Category Archives: bugs

Striped coralroot

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Alistair

  The striped coralroot orchid is widespread across southern Canada and western U.S. However, it is sparse throughout its range for it does not use leaves to synthesize food but obtains it nutrients from fungi in the ground.   This orchid … Continue reading →

Posted in bugs, wildflowers | 1 Comment

Fairy slipper deception

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Alistair

  Our first orchid of the year, the fairy slipper (Calypso bulbosa) is beautiful, but remarkably deceptive. There is a nearly universal contract between pollinators (such as bees) and flowers: The bees provide the flowers with pollination in exchange for … Continue reading →

Posted in bugs, wildflowers | 4 Comments

Giant ichneumon wasp

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Alistair

  What is any wasp, let alone this one, doing around here in the later half of October? Most wasps have died out except for their queens who have bedded down for the winter. There are a great many species … Continue reading →

Posted in bugs | 2 Comments

August’s goulash

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Alistair

  This is a collection of August’s pictures that lacked a posting of their own.  This strange looking bird is just a juvenile Robin. Wintering in the Amazon, this Red-eyed Vireo is near the limit of its summer range. The … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, bugs, herptiles, mammals, wildflowers | 5 Comments

Fighting butterflies

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Alistair

  The butterflies were fighting. This came as a surprise to me. I had always thought of butterflies as being cooperative and peaceful creatures, but it seems that they can have conflicts.  This fight went on for ten to 15 … Continue reading →

Posted in bugs | 1 Comment

Crab spider

Posted on June 24, 2022 by Alistair

  The hover fly is an innocent little fly, and with the advent of warm weather, there are a number of them about doing what they do: pollinate flowers. Not all creatures view them so benignly. A few hover flies … Continue reading →

Posted in bugs | 1 Comment

March’s goulash

Posted on March 31, 2022 by Alistair

  This is a collection of March pictures that lacked a posting of their own.  Spring migrants arrive in March, although this year, their arrival was delayed by snows so most  migrants appeared later in the month. A few weren’t … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, bugs, mammals | 3 Comments

Disheveled darner

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Alistair

  The flight season of the Shadow Darner lasts into October making it perhaps the last dragonfly of the year.  The female that landed on a piling and made feeble attempts to lay eggs. It looked thoroughly disheveled, with its … Continue reading →

Posted in bugs | 1 Comment

September goulash

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Alistair

  My usual claim for my monthly goulash is that it presents a collection of images that lacked postings of their own. Again true this month, it was also the case that previous postings this September were remarkably few — … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, bugs, herptiles, mammals, weather | 8 Comments

Four flyers

Posted on September 9, 2021 by Alistair

  Following the posting about three mammals, it is appropriate to treat birds — well, things that fly. And this includes insects. A damselfly is a common feature of lakeside living in the summer. But, not this one. When damselflies … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, bugs | 1 Comment