We went for a hour’s drive along Riverside Drive this afternoon to see what we could see.  Actually we spent 70 minutes, which included a few conversations along the way.  Here are some samples of what we saw:

Along the Riverside, above Mr Lachance’s Mill, there are several colonies of Staghorn Sumac.  A good place to look at both the male plants and the female plants.

From this very useful website:

http://www.isaontario.com/content/staghorn-sumac-rhus-typhina

“The pale yellowish-green flowering clusters of the male plants can reach about 30 cm long. They are much bigger, by half again, than the greener and more compact clusters of flowers of the female plants. Flowering starts in May and continues into June, and the fruits are ripe from July onwards. The flowers are highly attractive to a diverse array of insects that serve as pollinators. Many kinds of bees, wasps, flies and beetles can be found visiting the flowers. Staghorn sumac is a valued source of nectar for honey production. It is interesting that the flowers of the male plant provide both pollen and nectar to pollinators mostly in the morning, and the female flowers provide just nectar in the afternoon. Thus, the pollen is removed from the flowers of male plants in the morning, but after they stop secreting nectar, the insects switch their attention, and transfer pollen, to flowers of female plants when they secrete their nectar in the afternoon.”

Here is a female flower on the other side of the road:

Further information about the Staghorn Sumac, special to this part of the world is here.

A little nearby is a patch of wild rose, some in bloom, some with well developed rose hips …  (Many many years ago I made homemade wine from rose hips … a healthy source of Vitamin C.  In those days I was a fan of Linus Pauling and made sure that we got ample doses of Vitamin C during the winter!)

This much maligned plant is starting to bloom now.   Goldenrod pollen is NOT a cause of hayfever, ragweed’s pollen is.

A little further west we saw this fellow singing in the drowned tag alders along the shoreline.

It moved down into the Joe Pye weed, to keep an eye on the photographer sticking a lens out of a vehicle window.

Then a little bit closer, alternating its gaze from eye to eye …

After the above Yellow Warbler flew off, this Eastern Phoebe appeared and show us its rictal hairs … similar to that of the American Redstart that I photographed a month or so ago:

A little further on we stopped in front of Chuck and Shirleys to photograph this not unpleasant, Broadleaved Dock.

This Clouded Sulphur was hidden in the weeds …

Several European Skippers were  skipping.

Bumblebees were collecting nectar and pollen …

At the end of Riverside these bindweeds are still blooming …

And this waspy fellow was visiting the “Milkweed Patch”.  Lots of bees and other small insects.  Alas, no Monarchs.

Pretty flower near the Marina…

Prunus Serotina enlarging before ripening …

A few raspberries are still available for the taking …

Potentilla with visitor …

Two hazelnuts in their husks are maturing from those blossoms we saw in March /April.

Hollyhocks, reminding me of some that were planted on an Okanagan orchard almost 100 years ago.

Quite a rich environment, yielding lots to see/photograph in an hour!

I am having trouble with the technicalities of this post and an unable to provide links.   So you might want to google some of the terms above.