Beautiful Butterflies!

 Some of my recent favourites!

I didn't get to see any Common Buckeyes last year so am happy to have found a couple so far this year. They get their name from the bright and colourful eye-like markings on each of the wings. These eyespots are an adaptation to scare away their predators. The adults live from 6-20 days. www.butterflyidentifcation.com/common-buckeye.htm

American Lady on Knapweed

Black Swallowtail: This species is a noted "hill topper" among Ontario Swallowtails with males gathering and patrolling around the highest point of land awaiting females who usually ascend the nearest hill upon emerging. They have two generations per year. The ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario, Peter W. Hall et al.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on  Common Teasel

Tiger Swallowtails are avid mud puddlers that can sometimes be seen up close when sipping moisture and minerals from the ground. The ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario, Peter W. Hall et al.  I photographed this individual at a small pond in Canatara that is drying up from the recent drought conditions.

Cabbage White Butterflies, mating

Monarch Butterflies do not mate until they are three to eight days old. When they mate, they remain together from one afternoon until early the next morning, often up to 16 hours!  www.monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/reproduction

 Some New Finds:

This member of the Dragonfly family, Flag-tailed Spinyleg, was a new species for me! They prefer small, clear, sandy or mud bottomed streams with a steady current. It was photographed along the Sydenham River in South Lambton. odonata.tacc,utexas.edu/index

American Pelecinid Wasp: In North America, male American Pelecinid wasps are extremely rare. Almost all of these wasps are females so they resort to reproduction through parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis means the eggs don't have be to be fertilized to develop. I watched this female land on the leaf in front of me. She then began crawling across the grass and I have since learned she was searching for June beetle grubs located under the ground. Once a grub is detected, she will insert her abdomen into the ground, up to 2 inches deep and lay a single egg on the grub. When the egg hatches, the wasp larva immediately chews through the beetle grub's exoskeleton and begins eating the grub alive. When the grub has been consumed, the wasp will pupate underground before emerging as an adult. 

American Pelecinid Wasp: A Unique and Fascinating Critter (backyardecology.net)

I may have witnessed this juvenile Eastern Bluebird's first flight! From a distance, I could see it poking its head out of the nesting cavity. When 2 dogs (on leashes) walked nearby, it flew directly at me and landed on the tree above my head. The parents immediately began dive bombing me so I took a quick picture and moved away. I soon saw 3 Bluebirds in flight among the trees and believe this fellow had a successful first flight!

Snowberry Clearwing Moth nectaring on  Knapweed.

Thanks to Deryl arriving at the beach around 5:00 a.m. he was able to capture this recent beautiful sunrise!

 A Visit to Windsor:

We had a few hours in our schedule to walk some of the trails in the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Preserve last weekend. We were hoping for butterflies but the cloudy, cool conditions limited our finds to only 9 species. We did manage to find one Tiger Swallowtail, 

Deryl spotted a well camouflaged Northern Pearly-eye!

A Green Heron waited patiently in a marshy area for some food.

We saw 51 Purple Martins sitting along wires. This pair did an aerial dance directly overhead. Notice the yummy dragonfly in the beak of the bird on the left.

Although we didn't find any new butterfly species, I was very excited about this spider! When I first noticed her, the striped abdomen tricked me into thinking it was a wasp, but I soon counted 8 legs. I learned she is an Emerald Jumping Spider, a species first verified in Canada in 2020! I was happy to be able to provide more documentation of the species!

First juvenile Killdeer that I have seen in a few years! We were able to get close by staying in the car as it ran along the edge of a parking area.

 Canatara Sightings:

A Great Blue Heron stands guard at the Animal Farm which has been closed during this week's extreme heat.

The recent drought conditions have dried up many of the flowers in Canatara Park making it difficult for wildlife, including this Red Admiral to find nectar sources. 

Freshly blooming Teasels are providing a nectar source for this Ruby-throated hummingbird. Each flower head contains 250-1,500 flowers that are packed into dense, cone-shaped heads. Each tiny flower blooms for only one day!! Exotic Species: Common Teasel (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

A Snowberry Clearwing moth has a drink on Knapweed near the beach.

It can be hard to find dragonfly species resting on plants. Since this Black Saddlebags hovered in front of me, I was able to snap a photo!

Beach Art!

 Long Distance Flyers! 

These 3 species were all found within a 5 day period!

The Wandering Glider is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet with good populations on every continent except Antarctica. I found my first one along the edge of Canatara Beach today. They make an annual multigenerational journey of 18,000 kilometres and are believed to be the world's "longest known distance insect traveler". Due to its worldwide distribution, this species has occurred on many stamps!  

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/108344-Pantala-flavescens

I often struggle to identify Sulphur Butterflies. This one seemed a little different so I snapped several photos. Upon checking the identification guide, I learned that the Little Yellow is a mainly tropical and subtropical species that can migrate northward! Sometimes several individuals arrive in Ontario and can occasionally breed but it does not overwinter in our province. 

The ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario, Peter W. Hall et al.

Thanks to our friend Dale, we were able to see a pair of Marine Blue butterflies in south Lambton last weekend! They are only 25mm in width. It is a very rare migrant to Ontario and the last time this species was recorded in Ontario was in 2008. It's permanent range extends from Guatemala to the southern U.S. 

Both of these photos are of the same individual but I understand that we found a male and a female Marine Blue! This species has twice established temporary breeding colonies in Ontario: Point Pelee in 1993 and Toronto in 2008. The ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario, Peter W. Hall et al.

 An American Lady Visitor!

An American Lady visited our backyard recently. 

The expansion of our native garden provided her with the host plant required to lay eggs. A friend warned me that  American Lady caterpillars construct tents from silk to bind together the leaves and create shelter. A quick glance might lead me to think that my Pearly Everlasting was dying.

I found 26 shelters made by the larva! 

Above, one is peeking out of its nest on a cloudy day.

Larva on the move! I haven't found a chrysalis yet but hope that some of the 26 caterpillars will make it to adulthood. Cardinals in particular, fancy eating the larva.

In the summer months, American Lady butterflies can be found in the southern parts of Canada and northern U.S. As winter approaches, they migrate to warmer weather in the southern U.S. and Mexico. www.insectidentification.org

 Green Year Update!

Deryl added another mode of transportation to his Green Big Year this morning out on Lake Huron! He is spending 2022 locating birds in Lambton County exclusively without the use of fossil fuel powered transportation. He has observed 219 species since January 1st.

The first rare bird of the year was a Ross' Goose.

Cycling provided an opportunity to hear birds more easily than from a car. This Dickcissel was observed along a roadside after hearing its song in the distance.

This Short-billed Dowitcher is his favourite find to date. It was hanging out in a mud puddle in a residential construction zone.

His best bird to date is a Whimbrel found on Canatara Beach in the middle of June!

He even cycled to Pinery Provincial Park in June. A Red-spotted Purple enjoyed the sweat on his bike seat!

STATISTICS TO DATE:

Total species observed: 219

Total distance walked: 410 km

Total distance cycled: 1,025 km

Total distance on snowshoes: 4 km.

Total distance on cross-country skis 6 km

Total distance by kayak: 3 km

Total weight lost: 20 lbs.

And he still returned to the house with a smile on his face!

 Some Cool Finds!!

American Giant Millipede: Although "Milli" means a thousand, they don't really have that many legs. Depending upon the species, they can have anywhere between 24 and 750 legs. (2 pairs of legs per body section.)   https://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/big-insects.htm.  We found this critter which was 4 inches long, crawling down a tree branch while hiking on Friday. I had no idea a millipede could grow to that size in Ontario and that they climbed trees! We never found any that large in all my years of teaching Outdoor Education. 

Brown-hooded Owlet Larva (Moth): The Field Guide appropriately states, "Each individual appears as if it were hand-painted and then glazed." The host plants are asters and goldenrod. Found in Canatara Park! Caterpillars of Eastern North America, David L. Wagner

We have an Ant/Aphid farm on a Snakeroot Plant in our garden. Ants and aphids share a well-documented symbiotic relationship, which means they both benefit mutually from their working relationship. Aphids produce a sugary food for the ants. In exchange, ants care for and protect the aphids from predators and parasites. 

Symbiotic Ants and Aphids Have a Strong Relationship (thoughtco.com)

Black Squirrel doing a Prairie Dog impersonation!

 Dazzling Dragonflies!!

Many species of dragonflies are currently active in Southern Ontario including the Blue Dasher (top of photo) and Twelve-spotted Skimmer.

Dragonfly Nymph: In early June, we watched this dragonfly nymph walk along the road shoulder at the edge of a small lake. I have seen MANY dragonfly nymphs in the water during all my years of teaching pond studies, but this is the first I've seen a live one out of the water! 

The nymph was looking for a suitable plant on which to crawl so it could emerge from its exoskeleton or "exuvia". (photo is from last year) Dragonflies in Southern Ontario can spend up to 4 years at the larval stage and complete 17 moults before emerging from the water as an adult!

We recently found a Great Blue Skimmer which is a rare visitor to Southern Ontario. It was a "life" species for us!

2 Blue Dashers attempting to share the same real estate!

Slaty Skimmer

Since dragonflies do not breathe fire, I was curious as to how they got their name. There are many folklore stories to explain the origin of the name. Historically, the shape of the dragonfly's body "freaked out" people enough to associate them with the devil. The Romanians used the same word, "drac" for both "devil" and "dragon".  It is believed that the word "devil's fly" became "dragonfly" somewhere along the line in English translation. 

www.treehugger.com/things-you-never-knew-about-dragonflies-

 

Dragonflies, including this Eastern Pondhawk, have many hairs on their legs. In flight, these hairs can act like a net to assist in catching mosquitoes, gnats and other small insects. A single dragonfly can eat between thirty and hundreds of mosquitos every day! They have up to a 97% success rate when hunting and are often called "Mosquito Hawks"!

www.treehugger.com/things-you-never-knew-about-dragonflies-

Halloween Pennant: one of my favourite dragonflies!