Album Insects of Alberta 1 from Anne Elliott

A Pyraloid Moth

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:25:53 +0000

This very small moth landed for a moment on a plant at Nodwell Sanctuary, during a full-day botanizing outing, late July. Thanks for the ID, Doug! It was the first time I had seen, and photographed, one of these.

Brilliant camouflage

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:17:22 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I noticed this moth at rest on a tree yesterday, during a full-day, botanizing walk in Bragg Creek Natural Area. Actually, we had spotted a small butterfly flitting across the path and so I followed. However, I forgot about the butterfly as soon as I noticed this well-camouflaged moth. I think it may be some kind of Sphinx Moth? Thanks so much to Lynette S. for the ID, Geometroidea, Geometrid Moth, Geometridae!

Size matters

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:33:34 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

LOL, a more accurate view of this small Anglewing butterfly, of it sitting on friend David's finger! For some reason, butterflies seem to like being on his hands : ) Seen on 22nd August in West Bragg Creek Provincial Park. Not sure if it's a Green Comma.

Tussock Moth caterpillar

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:09:52 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I'm pretty sure this is some kind of Tussock Moth caterpillar, seen on 20th August at West Bragg Creek Provincial Park (west of Calgary). I looked at so many Googled photos late the other night and now can't remember which kinds I thought this could be. Maybe either the Rusty Tussock Moth or Douglas Fir Tussock Moth? Silly me, I should have written down which was the closest! I'd never seen one like this before, so I'm always thrilled to bits to see something new.

Mourning Cloak

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:23:02 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I was SO lucky with this beautiful Mourning Cloak butterfly about 10 days ago! It flew in a large circle in the forest at Bebo Grove and then flew to me and circled me. It did this three times, each time landing maybe five feet away with a different setting after circling around me. These butterflies tend to be found near trees.

Anglewing

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:39:03 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

These beautiful, small butterflies prefer mud and sap to flowers (and sometimes dung, aphid honeydew or spoiled fruit). This is one of my favourite kinds of butterfly, because of the unusual shape of the wing edges and the brilliant orange colour. I found this one in the gravel parking lot at Maclean Pond, Kananaskis.

Box Elder Bug

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:54:44 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

When I drove out to Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66) yesterday afternoon, I pulled off shortly before reaching Forgetmenot Pond in order to check for fungi beside the road. When I got back to my car and opened the door, I noticed this little Box Elder Bug (a first for me) on my car window. Unfortunately, it flew away just as I was going to take a macro shot : ). Even though I washed my car a week ago, I had had to scrape off a layer of ice the other morning, hence the filthy windows. Winter is on its way, though we are having temperatures around 25C or 26C right at the moment, which is wonderful!

By the way, this morning, I was on a bird walk but stopped to take a few photos of the bright red berries on a Thorny Buffaloberry shrub. Not content with a distant photo, I decided to get closer and in doing so, slipped on some very slippery fallen leaves. I was clutching my camera, I suspect, when I landed on my side. When I got up, I felt lucky to still be in one piece - and then I noticed the third finger on my right hand, bent and unable to be straightened. Well, I spent almost five hours at the Health Centre!!! I haven't broken my finger, but it looks like there could be a very fine fracture. The main thing, though, is that I completely ripped the tendon off the bone, which is why my finger was totally bent. Yuck! They X-rayed it and then they put a splint on it. If I bend the finger even slightly and for just a fraction of a second, it will rip the tendon off again while it's healing and I will have to start all over again. They expect it to take 6-8 weeks (most likely 8) IF I don't bend the finger when changing the splint. What a pain, especially as I knew I was going to HAVE to do things like see to my backyard, CLEAN the house, etc., etc., etc.. Long walks should be slowing down somewhat and everything (and I mean everything!) has been put off till now. Guess I won't be doing any of that stuff now. Driving is awkward, too, which is a nuisance. However, it could have been a leg or my back, so I'll count myself lucky! Not sure how well I'll do on my computer - using the mouse is quite painful, so I may have to slow down a little on Flickr.

Water Striders

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:26:27 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

A rather strange effect created by a mass of Water Striders on the Lily pond at an acreage southwest of the city, near Millarville. Three of us returned there recently to do another bio-assessment of this wonderful acreage.

Bee on Yellow Sweetclover

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:10:11 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

One of these days, I will find out the proper name for these orange striped bees - meanwhile, I think of them as orange-bummed bees, LOL. Quite attractive insects. This one is clinging on to a stem of Yellow Sweetclover, down near the canal by the Max Bell Arena.

Taking a good look

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:13:38 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I couldn't believe my luck this afternoon when I went for a walk in a local park. Just after I had decided that it was time to leave, I glanced down and saw three of these amazingly beautiful Leafy Spurge Hawk Moth caterpillars on a Leafy Spurge plant!. Actually, two had this colouring and the third had a lot more green on it. I had seen one of this species a couple of years ago, again by pure chance. This is not my favourite shot of it, but it does show what the head end and underneath are like. Doug, I would love to have popped it into a tiny box to keep for you to photograph, but of course knew I couldn't do that.

Fritillary

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:05:45 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Spent a most enjoyable day today west of Calgary, at Bow Valley Provincial Park (at the far eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains). Saw this butterfly (some kind of Fritillary) down near the edge of the Bow River there.

Larvae tunnels

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:01:05 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Occasionally, we will come across one of these leaves, patterned by larvae tunnels. This one was seen at Strathcona Park Ravine yesterday morning.

"Black, continuous string within long, silvery tunnel right under epidermis of leaf:....Phyllocnistis populiella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae". From www.helsinki.fi/science. Not sure if this explanation fits my specimen - it sounded right : )

"The larva of an aspen leaf-miner moth, Phyllocnistis populiella, feeds between the two epidermal layers of a leaf. This larva his eaten his way over much of the leaf and has left a well defined trail which ends where he exits as a moth. Damage is caused when eggs that have been deposited between the leaf layers hatch and larvae begin to feed on the nutritive tissue between the dermal leaf layers creating a small pocket as they meander back and forth. The bugs attacking the aspens are tiny whitish moths as thin as pencil lead, so small that four of them could ride on the back of a mosquito. These moths overwinter on the forest floor, emerge after the snow melts, and lay eggs on aspen buds when they pop from stems. When the aspen leaves develop, so do the little yellow caterpillars that scar them. The caterpillars feed on leaves until they emerge as an adult moth in about three weeks. Typically, the damage does not affect the health of the tree."

Black Meadowhawk

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:09:00 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

We saw this Black Meadowhawk (Sympetrum danae) during our walk in the Weaselhead Natural Area this afternoon. I don't often notice this kind of dragonfly, so that was a treat. Apparently, it is our second most common dragonfly, and easy to recognize because the males are almost black when they have matured. There are eight species of Meadowhawks in Alberta.

A gift on my doorstep

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:23:12 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

When I opened my front door and took a step outside early this morning to go on a walk in the Bragg Creek Natural Area, I thought I dropped something. When I looked down to my mat, there was this beautiful Blue Darner lying there. I pushed my boot towards it gently, but it didn't move. I wondered if it was dead, but I decided to just wait and see if it was still there when I returned a few hours later. No sign of it. I think it must have been on the outside of my door earlier and I disturbed it. These guys almost never stop still, so it was a treat for me : ). Of course I had to take a few quick photos of it before I hurried on my way, despite the messy background!

Six-spotted Fishing Spider

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:00:56 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Actually, this spider was quite large and was "swimming " or walking on the surface of the water in the pond in one of our local parks (Griffith Woods). We thought it was a rather fine specimen : ). Of course, I had to put aside my dislike of spiders just to get a photo, LOL. Note: I wonder if it's a Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton).

Curled up in a yellow cradle

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:40:24 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

This small caterpillar and others were curled up on Gumweed flowers near one of the sloughs east of Calgary this morning. A friend very kindly invited me to go looking for shore birds on several of these sloughs. As always, I am happy as can be with whatever interesting things I can find. Have tried to ID this caterpillar using the Internet, but no luck so far : )

Harlequin bugs on Wild White Geranium

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:01:09 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

We came across these very tiny, mating Harlequin Bugs in the southern part of the Cross Conservation Area recently. They are on a Wild White Geranium, also known as a Richardson's Geranium. The four photos I've just uploaded this evening seem rather pale and lifeless - I'm using my old monitor attached to my new computer (set up today), but I don't know if this has resulted in my images being altered or not.

Beauty comes in tiny sizes

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:39:13 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

These were no more than tiny red specks on this fallen branch (maybe an inch to an inch and a half diameter) and in fact I stopped to look because I thought it might be some kind of teeny red fungi. However, when I picked up the branch to take a closer look, the specks all started to move - fast! I believe these are Hemipterans, True Bugs, more specifically Shield Bugs or Stink Bugs. Nymphs, the immature insects, are more difficult to accurately identify, but our money is on the Harlequin Bug, Murgantia histrionica." From What's that Bug?.

The above information was not on my photo, but someone else's of what seemed to be identical insects. I love the red and black and the three lines on each perfect little bug. Found on the private, southern edge of the Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area, just southwest of the city, on Sunday - oh, I guess that was yesterday : )

Xanthotype sp. 'Geometer' Moth

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:46:53 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Two of us were photgraphing what we thought was a "new" (to us) beautiful yellow butterfly, on a walk at Shannon Terrace in Fish Creek Park. Instead, it turned out to be a beautiful "new" moth. Thanks for researching the ID, Doug W!

Spruce Sawyer

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:32:20 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I spent a 14-hour day today with three friends, doing a Bio-assessment of someone's property north-west of the city, fairly near Cremona. We had a wonderful walk (actually, three), recording any plants and birds that we found on their many acres. In a separate area a short drive away, where we saw Pelicans and Cormorants in the distance, as well as three Common Loons), we also saw several plants that I had never seen before. This is my absolute favourite way to spend a full day, exploring new "territory"!

This Spruce Sawyer was on the couple's deck while we were being treated to a drink and cookies in between walks. Quite a spectacular insect!