Sydenham Saturday

Today I was down in the Alvinston area for an odonate (dragonfly and damselfly) survey on the Sydenham River Nature Reserve (SRNR) for Ontario Nature arranged by Blake Mann. This reserve is one of my favourite sites in the area, and its a shame I am unable to visit it more often! For the past couple of years, I have partaken in a breeding bird survey on SRNR, and each year we have spotted some cool odes along the way. 

I got up early to head down and do some birding before starting the survey. My first stop was the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons. There was not much of note here in my loop of the south lagoon. I did count over 90 Wood Ducks, several broods, which is always great to see. Another interesting find was a pair of Northern Shovelers. It is likely nothing will come out of it, but you never know. On Tuesday I had a pair of Green-winged Teals here, but they were nowhere to be found this morning. 

Digiscope

I decided to get some point counts done in my Lambton atlas square (17TMH34), and succeeded in completing twelve over the course of a couple hours. Point counts happy pretty fast, so no photos! I recorded over 50 species of birds from these counts. One of my best stops was in the field near the corner of Calvert Drive and Kerwood Drive. Here I had a couple singing Dickcissels on territory (one had been present for about a week now, and a second one seems to have joined it), a pair of Upland Sandpipers, and perhaps most exciting, a family group of Common Ravens which flew over just as I started the point count. Pretty eventful five minutes! 

I eventually got to the SRNR around quarter to ten. The area I was to cover was the Buttonwood Drive side, which is on the east side of the river. This is typically not the most "ode-y" side, but I was more than happy to do it—someone has to! 

I began by walking the field to the south of the parking area, skirting the forest edge. It was not nearly as eventful as I had imagined it to be, and for the longest time, I only came across a few Common Whitetails, a pair of Twelve-spotted Skimmers, and of course several Midland Clubtails. It wasn't until I got down to the river I added Powdered and Blue-tipped Dancer, as well as several Stream Bluets and more Midland Clubtails, to my list. 

I was a bit surprised to see some Banded Hairstreaks, my first this year. There were tons of Hackberry Emperors, as well as a few Tawny Emperors, as well. 

Quite a few of these Haploa moths as well. I think they are LeConte's Haploa moths.

While walking at the far end of the field, I was somewhat surprised to hear a Hooded Warbler, the first time I have encountered one at SRNR. Other breeding birds here included Mourning Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-headed Woodpecker, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, and Blue-grey Gnatcatcher. A couple weeks ago I had a Cerulean Warbler here as well. 

I decided it was time to cut into the forest and head towards the river. As I did so, I came across a fairly fresh Black-shouldered Spinyleg, my first for this property. 

I bushwhacked to the river through seemingly endless patches of stinging nettle, a reoccurring theme for the day. As much as I like SRNR, the one thing I am not a fan of is all of the stinging nettle! Although you can't get "zapped" through jeans, today I was wearing my quick-dry field pants, which apparently offer no protection! I found minimal success with side-stepping through the patches, being careful to flatten the plants down before your legs made contact. 

There was less than expected by the river, just a bunch of Ebony Jewelwings and American Rubyspots. I did have a single female Swift River Cruiser and a Fragile Forktail, but that was it for new species. I continued quite a ways upriver, before crossing over and going to the other side. I walked downriver for a bit, and ended up almost to the other entrance for the reserve. Not much to report on ode wise! A long walk in the hot and humid conditions with an abundance of stinging nettle—fun times! (I actually did quite enjoy myself, doing this beats sitting around at home)

I found myself turning my attention to plants quite a bit on the quiet stretches, although I didn't stop to take very many photos. This is the first time I have seen Broad-leaved Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense) in flower. 

Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) is always a fun one to come across.

I saw a number of sedges as well. Since this is such a rich forest, I was hoping to come across some rare species, but it was not to be. Nevertheless, I still came across some high quality species. The diversity of sedges you can find in any given area is something that really appeals to me.

Hitchcock's Sedge (Carex hitchcockiana)

Sprengel's Sedge (C. sprengellii)

White Bear Sedge (C. albursina)

Nerveless Woodland Sedge (C. leptonervia)

Inflated Narrow-leaved Sedge (C. grisea)

Eastern Rough Sedge (C. scabrata)

Drooping Sedge (C. prasina)

Smooth-sheathed Sedge (C. laevivaginata)

Fringed Sedge (C. crinita)

The walk back to the car was largely uneventful. I was quite happy to get back and out of the stinging nettle! 

I had planned to go to Reid CA near Wallaceburg afterwards to look for Oak Hairstreaks, but the sky was threatening rain, so I opted to head back home. Perhaps some other day I will go look for this rare butterfly. 

Overall, a very productive day, even if odonate diversity was lower than I had imagined it would be. I expect to get the results of the survey soon, and will update this post once they come out! 

Sydenham River Breeding Bird Blitz

Today was the breeding bird blitz at the Sydenham River Nature Reserve, organized by Larry Cornelis. I believe that this is the fourth year of the survey, this being my second time doing it. The Sydenham River Nature Reserve is a piece of property owned by Ontario Nature near Glencoe, right on the Middlesex/Lambton border. It is a very unique property with special plants, breeding birds, and the river, which harbours many aquatic species at risk, including freshwater mussels and fish,

I went early, in hopes of finding a Vesper Sparrow, which breed in the area. I got to Buttonwood Drive, one of the entrances to the reserve, around 6:30. I drove the first bit, but a large tree down in the road halted any progress, so I got out and walked. I tallied 40 species on the road, including Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Wood Thrush, and a Scarlet Tanager. At one point I am almost positive I heard an Acadian Flycatcher calling, and it very well may have been, but with a bird like that I want to be sure. The habitat is basically perfect. 

After Buttonwood, we made our way down Old Airport Road for a bit. A singing Pine Warbler was a bit of a surprise. After several Savannah Sparrows, and a Grasshopper Sparrow, I finally found a Vesper Sparrow! This was actually a new Middlesex bird for me, and a long awaited on at that!

After that success, I went to meet up with a couple other of the surveyors. Larry, as well as Ed Lavender, and I did a section on the east side of the river, the same one we did that year.

Overall, it was a fairly quiet morning in our section. Highlights including several Eastern Wood-pewees, three Scarlet Tanagers, a couple of Yellow-throated Vireos, a Mourning Warbler, and lots of Indigo Buntings. 

As usual, when the going gets slow, you look at other things.

The vegetative communities were quite rich. Several species of sedges can be found in the floodplains.

James' Sedge (Carex jamesii)

Gray's Sedge (Carex grayii)

Longbeak Sedge (Carex sprengelii)

Foxtail Sedge (Carex alopecoidea)

Inflated Narrow-leaved Sedge (Carex grisea)

After a couple hours, we finished up our area, and went back to our cars. Larry and Ed headed out, but I opted to grab my net and head back in. There were a fair number of odonates around. I had a few nice nice species, and by the looks of it, Blake had some nice stuff on his side of the river! I'm thinking a return trip is in order...

I added a few new species to the area on my journey back into the reserve, including a second Mourning Warbler, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, American Redstart, Bald Eagle, and a Wood Duck.

Swift River Cruiser was pretty common in Algonquin Park last summer, but seems to be quite uncommon down here. I saw a few. New for my Middlesex ode list (I had one in Lambton too!) Check out the legs on that thing! All the crusiers have very long legs. Perhaps later this summer Royal River Crusier will be a possibility. It has never been recorded in Middlesex county.

My lifer dragonfly for the day was Midland Clubtail. There were several of them out over the river.

As mentioned earlier, the river is good for freshwater mussels. This next one, Threeridge (Amblema plicata), was quite common along that section.

On my way back I passed by an opening in the floodplain and noticed a large colony of sedges. They looked quite messy in appearance, and as I approached them, I realized it was Hairy-fruited Sedge (Carex trichocarpa). Originally I thought this may have been the first Lambton county record, but I just became aware of a recent one from 2019. I actually think that recent record may have been this exact clump! Oh well, still nice to see.

Another rare species that calls the floodplain home is Beak Grass (Diarrhena obovata). This is ranked S1 in Ontario, with only two known populations of it in the province, here and the Ausable River Valley. 

I'll finish off with this Southern Blue Flag (Iris virginica).

A good day in good (socially distanced) company. Should be interesting to see the results!

Lambton Loons and Other Stuff

Yesterday I ventured further afield to Lambton county. There was been an absolutely stunning Pacific Loon in the Sarnia Bay over the past few days, and I wanted to check it out. I have only ever seen the species once prior, and it certainly did not give views like that!

My dad and I arrived early on. It was a gorgeous day, and with the sun to our backs, it really lit up the bay. A Common Loon was present upon our arrival.

After a little bit of searching, the target species popped up, quite literally!

 
With that bird out of the way, I wanted to check out Canatara Park. It was the birdiest morning I had had all year, even if diversity was relatively low. Seems like today was really good, and some nice birds popped up (including a Kirtland's Warbler, which I have never seen)! I had nine species of warblers, including my first of year Magnolia and Orange-crowned. Just to give testament to how slow the spring has been, that Magnolia literally took my breath away when I spotted it! My other first of the year was a Gray-cheeked Thrush. Almost seems early, even though its late! I haven't had a Swainson's Thrush yet.

After Canatara, I opted to head south to Sombra. I stopped in at a few places along the way. At Guthrie Park there were a couple Common and Forster's Terns. Cathcart Park proved to be quite birdy! The place was covered with Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, as well as many swallows. A few shorebirds in the form of yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpipers were sprinkled throughout, along with some mergansers and terns of three species; Black, Common, and Forster's.

Not too much along the Sombra riverfront, but there were a few Purple Martins and a Forster's Tern.

My next stop was the Sombra Sewage Lagoons. Lots of birds to sort through! There was a great number of shorebirds, including Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher, and Least Sandpiper.

Also a great number of Black Terns, I counted 76. It was amazing to see.

A Peregrine Falcon ripped through a few times, and kept the terns and shorebirds on their toes.

Some Common Gallinules were calling nearby. Additionally, I also had my first Bobolinks of the year. Dad spotted a Red-tailed Hawk nest nearby.

I cut inland from Sombra, and went to the Sydenham River Nature Reserve. I had a few birds here, including a singing Yellow-throated Vireo. My main target here however was the Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica). I saw some last June when I was here for a breeding bird blitz, but they were well past their prime. Seems I caught the peak this time around!

False Mermaidweed (Floerkea proserpinacoides) was also abundant.

I picked up a few birds on the drive between there and Strathroy, including Eastern Bluebird, American Pipit, and House Wren. I made a quick pit stop into the Strathroy lagoons. A few lingering ducks and a couple rails, both Sora and Virgina.

In the evening, I went to check out a population of one of my favourite wildflowers, the Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). This is a very rare plant in Canada, with only two known populations, both in Middlesex county. A nice ending to the day.

I wasn't really doing a big day, but still managed 109 species. Probably could have made it 110 with American Woodcock, but I was too tired to bother!

Today was quite good, and we got our first big push of migrants in a week and a half.

Last night

Perhaps more on that later...