19-JUNE-2010
Green heron
John saw two green herons in the pond and took these gorgeous photos.
19-JUNE-2010
Green heron
Another view of one of the green herons, which have not been nearly as common at our pond this year as in previous years.
29-JUN-2010
Red squirrel eating the seedheads of comfrey plant
Comfrey is abundant around the FWG. However, it provides a lot of food for squirrels. I have seen chipmunks, red squirrels and grey squirrels eating their seeds, often in great quantities.
30-JUN-2010
Aphids and stinkbug nymph
A mix of aphids, including winged aphids, and a stinkbug nymph getting ready to prey on the aphids.
29-JUN-2010
Chipmunk
This little guy was busily digging down into the soil and extracting seeds. My presence didn't bother him at all. Look at that dirty little face! Too cute for words!
29-JUN-2010
Stinkbug eggs and nymphs (Pentatomid)
This tiny cluster of eggs and first instar nymphs, was on the underside of a Chokecherry leaf.
25-JUN-2010
Raccoon
These little guys are so cute, especially when caught by surprise like this. Jeewa found and photographed this one sitting in a tree.
25-JUN-2010
Barley foxtail (Hordeum jubatum)
This beautiful native grass does well in full sun and dry sites, hence often found along roadsides. It is sometimes used as an ornamental grass, but nearly as often as it should be. it does spread rapidly, so this may be one reason it is not used more frequently. However, farmers are not fond of it, for the sharp bristles can cause injury to horses and cattle when eaten.
25-JUN-2010
Oysterplant/Goatsbeard (Tragopogon)
Also known as Johnny-go-to-bed-by-noon, because the flowers close up by noon! A common non-native species. There are 2 Tragopogons and they hybridize, so it can be hard to tell which plant one is looking at.
25-JUN-2010
Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)
Another tall, pretty plant of summer which attracts many insects.
25-JUN-2010
Polydrusus weevil
Jeewa also found and photographed this pretty bright green little weevil, this time on Milkweed flowers.
25-JUN-2010
Clouded sulphur (Colias philodice)
One of the common Pieridae butterflies of summer. This gorgeous photo shows off the colours and pattern well.
25-JUN-2010
Red-winged blackbird, female, carrying food
The red-winged blackbirds are feeding young, most of whom have already left the nest.
23-JUN-2010
Klamath weed beetle (Chrysolina)
This non-native beetle was introduced into NA in the mid 1940's from France, to control St. John's wort (also called Klamath Weed), a non-native weed injurious to cattle. It has been introduced to various locales, wherever this plant is found, in eastern and western Canada. And of course, the beetle has also spread (they have wings!). This is the first time I've seen them at FWG, although I have seen them in a number of areas around the Ottawa district. Yet another example of biocontrol at work!
23-JUN-2010
Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)
A beautiful, tall, native plant that gets its name because it is one of the first plants to colonize a burned over (or clear cut) site.
23-JUN-2010
Dogwood spittlebug (Clastoptera proteus), adult
This adult was near the nymph cases. They are strange looking little critters, quite unlike most spittlebugs!
23-JUN-2010
Dogwood spittlebug nymph (Clastoptera proteus)
Found, of course, on a dogwood, in this case red-osier dogwood. While the spittle cases were frequent, I saw only a few adults. The spittle of this species seems much thicker and waxier than that of many other spittlebug species. Judging from the look of this one, it may be the fourth instar, but I don't know for certain. These cases are made by the nymphs emitting a white secretion from their behinds, and are designed to keep them moist and provide protection.
23-JUN-2010
Asian ladybeetle (Harmonia axyridis)
A strikingly red little jewel like beetle, much smaller than the Eyed ladybeetle. This is one of the introduced Coccinelids, and in winter large numbers will often seek shelter indoors.
23-JUN-2010
Eye-spotted ladybeetle (Anatis mali)
This is the first time I can remember seeing this large (7-10mm) lady beetle at FWG.
23-JUN-2010
Entrance to the Backyard Garden
Clustered near the entrance to the BYG, these flowers caught my eye.
23-JUN-2010
Day Lilies
These flowers last for only a day, as the name suggests, but they keep producing new flowers for some time and create a striking display when growing in profusion. These are growing on the edge of the ravine. You can find these non-native day lilies all over eastern Ontario where they have naturalized alongside roads and around the sites of old homesteads.
23-JUN-2010
Virginia ctenucha moth laying eggs on Dog-strangling vine
I found this ctenucha moth laying eggs on the underside of a DSV leaf. It seems only yesterday that I found the caterpillars, and then the cocoons of this species. They've been flying for some weeks already and are egg-laying. Time passes.
23-JUN-2010
Ctenucha moth eggs
This is a closer view of the Virginia ctenucha moth eggs.
23-JUN-2010
Striped hairstreak (Satyrium liparops)
Found two of these today at the garden, my first for the season. I was actually looking for hairstreaks today and was very happy to find this and the second one.
It was a good day for butterflies at the FWG. In addition to this species, I saw
European Skipper 25+
Long Dash Skipper 1
Cabbage White 10
Clouded Sulphur 2
Question Mark 1
Milbert's Tortoiseshell 2
Red Admiral 1
White Admiral 2
23-JUN-2010
Six-spotted orbweaver with egg mass
This tiny spider is pretty common at FWG, but this is the first I've found this year with an egg mass.
21-JUN-2010
Ox-eye daisy and timothy.
Jeewa took this very elegant photo of the daisy and timothy grass. European skippers are closely associated with timothy and when it begins to appear so do the skippers.
21-JUN-2010
Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia)
A beautiful shot of the small stand of cactus that keeps on popping up in the BYG year after year.
21-JUN-2010
Tree swallow
Tree swallows already have young and it won't be long before they leave the nest (if not already!). Where do the weeks go? It seems the swallows arrived back only yesterday!
21-JUN-2010
Black-capped chickadee fledged young
Youngsters are on the wing, like this young chickadee, haranguing parents for food!
19-JUN-2010
Chipmunk
Chipmunks, like this guy, plus the squirrels, turtles, frogs, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, moths, rabbits, groundhogs, the occasional deer, fox and beaver, muskrats, etc. etc. all appreciate the wildlife garden, which is a 15 acre haven in the middle of a big city, for them to live in, whether temporarily or permanently. This is what we are celebrating today, our 20th anniversary of being a garden!
19-JUN-2010
Cutting the cake
Eileen, knife in hand, is about to cut the birthday cake.
19-JUN-2010
Our cake!
And a delicious one it was too. Little was left at the end of the event.
19-JUN-2010
Peter, Jeff and Eileen
Peter Hall, Jeff Harrison and Eileen Chivers. Peter and Jeff from the OFNC and Eileen from Landscape Ontario, worked tirelessly to get the FWG project off the ground. That we are where we are today, is thanks to them.
24-JUN-2010
Peter Hall
Peter Hall and his wife, Judy, were the ones who instigated the idea and the search for a location for the garden. Without them, and Jeff Harrison who quickly joined in with his support, there would be no Fletcher Wildlife Garden!
24-JUN-2010
Trevor Cole
Trevor, now retired, was for many years the Dominion Arborist, for the Arboretum next door to the FWG. He was and is, a big supporter of the garden.
19-JUN-2010
FWG 20th anniversary party
Another shot of the whole group, this time including two people who were busy taking photos of the group.
19-JUN-2010
FWG 20th anniversary party
Happy Birthday/Happy Anniversary, Bon Fete, to us!! We celebrated 20 years of existence with a big party at the garden. It was well attended, as you can see from this group photo, and seeing many of our previous volunteers again was wonderful. Peter Hall and Jeff Harrison both attended, the founding fathers of the garden, and gave us their reminiscences about how the garden came to be. Eileen Chivers, the first manager of the Backyard Garden, shared her memories of those early days and it was a powerful experience to hear the collective wisdom of these three folk instrumental in getting this wildlife garden going.
16-JUN-2010
After the work on the dam
Regular visitors to the FWG will know that we recently had some much needed work done on the dam. The work took place on Monday and part of Tuesday. The crew created a wide spillway, and piled huge rocks down the slope to prevent further erosion. Next step is to install a new bridge.
14-JUN-2010
4-lined plant bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus)
Quite a few of these pretty little bugs around.
14-JUN-2010
In the Old Field habitat
This song sparrow is using a bird box as a perch from which to keep watch for intruders (several pairs of song sparrows are nesting in the old field area). The Rubus odoratus below adds a pretty touch to the scene. This shrub has self seeded only in the last year or so in this location.
14-JUN-2010
Hover fly (Toxomerus geminatus) female
A tiny, tiny little hover fly, one of the most common, along with T. marginatus.
12-JUN-2010
Pink (Dianthus)
These are garden plants from Europe that can now be found in many natural areas. These were photographed, however, in the Backyard Garden section of the Fletcher Wildlife Garden.
12-JUN-2010
Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Milkweed are now blooming at the garden. In other parts of the Ottawa region the flower buds are just emerging, while in sheltered locations they have been flowering for over a week. This is of course, the iconic flower, associate with the Monarch Butterflies. I wonder if we will see any this year. They had a very tough winter in their Mexican wintering grounds, with heavy rains, hail, mudslides wiping out their trees, etc. Nonetheless, they are migrating northward. They are being seen in small numbers in various parts of the northern US and in Ontario. One was found near Carp some weeks ago. So far, I have not seen any, but am hopeful!
12-JUN-2010
Purple flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus)
A beautiful native Rubus species, whose flowers closely resemble that of a wild rose.
10-JUN-2010
Blanding's Turtle
This large Blanding's is resting its long neck against a pile of cattails. The neck is so long that if you just saw the head and neck it might almost look like it was attached to a large snake.
10-JUN-2010
Wood duck with young
Although these three photos of the wood ducks were taken in the Arboretum, wood ducks visit our pond throughout the spring to fall months. Jeewanthi said that there were three families of wood duck in the Arboretum, and this one aggressive female was rounding chasing the other females away from this very large combined brood!
10-JUN-2010
Wood duck with young
A gorgeous shot by Jeewanthi of this wood duck family in the Arboretum.
10-JUN-2010
Wood duck with young
Isn't this quite the gathering?!
11-JUN-2010
Milbert's Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis milbertii)
A gorgeous shot of a fresh milbert's by Chris Bruce.
09-JUN-2010
American lady (Vanessa virginiensis)
This rather faded butterfly was in the BYG. It has been a good year for the migratory butterflies, with hundreds upon hundreds of red admirals found in this region and across the province, as well as good numbers of the lady species.
10-JUN-2010
Song Sparrow
A rather ruffled looking song sparrow. He was having a good preening and was just taking a breather here!
10-JUN-2010
Weevils (Rhodobaenus quinquepunctatus)
These weevils are common and to my eye, very attractive. There is another very closely related weevil called Cocklebur Weevil.
09-JUN-2010
Hover fly (Volucella sp.)
Mimicry fascinates me. I'm especially taken with the insects that mimic wasps and bees, and there are many that do. Hover flies, or syrphids are tops amongst the Hymneopteran mimics. At the FWG, we have several species of Syrphids who mimic bumblebees (Bombus). This one puzzled me at first. I knew it was a Syrphid, but not sure which genus to put it in. I saw it had plumose antennae, however, which would suggest a Volucella sp. I sent if off to Heather, a grad student at Carleton studying Syrphids and she confirmed it was indeed Volucella, and probably V. bombylans. If it is this species, then it lays its eggs in yellowjacket nests.
09-JUN-2010
Mating robber flies (Asilid sp.)
We have a lot of robber flies around the FWG, including these small ones found in the BYG. I haven't yet had time to try and key out which of the many, many small Asilids they are.
09-JUN-2010
Beetle sp.
A remarkable macro of a very tiny beetle (ID uncertain). Look at those eyes!
08-JUN-2010
Head of a caterpillar
Stephen Begin was at FWG recently to do some macro photography. This is a phenomenal closeup of a caterpillar (not sure of the species).
08-JUN-2010
The inside of a poppy
An intriguing look at the inside of one of the small California type poppies in the BYG. Macro opens up a whole new way of looking at things and reveals what is often hidden to the naked eye.
8 June 2010
Crab spider
I (Sandy Garland) was in the Backyard Garden this afternoon when this large crab spider fell on my neck. I swatted at it without thinking, but luckily didn't do any permanent damage.
8 June 2010
Bumblebee on Beardtongue
A large bumblebee was busy collecting nectar from beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) flowers.
8 June 2010
Campanula
We finally have campanula blooming in the Backyard Garden. We keep planting this beautiful wildflower, but the plants usually get eaten by rabbits before they have a chance to bloom.
8 June 2010
Tiny bee
A closer look at one photo of the campanula revealed this tiny bee clinging to the pistil.
8 June 2010
Caterpillars on Pearly everlasting
Why am I photographing pearly everlasting leaves? Because there are many American Lady caterpillars on them at the moment. These caterpillars glue the top leaves together with fine strands to make a shelter, keeping them out of sight of predators.
8 June 2010
Widow skimmer
Down near the southwest corner of the FWG, this female Widow Skimmer was sunning herself between meals. South of the woods, I saw two White Admiral butterflies and a Tiger Swallowtail. This is looking like a good year for at least some butterflies.
8 June 2010
Wood duck
And back at the Amphibian Pond, a female Wood Duck was making inroads (and trails) in the duckweed that's covering the deep end of the pond.
05-JUN-2010
Chickweed
One of many small, non-native species that occur locally. They are so small as to be almost unnoticed, but very pretty when seen in close up.
05-JUN-2010
seed capsule of Purple flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus)
This amazing photo shows part of the seed capsule of the purple-flowering raspberry, the big shrub with the rose-like flowers. Here, it almost looks like a sun-dew of some sort. I had never looked closely at the seed capsules before I saw Stephen's photo, and when I did, I was surprised at what they look like!
05-JUN-2010
Pink (Dianthus)
This looks like the inside of a Pink, A Dianthus, but I haven't seen the whole flower so I could be wrong!
05-JUN-2010
Jumping spider, female
Steve Begin was at the garden recently and took some stunning close ups of jumping spiders. Not sure of the species here, but it is certainly a remarkable photo, showing the characteristic head of the jumper with those huge eyes, which are said to be the biggest of any invertebrate.
05-JUN-2010
Jumping spider, poss. Eris
Another superb shot by Steve, of a jumping spider. Look at those enormous eyes! These intriguing little spiders have been abundant this year at FWG. I have found many, many of them, often on DSV, where they have made their little webs. Unlike many spiders, they don't use a web to ensnare prey (they rely on their phenomenal eyesight ... those big eyes, and their powerful jumping ability). The webs are places to retreat to.
04-JUN-2010
Pale beauty (Campaea perlata)
This pretty moth was sitting on the side of the building and another couple were found on nearby vegetation. It is one of the most common moths around, often found during the day perched flat against vegetation.
04-JUN-2010
Polyphemous Moth wings
Cathy found these moth wings lying on some thyme in the BYG early Friday morning. Obviously a bird had had a feast. This is pretty common. Also on Friday morning, I was sitting inside the Larose Forest station, and noticed a phoebe plucking one moth after another from the wall and sitting on the railing by the door, to eat them. Finding wings like this gives us an idea of what is around!
04-JUN-2010
Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
Viceroys seem particularly abundant this year and we are seeing them in many locations. No Monarchs yet! Keep your eyes open for them. They are very similar to Viceroys, but bigger and without the black line on the lower wings. I should probably say that the viceroys are similar to monarchs rather than the other way around, since they are considered a monarch mimic.
04-JUN-2010
Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
Another view of the viceroy.
04-JUN-2010
Song sparrow carrying food
Although it seems that the song sparrows just returned, in fact they have been back long enough to have young in the nest! This one is carrying a juicy caterpillar back to its nest.
04-JUN-2010
Cedar waxwings
Cedar waxwings are also seemingly everywhere! Small flocks have been around the garden for several weeks. Jeewanthi was able to get some photos of them sitting still!
04-JUN-2010
Goldflame honeysuckle (Lonicera)
The hummingbirds love these flowers, and when we do have hummers in the garden, they will have their fill of this.
04-JUN-2010
Hobomok skipper (Poanes hobomok)
I made a very quick stop at the BYG late afternoon. This hobomok skipper was active around the entrance to the entrance of the garden.
03-JUN-2010
Cottontail rabbit
There were two rabbits on the trail this evening. This big one was munching on trailside vegetation. We are seeing more rabbits again after a relative dearth of them for several years.
03-JUN-2010
Lupines
The lupine in the Butterfly Meadow are not a native species. However, they are certainly pretty and come in various shades of lilac and purple, including this intense colour.
02-JUN-2010
Six-spotted orb weaver (Araniella displicata)
This is a minute spider (about 6mm in length) that usually hangs upside down in a nearly invisible web on the surface of a leaf. This one consented to turn right up side up, but when I left, immediately flipped upside down in her web again. This is a new species for the FWG Arachnid list.
02-JUN-2010
Extraordinary camouflage of the gray treefrog
This windowsill has had a treefrog sitting on it at night, under the lights, waiting for moths. However, today I found him there in mid-day and was struck by how remarkably well he camouflaged he is.