Took only a few insect photos this past summer so today will share these with you.   I find dragonflies fascinating in that they come in such a variety of colours and sizes and hatch from alien looking nymphs.  Although I don’t like spiders they also come in such a variety of colours and sizes and today’s blog has another variety of orb-weaving spider.

Below:  Dragonfly newly emerged from nymph stage

Below: Orb Weaving Spider in the web

Below: Bee approaching a lambs ear plant

Enjoy!

~Sharon

There are some things a person may only see once during their lifetime and I believe this may be one of those events.  Thousands of Monarch Butterflies had gathered in a little area of Moose Lake Provincial Park one very windy mid-August day.  They were in the air, on the ground and hanging from tree branches like bunches of grapes.  I am not sure but I think it was just too windy for them to fly across the Lake of the Woods Boundary waters between Canada and the United States so they just gathered in this remote little area of the park where we happened upon them while on a trail.  Enjoy the photos of what I believe was part of the great Monarch Butterfly migration.  It was an amazing sight!

Enjoy!

~Sharon

I came across some insect photos in my collection the other day and thought they would be worth sharing.   Caterpillars come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours and can be quite attractive.   Their body armour and colours serve as warnings to predators as well as to camouflage them during their transitions.  Below, a very fuzzy caterpillar that curled up into a round ball when I touched it.

I have no idea what this bug is (below).  It was quite large, had long feathery antennae and appeared to be feeding on leaves.  It is not one that I recall seeing before.  Curious little insect!

Enjoy!

~Sharon

In about two weeks the chrysalis looked like this (below) . . .  the Monarch wings are clearly visible now and it emerged from its chrysalis about 4 hours after this photo was taken.

The next photo is of a brand new Monarch Butterfly – less than 5 minutes old.  It was very wet, orange droplets dripped from its still crumpled wings.

Its wings slowly unfolded and the butterfly started to slowly open and close them . . . This went on for a while and gradually the wings become stiffer with every wingspread while the necessary fluids were being pumped through them.   In the morning, this beautiful butterfly greeted me after which it was set free out in the garden.

The buttefly in the above photo is about 7 hours old.    A future post will feature photos of what I believe was a Monarch Butterfly migration which I happened upon while driving in southern Manitoba in mid August.   Thousands of butterflies were hanging on tree branches and fluttering in the air.  Watch for it!

Enjoy!

~Sharon

Considered one of the most beautiful butterflies – thus the name “Monarch”.  Monarchs will lay eggs on milkweed plants.  I planted milkweed to attract them and it worked.  The above photo from my garden – a Monarch on a coneflower.  The caterpillars grow and eat the milkweed leaves and then crawl up to a suitable place where they hang in the chrysalis stage.  Right now there are about 15 caterpillars happily chewing on the milkweed plant.  The are four generations each summer and only the fourth lives to make the migration all the way south to a forest in Mexico.  Try “googling” the Monarch butterfly to read about this most fascinating insect, their life cycle and amazing annual migration.

Below:  Monarch caterpillar feeding on a milkweed plant. They grow extremely fast in this stage.

Below:  Monarch chrysalis.  They are a very beautiful green colour with some gold trim.  If you look closely on the right hand side you can see the faint outline of the Monarch’s wing inside the chrysalis.  I will post photos of the developing chrysalis as it develops at a later date and hopefully of the butterfly emerging as well.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

You don’t have to take a trip to see nature because it is always around us even in our own backyards.  You can plant certain flowers that will attract butterflies ( Monarchs like the milkweed plant ), others will attract hummingbirds and so on.  Today a few photos from my backyard as I was  outside enjoying the sun and puttering in the garden for a few hours.

Above:  Butterfly gathering nectar from a Joe Pye plant      Below:  A House Wren chattering on the garden fence.

Below:  A few photos of bees gathering pollen

Below:  Not sure if this is a wasp or bee but if was flying around with a large piece of plant leaf and then landed.  A leaf-cutter of sorts.

Below:  This is a domestic garden plant that was tagged “Love in the Mist” when I bought one a few years back.  It seeds itself every year and produces these beautiful delicate flowers in blue and purple tones.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

This photo was taken at the Petroforms site in the Whiteshell.  One could not miss seeing this brightly coloured metallic green beetle scurrying across the rocky path.

They are found in the deciduous forests and do not bite humans unless handled. This beetle can have white spots on its shell, usually numbering six but some beetles have a few spots or none at all. They live in woody places and like shady openings such as dirt paths and fallen logs to hunt. Their prey includes caterpillars, ants and spiders. The beetles stay in larvae form for one year before pupating and has a total lifespan of just under 5 years.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

So, in previous posts I mention that spiders are not exactly one of my favourites but admit they are interesting.  One thing for sure, they are all hairy.   This is another spider found in my garden area, pretty sure it is another orb weaver.  This spider  had a good size the body and was about 2.5 cm around ( 1″ for the non-metric crowd ). When I came too close to it the front legs went up in a defensive position.  I had no intention of getting that close !

Enjoy!

~Sharon

While driving up the eastern coast of Vancouver Island we came across these interesting slugs.  They were large enough that we noticed them from the car. Unfortunately it is hard to visualize their size through photos .These slugs are much different from the small and slimy garden variety slugs found where I live.   From what I can tell, they are Banana Slugs. Here are a few interesting facts about them:

• These slugs are hermaphroditic organisms, meaning that they contain both male and female reproductive organs.

• The Banana Slug can have up to 27,000 teeth on its long tongue.

• World’s Second Largest Slug

• Covered by a layer of slime that is used as a protective agent by numbing other organisms that pose a threat
• Color is directly affected by nutrition and amount of humidity
• Herbivores that are often considered pests by farmers but prefer to feed on mushrooms and serve as decomposers

Literature cited:  http://www.earlham.edu/~burksje/bananaslug.htm  accessed December 22/09

Enjoy!

Sharon

Below:  A closer view of the Orb Weaver. This was was a pretty blue-green colour and its legs were a light shade of orange.  So far, all the spiders I have observed are “hairy”.

Below: Yet another Orb Weaver – this one found in my garden but not in the web.  It was referred to as a “cat face” on one website that I visited. I don’t see a resemblance but . . .

Enjoy!

Sharon