Rainy Day Walk!

By looking under and around leaves, lots of life can be found, even when the sky is dripping!

A Fall Webworm Moth caterpillar found the perfect umbrella!

Water drops cling to Dogwood berries.

Flowers on Swamp Rose Mallow can grow to a diameter of 6-10 inches.

A Margined Calligrapher stayed dry inside the flower of the Swamp rose Mallow.

Red-banded Leafhopper on Jewelweed. It is sometimes called the Candy-striped Leafhopper and is one of 2,500 species of Leaf Hoppers found in North America.

https://extension.umaine.edu/home-and-garden-ipm/fact-sheets/common-name-listing/graphocephala-coccinea/

The only Monarch I found when the rain was falling. It was nectaring on Missouri Ironweed.

Willow Sawfly larva - They resemble wasps as adults and are neither moths nor butterflies.

Bee sheltering in Rose of Sharon

Clavate Tortoise Beetle: Tortoise Beetles almost look like they are running around with a turtle shell on their back. Clavate tortoise beetles have shells that are clear at the edges with a design that looks like either a turtle or a teddy bear in the centre. They are members of the leaf beetle family.

https://www.willyswilderness.org/post/bugs-that-look-like-turtles

Hickory Tussock Moth

White-marked Tussock Moth

Pale Beauty Moth and tiny snail "friend" below on the same leaf.

Crocus Geometer trying to hide from me!

Tiny Mint Moth surrounded by rain drops.

 Favourite Finds of the Week!

Good to the last bite! This Monarch caterpillar has all but devoured the Swamp Milkweed leaf on which it is hanging. Many legs appear to be gripping the leaf stem. However caterpillars have only 6 true legs (3 pairs). Insect bodies are divided into 3 parts: the Head, Thorax and Abdomen. All six 'true' legs are attached to the thorax. The Thoracic legs near the head (bottom of photo) are difficult to see and look like tiny claws. The 10 Prolegs, which are visible in the photo, are the soft, hook-bearing legs of the abdomen that help the caterpillar hold onto plant material while walking. 

Caterpillars of Eastern North America, David L.Wagner, Princeton University press 2005 

An Eastern Comma doing a leaf impersonation!! The small white "comma" for which it is named, is visible on the hind wing.

When the Eastern Comma flew, it landed nearby, spreading its wings and showing the contrasting upper wings.

Role Reversal!! Usually I'm peering at the wildlife outside. But this Eastern Comma decided to have a look at me through my living room window!

4 Cabbage Whites "puddling" for minerals in a dried up puddle.

Common Ringlet

Great Spangled Fritillary: I haven't seen many fritillaries this year.

Slender Spreadwing: Beautiful blue eyes!

A new yard species; Trichopoda lanipes. It doesn't have a common name but it is in the "feather-legged Fly" group. The "feathers" are visible on the hind legs. When looking at distribution of the species on iNaturalist, this is the first record in Lambton County outside of North Lambton!

Giant Swallowtail caterpillar resting on its own Canopy Bed!

Tiny Giant Swallowtail Egg on Hoptree Leaf.

Great Blue Heron doing its best statue imitation as he waits and watches for his next meal to swim by. Despite their impressive size, Great Blue Herons weigh only 5 to 6 pounds thanks in part to their hollow bones.

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

 Cool Canatara Finds!

3 Viceroy were having a party on a Buttonbush Flower in Canatara! A single black line crosses the parallel lines on the hind wings of the Viceroy. Monarchs do not have the cross line.

Video of the Viceroy butterflies.

Monarch butterfly for comparison.

Many butterflies have been finding nectar on the invasive Purple Loosestrife. It is one of the plants blooming in the mostly very dry conditions we have been experiencing. A Peck's Skipper is shown above.

Silver-spotted Skipper

A Slaty Skimmer has a rest stop on Purple Loosestrife.

Green Darner: If I hadn’t watched her fly and land, I likely would not have noticed her.

Eastern Amberwing 

American Pelecinid Wasp: Although the long abdomen appears threatening, it is not a stinger. Females use the curled abdomen (ovipositor) to locate grubs in the soil, and lay an egg on the grub. When the egg hatches, the young burrows into the grub and eats it! Adults are pollinators that feed on nectar.

https://fmr.org/updates/conservation/dont-worry-i-come-peace-meet-one-kind-pelecinid-wasp

Four-banded Stink Bug Wasp: The female builds a nest in sandy soil. She places a bug in the nest, deposits an egg, then seals the chamber...Another wasp providing food for its unhatched offspring!

http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/four-banded_stink_bug_hunter_wasp.html

 Backyard August Life!

Great Golden Digger Wasp: Although these creatures look menacing, they are non-aggressive to humans. They paralyze their prey and feed it to the developing young. They are regular visitors to my garden.

The Oleander Aphid is bright yellow with black legs and antennae. It is sometimes called the Milkweed Aphid (I found it on my Swamp Milkweed). The Oleander aphid is remarkable in that reproduces parthenogentically; meaning there is no male or egg stage. Females produce only nymphs that moult five times as they grow and mature. Each generation also only produces female nymphs! 

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/oleander-aphid

A tiny, Raspberry Pyrausta Moth

Bicoloured Pyrausta Moth

A Summer Azure almost opened it's wings wide! They usually perch with their wings closed. I rarely get to see the open forewing except when it is in flight.

Young American Robin after a bath in the water fall.

Hologram Moth from the overnight moth trap.

Orange-headed Callima Moth - only a few mm long.

Pennsylvania Ambush Bug: Many predators have learned to be patient and wait for their food to come to them. Countless insects drink nectar so predators wait for prey to land on the flower so they can grab their next meal.

Harvestman lurking under Wild Bergamot flower, waiting for his next meal to land.

Oblong Woolcarder Bee - scrapes tiny hairs off stems and leaves to form a ball of fibre which is used in the nest for egg laying. The white ball of fiber is visible under the abdomen. This is the second year that I have found the species on the Pearly Everlasting.

Thick-legged Hover Flies can be found across Eurasia and North America. They are critical pollinators for a variety of flowering plants and can serve as bio-indicators in which their abundance can reflect the health of the environment.

https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/1897731

 An Osprey and Toy Turtle!!

I was able to locate an Osprey nest with a toy animal in the nest structure in Dundas. It would be interesting to know the sequence of events that led to the stuffed toy turtle ending up in the nest!! The smiling turtle and Osprey nest are visible from roadside near Cootes Paradise.

"Treasures can often be found in the neighbouring Desjardins Canal. The only Black-crowned Night Heron that I have seen this year was in the canal. The canal was originally dug to connect Dundas to Lake Ontario but the advance of the railway system, ended in the demise of the canal as a transportation system because farmers began to use the railway to move their wheat and other raw materials.

Interpretive Sign on the Desjardins Canal.

Restoration work in the canal included the construction of floating islands where the Double-crested Cormorants like to rest and dry their wings.

Female Hooded Merganser shaking off excess water on a constructed island.

The Urquhart Butterfly Garden at the west end of the Canal provides lots of food for visiting butterflies. Several Viceroy have been spotted in recent weeks.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth 

Monarch on Butterfly Bush

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Western Honeybee on Zinnia. - Not all plants growing at the garden are native but they do provide a nectar source.

While lurking on the flowerhead, a Crab Spider was able to catch an unsuspecting Western Honey Bee for its next meal!

American Goldfinch eating Canada Thistle seeds.

Primrose Moth (pink) resting on an Evening Primrose Flowerhead.