FInally Some Butterflies and Dragonflies

 Medway Valley and Hyde Park Areas

Medway Creek is a tributary of the Thames River.  I found a Smallmouth Bass...close to 1ft long and also lots of smaller fish probably minnows.

I finally have seen some dragonflies this last week of June.  I believe this one is a Powdered Dancer.

Powdered Dancer

Little Wood Satyr

Oxeye Daisy

European Skipper

I'm seeing more Cabbage Whites again.

Staghorn Sumac

Black-eyed Susan

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Butterfly Milkweed

I'm not sure what the next dragonfly is.  Maybe a female of some species. 

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

I saw a nice size Garter Snake but it was too quick to get a photo.

Sifton Bog ESA - London

June 22, 2023

I went for a walk in the Sifton Bog today to look for dragonflies and butterflies.  I didn't see any!  I saw 2 painted turtles and one Green Frog.  A few Song Sparrows were around and also American Robins, Northern Cardinals, Common Grackles, Blue Jays, Cedar Waxwings, American Goldfinch, Red-winged Blackbird, and House Finch.  

The Grasspink was blooming but not very many.  Grasspink is in the Orchid Family.

Tuberous Grasspink

Midland Painted Turtles

Yellow Pond Lily

The vegetation in the central part of the bog is dominated by Sphagnum moss.

Green Frog

All around the bog is covered with Leatherleaf Shrubs.  It's a small shrub that likes moist areas.

Leatherleaf Shrubs

Little Black Spruce

Tuberous Grasspink

Tamaracks surround the bog.

Tamarack

Black Spruce is another tree that survives in moist areas. 

Black Spruce

The boardwalk through the bog.

Wetland Drought

Wetland - June 10, 2023

This is what the wetland looked like through the dry spell we had close to a month....part May and June.  I've never seen it dry like this.

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

The man-made drainage pond beside the wetland area was low of water too.  I usually don't see all these stones.  

Midland Painted Turtles

June 14, 2023 - We had thunderstorms the night before and got enough rain to fill the wetland with water again.

Green Heron

Killdeer

Turkey Vultures

We are supposed to get hotter weather feeling like in the 30s next week.  Lets hope it's a short heatwave.

Walk Through Wetlands

June 14, 2023

These are the first butterflies I've seen in June so far.  Not very many.  Also saw Cabbage Whites in May and June.  At my favorite places about 3 years ago the long grass, flowering weeds were all cut back and it has not been the same since.  Also in the area, the Buckthorn bushes were bulldozed down and also the dead trees the woodpeckers liked.  I have not seen any dragonflies yet. 

Little Wood Satyr

Viceroy

Eastern Giant Swallowtail

I went to the Coves yesterday and saw a Snapping Turtle and Midland Painted Turtles which is always nice.  Not a great photo of Snapping Turtle. 

White-tailed Deer

Tricolored Heron

London, Ontario - June 7, 2023

A Tricolored Heron was found at Thames River yesterday.  This bird is found south-east US, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and north South America.  I've seen this bird in Florida many years ago so it's not a lifer for me.  But it's a Middlesex County lifer!  A very small delicate heron with a colour of beautiful slaty-blue with a white belly.  A Great Blue Heron flew in and the Great Blue looked huge compared to the Tricolored Heron.  A very nice bird!