Marsh Madness

If you are connected to the birding world in any way, by now you have likely heard about the absolute mindboggling bird that is the Marsh Sandpiper in Thedford, Ontario.

On Saturday evening (April 30), I was texting back and forth with Jeff Skevington, planning a day trip to the north part of Algonquin Park (Brent, on Cedar Lake). We were all content and set for the next day (which included a 4:30 am meet-up in Pembroke), when he called me with an absolute bombshell: James Holdsworth, birder extraordinaire, had found the first Canadian, and Eastern North American, record of Marsh Sandpiper. Pretty crazy. Unfortunately, Jeff went on, there would be no access, and we couldn't very well go sneaking in. Alas, we would continue with our plans the next day. I wasn't bummed out, I was much looking forward to birding in an area of the Park I hadn't been in several months! 

About 30 minutes later I get another call from Jeff. He had managed to arrange access for birders the following day. To make a long story short, I made a split second descion, and agreed to meet him in Belleville at 10pm. 

A couple hours later, I left my Jeep in a parking lot (after taking a couple photos, as I expected I would have to report it stolen), and was in a car with Jeff and Paul Lagasi on the 401 headed west. The Marsh Sandpiper had been seen flying away to the northwest earlier that evening, so our hopes weren't high ("5% chance its there"), but at least it would be a fun trip, and we would be able to reconnect with some people we haven't seen in some time.

We arrived at Jeff's parents house near Woodstock around 2am, and quickly settled in for a few hours of sleep. While I'm sure many birders were not sleeping well that night because of the prospect of the bird the next day, I had trouble falling asleep thinking about my Jeep that was probably on some cargo ship halfway across the Atlantic by now. I did, eventually, drift off to sleep, and, not a word of a lie, dreamt of birders trespassing in sewage lagoons (which for the record, we were NOT doing the next day). 

5am came early, especially since we had set our alarms for 5:45am. I guess the coffee pot had other plans for us, and decided to beep, rousing us from our short slumber. After a quick breakfast, we were on the road towards the Thedford Sewage Lagoons. We got there shortly before the gates were set to open, but dozens of birders had already beat us.

The municipal worker with the key wasn't there at 8am sharp, but that was no problem for the nearly 100 birders there. When he finally arrived at 8:05am, he was met by the sight of everyone already scoping the sewage lagoons from the middle berm. Jeff and I had remained at the gate (I was in no hurry to not see the bird that had definitely already left the night before), and he seemed pretty chill with it. Or maybe he was just too stunned to speak. 

Jeff and I sauntered up to the crowd, and figured that the bird had not been seen as there didn't seem to be any direction to where people were pointing their optics. However, just a couple minutes later, miraculously, the Marsh Sandpiper was spotted. It wasn't long before everyone got on it. A collective sigh of relief was breathed. 

Over the course of the next few hours I think I spent more time looking at birders than the bird. This will be my one Southwestern Ontario birding trip of the spring, so certainly nice to see so many familiar faces, and to meet some new ones! All in all, I'd say close to 400 people saw this bird over the course of the day.

Our group left mid-day to go explore some other local areas. Not too much of note to speak of, but I was kind of shell shocked seeing so many birds! I think I forgot that it was spring...

We got back on the road after 4pm, and made our way east. It was around 9:30pm that we got back to Belleville, and I was relieved to see that my Jeep had somehow survived the time I was away from it. 

Three hours, two deer, many cookies, and one quick nap in Bancroft later, I arrived back home at the East Gate in Algonquin Park, all in time for work Monday morning. What a crazy day it had been. I'm sure we missed a Great Crested Grebe up on Cedar Lake, but hey, what we don't know can't hurt us? 

Early June Insects

Early June is always a great time of year to go out and look for bugs. I have gotten out on a few occasions to try and nail down some of my target species for this time of year. I have compiled some of the more notable sightings into this post.

Back on June 5th I went to Lambton Shores in search of some of the neat insects that call that place home. I didn't see too much of interest when I visited The Pinery, other than a Cyrano Darner and an Eastern Pine Elfin butterfly on a dock. Its not an insect, but these Northern Sunfish were just off the same dock! 

I visited the MNR parking lot and the Ipperwash Dunes and Swales in search of my main target species, Dusted Skipper. This is a very range restricted butterfly, and I believe that Lambton Shores may be the only place it is found in Ontario. It took a bit, but eventually I found some. 

I also ended up seeing another lifer butterfly in the form of a Common Roadside Skipper.

Several species of dragonflies were around as well.

Racket-tailed Emerald

Slaty Skimmer

Belted Whiteface

Lancet Clubtail

Beaverpond Baskettail

A couple of neat flies were seen too.

Bumble Bee Mimic Robber Fly

Golden-backed Snipe Fly

I next visited Fossil Road on the Ausable River, since it was more or less on my way home. I always enjoy stopping here, as it seems you never know what you will see!

I was mostly focusing on dragonflies, and came up with two species of clubtails, Midland and the rare Rapids Clubtail. I saw a couple Rapids about 4 kilometers up river last year.

Midland Clubtail

Rapids Clubtail

I also saw a Common Sootywing, a somewhat uncommon butterfly species.

A couple days later on June 7th I was back out to the Ausable River in search of a rare species of clubtail, Green-faced Clubtail. I worked the section of river near Rock Glen CA. It took a bit, but I finally managed to find a few Green-faced Clubtails, a new species for me!

There were a few males patrolling the river, and I caught a female later on.

One of my most notable sightings wasn't even of a live dragonfly. I spotted a dead Twin-spotted Spiketail caught up on some grass! This may be the first record of this species for the Ausable River, and perhaps Lambton County. On the 5th I had seen a spiketail sp. briefly while I was on Fossil Road, which is in Middlesex. If it was the same species, it would have constituted a new county record for Middlesex. Due to this individual's proximity to Middlesex, I can only assume they are present there too. 

After I was done at Rock Glen, I made another stop along Fossil Road. Completely different than just a couple days prior in that there were no clubtails flying around! I did however find an Eastern Red Damsel, a new one for my Middlesex list.

On June 10th I decided to check out some areas close to home for odonates. I figured it was about time for a visit to the Sifton Bog, so that was my first destination of the day. 

I was quite pleased to see that there were several Spatterdock Darners, which I first found here in 2019 (first Middlesex county record) out over the pond, indicative of a breeding population here. None came close enough for a swing with my net, other than this one when I only had my camera in my hand! At least I got a nice photo :)

There were many Painted Skimmers as well, including a couple pairs in copula and an oviposting female, also indicative of a breeding population. The only Painted Skimmer I had seen prior to this was also at Sifton Bog in 2019. Absolutely gorgeous dragonflies. 

My first "in hand" Carolina Saddlebags were seen as well. Another breeding species here.

There were a few damselflies of interest as well.

Azure Bluet

Boreal Bluet

Amber-winged Spreadwing

Boreal Bluet was a new Middlesex species for me.

I made a visit to Komoka Provincial Park next. Here I was in search of another potentially new species for my county ode list, Delta-spotted Spiketail. After a long and grueling hike, I eventually spotted one, but was only able to get off a quick photo. 

There were also quite a few of these cicadas around as well, Say's Cicada (Okanagana rimosa).

I made one last stop at a storm pond in North London, where I found an unexpected county lifer ode, Lancet Clubtail.

It was an enjoyable few days of tracking down insects! Not much else to do these days :-P