Category: Algonquin August 2023

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Algonquin August 2023

Peck Lake Trail (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 4)

One of my favourite trails within Algonquin Provincial Park is the Peck Lake trail, because it circles a lake, offering a variety of habitats with their various inhabitants. Edge habitat (habitat that is at the edge of habitat types, such as coastlines or riversides) is often more diverse than core habitat (the center of a habitat range, eg. The middle of a forest), for obvious reasons: the edges of a habitat type contain representatives from the habitats surrounding it and species that are unique to the edge itself. So there are ecological reasons that this sort of habitat would be especially diverse in species and I have certainly found a large complement of creatures along this trail on my visits through the years. 2023 was no exception.

Bordering the lake were several patches of flowers, which were visited by many wasps, bees and flies (many of which resembled wasps or bees themselves). Bumblebees were abundant, and there were a few wasp-mimicking flies among them. Both pictured below are members of the Flower Fly family (Syrphidae).

White-spotted Pond Fly (Sericomyia lata).
Bald-faced Hornet Fly (Spilomyia fusca)

Of course, not all flower visitors were wasp mimics, many were the real thing. A crabronid of the genus Ectemnius was seen visiting a flower and another crabronid was seen emerging from its burrow at a different part of the trail. When I was first reviewing my photos I assumed that both members of the family Crabronidae that I observed dug into the ground for their nest burrows. Crabronidae is associated in my mind with “burrowing solitary wasps”. But Ectemnius wasps actually often nest in dead wood or plant stems (Holm 2021).

Ectemnius, a Crabronid wasp visiting a flower.
Crabronid wasp emerging from its burrow.

Another flower-visiting wasp was the intriguingly named “Parasitic Aerial Yellowjacket” (Dolichovespula arctica). As you might have guessed, this species is parasitic… and if you know how social parasitism works, then you could have guessed its host: another member of the Dolichovespula genus (Bald-faced hornets, D. arenaria or D. alpicola) (Holm 2021). After a non-parasitic wasp nest is beginning in Spring, a queen of this species will join and start laying her own eggs. She doesn’t produce workers like her hosts, but instead produces female and male reproductives only and through social aggression she forces the host’s workers to rear her young (Holm 2021). After some of her young are reared, she will kill the host queen and the nest will start to collapse (as yellowjacket/hornet nests do every year in the fall), workers will lay their own eggs which will hatch into reproductive male wasps (Holm 2021). After mating, the D. arctica queens will find hibernation sites in order to wait out the winter and start the cycle of revolution all over again next spring.

Parasitic Aerial Yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arctica).

One other wasp was observed not on a flower, but on the branch of a tree, its bold coloration catching my eye. The Spotted Cuckoo Spider Wasp (Ceropales maculata) is another wasp which doesn’t create its own nest. Like the Parasitic Aerial Yellowjacket described above, this wasp usurps the nest of another related wasp, this time a non-parasitic Spider Wasp (Pompilidae). C. maculata lays an egg in the host’s captured prey (a spider) before the host buries her prey along with her own egg. Within the host’s burrow, the Cuckoo Spider wasp egg hatches and the hungry larva consumes the host’s egg and the captured spider (Holm 2021).

Spotted Cuckoo Spider Wasp (Ceropales maculata).

The Hymenopteran and Dipteran flower visitors were likely foraging in the flowers themselves for nectar and/or pollen, whereas other larger flower perchers were merely looking for a place to alight. Large and beautiful Dragonflies spread their wings in the morning sunlight while resting on lakeside flowers. The powdery blue bodies of the Slaty Skimmers (Libellula incesta) were particularly common and striking. These dragonflies were most obliging for my photographs, often allowing me to get quite close to their resting forms.

The sharp red of Meadowhawks (Sympetrum sp.) were also common along the lakeshore foliage.

Rounding out the insect observations was a Scorpionfly (Panorpa sp.) which I spotted among the leaf litter.

Within the lake itself, I spotted many frogs, and one was quite interesting in being at the penultimate stage of its ‘tadpole’ life, neither tadpole nor fully frog, this was a transitory creature.

The ‘transitory’ frog, no longer a tadpole, but not quite an adult frog.

Among the branches above, I encountered two more wood-warbler species, not seen at the warbler river in Pog Lake (See Warbler River (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 3)). The Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) is a bird that I associate with the wetlands of Long Point, not the woodlands of Algonquin, but Ron Tozer in Birds of Algonquin Park (2012), states “Probably the most widespread warbler, it is common in wet brushy habitats, weedy fields, and marshes through most of North America.”

Common Yellowthroat female, lacking entirely the black mask of the males.

Another new Warbler for the trip was the Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) darting among the conifer branches.

Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens).

Perhaps surprising, given my usual focus on insects and birds, my most striking observation on this trail walk was a plant.

One of the habitats merging with the edge of the lake was a small marshy area* which contained the dragonflies and frogs you might expect. But there was also a bog plant that I have never observed in the wild before and that struck me as particularly exciting: Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia).

*I will not get into the sinkhole that is wetland characterization… bog/marsh/swamp and other names in this vein are technically different things but ecologists often disagree what the parameters are for each or how to really define them. Although non-scientists might find it amusing, the controversy/discussion arises out of the importance in science of imposing definitions on the world in order to be able to dissect and discuss discrete entities and the real world often defies such limitations because it is just too complex of a system.

Round-leaved Sundews have highly modified leaves which sprout droplets which glisten in the sun. These droplets are sticky and insects which land on them are slowly entrapped by the folding leaves. Once an insect is trapped, the sundew secretes enzymes to digest its prey. The consumption of insect prey takes about a week or more (Eastman 1995). I was overjoyed to spot this amazing carnivorous plant, flourishing in its habitat within Algonquin Park.

References:

Eastman, John. 1995. The Book of Swamp and Bog. Stackpole Books.

Holm, Heather. 2021. Wasps. Pollination Press.

Tozer, Ron. 2012. Birds of Algonquin Park. The Friends of Algonquin Park.

For Previous Algonquin Observation posts, see:

–Warbler River (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 3)

–Lakeside Lives (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 2)

–Campsite Companions (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 1)

–Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

–Algonquin in August

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

–Moose (Alces alces) Family

–Algonquin Observations, Part 5 – Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

–Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 3 – Peck Lake Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

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Algonquin August 2023

Warbler River (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 3)

One early morning in Algonquin Park, within the Pog Lake Campground, I took a walk to a river and a dam. Here, with the sun rising and the river flowing noisily over the dam, I could hear the faint little remarks of small songbirds zipping from branch-tip to branch-tip. I caught their colourful feathers reflecting the early morning light and from their frenetic foraging I identified them as members of that most energetic and wonderful group of birds known as Wood-Warblers (Family Parulidae). At least… most of them were Wood-Warblers. One avian exception was thrown into the mix.

From early morning visits in the light and an evening journey with fog muting the colours of the trees and birds, I spied and photographed 6 species of brids, some of them close enough to observe especially well. There was a tunnel formed of trees which created a surrounding of places for small birds to hop about me, sort of a shark tunnel for birding, with much less threatening subjects of observation. As the small birds moved about and around me I marveled at their bursts of flight and keen senses that enabled them to glean trees of insect inhabitants.

What follows is a swift tour through the birds I observed and photographed at this wonderful location, a flyby if you will.

Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus):

The one non-warbler was a Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus), another migratory bird but only very distantly related to the Wood-Warblers. Least Flycatchers appear in Ontario during May and usually leave by September (after breeding), setting off for their wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America (Tozer 2012). They are very common and widespread in Ontario during their stay, but are not often noticed, at least by me.

Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia):

This was the best shot I got of this sneaky bird.

Magnolia Warblers spend their breeding season, from about May to September nesting along the edges of forests of conifers or mixed trees (Tozer 2012). These beautiful birds are striking for their bright yellow undersides and was originally named the “Black-and-yellow Warbler” but is now more commonly called the Magnolia Warbler. Below is an excellent little window into one ornithologist’s encounter with these birds at the end of the 19th century. I think this piece of writing by William Brewster (Brewster 1877) captures some of the wonder I feel whenever I encounter warblers:

“At length, entering a grove of thick growing young spruces, I sat down to rest on a mossy log. I had been there but a short time when I became conscious of faint sounds in the trees above and around me, — chirpings, twitterings, and occasionally a modest little effort at song. Watching attentively, I soon spied a movement among the branches, and a tiny bird hopped out into the light, presenting a bright yellow breast and throat for just a moment before flying into the next tree, Here was a revelation ! I already knew a few of the most familiar birds, — the Robin, the Bluebird, the Sparrow, the Oriole, and some others; but it had never occurred to me that dark forests like these might be tenanted by such delicate and beautiful forms. Only the tropics surely could boast such gems.”

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata):

Displaying its namesake yellow rump, this is perhaps a female based on her lack of blue patterning across her back, but young males have similar coloration.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are generalist warblers, using a variety of coniferous and mixed forests for their nesting habitat, and foraging with varied techniques including fly-catching and gleaning (Tozer 2012). These generalist habits make them a common sight, and that’s certainly a cause for celebration as their flitting trails through the foliage are wonderful to watch. Yellow-rumped Warblers have been sighted in Algonquin Park into November, but normally they depart for their United States wintering range during October (Tozer 2012).

This individual is a male, based on the darker coloration on his back. He has caught some sort of insect in his beak.


Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica):

Chestnut-sided Warblers have some wonderful patterns.

While the preceding Warblers use conifers for nesting, the Chestnut-sided Warbler prefers open secondary forests and shrublands, historically caused by fire and more recently caused by human disturbances such as logging (Tozer 2012). Indeed, as humans have changed the forests of North America, these colorful birds have become more common as their preferred habitat has spread. Chapman (1917) writes: “The Chestnut-sided Warbler, for example, considered by Wilson and Audubon to be a rare species, is now abundant, and we may believe that this change in numbers is due largely to the development of those scrub and second growths in which the bird delights.”

I believe this is a young bird based on its washed-out colours and the lack of distinctive patterning of the adults of this species.


This is the same bird as above, showing it from a rather different angle than usually seen. It certainly makes the bird appear to be well-fed.

American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla):

“If a bird exists which is more constantly in motion and in a greater variety of ways, I have yet to see it.” – Frank Chapman, in Warblers of North America (1917).

The first several times I observed American Redstarts, I didn’t realize they were Wood-Warblers. I think the very dark and bright coloration didn’t match my association of Parulids with generally yellows and pale blues or white. The females are green-grey and yellow and white so they seem more in line with my description above, but the males are unmistakably distinctive. My first remembered encounter with Redstarts was in MacGregor Provincial Park (you can read about it here). They are memorable not just for their striking coloration but for their rapid foraging style, described beautifully by Chapman (1917) as “a mad series of darts and dives and whirls, of onward rushes and as sudden stops”.


Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)

Similar to the American Redstart, the Black-and-white Warbler seems to be an odd one in the group appearance-wise. This monochromatic species also displays a different foraging strategy than the frenetic foliage-gleaning and hovering more typical of the Wood-Warblers. The Black-and-white Warbler forages much more similarly to a Nuthatch (Sitta sp.) or Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), crawling up and down trees and branches, using its elongated hind-claw and shorter legs to do so (Tozer 2012). The scientific name of this bird translates as “variegated moss-plucker”, in reference to their foraging methods (Hughes 2001). Another surprise from this small bird is that the “nest is usually located on the ground, often in a depression at the base of a tree, stump, or shrub, or under logs or dead branches” (Tozer 2012). What an amazing creature.

Black-and-white Warbler which one could easily mistake for a White-Breasted Nuthatch.

The Wood-Warblers I observed (and the Least Flycatcher too), all arrive in Algonquin in Spring and depart in the Fall; they use the resources of the northern forests swiftly before retreating to southern ranges as winter approaches. I’m glad I was present to see and capture their foraging, flitting, forms among the branches and tree trunks of the riverside in Pog Lake campground, and going through these photos again makes me look forward to their return this Spring.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)

References:

Brewster, William. “THE BLACK-AND-YELLOW WARBLER (DENDRŒCA MACULOSA).” Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 2, no. 1 (1877): 1–7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24723498.

Chapman, Frank. 1917. The Warblers of North America. Dover edition, 1968.

Hughes, Janice M. 2001. The ROM Field Guide to Birds of Ontario. Royal Ontario Museum.

Tozer, Ron. 2012. Birds of Algonquin Park. The Friends of Algonquin Park.

For Previous Algonquin Observation posts, see:

–Lakeside Lives (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 2)

–Campsite Companions (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 1)

–Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

–Algonquin in August

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

–Moose (Alces alces) Family

–Algonquin Observations, Part 5 – Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

–Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 3 – Peck Lake Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

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Algonquin August 2023

Lakeside Lives (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 2)

Subsequent days in the park had us spending time at the Pog lake beach and surrounding area. The fog swirling across the calm lake was a wonderful sight to begin our Algonquin days. One morning the shapes of loons speared the fog and then dropped below the still surface of the lake. Loons may be a common sight within the lakes of Algonquin park, but that does not mean that they are a boring sight at all. Their calls and dives are woven into the atmosphere of Algonquin Park.

The charisma of Loons did not prevent my eyes being drawn to the small living denizens of the beach area as well. Resting on a buoy was a Large Orthopteran (grasshopper/cricket/katydid) of some sort. This was a Roesel’s Bush-Cricket (Roeseliana roeselii), an introduced Katydid from Europe. There are two forms to this species, one long-winged, and one short-winged. I believe the one I spotted is of the longer-winged variety.

As the days progressed, more insect activity became apparent. A flower near the lake’s edge was visited by a bumblebee-look-alike: the Orange-legged Drone Fly (Eristalis flavipes). The larvae of this species feed within moist decomposing plant material and are known as “rat-tailed maggots” because of the long thin breathing tube that extends from the larvae. But the adults are beautiful bumblebee-mimics, one of many examples where one stage in an insect’s life is more attractive (to us) than another.

Nearby the flower was a pair of damselflies (Bluets, Enallagma) performing their heart-shaped coupling.

Part 1: The Male has clasped onto the female behind her head.

I’m unsure of the species but there are over 30 species of Bluets in North America (bugguide.net), so called because of the often bright blue colour of the male.

Part 2: Acrobatics incoming…

Damselflies have a strong ovipositor which they use to pierce vegetation in order to lay their eggs inside. Oftentimes, the plants they lay eggs into are partly underwater, causing the damselflies to stretch their abdomens beneath the water surface to cut into a suitable stem.

Part 3: Union.

There were other encounters within the Pog Lake Campground, but the most memorable for me were in a location separated by a walk from our campsite and the beach, a wonderful place I came to call “Warbler River”. That will be the subject of my next post.

For Previous Algonquin Observation posts, see:

–Campsite Companions (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 1)

–Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

–Algonquin in August

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

–Moose (Alces alces) Family

–Algonquin Observations, Part 5 – Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

–Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 3 – Peck Lake Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

Categories
Algonquin August 2023

Campsite Companions (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 1)

In August of 2023, I returned to one of my favourite places: Algonquin Provincial Park. While there, I photographed and encountered varied organisms and I’d like to take the opportunity to explore and describe these nature observations in a series of blogposts, as I often do.

When first arriving at our campsite, I observed not a living thing itself, but rather the mark of a living thing on its environment: I found a bird nest. According to iNaturalist it is likely the creation of a Vireo (genus Vireo, who said Scientific names were hard to remember?). The most common Vireo in Southern Ontario is the Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), so this was likely constructed by a member of this species. A description of their nest construction is appropriate here: “The female spends 4 to 5 days constructing a nest of bark strips, grasses, pine needles, wasp-nest paper, twigs, and plant fibers that hangs below the branch. She glues the materials (some of which are provided by the male) together and to the branch fork with spider-web adhesive, occasionally supplemented with spider egg cases and sticky plant fibers.” (Cornell Lab of Ornithology 2019). I love thinking of the time and effort that went into this small nest. Just think of the spiders’ webs and egg cases that went into this architecture.

Small eye-level nest of a songbird, likely a Vireo of some sort.

While exploring our campsite, a very different organism was in the process of creating a nest, a crabronid wasp female. This tiny black-and-yellow wasp was investigating the ground of our campsite for a location to create a  burrow. The wasp landed several times and dug a little bit into the sandy soil then hovered for a while, circling the area before dropping to the ground once more. At one point, it entered the firepit and dug rapidly into the ashes within, crafting itself a very easily constructed but frightfully unwise burrow. It put me in mind of the parable of the man building a house on sand, perhaps there is a Hymenopteran equivalent about “digging one’s burrow in ashes”. In any case, I don’t think the wasp was settled on the firepit as its burrow location because after forming these temporary exploratory burrows, she flew off and wasn’t seen the rest of the day.

“Do not dig your burrow in ash” – ancient Hymenopteran proverb.

A few days later, I spotted her hovering form once more, this time accompanied by a prey item. Dragging below her was a corpse larger than herself, that of a Horse Fly (Tabanidae). I never witnessed the end of her journey, I’m not sure if she found a good spot to bury her large prey to feed her young. But I hope that she did.

Crabronid wasp dragging her larger horse fly prey below herself.

Another Hymenopteran was looking to provision for its young, although its prey was far larger than a horsefly. The creature was a Black-and-red Horntail (Urocerus cressoni) and its prey was a tree. Horntails (Suborder Symphyta) lay their eggs inside the trunks of trees and the larvae feed within. Urocerus cressoni larvae feed inside of Pine trees and their relatives (Marshall 2023).

Black-and-Red Horntail (Urocerus cressoni) resting on the trunk of a tree, likely searching for a place to lay her eggs.

Many other insects were observed on the trees, plants and litter of our campsite and the surrounding areas of the Pog Lake Campground. Some True Flies (Order Diptera) caught my attention. A bright and shiny Dolichopus skittered about in the leaf litter, and an elongate Robber Fly (Genus Machimus) was spotted on fallen pine needles.

Dolichopus Fly.
Robber fly of the genus Machimus.

Some of the most beautiful insects found in the Pog Lake campground were the Dragonflies (Order Odonata). A strikingly large Dragonfly of the genus Aeshna was basking in the sun on the trunks of trees and (when I was able to take its photo) on our dining tent entrance.

A much more easily missed odonate was the Variable Darner (Argis fumipennis), a smoky grey presence among the pine needles and fallen bark.

Resting along a branch was a beautiful Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum), in a colour phase that I hadn’t observed before. Males of this species are a bright red with a rusty-red thorax, but females (like the one I encountered) are yellowish. I was able to get very close to this dragonfly and was rewarded with some beautiful photographs.

We didn’t just hang out by our campsite in Pog Lake, but we spent quite a bit of time at the campground beach and that will be the focus of my next blogpost.

References:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2019. All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-eyed_Vireo/lifehistory#nesting Accessed on [1/24/24].

Marshall, Stephen A. 2023. Hymenoptera

For Previous Algonquin Observation blogposts, see:

–Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

–Algonquin in August

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

–Moose (Alces alces) Family

–Algonquin Observations, Part 5 – Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

–Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 3 – Peck Lake Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground