Some forgotten shots from this summer

I was going through some of my photos today and realized there were quite a few that I had taken but hadn't taken the time to edit. Since I never made it out to Pelee as planned (work got in the way), this will be my only contribution of the day.

An awesome little bug that I tried to be "artsy" with.

This is one of my radioed females. She was implanted in early June, moved almost 1/2 a km to give birth (the farthest movement I've seen so far out of this species), gave birth in mid July, and then traveled the entire distance back back to her home range. Quite an accomplishment for a little snake that weighs just 50 grams!

Butler's Gartersnake - Windsor, ON

In early summer, I took some time to photograph some of the metamorph frogs. In some areas it was possible to have at least 10 of these little Northern Leopard Frogs hop away with every step one takes.

Northern Leopard Frog - Windsor, ON

One afternoon, a few of us went on an Eastern Prairie-Fringed Orchid hunt in Ojibway. This plant is Endangered in Ontario with only a handful of populations left. On our way to the orchids, I stopped to take some (very poor) photos of some metamorph Western Chorus Frogs.

Western Chorus Frog - Ojibway

And the star attraction of the day...

Eastern Prairie Fringed-orchid - Ojibway

July 2 was the Ojibway butterfly count. I met up with Tom Preney and we spent the morning scouring our area for whatever butterflies we could find. We didn't see much and I didn't photograph too many things, but here is a small sample of some of the insect life... Not photographed (but seen) was the endangered Rapids Clubtail near the Ojibway Nature Centre.

Robber fly sp. - Ojibway

Mourning Cloak - Ojibway

This and that

Another week has come and gone with me unable to get out and go birding as often as I would like. I have been seeing a few things at work, including this Common Ringlet.

Common Ringlet - Windsor, Ontario

Common Ringlet has never been common in extreme southwestern Ontario, but it has been expanding as of late. The first Essex Co. record was only 10 years ago! This one location on my study site seems to be a hotspot for them - two days ago I had a high count of 6. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a record high count for Essex county?

Here is a neonate Butler's Gartersnake (regurgitating an earthworm) from the study site a few days ago. These guys have already tripled their weight since they were born (all my radio snakes gave birth between July 14 and July 27). They eat earthworms presumably every evening, and some then move under our coverboards to thermo-regulate and digest their meal.

Butler's Gartersnake - Windsor, Ontario

This 12-point buck is usually seen most days in one particular area of the study site. I happened to bring my camera with the new lens out in the field with me and got a few half decent shots in the fading light.

White-tailed Deer - Windsor, Ontario

Yesterday afternoon I heard from Russ Jones about a mysterious sighting of a possible Whooping Crane near the St. Joachim exit. I called Steve Pike and he mentioned that a friend of his who knows birds saw a "large white bird with black wingtips and a black face" fly over him while he was driving on the 401. This person saw the bird land in a field on the south side of the road. I guess another possibility is that this bird was a wood stork.

Dan Riley and I decided to check it out. We didn't find anything, so we continued on to check the Tilbury lagoons.

4 species of herons were present including 18 Great Egrets. This is the most that I have seen there this summer, and so I continue to hold out hope for a Cattle Egret, or maybe a Little Blue Heron! Reddish Egret would be nice too...

Great Egret - Tilbury Lagoons

This Black-crowned Night-Heron kept a watchful eye on me. It was one of five seen.

Black-crowned Night-Heron - Tilbury lagoons

There were decent numbers of shorebirds present of 10 species. The highlight were the dowitchers - 2 were definite Long-billed Dowitchers, and 2 were Short-billed. The two LBDOs were hanging out together up close, providing a great oppurtunity to study their plumage. The darker back, rounder body shape, more distinct lower half of eye-ring, and patterning on the undertail coverts/flanks were easy to see. 1 bird was most likely a female as it had an extremely long bill.

Thats all for now. I hope to do a round of shorebirding tomorrow, hitting up some of the hotspots in Essex/Chatham-Kent.

Baby sna-a-a-a-a-a-akes, yeah

I was listening to the song "Baby Snakes" by Frank Zappa earlier today, so I think it is appropriate to post this photo of one of the first neonate Butler's Gartersnakes we got last week. Isn't it cute......

Also, check out this map that Stuart Immonen made. It shows all of (or most of, at least) the sewage lagoons in southern Ontario. Definitely a great resource for someone looking to expand their reportoire of regularly visited shorebird/duck/wading bird spots. I haven't even heard of half the places, but I'm excited to check some of them out.
http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?msid=215071390295034379940.0004a84783d0759ae0dcd&msa=0

That's all for know! I'm looking forward to doing a bit of birding this weekend and trying out the new lens which just arrived (Nikon 300 f/4 AF-S).

Recent happenings

I haven't been out in the field for much of anything lately, other than work. With the hot weather we have been getting, the Butler's Gartersnakes that I have been tracking have been moving much greater distances than usual!

Butler's Gartersnake from my study site

Yesterday, I found a little snapping turtle running as fast as a turtle can run in the middle of an open field, heading towards a drain. This drain dried out last year, save for one small corner in which a Painted Turtle and 2 snapping turtles hung out. I am guessing that this little guy is one of the ones from last year!

Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)

The usual breeders are all settled in on my study site. It is pretty hard to go anywhere where there is a woodlot without hearing the trill of a Red-bellied Woodpecker or the repeated phrases of Indigo Buntings. I had my first Alder Flycatcher for the study site yesterday (presumably a migrant) and finally got Black-billed Cuckoo for the year as I had one calling.  Other than that, there is not much singing in this heat! Gone are the days where I could see/hear 75 species on the study site alone in the day. Now it is the same 30-40 species every day.

In February I went on an all out epic bird-fueled adventure with 3 buddies to California, Arizona, and New Mexico. I'll start posting day by day recaps soon!

Up and running

So after holding out for quite some time, I've finally jumped in and started a blog. As it's title suggests the main theme of this blog will be the herps and birds that are found in Ontario. Over the past few years I have spent a lot of days out in the field searching for herps and as a result I have photographed the majority of the species in Ontario, such as this Eastern Massasauga.

Birding came naturally around 4 years ago, and so this has taken up much of my time recently as well. I'm relatively new at the game but I have seen a few interesting species so far. The search for vagrant birds is certainly enticing for me, and I hope to come across some in the near future.

I am currently based out of Windsor, Ontario where I am working for a consulting company. Highway 401 is being extended through the city of Windsor and a new bridge will be built in the near future. My job includes studying two species of Endangered snakes in the area - the Eastern Foxsnake and Butler's Gartersnake (see photo below) so that mitigation efforts will be as successful as possible.