Requiem for a Double-crested Cormorant

At Belle Isle yesterday looking for anything of interest, but especially dragonflies.  Found plenty of interest, including an apparently sleeping juvenile double-crested cormorant.  But not that many dragonflies.

Seen perched at the edge of the lake across from the Yacht Club.

I was stepping lightly and it awakened by didn't fly or swim.  Hmmm.

Odd.  Unbalanced with the tip of its tail submerged in the water.

It seemed thirsty.

After that drink it seemed to settle down, but was still wobbly on its perch.  And it bothered me that the tip of its tail was submerged in the water.

Continue on.  Leave it alone.  Maybe it will recover.

Thirty minutes later when I returned it was dead and its tail was more deeply submerged in the water.

I felt bad.  Was it Avian flu?  West Nile virus?  Lead or mercury poisoning from fish in the river or this lake?  I stopped for a bit to decide what to do.  I wanted to collect the bird for the University of Michigan bird collection; however,  ever since Janet H. left that division seems so out of touch and discombobulated.   They don't answer their phone or emails and they don't respond to messages left on their voicemail.  

Its position on the perch made it appear peaceful.  I don't know how long it will remain this way.  I was too busy to return today to check on it.  I might try tomorrow.

Update:  I didn't get to return for several days or so and the bird was no longer present on the perch. 

Non-native and potentially invasive

Bummer!

Both photos taken with my iPhone.  I'm a brand new user of iNaturalist.  Yesterday I posted the photos above and this morning got my ID:  Blackberry Lily (Iris domestica).   I thought with a name like this it was surely a native flower.  Nope.  Native to east Asia.

So disappointed because it is such charming little flower.  I found them under my spicebush at the head of my pondless waterfall yesterday.  I know I didn't plant them.  The stalk creates a seedpod that is present in  fall and winter.  Apparently, one or more of the robin visitors to my pond dropped a few seeds that took hold.

My yard is not completely native but I am trying to keep it as native as is possible; despite living in a non-native heaven area of the state    Just planted a couple of new coneflowers and some Anise hyssop yesterday.    

Backyard visitor

I have noticed a lot of really nice butterflies this summer.  Perhaps it's the combination of daytime heat, cool nights and the rain we have had.

In my yard last evening, this female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is nearly perfect.  It's just missing a tiny part of its right tail.

 These photos taken with my iPhone.

Question Mark

Kenn Kaufman and Jim P. Brock wrote in their 2003 edition of Field Guide to Butterflies of North America, page 196:  "Wide-ranging and fairly common in woodland openings, stream sides, city parks, backyards, and quiz shows."  I love a tongue-in-cheek comment like that final little punch line. 

It seems a long time since I have taken a photo of a butterfly and even longer yet photos that are this clear.  There were scant open wing opportunities with this butterfly, but it's the closed wing shot that reveals the distinguishing field mark.

Additionally Kaufman and Brock write, "Below hindwing ... always with centered silvery comma and adjacent dot forming a question mark." Reminded me of the tip of the crescent moon pointing toward Venus in the clear dawn sky.  

Downy Woodpecker

On one of the very hot days last week I went to Lake Erie Metropark to look for dragonflies.  I didn't find a single dragonfly or damselfly, but I did see this charming Downy Woodpecker and took a series of photos. Its plumage appears mature.  But the bird's poses and behavior remind me of a fledgling.  The bird is just too cute.  I've never really seen an adult Downy behave this way.