31-MAY-2010
Long dash skipper (Polites mystic)
I went back to the FWG in the late afternoon and found this little long dash skipper. Overall, it was a very good day for butterflies at FWG.
Hobomok Skipper 4
Long Dash Skipper 1
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail 8
Clouded Sulphur 1
Cabbage White 2
Red Admiral 10
Spring Azure 1
Silvery Blue 4
White Admiral 1
Mourning Cloak 1
Common Ringlet 10
Little Wood Satyr 4
30-MAY-2010
Wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum)
This large, pretty bee is nectaring at Penstemon hirsutus
27-MAY-2010
Bumblebee and lupine
This bumblebee is heavily laden with pollen!
27-MAY-2010
Butterfly meadow
The meadow is alive with lupines and comfrey right now and is attracting many insects.
26-MAY-2010
Green frog (Rana clamitans)
This handsome frog was sitting near the shore in the Amphibian Pond (where else would a frog sit?). It is green frog breeding season and they are calling frequently. At night, the pond resounds with the calls of these guys and the gray treefrogs.
26-MAY-2010
Common whitetail (Plathemis lydia), female
We are seeing lots of dragonflies at the FWG now. There was a pair of mating common green darners, four-spotted skimmers, American emeralds, and several of this species. Also, many bluets (damselflies).
26-MAY-2010
Mayfly (Ephemeroptera)
There were several of these floating in the pond. It doesn't really look like the shed skin of the adult ephemeroptera (which is usually, as far as I know, a pale colour and transparent). However... I didn't actually pick this up to look closely. It is quite beautiful though.
26-MAY-2010
Virginian tiger moth (Spilosoma virginica)
Under a DSV leaf. These are the adults of the Yellow bear caterpillars, the ones that look like the familiar Woolly bears, but without a black mid-stripe. The caterpillars are also varied in colour, most often a golden yellow (hence the name), but can also be white and several shades of brown.
26-MAY-2010
Gathering pollen
This bee (Andrenid sp. I think) was inside a small white rose so intent on gathering the pollen that no attempt was made to fly when I stuck my camera almost on the rose. I watched as the bee rolled and swept the pollen in an almost frantic act of gathering. Afterward, so laden with pollen was it that a landing was made on a nearby leaf (next photo).
26-MAY-2010
After the pollen collecting
Look at the heavy pollen load!!
25-MAY-2010
Rose bush
The roses are in full bloom right now. A fantastic sight. The bees also think so and are abundant.
25-MAY-2010
Four-spotted Skimmer (Libellula quadrimaculata)
This beauty was by the pond. I think they are one of the most handsome of odonates! There were also a couple of common green darners, a couple of American emeralds, and, new for the FWG list, a common baskettail. This year, I have seen odonates I've not seen before at the FWG. We've added three new species so far this spring.
