Photo-Bombed!

Deryl was photographing a Great Egret when the scene was photo-bombed by a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron. There was an actual collision between the 2 birds, but the Egret stayed put and the Night Heron had to find a different perch!

While visiting a Butterfly garden near Hamilton, a Monarch stopped by to say 'hi'!

About a month ago, I photographed 2 different Six-spotted Fishing Spiders carrying very large egg sacs. 

On Saturday I checked out the lily pads again and discovered at least 100 spiderlings had hatched. One of the spiders was a proud Mom! I checked on them the next day and they had all gone into hiding.

I like the colour patterns on both the Upper and Lower Wings of the Common Checkered Skipper. I was happy to photograph 2 skippers together, showing both sides of the wing in my garden today!

Photographing an Orange Sulphur butterfly can be challenging at the best of times as they don't stay still very long. But this one saw the Ironweed in our backyard and knew it was a good spot for a nectar break!

Osprey Goes For Gold! 

One of the first birds I saw upon entering Canatara Park this moring was an Osprey, perched in a tree!

I watched it circle the lake a few times. This photo was the last I took before it plunged into the water only 20 feet away! My view was blocked because I was under a tree and didn't realize he was going to land so close to me.

The bird's head stayed above water during the huge splash. No dainty dives for this one!

Going up!

Osprey are unusual amoung hawks in that they have a reversible outer toe that allows them to grasp with two toes in front and two behind. Barbed pads on the soles of the birds' feet help them grip slippery fish. When flying with prey, an Osprey lines up its catch head first for less wind resistance. Cornell Lab, All About Birds.

Even as it approached the tree tops, the Osprey was still shaking water from its feathers!

It was a pretty cool experience!! There are 2 nests within the City of Sarnia and another in the Port Huron area so 3 families of Osprey are getting food from Canatara Park.

 Recent Finds:

Wednesday morning's sunrise taken from the backyard. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning...It rained briefly not long after this photo was taken and then the heat returned.

A juvenile Black-crowned-Night Heron has been tolerant of visitors to the park. He spends a lot of time hunting for fish, but crustaceans, frogs, and insects are also on the menu.

Can you find all 5 very well camouflaged Great Blue Herons in the dead tree?

A young Ruby-throated Hummingbird scanned the Ironweed and decided it was worth a try to extract nectar. She didn't stay long before moving on to the feeder.

 Flying Magic Carpets!

While watering the front garden last night, I saw two different Leafcutter Bees flying on their green "magic carpets" to opposite ends of my garden. It was exactly a month ago that I found a Leafcutter Bee in my backyard making a nest in a tiny space between some bricks. I'm fascinated by this species and wanted to highlight them again.

Instead of a brick, these bees were using the shelter of some landscaping cloth to make their nests. I managed to get the camera pointed at one of the females before she reached the entrance hole. (See Blue Circle - My window of opportunity to get a photo was barely more than the blink of an eye.)

She has almost disappeared under the cloth in the picture. The leaf pieces will be rolled into a tube shape for this solitary nesting species. Each tube is sealed at one end and is used to house one egg and the food the youngster will require after hatching. There may be up to 15 rolled leaves in a cavity. The eggs hatch in about a week and the larva eat the pollen and nectar left by the mother. They will "over winter" in a pupa, emerging as an adult the following spring.

https://wildpollinators-pollinisateurssauvages.ca/2018/07/01/leafcutter-bees/

 Some Cool Finds!

A female Familiar Bluet captured a moth in Canatara Park. I find this impressive since the little Bluet is less than 4 cm in length!

This member of the Bristle Fly family made me smile when I saw the bristles covering its entire body!

Another species that I wasn't able to identify to the species, is a member of the Gymnosoma Genus. Gymnosoma means "naked body". If you look closely at this creature resting on Queen Anne's Lace, you will notice it has no hairs, unlike the Bristle Fly.

Not sure why this acorn is striped, but I assume that some type of insect is the cause.

I found a few spider webs after this morning's fog. It looks like 

both spiders chose good locations for capturing their next meals!

 Dow Wetlands, August 18th:

I had an enjoyable visit to the Dow Wetlands this morning with friends to do some butterfly monitoring. A pair of Eastern-tailed Blue butterflies were working on increasing the local population.

Not far down the trail, a pair of Black Swallowtail butterflies were also involved in the same activity.

We found the largest Praying Mantis I have ever seen today. It was over 5 inches in length! This is likely the introduced mantid species that accidently came from Europe in 1899.

We saw several young Barn Swallows resting on the plants at the edge of the water.

These 3 Barn Swallows appeared to be playing the children's game, 

"Telephone Line" where participants stand in a line and the first player 

whispers a message to the next individual and so on, down the line!

A male Calico Pennant rests on a plant stalk at the pond's edge. The male has red heart-shaped spots along the abdomen.

A very tattered Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectars in the flowers. The adults can have wing spans up to 5 inches wide. They can be found in parks, suburbs, forests and fields.

One of the most interesting finds for me was a White-lined Sphinx Moth. It hovered much like a hummingbird prior to landing on the vegetation.

Backyard Life in August:

I am happy that the Missouri Ironweed is blooming again. The purple flowers are a magnet for butterflies, including these Peck's Skippers.

A Great Spangled Fritillary stopped by for some nectar!

The not so common, Common Checkered Skippers have found the Black-eyed Susans again this year!

I am slowly adding more native species to our yard. I've been intrigued by the Spotted Bee Balm, a plant I was not familiar with before this year. The flowers are stacked in layers along the stems. Many thanks to Annie for her kind donations to my native garden!

The flowers in the garden are attracting lots of pollinators. This bee is covered with pollen grains.

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle hanging out on the Orange Butterfly Weed.

 Things With BIG Wings!

It was a great day to watch the planes fly in from across Ontario in support of the Sarnia Chris Hadfield Airport. This Biplane had an open cockpit. Prior to the start of the event, we found ourselves a spot to photograph the planes as they arrived.

Looks a bit like the Magic School Bus!

Maybe Ms. Frizzle is the pilot!!

Hundreds of people toured the tarmac to get a closer look.

We could peer into this plane to see some of the flight instruments.

Airborne Jaws came for a visit.

We stayed to watch the Biplane take off.