A Busy 2 Days at Pinery P.P.

It was a busy weekend with the Pinery Butterfly Count on Saturday and a Bumblebee Workshop on Sunday!

Butterfly numbers were low inside the park, but counters outside of the park within the 15 mile diameter circle had some good success. 30 species were identified with a total of 434 individual butterflies by 15 counters. Above, a Hackberry Emperor took a rest on a sign.

While walking along the mostly shaded Wilderness Trail, a faded Hobomok Skipper was one of only 4 individual butterflies that we saw. Very few flowers were blooming.

Common Whitetail - another non butterfly

We walked the Riverside Trail after lunch, hoping there would be more butterflies with the warmer afternoon temperatures. We didn't see many butterflies, but saw 7 Orange-tipped Oakworm Moths gathering together, including a mated pair. A female in the crowd must have emitted some strong pheromones to attract so many males!

Violet Dancer on the boardwalk railing.

This was my second encounter with an Eastern Milksnake at the Pinery this year! Their name comes from the false belief that they take milk from cows in barns. They cannot drink milk but are attracted to barns by the abundance of mice. They are semi-constrictors: After seizing prey in the mouth, they coil around the prey until it has suffocated. Predators include raccoons, skunks, foxes and coyotes.

https://ontarionature.org/programs/community-science/reptile-amphibian-atlas/milksnake/

On Sunday, following an indoor training session, we headed outside to practice our Bumblebee catching skills. I participated in the program last year but the session was a good review.

Mike managed to collect 8 Bumblebees in his net and had to carefully extract each individual without getting stung! The rest of us caught one bumblebee at a time!

A Two-spotted Bumblebee that I captured on some Common Milkweed. (The "2 spots" giving this bumblebee it's name are not visible in the photo.)

The Bumblebees were kept for a short time in the containers so participants could confirm identification of each species. During the summer study collection, the containers will be put into cooler packs. It is then easier to photograph the bumblebees at different angles before they warm up and fly away.