MOURNING CLOAK BUTTERFLY

TORTOISE SHELLS : Genus Nymphalis Kluk

Adults overwinter.
Courtship and egg-laying occur in the Spring after hibernation.
Occasionally migratory.

Mourning Cloak on Dandelion.
Nymphalis antiopa

The Mourning Cloak is one of our longest living butterflies - age to 11 months.
It also spent time on the Plum blossoms.

QUESTIONMARK BUTTERFLY

ANGLEWINGS: genus Polygonia Hubner

Another migrator.

In the plum blossoms.
Questionmark Butterfly

Wings together

Questionmark on Lupin leaves.

LADY OF THE DAY

Lady Butterflies: Genus Vanessa Fabricius

The Painted Lady and the Red Admiral are among the most widespread in the world...engage in migratory movements. The Red Admiral goes from Mexico clear up to the Hudson Bay.

Today the sun was shing and the Pin Cherry Blossoms were opening.
Red Admiral

They still like Dandelions. I let them have one last sip -
 before I got the lawn mower going.
Vanessa atalanta

American Painted Lady
Vanessa virginiensis
July 18, 2012

Possible Problem

You may experience a problem trying to find out what I am posting. Facebook has decided to block all blogspot URLs as too spammy. So, there goes my one way of advertising, unless you already know how to get here and I just mention a new Post without the address. By the questions on Blogger, it seems the .ca ending is the tipping point.

DAYS END AT HURKETT COVE

May 26, 2012

We ended our birding day watching for Black Scoters to fly by on their migration to the far north. We have never seen them land. They have a very narrow window of sighting days at the end of May, and it has always been in the late evening. We didn't see any this evening.

The afternoon began with an over-flight of a dozen White Pelicans.

We trekked out to the sand bar and saw a Caspian Tern, Dunlins and a Least Sandpiper.

Not quite five inches, but not afraid of large bodies staring at it.
Least Sandpiper

The Killdeer is an 8 inch bird. A lot easier to see in the camera's lens.

 Across the river one Black Bellied Plover had the sand all to itself.

Then a flock of 30 Whimbrels flew by and landed. And took off. And landed. Etc. Etc. Etc. They finally stayed put on a small sandbar off-shore and we could readily identify them through the spotting scope. They are 14 inches, with long legs and a long, down curved bill.This flock brought back memories of my first Whimbrel, on May 27, 2007, at Sawmill Point on the Nipigon River, as a huge flock (est. about 100), performed the same up and down routine (flying at tree level just over our heads), before flying off past Honeymoon Cove Point, going east along Nipigon Bay.

Home again at 10:30 P.M. I could add 15 species to my 2012 bird list from the 48 species we saw. The two bus loads of birders combined list for the day reached about 107 species.

1. Robin
2. Crow
3. Raven
4. Merlin
5. Semipalmated Plover
6. C. Merganser
7. Mallard
8. Barn Swallow
9. Great Blue Heron
10. Bald Eagle
11. Red Wing Blackbird
12. Canada Geese
13. Tundra Swan
14. Ringbill Gull
15. Goldeneye
16. Bufflehead
17. Song Sparrow
18. Tree Swallow
19. Eastern Phoebe
20. Herring Gull
21. Grackle
22. Blue Jay
23. Starling
24. Ruby Throat Hummingbird
25. Goldfinch
26. E. Bluebird
27. Sandhill Crane
28. Belted Kingfisher
29. E. Kingbird
30. Common Flicker
31. Red - eyed Vireo
32. Willow Flycatcher
33. Ruby Crown Kinglet
34. White throated Sparrow
35. Downy Woodpecker
36. Orange Crown Warbler
37. American Bittern
38. Kestrel
39. Morning Dove
40. Killdeer
41. Turkey Vulture
42. White Pelican
43. Caspian Tern
44. Least Sandpiper
45. Whimbrels
46. Black-bellied Plover
47. Dunlin
48. Pine Sisken

A DISTRACTED BIRDER

The Ouimet Canyon loop May 26, 2012

From the parking lot it is a short walk to "boardwalk"
 that takes you gently down to a more level trail.
It seems like you are walking through the treetops.

This crosses a small crack (compared to Ouimet Canyon).

Looking toward Lake Superior, not that your going to see it from here.

I guess we could call this an "old growth" pine.

Lots of wildflowers were almost blooming.
Yellow Clintonia/Blue Bead Lily(look like tulip leaves)
Bunchberry (four-leaves)
Canada Mayflower (single leaf)
I find white flowers do not take a good photo with this camera.
 Something I will have to work on manual settings.

These are Wood Anemone. When they open on those delicate stems
even the slightest breeze will make them tremble.
Hence the name "windflower".

Wild Sarsaparilla, member of the Ginseng family.
The reddish leaves belong to this flower.

I've misplaced my flower book.
 Bought one June 11 - Winter Cress a.k.a. Yellow Rocket
Barbarea vulgaris
Mustard Family Brassicaceae

I never expected to see these.
Gaywings.
Fringed Polygala
There is a beautiful little patch of them on the trail between the viewing pods.

This is the first pod, looking north.
The column of rock is known locally as the "Indian head".

Looking south toward lake Superior.
 There is a second viewing  pod near the bend.

As for birds, I heard a Willow Flycatcher and a White Throated Sparrow.

On the road to and from the Canyon we saw the Belted Kingfisher,
the Eastern Kingbird and the American Bittern and a flock of Sandhill Cranes in a field.

The Red Wing Blackbird calls this home.
 An Orange Crown Warbler was not far away.

BIRDS OF DAWN

HURKETT DOCK  at sunrise , May 26, 2012

The start of a birding day.

Out in the shallows were a flock of Canada geese and one Tundra Swan. Puddling along the edge of the shore were Mallard ducks. In the inner Bay were a Common Merganser, a Bufflehead and a Common Goldeneye. Likely other ducks were hidden in the reeds. Great Blue Herons flew over. A Bald Eagle cruised around until it got chased off by some Ravens for a spell, but it came back. Other birds flitting and diving were the Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows that really love sitting on those boats. Ringbill Gulls and Herring Gulls either glided over or bobbed in the water. A Song Sparrow sang from the willows. In the reeds across the creek was a Semipalmated Plover.

If it hadn't moved I likely would have missed it.

Semipalmated Plover
Charadrius semipalmatus
Common on beaches and mudflats

We had hoped the sun would stay out as it lights up the whole western edge of the marshy bay. But the clouds moved in again and it was hard to make out the colours on the far ducks to identify any more. As we were leaving the dock an Eastern Phoebe was wagging its tail in the remains of a burnt trailer.

BUTTERFLIES FOR FREE

Dandelions are good for something besides wine.

Monarch

Monarch showing a bit of wear

Backside of the wings of the Monarch

Some manner of Sulphur -
they tend to keep their wings together.

Not sure , could be a Hop Merchant

Painted Lady

This is a dandelion.
You can see the normal stems beside it, and crossing over.
Somehow it managed to amalgamate its stems into one huge stem.
The heads have combined into one bloom.

MONARCHS OF MAY

MAY 19, 2012, my Nipigon garden visitors in a tree.

SUNBATHERS

PAINTED TURTLES

Painted turtle Chrysemys picta
Age to 11 years
Enjoying the May sunshine Maatta's Road, Nipigon

MARSH MARIGOLDS

Marsh Marigolds Caltha palustris

Don't mess around with this beautiful plant,
 I have book that says even the leaves can cause the skin to blister.

Hurkett Cove Conservation Area, May 10, 2012, complete with butterfly.
Original photo has been resized by pixels to get on this blog,
 so sharpness is missing. I hope to find a happy medium.

I couldn't see the butterfly in my viewfinder.
 The plant itself was about 20 to 25 feet away, as you can see in the other photo
 it is hard to make out, even when you know its there.
  I have cropped this down  from the last photo.

ON THE ROAD

When May Looks Like September

The Winter Burn on Maatta's Road, May 12, 2012

Poplar in leaf on the 81 Road, Kama Cliffs, May 12, 2012

Lake Superior peeking

Either the earth is round or I have to get a level.
 Lake Superior/ Kama Bay/Nipigon Bay

The new road that is going in from 81 Road toward Highway 11.
 Those are the Kama Cliffs near Highway 17.
 Soon be good blueberry country.

These are the Kama cliff tops.

Ruffed Grouse

Ruffed Grouse. One of a half dozen or so that daily patrol our yard.

Courtship.

I am looking forward to using my new camera on him.

WINTER BURN

WINTER BURN OR "WINTER DRYING" INJURY

It's what is happening to mostly our white spruce in a large area in the Nipigon District.

The MNR are working on getting information out to the local people.
Combination of low snow cover, frozen roots, hot sun activating needles and drying them out with no chance of replenishing the fluid loss.

Balsam fir were fine.

Pine were fine.

The needles turn brown and fall off.

Needles cover the ground under the tree.

New growth AOK on the tips of our Blue Spruce.

Every other winter this White Fir has been hit with the Winter Burn.
 This year we were happy to see it come through "green"
 and then our "natural" trees went brown!