In the Hand: Common Ringlet

 I think I'm going to make a mini-series out of "In the Hand"

Here is a Common Ringlet. It can be identified by it's dull brownish-grey colour with some orange highlights. The upperside, which is really only seen when the butterfly is flying or when it is captured, is a nice orange. As the name suggests, there is usually a small dark ring on the forewing. This is a common butterfly of open areas.

The Transition Period

Sad as it is, spring migration is virtually over.

But there is hope...this is the time of year that butterflies/moths (leps) and dragonflies/damsels (odes) start to appear in large numbers. These groups will entertain us until fall migration starts in a couple months. Today, I made my first trip of the year to look specifically to find some flying insects.

I started in my favourite spot to look for leps, a large open field adjacent to Sunngingdale Rd. and at the start/end of Uplands Trail. I can often find many skippers here. Today, I only saw a glimpse of one skipper, but there was quite a large number of Common Ringlets.

There was a tagged Monarch, but I was unable to get a photo or the tag number. A Virginia Ctenucha also didn't want it's picture taken.

An Eastern Tailed-Blue made an appearance.

There were a couple bluets, including Eastern Forktail.

Heading into the woods, I saw numerous larger species of dragonfly, such as Common Whitetail and what looked like a meadowhawk of some sort.

Heading deeper in the woods, there was a White-stripped Black moth.

Also see was one of my favourites, the Ebony Jewelwing.

Although things are still a bit slow, hopefully they will soon pick up!

Dazzling Dickcissels

About a week and a half ago, a male Dickcissel was reported singing west of Strathroy. Dickcissels are birds mainly seen in eastern grasslands. This bird is a regular but somewhat rare species in Ontario. Here is it's range map (allaboutbirds.org)

As you can see, this bird's range barely extends into Canada. Dickcissels in Ontario is quite an awesome treat!

The birds were seen along Winter Drive, west of Napier Drive. As I drove up with the windows down, I could see why! The entire road was lined with tall grasses and other plants. This was the perfect habitat for Dickcissels and many other grassland birds such as Meadowlarks, Bobolinks, and Savannah Sparrows. Here's and example of what the fields looked like.

Savannah Sparrow in the middle

It was a little bit difficult to find the Dickcissel, but I eventually located it. I hopped out of the car, and made my way into the ditch across the road. Climbing into it would serve as some sort of blind, meaning that I wouldn't risk flushing (scaring away) the bird. I unknowingly decided to hunker down in a patch of Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica), but hey, at least I got these photographs!

In the ditch, I saw these little butterflies named Common Ringlet. Another butterfly, which were most likely European Skippers, wouldn't sit still for photos.

Another grassland bird that was singing along the road were Grasshopper Sparrows. These birds were accompanied by Bobolinks and Savannah Sparrows. The Bobolink is listed as threatened in Ontario, so seeing and hearing as many as I did (6) was pretty special. The Bobolink Photo was taken in Bruce, Ontario.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Bobolink in Bruce (May 22nd, 2016)

There were at least 3 Dickcissels present. This bird was singing further up the road.

On my way out, the same bird as above decided to turn away from the camera. Although I would have preferred the front, these birds don't seem to have just one "good" side!

This White-tailed Deer gave me one more good photo before hitting the road again.

This is it for now, and as far as I know, the Dickcissels are still present in the area. But they probably won't be here for too much longer, so if you hurry, maybe you could see one of these beautiful birds!

Cattle along Winter Drive