Woodland wildflowers adorned the shady paths at Rondeau.
Below: False Soloman’s Seal, Baneberry, Cypress Spurge, Blue Phlox, Virginia Waterleaf, Wild Geranium, Red Columbine.
A carpet of Mayapples was in bloom.
Some plants grew in sunnier places. The first two, Tartarian Honeysuckle and Jetbead are introduced shrubs that have become invasive and displace native plants. Riverbank Grape is indigenous to North America.
Some plants grew in drier, sandy conditions.
Bulbous Bluegrass, Black Oak, Lyreleaf Rockcress.
Yellow Water-Crowfoot dots the swampy areas along the Tulip Tree Trail.
This fungus is known as Chicken of the Woods and can be edible.
Along the Tulip Tree Trail, a moth lit briefly on Glenn’s shirt before moving to a tree trunk beside the trail. iNaturalist identified it as a Tulip-Tree Beauty, an imperilled moth in Ontario.
McGeachy Pond Conservation Area West – May 12, 2024
On a sunny morning, we made a brief stop at McGeachy Pond Conservation Area. The path boarders Lake Erie on one side and the pond on the other.
The trees and bushes sometimes provide stopovers for migrating warblers. On this morning, however, the only warblers detected were Yellow Warblers singing and chasing each other across the path. Since Yellow Warblers are likely to nest in the area, these may have been territorial disputes.
As we proceeded up the path, we saw what looked like smoke in the distance We soon realized that what we were seeing was a cloud of midges! We decided to cut our visit short rather than encounter the advancing cloud of insects. Good for the birds, but not much fun for us…
As we departed, we spotted a few more birds
Looking out over the lake, we could see Red-breasted Mergansers lounging far offshore. Closer to shore, were two Bonaparte’s Gulls plucking midges out of the water. These are young gulls transitioning from first winter to first summer plumage. Breeding adults have fully black heads with partial eye rings.
Osprey Update
Over the past week, we noticed a change in the behaviour of the Osprey pair. When the male delivered a fish to the nest, the female stayed on the nest to consume it rather than flying off with it. The male remained close by on an adjacent light tower. This suggested that there were young in the nest, but we could not be certain. Young chicks would be too low in the nest for us to see.
Today, however, there were clear signs that the female was feeding young. As she ripped small pieces from the fish, she occasionally lowered her head into the nest where we could see movement through gaps in the nest. The male remained perched on the nest as protection while the female was preoccupied with eating and feeding. The video from this morning is extremely shaky because of the wind. We’ll try again.
Wandering Bee Flowers
This week, we had a mixed bouquet of Peonies that opened to their full glory over the week.
Music Videos
Recently, I spent some time learning about the late Jimmy Buffett. We all know about his lost shaker of salt.
While never becoming a superstar, he was very successful at touring and merchandizing (parrot caps, Hawaiian shirts). He often adapted the lyrics to suit his audience.
It is a popular country music theme to hate your job and your boss. Alan Jackson joins with Jimmy Buffet on just such a song.
Sticking with the low-key mood of these songs, here are some classics by Bob Segar:
And just because it is Friday:
and (earworm warning) an even more intense version by Larkin Poe.
If you are still with me, Johnny B. Good.