28-JUN-2011
New signs in the Butterfly Meadow
These signs spell out the obvious: Please stay on the paths. It is interesting how many people do not, which is why the signs are needed. It only takes one person to crush a newly planted flower.
28-JUN-2011
Plant bug (Neurocolpus)
Plant bugs, Miridae, are a very large group of bugs, and come summer, you will more than likely see scores of them on vegetation in open sunny spots. Some, like this one and the Miris dolabrata are relatively large, but others are very small and many probably go unnoticed. Not all plant bugs, however, feed on plants. Some feed on dead insects, some catch live prey, and some do it all!
28-JUN-2011
Potter wasp (Eumenes sp.)
On a milkweed leaf near the centre. As the name suggests, these tiny wasps build little pottery nests of clay!
28-JUN-2011
European skipper (Thymelicus lineola)
This was one of about a dozen European skippers that were mostly keeping low in the vegetation. It hasn't been the greatest year for butterflies anywhere in the region, thus far, but things may pick up for the later butterflies (fritillaries, hairstreaks, etc.). Hope so, anyway.
28-JUN-2011
Plant bug (Miris dolabratus) on Timothy grass
Many of these plant bugs around today. The Genus seems to be Leptopterna now, rather than Miris, although Miris is still widely used in guides.
28-JUN-2011
Chipping sparrow
This one was searching for food near the parking lot. There are quite a few chipping sparrows nesting around FWG this year.
28-JUN-2011
Firefly with mites
Fireflies seem to be particularly vulnerable to attack by mites. I frequently see them laden with this little red burden. Insects attacked by mites don't have much chance and usually succumb before long. I have seen some insects so covered in mites that they look deformed.
28-JUN-2011
Eastern forktail (Ischnura verticalis)
Perched on a Canada thistle plant.
28-JUN-2011
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Milkweed is just beginning to bloom and, as expected, is attracting a lot of nectaring insects. If you get near a stand of more than a few plants, the smell is heavenly! They really are an attractive and useful plant. The only time they may create a problem is if they invade a field where cattle are being pastured, but even then, cattle usually ignore them - unless there is nothing else to eat.
28-JUN-2011
Physalis
There was a nice sized patch of this non-native flowering plant, also called ground cherry or clammy ground cherry. It produces large orange seedpods in the fall.
28-JUN-2011
Roesel's katydid (Metreoptera roeselii), female
An introduced species commonly found in eastern Ontario (and eastern Canada), one of the shield-backed group of grasshoppers. You can tell this is a female by the curved ovipositor.
28-JUN-2011
Sundrops (Oenothera)
Clearing out the DSV in an area we'd worked in before, we saw a nice patch of these garden escapes, Sundrops. Also a big stand of Physala, and lots of stinging nettle for red admiral butterflies!