Algonquin

Went to Algonquin on Saturday with Mira and meandered back on Sunday through the Havelock area. I had a lot of specific birds on my mind (Black-backed Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Chuck-will's-widow, Prairie Warbler, Yellow Rail...) and only managed to see one of those 5. Despite that disappointment it was still a lot of fun - there were a lot of Odes (dragonflies & damselflies) and butterflies. I'm really becoming partial to running around fields chasing butterflies! Simply being in an open field full of wild flowers makes it so much fun - even if there isn't much butterfly species diversity!

On Saturday morning one of the first butterflies I saw was a White Admiral. I was pretty happy because they're relatively uncommon in Newfoundland and so I assumed they would be here as well.

By the end of the day we had seen about 200. So they weren't exactly uncommon. In fact it was only one of 2 species of butterfly we had seen all morning!

The birding was as expected - lots of bird song but very difficult to see them, which helps force me to learn the songs. The highlights were a heard-only Olive-sided Flycatcher and this juv. Common Loon:

The next day we were in the Havelock area. Where we hoped to hear Chuck-wills-widow, Yellow Rail and Prairie Warbler - they were slightly far-fetched hopes as none of the 3 had been heard in the area for 2 weeks or more. Needless to say, we never saw or heard any of them. But the area is home to some unique habitat for Ontario which was neat to see.

The previous weekend I was in Waterloo I managed to photograph this Northern Crescent:

A Northern Pearly-eye:

and this Common Yellowthroat as it sang and danced on its log:

I promise some more exciting birding to come within the next month! I have at least 2 and probably 3 more trips planned before I'm gone for good - sorta - in mid-August.