20170708 Hwy 529: Field Bindweed, Blue Bluet,Staghorn Sumac, American Redstart, Bush Honeysuckle, Ironwood

 

Above photo:  Tamarack swamp along Hwy 529

We took Hwy 529 to Moose Lake Trading Post for some Wild Cherry Frozen Yoghurt and stopped along the way to make a few pictures.

Field Bindweed, of the Morning Glory family is starting to bloom along the sides of the roads…

Tamarack cones are maturing and exuding sap.  I wonder if that is normal?

Some critter(s) have been harvesting these blueberries.   And Pink Edged Sulphurs have been laying eggs on the leaves of these Vaccinium.

Maybe a Boreal Blue Bluet.  Maybe not?

Coreopsis are maturing …

Some Yellow Goatbeards are still blooming, while others are finished with seeding.

Tall Meadow Rue against dappled water…

More dappled water….

Click on this grass panicle to see that it supports a  very fine web of spider filaments.

 

One of these days I find one of these out in the open with no wind.  I think that the breeze pushed this one away a few mm, affecting the focus.  Click on it to see the quality at mid bloom with the quality at the very top.

Female plants of Rhus typhina in flower complete with visitor which is nice to examine in close-up…

I was photographing this ripening Beaked Hazelnut ….

… when all of a sudden this birdie flew into view and then took off with my first shutter click.  I calculated that the encounter (find bird in viewfinder: 1 second +; Autofocus:  .3 second, release shutter: .3 second) took a total of <2 seconds to this  point.  within the next second the bird had braced for take-off, launched and disappeared.  I know that because I was shooting in (Medium) Burst mode.   This birdie doesn’t hang around singing like its spouse does!

Very interesting fruits of Ostrya virginiana   or Ironwood, which is rarely seen around here, as we are right on its northern limit.

Bush Honeysuckles are starting to bloom.   What is that spider doing there?

These Cinquefoils are starting to end their blooming period…

20170612 Burwash, Tree swallow, Hawk, Dragonfly, Bee-fly, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Painted Lady, Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, Pussytoes, American Redstart, Lupin, Viburnum, Painted turtle, Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, Savannah Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Skipper, Crab Spider

Burwash, Tree swallow, Hawk, Dragonfly, Bee-fly, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Painted Lady, Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, Pussytoes, American Redstart, Lupin, Viburnum, Painted turtle, Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, Savannah Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Skipper, Crab Spider

We made an afternoon trip to Burwash to see Clearwing Hummingbird Moths on the honeysuckle blossoms.  We saw a lot more than expected.

In the way into the site, a Tree Swallow welcomed us from a telephone cable…

A little further on this hawk eyed us.  I did not see it in flight or from any other angle and can’t ID it.

Dragonflies were munching on the flying insects along Neilly Lake.

This is the first Bee-fly I’ve seen since photographing one pollinating Coltsfoot blossoms on Harris Lake Road.

This might be a female Marsh Bluet

Maybe a Dot-tailed Whiteface.   I didn’t see the rest of the body.

Painted Lady on Yellow Hawkweed…

Aha!  Here it is, as predicted:

Pussytoes … showing some sort of different flower structure … worth of further research!…

Unknown bee/wasp or fly on the newly blooming Ox eye daisy …

American Redstart serenading, showing rictal bristles

Patches of multicoloured lupins are developing.

Nice shadow on the leaf of the V. trilobum

Lots of painted turtles were on the move …

A first for me!   Eastern Meadowlark singing away.  The bird kept its distance from me.  It was foraging for food, perhaps with a nest nearby?

Another birdie that I rarely see, only at Burwash ….

While the bobolink and meadowlark were singing and going after insects, this lil Savannah Sparrow stood on the fence, seemingly unimpressed by all of the activity…

  On the way out of the old prison farm this other common swallow said goodbye.  Notice the difference in undercolouring of the Tree Swallow (above)  and this Barn Swallow

This is about the size of a skipper.  Probably one of these.  EDIT:  Probably Columbine Duskywing.   It was nectaring on this roadside Birdsfoot trefoil near a rock outcrop which has a lot of blooming columbines.

It didn’t take long for this Crab Spider to find an Ox Eye Daisy to lie in ambush on.  The Daisies only opened up the previous day.

Click on the photo to see the eye structure….

While at Burwash I met a photographer who lives just north of Sudbury.  He gets great wildlife imagery at Burwash and Killarney.  He’s a very interesting man, a practitioner of some of the iceman and breathing techniques at Innerfire.