FWG blog

What was happening at the FWG in October 2007

24 October — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan

The unusual warm weather of late October has been a boon for those who like to look for and photograph insects. Anywhere there are plants in bloom, and there are many, insects could be found.

Dandelions are a particular favourite and I saw Bumblebees, Spotted Cucumber Beetles (below left), Corn Rootworm Beetles, syrphids (centre), and Polistes wasps (right) on them. You'll notice in some of the photos that insects on dandelions are heavily coated with pollen (the yellow dusting you can see on their legs and bodies).

Just across the road from FWG, on the farm, was one gorgeous deep yellow goldenrod flower. Feeding busily on this were 3 Bumblebees, a couple of Polistes dominula wasps, 3 Sweat Bees, a couple of unidentified flies, an unidentified bug, and some Corn Rootworm Beetles. It was, unfortunately, very, very windy so I was unable to get a lot of photos. How many insects can you count on the photo below? It was only one side of the plant - there were more on the other side!

Also around was a stinkbug in the BYG (right), along with a Yellow-legged Meadowhawk, some Woolly Aphids (below left), another unidentifiable insect (too windy to get either a photo or a good look), some Clouded Sulphurs (below centre), quite a few in fact, a few Asian Ladybeetles (below right), a couple of Coleomagilla beetles and some minuscule flies that look a bit like Dance Flies. I only saw them when I looked at the plant I had photographed (a mustard) and noticed the flies on the leaves.

Lots of Dark-eyed Juncos are around, a few Tree Sparrows, a Cooper's Hawk (which perched in the ravine on the day of the fall bird count wrap-up, Sunday just past, and allowed some of us to get excellent views). This morning, this bird (or another Cooper's) was putting the wind up the Rock Pigeons on the farm. And speaking of pigeons, it was quite amusing to watch them perching on the roof of one of the small buildings across from FWG. The roof is metal and slippery, and every few seconds a rasping noise occurred. It was one pigeon after another slip-sliding away down the roof!

And the trees of course have been spectacular!

5 October — photos and notes from Sandra Garland

On 4 October, what I think is a Euglena bloom appeared on the surface of our Amphibian Pond.

A thin bright green film could be distinguished from the duckweed that's been covering the pond lately. The film was also less reflective than the duckweed.
Under a microscope, thousands of oval green single-cell organisms could be seen swimming rapidly. The width of this photo equals 1 mm.

According to Nicole, one of our Backyard Garden volunteers and a retired biochemist, the green colour comes from chloroplasts, which photosynthesize like plant chloroplasts and provide energy to the Euglena. In the absence of light, the Euglena may lose their chloroplasts and instead get energy by ingesting organic matter.

Euglena thrive in nutrient-rich water. We're wondering whether their sudden multiplication occurred as a result of low water levels (i.e., increasing nutrient concentration) or whether the ducks that have found our pond recently brought Euglena with them.

1 October — photos and notes from Diane Lepage

When I arrived at the pond this afternoon to do photography, there were ducks in it. As sun was going down, more ducks flew down into the pond. When I left after 6 pm there were at least 50 Mallards. Quite a sight!