Isn't this frog brilliantly emerald green on its head! This is one of at least 11 green frogs found in the BYG pond.

There were several of these tiny, tiny (a couple of mm in size) flies around the nannyberry shrubs today.

This hornet was very busy scraping slivers of wood from this post at the garden. It will add to its nest, as the 'renovation' work is ongoing!

A side view of this pretty little fly on the rudbekcia.

Another of our little native lady beetles, eating the contents of an insect or arachnid case on the underside of a milkweed leaf.

Yesterday I spent well over an hour checking a patch of milkweed for monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars. I didn't find any eggs, but I found two caterpillars (very hopeful sign!), one about 2 days old, and this much bigger one. I went back today to see how it was doing only to discover it was no longer on the milkweed plant. I could see caterpillar frass on the leaves indicating it had been there. Looking around the immediate vicinity I was surprised to find it on a burdock leaf! I put it back on the milkweed, and went off looking for more caterpillars in the rest of the milkweed patch (found no more). When I got back about 45 min. later, this guy was back on the burdock.

We haven't seen many turtles in the pond this year, so it was nice to see that at least one is still there. Although this is not native to our area (it is a species native to the southern US), it is often found in local waterways because people buy them as pets from pet stores and then, for whatever reason, let them go in ponds and streams. There is no way of telling if this is the same one that we have seen for several years at the pond, but if so, it means it has survived two winters. Normal cold winters often kill off this southern species, but lately our winters have been pretty mild so I guess it can survive them (if this is indeed the same one from the last few years).

There seem to be a lot of these very attractive and distinctive bumblebees around this year.

Barry wondered why this cabbage white was so cooperative! Looking more closely he discovered why... it had been caught by the well-named Ambush bug. This buttterfly has one black dot, indicating it is a male.

This very strikingly patterned wasp is quite common in the region,including at the FWG, from mid-summer onward. They seem to particularly like goldenrods for nectaring.

This tiny treehopper (about 4-5 mm) seems to appear at this time of year on the sunflowers in the Butterfly Meadow. It was a three treehopper day today, with this one, the Enchenopa, and a buffalo treehopper. Previously called A. brunnea.

These soldier beetles are very common right now. They seem to particularly like yellow coloured flowers such as goldenrods and tansy, perhaps because they blend in so well!

A few of these beautiful plants were beginning to flower, yet another sign of autumn's approach.

I have always found these treehoppers on Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago), but assume they use a variety of shrubs. They are cryptically coloured and shaped, making them hard to find. Today I decided to look for the egg masses instead and this worked as I found several adults near the egg masses, and this one in the process of laying eggs. They usually deposit 4 to 6 or more white clusters that look like little white blobs on the stems. The covering hardens and forms a protective cover, although I noticed that some seemed to have been opened.

The back side of this hover fly abdomen looks like that of Eristalis dimidiata, but as I didn't see the fly, can't be sure. Nonetheless, it is a good photo to illustrate how much like a bee most Eristalis species of hover flies are!

These small wasps are pretty common around the garden. Crabronids are called digger wasps for the obvious reason that most of them nest in underground burrows.

Now is the time to look for these large female orb weavers. If you look closely, you may also find the tiny male hanging out nearby!

The goldenrods were full of bumblebees, Bicyrtes (sand wasps), and a variety of other insects nectaring.

While cutting back DSV, I noticed these mating grasshoppers and tried not to disturb them.

There were three juvenile herons in the pond, along with a male wood duck and a black duck. Still no sign of the female mallard with her young. Sad.

I was delighted to see this male monarch in the Butterfly Meadow. WHile here he is resting on the raspberry plants, he also spent time nectaring on the nearby swamp milkweed.

I was very happy to see this common pondhawk at the FWG, the first I've seen there this year. They have been very common at other locations, such as Petrie Island.

One of the two big digger wasps in the Sphecidae family that we see regularly at this time of year at FWG. This one on swamp milkweed.

These are impressive nests for the large black and white social wasps, the bald-faced hornet. This one is hanging low in a shrub and we've placed a sign nearby to advise people to not approach as these wasps, when around their nest site, are very protective.

Mid-summer is the time to find these lovely long-horned beetles as they nectar on flowers. They are similar in colour and pattern to many wasps, including yellowjackets, and this serves to deter predators. As the name suggests, this insect is a borer into locust trees.

This very colourful and boldly marked stinkbug was in the flowers of Boneset. It may be one of the predatory stinkbugs, but nymphs are often hard to ID.

This beautiful little bright green treehopper was on the stem of wild parsnip, along with the Campylenchia treehopper, at least three Black swallowtail caterpillars, lots of planthoppers, meadow spittlebugs, leafhoppers, etc. Indeed, the wild parsnip is a plant that attracts a huge variety of insects and is worth checking often.

Diane and I spent some time watching two of these lovely small Snowberry Clearwing moths, which were nectaring busily on swamp milkweed, along with the much bigger Hummingbird Clearwing moth. The Snowberry Clearwing is a new addition to our moth list.