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Category Archives: bugs
Spring has arrived?
It is nearly half–past May and we are all looking for some evidence that there will be a spring this year. Today was sunny and warm, so I headed out to see how nature might have responded. Some of the … Continue reading
Posted in birds, bugs, wildflowers
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Grub
Ok, I know that this shows a picture of a grub and that a few milliseconds later it ceased being a grub. Actually, it is not all that easy to take such a picture because the time between a robin … Continue reading
Spider anxiety
Spring is late; flowers are late; bees are late; flies are late. What is a poor spider to do but sit and yearn? This jumping spider was waiting anxiously on a leaf this afternoon. It may go hungry for another … Continue reading
Posted in bugs
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Winter Wasp
Today, as the temperature hovered around -7°C and the visibility over the Lake dropped to zero in blowing snow (first picture), I was visited by—gulp—a wasp (second picture). The only wasps which live through the winter around here are queens. … Continue reading
Caught in flight
Some dragonflies watch for prey from a perch and then head out after it. This is not the case with darners, which hunt on the wing. This makes them a challenge to photograph. Below are four views, taken in late … Continue reading
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Watching crab spiders
Some years ago, while looking at a picture I took of a tiger lilly, I discovered that the flower sheltered a crab spider (Misumena vatia). Known variously as a flower spider, and a goldenrod spider, this tiny predator haunts flowers … Continue reading
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Three local bee flies
Bee flies (Family: bombyliidae) gain their name from their behaviour (they feed on nectar and pollen) and often their appearance (they often resemble bees). Below are examples of three genera seen during the summer of 2010. The Kootenay-Lake Website offers a … Continue reading
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Connections to spotted knapweed
Observations during a walk along the shore on August 7, 2010. The Kootenay-Lake Website offers a discussion and more pictures of the local moths, solitary wasps, flies, and social bees. ********* This tiny, easily overlooked, creature is the sulphur knapweed moth. It is … Continue reading
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Telling bees from flies
A staple of a talk about pollinators is a comparison of bees and flies—how to tell them apart. It is usually noted that flies have two wings (one pair) while bees have four wings (two pairs). It is often difficult … Continue reading
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