In Search of the Two-Spotted Skipper

Two-spotted Skipper

The first two times I saw a Two-spotted Skipper I didn’t know what they were. They were both perched on the vegetation with their wings folded, the size and shape closely resembling the introduced and often abundant European Skipper….small and plain and orange. That’s exactly what I thought they were, as the Two-spotted Skipper is very rarely mentioned among the local butterfly enthusiasts, let alone other nature generalists. It wasn’t until I uploaded my photos to iNaturalist that my identification was corrected, and I started learning about this rare and local skipper.

The Two-spotted Skipper is one of the sedge skippers, species that feed on various wetland sedges in the caterpillar stage. As a result the adults are most commonly seen nectaring on flowers, particularly milkweeds and Blue Flag Irises, in open areas adjacent to fens, marshes, and other wet meadows. The Two-spotted Skipper overwinters in the caterpillar stage, and only has one generation per year. Adults fly from mid-June to mid-July.

Summer Bugs and Butterflies

Long Dash Skipper

The beginning of June is an exciting time as more and more insects start emerging from their winter dormancy. I had the second week of June off work, and with the COVID-19 pandemic putting an end to travel plans – we could not go to the Atlantic provinces without a mandatory 14-day isolation period upon arrival, and the Canada-U.S. border is still closed to non-essential travel – I planned to spend the week exploring trails near me and looking for birds and bugs close to home. My plan was to get out and see some new places, and hopefully find some new species, and the weather actually looked nice for the whole week – plenty of sun and no rain in the forecast.

August Butterflies at the Ponds

Bronze Copper

It’s been a surprisingly good month for butterflies at the Eagleson storm water ponds. The highlight, of course, was the American Snout seen there on August 11th, but in addition to that particular rarity I’ve seen members from all five butterfly families – not a difficult achievement over the course of a month, but one that is almost impossible to do in a single outing. Swallowtails are large butterflies with long tails, and their wings are mainly yellow and black with iridescent spots of blue and orange. The whites and sulphurs in our area are medium-sized butterflies with either yellow or white wings, most of which perch with their wings closed. The gossamer-winged butterflies are very small butterflies that also perch with their wings closed, and come in many different colours. The brushfoots are large to medium-sized butterflies with only two functional pairs of legs; they count the most well-known butterfly species among their number, and many are migratory. Skippers are small butterflies mainly dressed in orange or brown, and many species hold their forewings and hindwings at two different angles, giving them a characteristic “fighter jet” appearance.

A Lake Darner in Ottawa

Bronze Copper

On August 27th, the last Saturday of the month, I headed out to a spot I normally don’t visit so late in the summer – Roger’s Pond along the Cedar Grove Nature Trail. I usually go in May and June when early-season dragonflies are flying, such as the locally rare Ebony Boghaunter, the uncommon Harlequin Darner and Brush-tipped Emerald, as well as the usual whitefaces, Racket-tailed Emeralds, Spiny and Beaverpond Baskettails, and Aurora Damsels. I had two reasons for wanting to go: the first was the Band-winged Meadowhawk, a species I had seen in good numbers here on one late-summer visit several years ago but have had trouble finding recently, and the second was a yearning to find some Aeshna darners. After seeing such a good variety at my Dad’s trailer and failing to find the Variable Darner at Bruce Pit, I thought that Roger’s Pond might be a good spot to look for Ottawa’s common and uncommon species.

Among the Flowers – August Edition

Asian Lady Beetle

In July I wrote a post called “Among the Flowers” after finding a fantastic number of insects – including bees, beetles, odes and butterflies – in the wildflower meadow at Bruce Pit. Seven weeks have passed since that visit, and when I returned for a visit yesterday, I had no choice but to follow up that post with this one. The flowers in bloom have changed since that early-July visit, but the insect diversity has not – despite the lateness of the season, there were a fantastic variety of bugs there lurking among the flowers.

I originally chose to visit Bruce Pit in the hope of seeing some darners there – I’d seen none at Mud Lake earlier that morning, and recalled that Chris Traynor had found some Variable Darners late in the season last year (September 18, 2015) along the hydro cut. My plan was to spend some time near the water looking for spreadwings and skimmers, then check out the hydro cut for darners. I didn’t find much around the water – there were lots of Lyre-tipped Spreadwings still present – so I headed up into the field just above the water.

Dragon Blitz 2016 – Part II

Common Ringlet

After leaving Sarsaparilla Trail I drove over to the NCC parking lot on Corkstown Road and followed the bike path beneath the Queensway to the place where Chris Traynor had seen the Eastern Red Damsels earlier in the week. The spot isn’t hard to find; just keep following the path parallel to the Queensway as it passes over a small bridge and skirts the northern edge of a farmer’s field. Eventually the path reaches a small woodlot and abruptly turns south; before you get to the small stand of trees, watch for an NCC sign on the left about the crops of the Greenbelt. Chris had found the damselflies in the grass behind the sign.

To Catch a Wandering Glider

Gray Comma

I had a fabulous outing in Stony Swamp on August 22nd. I started the morning off at Sarsaparilla Trail where I found a pair of Hooded Mergansers, two Pied-billed Grebes (an adult and juvenile), and five Wood Ducks on the pond. A small raptor was perched in one of the dead trees at the north end of the pond; it was so far off that I had to return to the car and get my scope to identify it. It was a Merlin – a species that I only find here late in the summer, individuals either migrating or undergoing post-breeding dispersal. At least six Blue Jays were also present, and kept chasing the Merlin from tree to tree. Three Northern Flickers were also flying around, and I don’t know if they were also giving the Merlin a hard time, or if the Merlin was trying to catch one of them. It was fascinating to watch the flickers, Blue Jays and Merlin all playing an animated game of musical chairs in the trees.

I was glad I had brought my scope, for as I was scanning the vegetation along the shoreline I discovered two heron species skulking at the edge of the pond: a tiny Green Heron poised on a log, and an American Bittern that was almost invisible in a gap in the reeds! It made me wonder what other birds were present, going about their lives while remaining hidden from view.