Pinery - Cedar Trail in May! 

We began our Pinery Day at the Cedar Trail which starts near the Visitor Centre. Despite the cooler temperatures, we found insects in every patch of sunlight!

A possible Cherry Scallop Shell Moth flew down the trail and actually landed where we could still see it. The wing markings were stunning!

Hoary Puccoon, added a touch of sunshine to ground level.

A Slug species crawled across a fallen log. According to iNaturalist, most slugs are introduced in Ontario.

Whitman's Jumping Spider with spider prey.

By following a trail extension, we walked into the Dunes camping area and across a boardwalk to a viewing platform overlooking Lake Huron. Park staff encourage visitors to take photographs at designated locations and upload them to a website. Photos provide a record of the area over time.

Common Baskettail

Common Whitetail

Common Five-lined Skink sunning amongst the leaves! I’ve already seen 4 Skinks this spring!

A very busy ant nest!

Painted Turtle, out for a swim at the Burley Bridge.

 Pinery Butterflies! 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - first one I've been able to photograph this year!

Juvenal's Duskywing: Close attention needs to be paid to detail when identifying Duskywings. I need to refer closely to the i.d. book when the photo is on the computer after getting home. 

Juvenal's Duskywing

Columbine Duskywing

Mottled Duskywing

Northern Azure, showing the upper wings, which doesn't often happen!

Northern Azure with closed wings - a more common pose.

Pearl Crescent soaking up heat from the stones and pebbles.

Dusted Skipper - It's status is listed as Vulnerable.

Common Roadside Skipper

Eastern Pine Elfin

Hobomok Skipper

These are all Duskywings and they are possibly all Mottled Duskywings which is the species that has been successfully reintroduced at Pinery Provincial Park!

 The Season for Babies!

A family of Wood Ducks! The first Wood Duck ducklings I have seen in Canatara in a few years !

When they emerged from the reeds, 6 ducklings paraded behind Mom!

I happened to walk by the Baltimore Oriole nest at feeding time! The male returned to the nest 3 times with insects found in nearby trees!

Male Baltimore Oriole after feeding the babies.

When Mom showed up, she entered the nest and stayed. Nap time for the babies, and a bit of a rest for the parents!!

American Robin on nest: Notice a tiny beak poking out from the orange breast of the Mom!

Same nest, 6 days later, with 4 much bigger, baby Robins!

Many Tadpoles swimming in the water - likely American Toad!

Two Mourning Dove nestlings.

A few days later, the Doves had fledged.

Time to build a new nest, or perhaps reinforce the old one. Mourning Doves will raise on average, 2 to 3 broods each year.

Some species have yet to hatch. A pair of Tree Swallows mated high in a tree before the female entered a nearby nesting box.

European Starling ready to enter nesting cavity with food for hungry babies.

 Great Blue Heron v.s. Angry Birds!

I had a "front row seat" in Canatara Park when a Great Blue Heron landed on one of the islands to do some fishing.

I'm not sure who or what was in charge of air traffic control! Several Blackbirds including Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds and even a Baltimore Oriole didn't take kindly to the arrival of the large bird. The next several photos show some Red-winged Blackbirds trying to "encourage" the heron to move on! It is nesting season, and Red-winged Blackbirds are aggressive protectors of their nests.

The Red-winged Blackbird landed briefly on the heron's back!

Staring at the "annoyance"!

I didn't see the second Great Blue Heron approach. When I heard a noisy commotion, I realized two Herons were in front of me! The second Heron possibly wanted the prime fishing location, despite having to deal with agitated blackbirds!

At this point, neither Great Blue Heron was in a very good mood, and they both departed!