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.