Roaming Around London Area

Week of June 21-26, 2021

We got a lot of rain this past week so I didn't get out much.  Again, I was looking for butterflies.  A lot of Cabbage Whites, Little Wood Satyrs, European Skippers and the new one I saw was the Banded Hairstreak.  There were a lot of them the one day I was out.  

European Skipper

Foxglove Beardtongue

Common Milkweed

Tree Swallow

Catbird

Eastern Meadowlark

I watched a family of Ospreys (5) flying around.  Two adults and three juveniles.  It was a windy day so for the juveniles, it was good practise flying around and landing in the strong winds.  

Osprey

Savannah Sparrow

Northern Mockingbird

The Banded Hairstreaks like Common Milkweed.  They are very tiny.

Banded Hairstreak

Little Wood Satyr

Recent June Outings

I'm birding around London area and exploring other wildlife.  I can't believe it's mid-June already.  One day at one of parks here in London, I saw four Great Blue Herons....one in a pond, two were in trees and the other in a field. As you can tell, I love Great Blue Herons.

This bird above and below is a Willow Flycatcher.  

Killdeer

Purple Crownvetch

I have not seen too many dragonflies yet.  I've only seen the Common Whitetail and some damselflies.  The butterflies I saw this past week are the same ones I saw the previous week...Cabbage Whites, Little Wood Satyr, and a lot of European Skippers.  I hoping to see some different ones next week.

Eastern Forktail

Barn Swallows

Midland Painted Turtles

Searching for Butterflies

I was able to get some 'first of the year' butterflies this week.  I'm not finding many butterflies around right now but hopefully it will pick up soon.  This week the Common Ringlets were the most common.  I also saw a Viceroy and Eastern Tailed-Blues.  

Common Ringlet

I looked for turtles, too.  I saw many Midland Painted Turtles and some Northern Map Turtles.  The Map Turtle below was huge.

Northern Map Turtle

This was the only Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle I saw.  It was very small.  I'm hoping later, I can find some bigger ones.  This turtle is Species at Risk in Ontario - threatened.

Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle

There were lots of small fish in the Thames River in the shallow parts along the banks.  I think these are a species of minnows.

European Skipper

It was interesting watching the Eastern Kingbird eating a dragonfly.

Looking for Other Things

It's getting much harder to photograph birds as the leaves are out full and birds are busy nesting and raising their young.  I always find other things of interest while I'm out walking the trails.  I usually look for butterflies and dragonflies this time of year which is fun.

Hobomok Skipper

Little Wood Satyr

Azure sp.

Common Whitetail

Other wildlife.

White-tailed Deer

American Toad

Bullfrog

Midland Painted Turtles