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What was happening at the FWG in August 2008
30 August: Insect days at the FWG — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan  Signs of fall are all around us now that September approaches. Many trees are showing signs of fall colours, and the raspberry is turning a brilliant scarlet. When I see the locust-borer beetle, I know that summer is ending. Today there were about half a dozen around the garden, all on goldenrods (below left). I think they are one of the prettiest and most intricately patterned of all beetles. Pennsylvania leatherwings are still pretty common and will be for the next few weeks. This one (below right) was on pearly everlasting in the Backyard Garden.
This is also the time of year to look for the big orb-weaving spiders. Most common are the black-and-yellow Argiopes, and the more subtly coloured Araneus spiders. This one is called the garden cross spider. Can you see why it was given this name?  Darner dragonflies are amongst the largest we see around here. Right now they are busy mating and egg-laying. Here (below left) is a much better photo of a pair of lance-tipped darners than the last one I sent out. This was taken just below the FWG, on some purple loosestrife, which, whatever you think about the plant, certainly made for a striking image.
Many of the moths we see now during the day are the little snout moths. But the beautiful chickweed geometer (below left) is fairly common in open grassy sites.
These pretty little insects, here shown on a goldenrod (above right) and a rudbeckia (below), are called beeflies. Don't let the name confuse you. They are not bees, but flies, though they do a good job of imitating a small bee. However, I photographed a mating pair in Larose Forest recently that were amazing Ichneumonid wasp mimics.  |
26 August — photos from Diane Lepage, notes from Sandy Garland Diane and I were back at work in the pond on Tuesday evening, still trying to control the flowering rush that seems to be filling the pond this year. We've been seeing many, many skin cases left by dragonfly nymphs. These seem to be only one species, probably a skimmer, although there have been many different species of dragonflies around the pond this year. Right now, several darners are patrolling; if you stand still, they might hover right in front of you to have a good look. This evening we were excited to find a live dragonfly nymph and Diane got a good photo (below) before it dove back under the water.  We also found a spider web suspended on flowering rush leaves in the middle of the pond. The rather disorganized looking web held two "lumps" each about 2 centimetres in diameter (below left). A bit later in the evening, as we were checking the web to make sure we didn't disturb it, we noticed that one lump had dispersed a bit and was actually hundreds of baby spiders! The mother spider is pictured below at the right.
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25 August — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan There has been a minor migration through the FWG the last few days with small numbers of warblers and other migrants. I know that elsewhere migration is well underway, but at FWG it is sometimes more difficult to notice. Yesterday was pretty good for birds at the garden so I decided to go back early this morning and see if anything was happening. I arrived shortly after 6 a.m. and stayed until 9:30. It wasn't as busy as I'd hoped, but it was still interesting.
Many of the breeding birds have left, but others are still present and small family groups can be found. This morning both chipping sparrows and song sparrows were quite numerous, with lots of juvenile birds in the flocks. Warblers included yellow-rumped, magnolia, Nashville, American redstart (above left), common yellowthroat (in the cattails at the pond), ovenbird (two in the ash woods), and yellow warbler. 
Other birds found:
The merlin is a new species for our list, although it shouldn't be. Merlins have been around the vicinity for ages, but until today I'd not seen one actually in the garden, or heard of anyone having one right inside the FWG. This bird was a juvenile and clearly had things backwards. He was sitting in the top of some of the pines and naturally it wasn't long before the crows got wind of him and started divebombing him. Only instead of flying away, he flew at the crows and chased them, over and over. Everytime a crow got near he'd be off after them. This lasted for about 3 minutes before he flew off over Prince of Wales.  Have you noticed that we haven't seen red-winged blackbirds at FWG for some time? Checking my notes for August over the years, I was reminded that in 2003 over 150 red-winged blackbirds were roosting each night in the cattails in the pond. They'd start congregating in the trees and shrubs around the pond, about 6:30 to 7 p.m. Eventually a few would fly into the cattails, with much calling and squawking, and then a few more, until suddenly all the rest, which by this time was a considerable number, swirled up in the air and then spiralled into the cattails. After more calls and squawks, silence prevailed apart from the odd call note.
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Two hummingbirds were feeding at the honeysuckle on the corner of the
Interpretive Centre (above and left). This went on for about 10 minutes. A group of crows
were feeding on the seeds of the black locusts in the ravine. They would
reach up, grab a seed pod, hold it down with one foot, rip it open with
their bill and then extract the seeds.
On another note, the witch hazel is beginning to flower. Doesn't that
seem somewhat early? I always think of it as blooming in late Sept-Oct.21 August — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
There were two male twelve-spotted skimmers (above left), 3 or 4 northern spreadwings (above right), numerous white-faced meadowhawks, 3 sedge sprites, and about 6 eastern forktails.  |
20 August — photos from Diane Lepage  Diane and Sandy have started "weeding" the pond, i.e., removing flowering rush and frog-bit, two invasive, non-native wetland plants. During this work, we get a different view of the wildlife in our Amphibian Pond and often some surprises. Below are a couple of skin cases left by dragonfly nymphs as they fly off as adults. They are amazingly detailed; the whole surface of the nymph remains intact except for a relatively small exit hole, usually in at the back of the thorax. This hole is just above the leg attachments, so the dragonfly adult can push itself out of its skin using all six legs.
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17 August — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
Back at the centre we found two adult treefrogs, one a brilliant green (below right), and one a more typical mottled brownish-green colour (below left).
Earlier in the day, a lovely hummingbird moth (Hemaris) visited the phlox in the BYG (below left). For those who have not yet seen these insects, they are quite spectacular. They are fairly large, although smaller than most hummingbirds, and they hover while nectaring at flowers just as hummingbirds do. They are a beautiful rich orangey-yellow colour with burgundy stripes on body and wings. Photos from July 2006 at the FWG show what I mean about the colour.
Also on Friday, a nice male eastern tailed blue butterfly (above right). Most of the eastern tailed blues I've seen at the garden this year have been females, but here you can see the brilliant blue on the male's wings. Common ringlets, second generation of the year, are out now, and monarchs are still around.
There are many dragonflies and damselflies still around FWG, with the big mosaic darners much in evidence. I'd guess that the ones we see at the garden are likely to be Canada and lance-tipped darners, based on what I've been able to see there, but unless they land and allow a good look, ID is tough! Common green darners are common too! Lots of eastern forktails, common spreadwings, sedge sprites, and gazillions of white-faced meadowhawks and increasing numbers of autumn meadowhawks (formerly called yellow-legged meadowhawks). And finally, still with insects, a pretty Nicophorus carrion beetle (below). Notice all the mites on this poor guy? Many insects carry mites around, but these carrion beetles seem to be particularly infested. I've never yet seen a Nicophorus beetle that has been mite-free.  |
A relatively quiet week with not many new observations. However, on
Friday night, Diane Lepage and I went "mothing" at FWG, between 8:30 and
midnight. There were not a lot of moths and few insects in general
coming to the lights, and none to the trees which had been "sugared".
However, we did get some new moths for the FWG list, and there was
always the anticipation of seeing something really neat. In fact, I
think every moth we see is pretty neat! Including this grape-leaf folder
moth. We several times heard loud cracking noises, as if something big
was stepping on branches nearby (we were in the Ash Woods), but never
did find out what it was. 
Goldfinches are abundant around the garden, and the males are still
showing that brilliant yellow plumage, which, once winter comes, will be
lost. A juvenile common yellowthroat warbler was in the cattails at the
pond, and a family of rose-breasted grosbeaks were hanging around the
pond end of the ravine. Lots of other birds to see including yellow
warblers, catbirds, blue jays, hummingbirds, orioles, American redstart,
cardinals, and so on.9 August — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
Also present were a female widow skimmer (below left), and several common whitetails, as well as sedge sprites, eastern forktails, common spreadwing, common green darner, and a number of other damselflies which would not sit still long enough for me to look at and ID them.
Also saw my first orange-collared scape moth (Cisseps fulvicollis) of the year at FWG today (above right). This moth looks very similar to the more familiar virginia ctenucha but is smaller and less vibrantly coloured. The goldenrods are becoming THE hotspots for insects in the garden and will be until they die down. Of course, other plants are still pretty good for insects now too, but the goldenrods are coming into their own and attracting a huge variety of species.  On one plant a mating pair of ambush bugs had captured a fly (possibly a Tabanid sp.) and were holding onto it by its head (above). Meanwhile, a large Polistes wasp was holding onto the rear end, and both wasp and bugs were having a tug-of-war with the poor fly, which was, fortunately for it, dead. There are scores of pennsylvania leatherwings on the goldenrods (and other plants), along with a really good diversity of bees and wasps. |
Another new odonate species for the FWG list today, a band-winged
meadowhawk. This species is listed as uncommon for the area in the
revised Ottawa Odonate Checklist. I saw quite a few in Marlborough
Forest recently and decided to keep an eye out for them at FWG too, but
was rather surprised when I actually saw one today! None of the photos I
took turned out very well because the meadowhawk flew to the top of a
nearby sumac and remained there. However, here is one from Marlborough (left) so that you can see what it really looks like.
2 August — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
Ross Layberry, one of the authors of the Butterflies of Canada, told me that yesterday's sighting of the American Snout butterfly, (photos of which I sent you), is only the second known occurrence in the Ottawa 50-km region. I gather that they occasionally breed near Point Pelee, but are very scarce there and even more so north and east of that location. Ross said the first time this species was found in the Ottawa district was in 1984, and not again until yesterday. So, I reckon FWG does it again!
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I mentioned yesterday that I had found a clubtail species of dragonfly
at FWG. Thanks to Chris Lewis for helping to ID it as a Black-shouldered
Spinyleg, (new for the FWG list). Chris said they are usually found
around lakes and rivers, but can occur away from these habitats.
5 August — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan  There are lots of birds at FWG these days, and many of them are youngsters. It is wonderful to see them out and about, calling for food, being fed, adding to the general symphony of bird song at the garden. Depending on species, they are feeding on insects of all sorts, seeds from shrubs, trees, grasses, wildflowers. I hate to say it, but glossy buckthorn is being well used by a great variety of birds and mammals, and even the american snout butterflies were nectaring on the buckthorn flowers, for the shrubs are in both flower and fruit.
Birds at FWG today
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1 August — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
I was very excited to find two AMERICAN SNOUT butterflies this afternoon at FWG during my second visit of the day. These butterflies are listed as "Accidental" in the Ottawa region, meaning they've only been recorded once or twice. Needless to say, it is another new butterfly for the FWG list! Although I had never seen this species before, it is an unmistakable butterfly and anyone who has seen a photo or two in the past will remember it. It is not that it is particularly attractively coloured, but that it has a very long and distinctive snout. For the entire time I watched them they were flying around and landing on a glossy buckthorn bush. And interestingly, while I waited for them to appear (because they kept vanishing), other creatures turned up on the buckthorn. A chipmunk climbed the tree and ate the fruit, a gray catbird came along and did likewise, and then a beautiful male rose-breasted grosbeak had a feed of them too.
Just before finding the snout butterflies, I watched the eastern kingbird family again. The poor adult was looking a bit ragged keeping up with the insistent demands of the "kids". There were, in fact, a lot of birds around. Back to the buckthorn bushes for a moment. While I stood there (for nearly an hour), I also saw a ruby-throated hummingbird come along several times, a female american redstart, great crested flycatcher, a couple more rose-breasted grosbeaks, baltimore oriole, song sparrows, and so on. A raven was calling constantly, as one has been doing for some days now, and I finally located the bird on top of the Arts Tower at Carleton (if that is what the tall tower is still called). Earlier in the day was good insect finding time. At long last I managed to get some decent, if not great, shots of a Megachilid bee (below left), one of the leafcutters (remember I sent you a photo of their leafy tube nests a week or so ago?). I also got some photos of one of the so-called sand wasps, this one a Bicyrtes species (below right), new for the insect list.
Also found an interesting dragonfly which had just captured a large moth. It looks like a clubtail species, but I need to do some checking first, and then I'll send out the photo. At any rate, we have not yet got a clubtail of any species on our FWG insect list. |
