Life and death in the backyard

Some days, one doesn't have to go far at all to see wildlife in action. The scale of the wildlife may be a bit different, but it is every bit as dramatic.

Milkweeds are in prime condition these days. I've never liked the name 'Common Milkweed' especially since, at least in Ontario, it has been considered a noxious weed for so many decades. Landowners were, up until a couple of years ago, required by law to eliminate it. Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is actually rather attractive and aromatic; its role in the insect and invertebrate world is quite amazing.

Numerous pollinating insects zero in on the colourful and fragrant flowers. But therein lies a huge risk for some of the critters. Note the intricate detail of the close-up of milkweed flowers in the next photo.

Some of these tiny flowering parts are a bit flexible, depending on how much pressure is put on them, and that can spell serious trouble to the insects applying that pressure. In the next image is a reasonable sized bee. It looks okay at first glance, but it is very dead.

As it has crawled over the flowers trying to collect nectar, one of its feet slipped between some of the flowering parts, and it is stuck. A bigger insect might have had the strength to free its foot. A smaller insect would not have gotten caught. But just as in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this third one was just right....or as far as the bee is concerned, just wrong. It was trapped and is now very dead. On rare occasions I have seen a leg remaining in the grip of these milkweed flowering parts, so somewhere there is a pollinator missing one of its six legs.

In previous years, the milkweeds are not as large and robust as they are this year, thanks to the much greater rainfall which has resulted in greater growth. As a result, when the plants and flowers are smaller, an insect the size of this bee would have escaped easily, and only smaller insects would have been caught.

On a recent occasion, I was taking a photo of a dead bee and it wasn't until I got the image on the computer that I noticed two creamy white legs somehow involved with the bee.

The white legs were from a Goldenrod Crab Spider which had caught this bee and was  presumably sucking the juices out of its victim.

After awhile, I went back outside to the scene of this incident and noted the now empty carcass was sitting on a milkweed leaf.

 And there not too far away, was the crab spider, with legs outstretched ready for another victim. In the case of a crab spider, the front four legs are larger and stronger than the back four, enabling it to capture and subdue its victim.

Crab spiders are able to change their colours from yellow to white to pink and various combinations in between. This enables it to lie in wait very inconspicuously. The change doesn't occur instantly, but normally takes several hours.

Other spiders are sometimes seen. In this next image is a Zebra Jumping Spider. There are several dozen different jumping spiders, all quite small, and some of them are quite elaborately coloured.

 And they can be found feasting on their prey, as in the case of this next image showing a jumping spider sucking the juices out of a fly.

In any natural environment, one can see death, but one can also see the promise of new life.

Cabbage White butterflies are common.

 Eventually one may find a caterpillar of this butterfly.

Black Swallowtail butterflies periodically show up.

 They search out dill, parsley and other members of the same family to lay their eggs on, as the caterpillars require them for nourishment.

This next image shows a very young caterpillar at about the first instar stage:

 At about the third instar stage:

 And just before it is ready to form a pupa.

Another butterfly that is quite often around our yard: the Question Mark.

Other insects include, unfortunately, Japanese Beetles.....colourful to be sure, but not desirable!

Lots of 'this' going on, but three's a crowd!

A few days ago we had some of these Mayflies, sometimes called Fishflies, hanging around.

Years ago they were reported along the Lake Erie shoreline to be so abundant that they would pile up on the roads deep enough to clog up the radiators of vehicles driving by to the point that the vehicles would overheat and be forced to stop! Large numbers of these insects are, in some respects, a good thing from a water quality standpoint. The greater the abundance of these insects, the better the water quality.

I started this post with a purplish-pink wildflower, and I will end it with a similarly coloured one that is in our yard: Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera), which is quite rare in Ontario and officially ranked as Special Concern. True to its name, it likes climbing when given a chance. One of the plants in our yard has climbed up at least 5-6 metres in an open branched tree.

Climbing Prairie Rose

Linear hiking in Chatham-Kent

A project I have been working on these last few weeks is an inventory of the flora and fauna of an abandoned railroad corridor here in Chatham-Kent. Normally railroads are off limits to most people, but this corridor is currently owned by the municipality and three of us are tasked with conducting the inventory. Future uses for this corridor are being discussed, and there are some interesting possibilities. However before things get too far along, the intent is to see what kinds of flora and fauna are along it.

I was involved in the inventory of the 34 km section of the east half of this corridor in 2012.  At that time, we found some new plants for C-K, as well as several populations of Species At Risk. Several very small patches of endangered Tallgrass Prairie habitat were discovered as well. This year we are covering the west 34 km section and we are hoping for similar interesting discoveries.

Some parts of it are pretty bleak as one might expect in the parts of C-K which have the lowest amount of natural vegetation in the first place. Non-native species of plants are abundant. Trees and shrubs are not, at least in some stretches. But one never knows what is just down the path.

There are some patches of woodland adjacent to the corridor in places, and with all the rain we've had lately, there is lots of 'wetland', at least for now. Some of the wetland patches seem to be fairly permanent, which is a good thing.

Wetland adjacent to woodland

Frogs are widespread, although not abundant. Probably the early to mid April period would have been quite noisy with frog song, but things are fairly quiet right now. The most exciting frog species to date, is Western Chorus Frog, which I just heard but didn't see....it is a very tiny frog, not much more than an inch in length, but with a loud voice.

This Leopard Frog below was especially cooperative. It even let a damselfly (probably some kind of Bluet) use it as a perch. I wonder if the damselfly realized how dangerous this might have been.

On this cattail leaf was a colourful Smartweed Caterpillar getting some sustenance. Once the caterpillar turns into a moth, it is considerably duller.

 In one wetland area was this female Six-spotted Fishing Spider. It is a monster...the body length is almost an inch in length and in combination with the legs, totals almost three inches.

As would be expected, dragonflies are fairly numerous where there is water and lots of open area. Nothing unexpected....yet, but good numbers of the usual species.

Common Whitetail

Halloween Pennant

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Widow Skimmer

I haven't attempted to identify many damselflies yet, or even photograph them for that matter. This one below appears to be either a Slender or Lyre-tipped Spreadwing.

A very large fly came by, appropriately named  a Black Horse Fly. Its body can be slightly more than an inch long. It can give a painful bite and is hard on livestock. Fortunately it seldom bites humans.

 There was lots of evidence of Groundhogs......numerous holes and mounds, and periodically I would hear their piercing alarm call. On occasion one would let me get close enough for a photo.

Groundhog sentry

 At one point, some almost full grown young demonstrated their curiosity by emerging from their burrow quite close by. There were two young that emerged from one entrance, while two others emerged from the other.

There are a number of streams crossing under the old rail bed. This adds diversity to the wetland habitat, and often there are numerous trees adjacent, along with the fauna that inhabit such areas.

 One particularly good thing these bridges are good for is nesting habitat. Cliff Swallows as well as Barn Swallow, recently declared a Species At Risk, have been seen using them, as have Eastern Phoebes.

Eastern Phoebe

Phoebe nest

 Other birds of interest include a fair number of Wild Turkeys, furtively exploring the corridor area and adjacent croplands.

 Indigo Buntings are pretty regular.

 I've come across Orchard Orioles on more than one occasion, including this female which, along with its male counterpart, was carrying food to young in the nest shown in the next photo.

 Of course butterflies are noticeable by their abundance. Some of the larger and more colourful ones include:

American Lady

Eastern Comma

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Red-spotted Purple

Viceroy

There are lots of the smaller ones as well, including azures, crescents and skippers, including European Skippers.

European Skipper

And this butterfly look-alike that is actually a daytime flying moth, the Ctenucha Moth.

One butterfly species that seems to be missing so far is Monarch. I haven't seen any along this corridor yet; in fact I've only seen a handful all spring and early summer so far. The milkweeds are just coming into their prime....I hope there are a few Monarchs on their way from the midwest to make use of them!

White-winged Dove, Acadian Flycatcher, Bald Eagle, Rondeau

A brief visit to Rondeau today proved more profitable than I had expected. After photographing a plant near the Visitor Centre late this afternoon, I heard the unmistakable call of a White-winged Dove. I knew that one had been seen and heard intermittently a bit north of the Visitor Centre between May 25-30, but I had not been able to catch up with it. As far as I know, it was last seen on May 30. So I was quite pleased to hear it and then find it. Fortunately I had my camera and telephoto lens relatively handy!

It was sitting about half way up in a White Pine tree, in very bright light with a dark background, making the photographic effort a little challenging. It remained in the area for at least half an hour, and is likely not far away given that it presumably has been in the general vicinity for more than three weeks.

A bit later, I checked on the two Acadian Flycatcher nests we had been monitoring. It seems that one right over the edge of the road that I reported on a few posts ago may be abandoned, as I have not seen any activity there in the last 4 visits. However the other nest is still active.....the contents are suspect, however.

I didn't stick around for a long time so as not to overly disturb the adults, and also because the mosquitoes were quite glad I was there! But the bird in this photo looks suspiciously like a Brown-headed Cowbird. Any thoughts???

Acadian Flycatcher

I also took a quick trip out the Marsh Road to check on a couple of things, including the pair of Bald Eagles that habitually nest within view in certain spots of the trail. They are using the same nest as last year, but with the higher water, it is more difficult to get to a suitable vantage point to photograph it even from a distance. But I did manage to get the next two images from the trail. They were taken with the equivalent of a 14X binocular, and even at that, were heavily cropped by at least 50%.

Adult Bald Eagle in White Pine

 The eaglet in the next photo isn't all that easy to pick out, but it is in the lower right of the nest.

Bald Eaglet in nest

All in all, not a bad day for a quick trip!