Category Archives: bugs

  I use my camera to record things seen, and this blog to record things learned about things seem. This normally effective formula failed with these two unknown shield bugs mating on a daisy: I have not even been able to discover … Continue reading →

  The crab spider (Misumena vatia) can change colour from white to yellow. This allows it to become almost invisible as it sits on similarly coloured flowers while it waits to ambush an unsuspecting pollinator. The favourite local perch of the … Continue reading →

  Why is that wasp eating my deck furniture? Wasps gather wood fibre from dead wood and mix it with saliva to use as a nest-building material. The wood may come from trees or plant stems, but also from a human’s … Continue reading →

  This is the season for viewing a Bombylius fly. Last year’s posting about this bee-mimic fly was also made mid-April. This year’s images are strikingly similar, same species, same dried grass, same flowers. The difference is that I now know a little … Continue reading →

  Bumble bees are back. The first to appear are the only ones to have survived the winter: the queens. They have the monumental task of feeding, establishing a nest, laying eggs and raising the first generation of workers.  The … Continue reading →

  Today, March 31st, I saw my first butterfly of the year: a comma. Can someone tell me which one it is?

  One does not normally think of arthropods as appearing around the winter solstice. Yet, a few hang out in the house. Here are three seen this week. This is a Cellar Spider, a female Pholcus phalangioides identified by arachnologist, Robb Bennett. This … Continue reading →

  The first thing I saw was a male Striped Meadowhawk flying low over the grass along by the edge of a marsh. But, then I noticed two couples copulating in the grass, below. Everywhere, there were copulating meadowhawks. In … Continue reading →