10-JUL-2009
White-marked tussock (Orygia leucostigma)
I found this moth caterpillar climbing up the wall of the centre in mid-afternoon. They are fairly common around FWG, very pretty, but turn into a fairly nondescript brown moth!
10-JUL-2009
Confused haploa (Haploa confusa)
Several of these pretty brown and white moths came to the sheets. The pattern on this species varies greatly, giving rise, I guess, to the name of Confused haploa. Certainly confuses those of us trying to ID these moths when it can so radically different! We find their caterpillars in great numbers around the FWG early in the spring, often on Houndstongue. I have been looking for these guys for a few weeks now, as you can often find them during the day.
10-JUL-2009
Reversed haploa moth (Haploa reversa), #8109
Initially it was thought this was Confused Haploa, because the moth has so many varied patterns including one that looks very similar to this. However, I have just learned that this is Reversed Haploa, a species critically imperiled in Canada, according to Nature Serve.
10-JUL-2009
Painted lichen moth (Hypropepia fucosa)
These gorgeous little moths that look a lot like beetles at first glance, are quite common. We usually get several turning up whenever we look for moths at FWG.
10-JUL-2009
Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps)
To our surprise, about 10 p.m., this dragonfly showed up and stayed until we packed up at just past midnight! It was quite large and very lovely but we couldn't immediately put an ID to this night-flying odonate! However, thanks to Chris Lewis, we learned that this was a Prince baskettail. Apparently it has several wing pattern variations and this one didn't fit the usual description which caused confusion when trying to ID it. Chris says it is a crepuscular species but it is very unusual to see it out late at night.
10-JUL-2009
Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps)
Another view of the dragonfly, this time on the sheet.
10-JUL-2009
Leafcutter bee (Megachilid sp) with piece of leaf
These interesting little bees cut pieces of leaf from plants to create a tubular nest case in which they lay their eggs and provision it with food before sealing it off with a perfectly circular piece of leaf at either end. They usually make their nests inside wood, such as wooden decks, benches, trees, but will also use bee boxes. They also sometimes create their nests under stones and that is where I have found their nest cases. These bees also, unlike many or even most, bees, carry pollen on their belly (can you see the yellow pollen?)
07-JUL-2009
Painted turtles on turtle raft
It seems that everywhere I looked today, there were signs of creatures at the garden multiplying. Whether it was the two large turtles on the turtle raft instead of the usual one, or the mating of all sorts of insects, or the explosion of young critters around the garden, it was all wonderful!
It started at the pond where the two muskrats of yesterday morphed into three today! I had my suspicions about the two yesterday, from what little I could see, they looked very young, but today I saw three together and, briefly, in the open, and at least a couple of them were youngsters. Pretty neat!
Then I looked at the turtle raft and lo and behold, there were two painted turtles on it. Up to now, I've seen only the very large one using it. The second one today was a fair size, bigger than the little one I've seen at the east end of the pond, but smaller than the big one. It made me think of the tale of the three bears: Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear :-) Even the rabbits are making a return after not seeing many or any for several years. There are a couple of youngsters around, as well as 3 or 4 adults, including two who were hanging out near the Mallow Bank.
07-JUL-2009
Mating Asian ladybeetles
Then there was the phenomenal number of mating Asian ladybeetles all over the garden. And a profusion of larvae. So we're going to see successive generations of these beetles, which is good, because the aphids are also phenomenal this year. In this photo you can see the colour variation in this species.
07-JUL-2009
Lady beetle (Brachiacantha)
A tiny little beetle that is very hard to photograph with my limited equipment!
07-JUL-2009
Two-spotted stink bug (Cosmopepla)
Lots of other insects such as the Cosmopepla bug on Figwort, which seems to be a particular favourite of theirs. In fact, I spent about 40 minutes hanging out next to a big patch of figwort just below the FWG near the Mallow Bank. There were many different species of Syrphids, the above Cosmopepla, bumblebees, vespid wasps, bald-faced hornets, etc.
07-JUL-2009
European skippper
Butterflies were once again, sparse, but no surprise given the weather. However, checking the grasses I found about a dozen European skippers and a few Least skippers. Several Cabbage whites were fluttering around.