Backyard Wildlife

 Over the years we have developed a fairly varied back yard, with lots of space devoted to a veggie garden as well as mixed plantings of native species. I tend to lean towards the tallgrass prairie species, but there are other things, along with various tree species. In the last few years, we have been busily involved with a community garden of 12 plots, in the park behind our place and just a 15 second walk from our yard. Two of those plots have been specifically planted with native plants to support pollinators, and the pollinators have found it.

Given the situation with COVID and the practice of staying home as much as possible, these 'naturalized' areas have provided lots of photo opportunities. It also helps that since I don't do well in the heat and humidity of this part of Ontario, staying at home and going out for brief forays into these vegetation patches works well.

Sitting out in the back with a morning coffee can be enjoyable, waiting to see what butterflies flutter by. I'm not always prepared with the correct camera and lens combination, but here are a few of what I have captured.

Giant Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Mourning Cloak

Red Admiral

Peck's Skipper

Monarchs have been quite regular, with sometimes several flitting about at one time as they check out the numerous milkweed plants scattered about. And there is the inevitable egg laid underneath the leaf. They are very small, but visible upon close examination.

Eventually they will hatch, at least that is the hope. Considering how many adults we've seen in and around the yard, the number of caterpillars is surprisingly low. This next photo shows a very young Monarch cat, judging by the size of it compared to the size of the milkweed floret it is resting on.

The next photo is more or less what most of us are more familiar with. I suspect it went off to pupate a day or so after I took this photo.

Black Swallowtail butterflies are far less common than the Monarchs and we have only seen about three caterpillars so far. They prefer dill or parsley so those are the plants to check.

Related to the butterflies are moths. Regular readers will not be surprised that I put a plug in for moths, since I have been spending more time than ever with my black light trying to lure and photograph the myriad moths that exist. But there are day flying moths as well, and as more and more research goes on, it is evident that moths are great pollinators. Their furry abdomen easily catches pollen from one flower and transfers it to another.

Chickweed Geometer

Eight-spotted Forester

This next one is the Nessus Sphinx. There are a lot of different kinds of sphinx moths, and many of them can be seen visiting flowers in the early morning or late evening. Sometimes they appear to be at first glance, a small hummingbird, as they hover by a flower much like a hummingbird and extend their long probocis into a flower in search of nectar as this one is doing.

This next moth is quite common. It is known as either the White-speck or the Armyworm Moth. I prefer the former name.

Garden Webworm

This next one is the caterpillar of one of the numerous Geometer types of moth, and is exploring the head of a Black-eyed Susan.

An attractive moth, but not one that most gardeners like to see, is the Squash Vine Borer, shown next. It is feeding at a Common Milkweed.

 Not directly related but just as scorned, is this next one: the Squash Bug.

 While Common Milkweeds are favourite plants for many species of moths, butterflies, beetles and other invertebrates to feed or hang out on, they can also be deadly to some. The individual flowers are intricately designed, as this close-up of a couple of flowers show.

But those nooks and crannies of the flowers can be traps, as this honeybee has discovered. If an insect is small and light enough they can crawl through the flowers without any trouble. If they are large enough and strong enough, they can likely extricate a foot or leg that momentarily gets trapped. But if the insect is neither, it may be just heavy enough to get caught, but not strong enough to escape. Hence one of the most commonly trapped dead critters I have found on milkweeds is the honeybee which is not native to North America and is not as well adapted to forage on some of North American plant species.

The Large Milkweed Bug, next, can be quite abundant......

.....as can the Red Milkweed Beetle.

There are often other beetles roaming around flowering plants in the garden such as these Banded Longhorn Beetles.

Wasp types are often plentiful, such as this Great Golden Digger Wasp, on some Thyme.....

...and the Great Black Wasp. This one is busy on a Mountain-mint flower, and it is common to see a dozen or more frantically searching for food.

An even larger and more robust wasp type is this Cicada Killer.

Much smaller, and more timid, is this type of Treehopper.

This next one is a Pennsylvania Ambush Bug. It isn't all that common, as I typically only see two or three a year.

Another wasp is this type of Paper Wasp, at this point busily cleaning its hind legs.

There are many mimics in the insect world. This looks like a type of wasp, but is actually a Large Headed Fly.

Compost Fly

I always enjoy seeing a few of this next species, the Feather-legged Fly. It is colourful with its black wings and reddish orange body.

From this angle, the feathery scales on its hind leg are more visible.

These next two are members of the Green Bottle Flies group.

With so many small flying insects around a garden, it will be no surprise that dragonflies are fairly regularly seen. Blue Dashers seem to be the most common species as of late.

Here, a young Chipping Sparrow is out becoming familiar with the neighbourhood after being hatched from a nest in our White Pine tree.

There is always lots to see, and photograph!