North Lambton Treasures!

Male Common Yellowthroat, glowing in the morning sun! His black eye band is fading from the bright breeding colours of last spring.

A family of Sandhill Cranes was visible from the side of the road. The parents are sporting a red cap on the head while the youngster in the middle is missing the red cap. Pairs mate for life and the juveniles will stick close by their parents for 9 or 10 months after hatching.

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

The "star" of the day was a Nelson's Sparrow which had been found the day before and was our reason for stopping in Forest. It has light orange colouring on its head and nape. They spend much of their time down low in dense vegetation. A bit of patience paid off and we got to see this uncommon visitor!

 

Blue-winged Teal in flight over the lagoons. We found 30 bird species including 10 different species of ducks!

Wolf’s Milk (a slime mould) on a rotting log.

Millipede (species) in the wood debris.

Tinder polypore on a White Birch Tree

Drops of moisture are beading on the edge of the fungus. It isn’t clear why some mushroom species do this, but it may be the result of releasing excess moisture during the digestion process.

I was delighted to find another Crowned Slug Moth caterpillar! Earlier in the fall, we spent a lot of time looking at the underside of leaves to locate them but this caterpillar was sitting on a leaf, right in the middle of the path. I’m glad no one stepped on it!

 

A few American Nursery Web Spiders were hiding in plain sight!

An energetic and dedicated group of volunteers maintains the North Lambton trail systems. Boardwalk replacement has recently been done at the Dunes And Swales trail. The dry weather made it a little easier to do this work; otherwise the volunteers would have been standing in mud and water during the repair!

The lack of moisture is evident in the wrinkled appearance of the fungus, which should be plump at this time of year.

Eastern Red-back Salamander

(Possibly) Salmon-eggs, a type of mushroom.