08-JUL-2010
Sand wasp (Bicyrtes)
To me, these are amongst the most beautiful of the wasps. They are large, have a nice crisp black and white appearance and gorgeous big green eyes, which you cannot see in this shot. This one was circling the parking lot in front of the center, beyond the gravelled section, clearly looking for a place to dig a nest. She made repeated stops on the ground, explored briefly, flew off a few feet, repeated the process, and at one point appeared to start digging, but didn't continue.
09-JUL-2010
Yellow warbler
These poor birds are very busy feeding young and get extremely agitated when anyone comes close to either their nest site or the location where the young are perched (depending on which stage the young are at).
09-JUL-2010
Small milkweed bug (Lygaeus kalmii)
All the milkweed critters are out now. These guys, the milkweed weevils, milkweed beetles... Only thing missing are the Monarchs! There are very few around this year, but there is still time for us to see some and hopefully see some larvae too. We did find a couple of Monarchs and three larvae in Larose Forest on our OFNC Butterfly Walk a few days ago.
09-JUL-2010
Stinkbug eggs (Pentatomid sp.)
These eggs were clustered for the length of one cm, along a flower stem on a nannyberry shrub. As you can imagine, each egg is minute. Earlier I posted a shot of stinkbug eggs with nymphs. They were of a different type than these ones. I have seen these before and find them quite beautiful, looking like tiny silver boxes decorated with a fringe. If you look closely, you can see that some of the eggs are already open and there are nymphs inside.
08-JUL-2010
White-faced meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), male
Even sun-lovers like the dragonflies feel the heat and need to control their body temperature. This position, called the obelisk position, is assumed when it is very hot outside. By orienting its abdomen toward the sun, it is able to reduce the area that is actually exposed to the sun's heat. You may also have seen dragonflies perched with their wings angled downwards. This is another position that may be held to avoid overheating. When all else fails, they will move to a shadier location and remain still for awhile, as the widow skimmers were doing yesterday. Very sensible!!
08-JUL-2010
White-faced meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), male
It was another brutally hot day, even hotter than yesterday, with temps at +35 by 10 when I ventured out to the FWG for 40 minutes. Everything was very quiet. I saw no squirrels, few birds, and few insects. However, this white-faced meadowhawk was seen briefly. First perched on this grass stem and then, as in the next photo, in the obelisk position.
07-JUL-2010
Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), female
One of two widow skimmers found perched low on vegetation.
07-JUL-2010
Gasteruptiid wasp
This tiny male wasp is an intriguing little Hymenopteran. Two distinctive features of this species are the 'neck' that you can clearly see, and the elevated abdomen.
07-JUL-2010
Cobweb spider (Enoplognatha ovata), female
This very tiny but very pretty spider was hiding in the flower head of a wild parsley plant.
07-JUL-2010
Two-spotted stinkbug (Cosmopepla bimaculata)
These tiny stinkbugs begin to appear as summer heads toward the mid-way point. They can be fairly common but because they are so small, not always noticed. This was one of a number of species of insects I noticed in my brief walk around the Backyard Garden and the front of the Interpretive Centre. It was just too darn hot for walking much further, at +34 celsius and a humidex of +42!
07-JUL-2010
Parsnip webworm caterpillar (Depressaria pastinacella), #0922
The larvae were partially emerging from their web cases and feeding on the flowerheads of the wild parsley. It doesn't take long for the plants to become quite chewed up. Since people are not fond of this introduced species (in the same family as the currently notorious Giant Hogweed), these larvae should be tolerated!
07-JUL-2010
Parsnip webworm caterpillar (Depressaria pastinacella), #0922
This small caterpillar was on a wild parsley (Pastinaca sativa) plant. There were perhaps 6 of them, each in their own little web cases made in the flower heads. According to information I read, this species was accidentally introduced from Europe to NA and first noticed about 1869. Apparently, "they feed exclusively on a handful of furanocoumarin-containing hosts, including wild parsnip and several species of Heracleum."
Wouldn't it be interesting if they could be used to control the Giant hogweed, a Heracleum species, that is so worrying people at the moment!