There are several species of willows flowering right now. I know that there are at least three like these – pussy willow, small pussy willow and Bebb’s willow. But I can’t tell them apart until they have leaves. Fortunately there is an excellent guide, with keys for differentiating them.
“Shrubs of Ontario” is an excellent book that should be in every naturalists library.
The sandy roads near the cabin had lots of butterflies recently. This hoary elfin is quite small (as are all of the elfins) and was the second most numerous elfin on the roads.
The most abundant elfin were brown elfins.
On the beach at Whitefish Point we saw two of the three pairs of Piping Plovers and a small number of Dunlin.
One of the plovers had green above black bands on the right legs, and a blue band on the left leg.
Back at the cabin we saw a group of five Sandhill Cranes that was joined by a Trumpeter Swan which I am pretty sure I had never seen at Whitefish Point.
More tomorrow….
Michael's Place 