one of my favourite places to view wildlife!

Our best bird find was the elusive Yellow-billed Cuckoo!

A close second was the Black-crowned Night Heron which 

we have not been able to find this year in Lambton County.

It was nice to find so many Purple Martins! We saw a total of 7 Purple Martin Houses in 2 different locations along the Mitchell's Bay trails. Three of the boxes for this Endangered Species were built by Chatham High school students and are monitored by volunteers.

A few Green Herons flew past the reeds as we walked the North Trail.

Lots of Map Turtles were basking in the sun.

We were amazed by the number of Turtles basking in one location. I counted 37 individual turtles in this photo, but that was only a 1/3 of the total. Phragmites blocked our view and they jumped into the water before we could get to a clearer opening.

Lots of Bull Frogs were making their "jug o' rum" call.

Butterflies were hard to photograph but I found a 

White-spotted Sable Moth, willing to sit still for a picture!

Muskrats didn't pay much attention to us as they swam along the channel.This one looks

like he has "buck" teeth but I think it is just a claw from his foot under his jaw.