![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/MonarchonNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a>\nHappily, Monarchs are in good numbers in Mississauga in 2018<\/em><\/p>\n
Nature Photography In August at the Rattray Marsh in Mississauga, Ontario<\/h2>\n
Here are some of the plants, insects, animals and birds I found myself looking at through my lens at the Rattray in mid-August.<\/p>\n
These dragon-like Ambush Bugs were perching on a Queen Anne’s Lace blossom hoping some unwary insect would land.<\/p>\n Hog Peanut seems to be taking over the title this year for most abundant, lush growth from the Jewelweeds which dominated last summer.<\/p>\n This Great Egret decided to pose where everyone could spot it after being flushed up out of the marsh.<\/p>\n I hadn’t seen Indian Pipes at the Rattray before so I was pleased to see 4 separate stalks under the trees on the land-ward side of the Knoll path board walk. Getting an angle for a photo was its own little challenge.<\/p>\n The rather grubby looking Downy Woodpecker is actually a young bird. It flew in nearby while I was stalking an angle for the Indian Pipe photos.<\/p>\n I tried several times without success during the walk to get an identifying photograph of this dragonfly hunting from a perch out over the creek. Although I don’t know what type it is, I did learn its preferred hunting technique was to perch, then dart out short distances to try to catch prey. It would often “obelisk” pointing its tail up to the sky.<\/p>\n Way out in the Marsh, this Cormorant was drying its wings.<\/p>\n And these Wood Ducks were also sunbathing.<\/p>\n Wild Cucumber blossoms stand up straight like candles among the twining leaves and stems.<\/p>\n Cabbage White butterflies were everywhere: flying, basking and taking nectar from the flowers.<\/p>\n Elderberries are ripening.<\/p>\n And White Baneberry Doll’s Eyes are fully ripe. The location of this plant, under the garrotted Norway Maples, suggests it is a successful re-plant. A few years ago, I noticed they had planted back several specimens of Red Baneberry in this area. It’s hard to keep up with the alien invasives and the predations of the deer in a small park like the Rattray.<\/p>\n This Great Blue Heron had found the only mud-free spot to perch while preening. I might have gone around onto the shingle bar to look more closely at it, but there were too many biting flies. (Do Stable Flies live in the beach here?)<\/p>\n I checked some of the Evening Primrose plants looking for Primrose Moths but only found buds.<\/p>\n This Ebony Jewelwing was easier to identify than the dragonflies.<\/p>\n This is one of those Grasshoppers that fly away displaying yellow wings with a black stripe. I can never seem to get a photo of them in flight!<\/p>\n I looked briefly for ladybugs on the Common Milkweed but only found this Asian Multi-coloured one.<\/p>\n This Sulphur found one of the few Dandelions in bloom. I think it’s a Clouded Sulphur.<\/p>\n Boneset was in bloom and the goldenrods were beginning to open.<\/p>\n Lots of Northern Cardinals were calling to keep in contact with their partners.<\/p>\n There weren’t many seed pods ready to trigger yet on the Spotted Jewelweed.<\/p>\n Like Cardinals, family groups of Black-capped Chickadees were everywhere.<\/p>\n This plant, just starting to flower, along the landward side of the Knoll path may be a type of Nabalus. It was a spindly specimen with few leaves but it was valiantly starting to flower both at the top and at the leaf nodes.<\/p>\n I was intrigued by this pink flower also along the dry woods part of the Knoll but I am suspicious it may be a type of Smartweed rather than a more unusual plant. I took photos of the leaves and stems so I’m hoping to key it out later.<\/p>\n This grasshopper was in the woods not the meadows. I’m wondering, for obvious reasons, if it may be a Red-legged Grasshopper. I’ll be checking later. Judging by my series of photos, it may have been laying eggs in a crack in this trunk.<\/p>\n There were two of these mostly-grown fawns feeding near the Old Poplar Row spur path. I like their spots!<\/p>\n This Alilanthus Webworm Moth was my bonus for taking photos of the Cabbage White butterflies taking nectar from the Purple Loosestrife. I never would have noticed it if I hadn’t scanned the flower heads through my 600 mm lens.<\/p>\n And my favourite was this Belted Kingfisher that landed near me as I stood staring at the creek. As usual, it flew as soon as it noticed me but I had a lovely close look at it for over a minute.<\/p>\n So yes, I did find some good things to photograph–although I agree the actual photos could be improved. The Rattray Marsh offers many good nature photography opportunities even on a hot humid morning in August.<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you prefer to go for a walk looking for one specific thing or are you happier to ramble and take note of whatever is in view that day? Please share your experiences with a comment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For me, the hard part is to not take 1000 photographs on a nature photography walk through the Rattray Marsh in Mississauga. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[779,491,406,543,417,783,781,520,607,782,84,402,780,67,405],"class_list":["post-7279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rambles","tag-boneset","tag-cabbage-white","tag-double-crested-cormorant","tag-dragonfly","tag-ebony-jewelwing","tag-elderberry","tag-fawn","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-great-egret","tag-indian-pipe","tag-monarch","tag-multi-coloured-asian-ladybeetle","tag-purple-loosestrife","tag-white-tailed-deer","tag-wood-duck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7279"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7318,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279\/revisions\/7318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n