Presqu'ile Provincial Park - Part 1

As I mentioned on Friday, my supervisor asked me if I want to tag along with her class (and a few people from our lab) on Sunday to Presqu'ile Provincial Park to do some bird-watching. Of course I said yes!

I went a little bit overboard with photo taking today, so today will be split into two parts.

Walking to the bus stop to get picked up at 6:40am. Haven't woke up this early in a long time, but the morning sky is so pretty!

We drove around the park a lot, as well as walking around looking for birds, so I wasn't completely sure of the places we were at. But I believe this is Lake Ontario. I remember the last time I was along Lake Ontario....

Unidentified dragonfly

And then we were ushered to some people's backyards where we watched warblers and vireos flying back and forth near the treetop. So hard to see and identify them!

But then there were easy ones like chickadees...

And this Gray Catbird...

And this Blue Jay.


Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Afterwards, we went over to Owen Point Trail to check out some shorebirds. But because I saw and photographed too many things, they will have to wait another day.

Before we got to the trail though, we saw this crescent. My friend and I are currently trying to figure if it is a Pearl Crescent or not, and if it possible to find them here.

We also saw this sulphur getting caught in a spider web and this spider feasting on it. My labmate was considering whether to save the butterfly or not. In the end, we talked her out of it and let nature takes its course.

There were many other insects out today too, such as the Monarch,

Damselflies like this Great Spreadwing (Archilestes grandis)


And these red White-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), one of them bit my friend while she was trying to rescue it from a spider web (no spider around).

Going to another site to watch birds. There were almost nothing except many Mute Swans.

The next trail we hit was through the marsh in the afternoon. It was warm and sunny and almost no birds were around (except some ducks and teals).

I found this speedy orange caterpillar though. Perhaps it is a Yellow Bear Caterpillar?

I have a quiz and presentation tomorrow afternoon. Better review and practice again.