Great Golden Digger Wasp!

Upon returning home from a walk, I noticed a Great Golden Digger Wasp fly onto the front walk. She was carrying a Drumming Katydid. Based upon the loose dirt on the ground, a tunnel had recently been dug by the Digger Wasp.

Having paralyzed her prey, she dropped the Katydid and returned to the underground chamber to make final preparations for egg laying.

She temporarily left her prey unattended, leaving it open to theft by birds. My presence probably kept other predators away. She emerged from her tunnel, grabbed the katydid and dragged it down the hole but was too fast for me to capture it with my camera. Back in August I watched a Digger Wasp dig a tunnel in the garden but didn't witness it carrying an insect. I learned that after capture, she will paralyze it, carry it back to the nest chamber and lay an egg on the prey. Once the egg hatches, it will have fresh food to eat and grow. Life in nature is tough!

Green Herons

Green Herons have mostly migrated south from our area. Here are some photos I took recently as a heron hunted in front of me. It only caught a tiny minnow in the 20 minutes that I watched.

 A Whip-poor-will in Daylight!

Although I have heard many Whip-poor-wills after dark, I finally had a chance to see one yesterday while walking the Suncor Trail. Deryl's keen eyes made the discovery! Eastern Whip-poor-wills are patterned with a complicated mottling of gray and brown, which camouflages them nearly perfectly with leaf litter or tree bark. Although the bird is the central focus of these pictures, it took a minute or two of being told where to look before I could finally see it.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Whip-poor-will/overview

Eastern Whip-poor-wills lay their eggs on the ground in phase with the lunar cycle, so that they hatch on average 10 days before a full moon. When the moon is near full, the adults can forage the entire night and capture large quantities of insects to feed to their nestlings. 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Whip-poor-will/id

After the excitement of finding the bird, we saw a sampling of insects. Perhaps some will become food for the Whip-poor-will once night falls, if they don't find adequate shelter.

Clouded Sulphur

Differential Grasshoppers, mating.

Eastern Comma

It's getting late in the season to be finding Monarch caterpillars and I saw two on Sept. 25th. These caterpillars need to transform through the chrysalis stage and become winged adults so they can make it all the way to Mexico for the winter!

We found 2 Viceroys hanging out on an Autumn Olive Tree. This individual clung to one berry for several minutes. Although we were looking from the underside, I could see the proboscis moving and believe there must have been a wound in the berry, allowing the Viceroy to slurp up some juice!

 Things That Will Get Wings!

Fall can be a good time of year to find some of the larger caterpillars that are getting ready to spend the winter at the larva or pupa stage. In recent days, I have found 2 Giant Tiger Moth caterpillars. Hopefully next year I will get to see the beautiful black and white adult.

Hermit Sphinx caterpillar

Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar

Still trying to identify this individual. It was found at night and was happily chewing on a leaf.

Isabella Tiger Moth

Isabella Tiger Moth, also commonly known as a Wooly Bear. The picture above the Wooly Bear is the same species. There is a lot of colour variation in the caterpillars.

Brown-hooded Owlet found munching on Goldenrod. They also enjoy Asters.

Virginia Tiger Moth Caterpillar

Night Life!

Our most recent attempt to attract moths to a sheet in the backyard was not as successful as earlier in the summer. Although it was a calm evening, temperatures were a little cooler. Walking around the yard with flashlights, enabled us to find a few species sitting on flower heads and in the lawn grass. Goldenrod was particularly popular with moths such as this Old Man Dart.

Pale-banded Dart on Rose of Sharon bush.

The Pale-banded Dart (from above) dropped down to ground level. Look carefully in the very centre of the picture to see the well-camouflaged moth.

 

Northern Yellow Sac Spider has been introduced to Eastern Canada. This group of spiders are night time hunters.

https://spideridentifications.com/northern-yellow-sac-spider.html

Lucerne Moth

I noticed a rather large mosquito which has been identified as an Asian Bush Mosquito. It is a known vector for West Nile Virus. Adults live in forested areas and are day biters of young birds and mice, but are apparently reluctant to bite humans.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1112094-Aedes-japonicus

 Ocola Skipper!!!

I had a delightful start to my Friday when I found an Ocola Skipper. I contacted some local butterfly enthusiasts who were able to see it as well! It was a "lifer" species for both of them! I surprisingly had seem one in my backyard 3 years ago.

Ocola Skippers are a largely tropical species. Their permanent range extends from Argentina north through Central America and the West Indies to Texas and Florida. It periodically strays farther north, even arriving in Ontario some years!

The ROM Field Guide to butterflies of Ontario; Peter W. Hall et al, 2014

Adults are large skippers with unusually elongated forewings. The upper side is dark brown with several white patches on the forewing. One of the patches is an arrowhead shape!!

The ROM Field Guide to butterflies of Ontario; Peter W. Hall et al, 2014

More Pinery Pics from last week:

An itty bitty Dekay's Brownsnake!

A Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar successfully walked across a strand of spider webbing, just like a tight-rope walker!

Darling Underwing, wings closed.

We initially found 2 Darling Underwings close to each other, but this individual flew to a tree and spread its wings.

Ten, Four-humped Stink Bugs huddling on a bench. They have spines on their "shoulders" helping to separate them from other Stink Bugs which lack the spiny shoulders.

 Roseate Spoonbill!

 And a Very Cool Caterpillar!

Roseate Spoonbill! A mega rarity for Ontario! Found near Alymer. It was a lifer for us!

The Roseate Spoonbill is 1 of 6 species of Spoonbills in the world, and the only one found in the Americas. It was sleeping when we first arrived but later flew to the water hole in search of food with that huge spoonbill.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Roseate_Spoonbill/overview

Roseate Spoonbill chicks don't have a spoon-shaped bill immediately after hatching. When they are 9 days old the bill starts to flatten. By 16 days it starts to look more spoon-like and by 39 day it is nearly full size!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Roseate_Spoonbill/overview

Crowned Slug Moths are pale-green with a flattened, oval shape. Both sides of the body are covered with pastel green hairs. The tops have less conspicuous hairs which sting when touched. Female moths lay their eggs at the base of host plants which include Cherry, Elm, Hickory, Linden, Maple, and Oak. Adults are predominately brown and would easily go unnoticed in comparison to the well decorated larva. This individual was found near the Grand River in Cambridge and was a first for me!

https://www.mothidentification.com/crowned-slug-moth.htm

 Riverside Trail, Pinery Provincial Park:

We headed to the Pinery to do some hiking. The variety of fungi found was very exciting. This may be a "Leafy Brain" (positive i.d is difficult.) It's always fun to see the names given to members in the Fungi Kingdom!

The Bird Nest Fungi are some of my favourites. They look like miniature bird nests containing tiny eggs. The "eggs" are called periodels and contain the spores required for reproduction. 

Since Common Bird Nest Fungi grow in dark places they can be hard to locate but we were in tune with looking for fungi after seeing the Leafy Brain. Each "nest" was less than 10mm in diameter. 

Many pairs of eyes helped to locate a few different species! Orange Pinwheel was another tiny fungus with an appropriate name!

White Rattlesnake Root: The name seems to stem from the Iroquois who would apply a poultice of the roots to rattlesnake bikes!

https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/nabalus/albus/

We were fascinated by the movements of a few Phantom Crane Flies. They looked like mini drones or space ships that seemed to be "floating"! The "phantom" part of the name refers to their ability to drift through the air, appearing and disappearing in patches of light and shadow. They have hollow legs and inflated sacs which increase their buoyancy and provide surface area for the wind to push on.

https://uwm.edu/field-station/phantom-crane-fly

Green Frog: At first glance, there appear to be toes sticking out of the frog's mouth. I assumed it was eating some food but eventually concluded the toes belonged to his own feet and were under the head, not in the mouth!