Insects of Alberta 2

Not the kind of photo I would love to have got of this beautiful Old World Swallowtail, but I was lucky to get even this, LOL! We saw it fluttering by while we were on a botanizing hike south of Calgary, in the Nanton area. It landed for a second or two and I was able to quickly grab a couple of shots for ID purposes. I so rarely see these.

This moth was resting on a lovely bright orange wall of a restaurant that we stopped at in Vulcan (south east of Calgary), after our long birding day to the Majorville Medicine Wheel. Haven't identified it - not sure if it can be identified with its wings closed! Not very spectacular, but I loved it against the orange. Another dull day today, but thankfully it has stopped raining and snowing.

We noticed a number of these beautifully round mounds of crumbled sand and rock, when we explored Horseshoe Canyon in the Badlands north east of Calgary, mid-June. I don't know what kind of Ant made these tiny holes and mounds, but they were so round and perfect. This one was maybe a couple of inches in diameter. Got home about an hour ago, after a lovely (though a little too warm for me) day botanizing part of the beautiful land belonging to Angela Cumberland and Patrick Brennan. This lies to the north west of the city and was a mix of forest, open meadows and a "bog". This family very generously supplied a delicious Chili and salad lunch for us, too! What an absolute treat - and many thanks from all of us!! Hope you will find the eventual list of flora and fauna observed today interesting and useful : ) Thanks so much for allowing us to explore your property! Oh, and on the way home, we stopped in Cochrane for one of their famous ice-creams ; )

We saw this rather beautiful moth yesterday, when a handful of us went to record all the flora and fauna at Janel Butler's farm, west of Millarville, south west of Calgary. Haven't had a chance yet to try and identify this moth - and now I need to go and get myself ready to go with a friend north west of the city to the Water Valley area. This is where Sandhill Cranes have been reported recently, as well as Great Gray Owls and even a Barred Owl (or was it a Boreal???) Keeping my fingers crossed for the Cranes in particular ... but you know how it is, LOL.

I took this photo more than a year ago and I remember it well : ) I think it was something like 1:00 in the morning and I was about to go to bed, when I happened to notice this tiny, Two-spotted Ladybug climbing all over one of the flowers in my kitchen. So, out came the camera and I tried to get a few photos of it, unfortunately in atrocious light and through tired, blurry eyes. (Talking of which, I drove across the city this afternoon to get my glasses, which had been brought back from Canmore to Calgary last weekend, after the Christmas Bird Count there - thanks so much Christine!). These Ladybugs are smaller than the more common Seven-Spotted, and are native to Alberta, unlike the Seven-spotted. You'll never think of milk and cookies for Santa in the same way if you watch this funny little video from JibJab. Would never have seen it, but my son, Steven, posted it on his Facebook page. Thanks for the laugh, Steven! sendables.jibjab.com/holidays/sendables/203532/from_the_f...

I remember taking this image more than a year ago. Happened to notice this tiny Ladybug on a flower in my kitchen around 1:00 a.m. in the morning, just as I was off to bed. Of course, I just had to grab my camera - and a flashlight because one of my kitchen lightbulbs needed replacing and it's a very awkward one to change. There are approximately 35 species of Ladybug in Alberta. "This most familiar Lady Beetle is found throughout Alberta in fields and gardens. As winter approaches, the Two-spotted Lady Beetle might move into your house to seek a dry safe place to hibernate for winter .....The Two-spotted Lady Beetle overwinters as an adult under piles of leaf litter or in some other protected space. Sometimes they congregate in large numbers to sleep away winter." From talkaboutwildlife.org.

A rare (for me) photo of a Dragonfly, taken at Reader Rock Garden on August 11th. I don't often seem to see Dragonflies any more - maybe I just wasn't going for walks in the right places.

I'm not sure, but I think this could be a Deer Fly - it seems to have those amazing "designer sunglasses" eyes : ) Seen on a friend's watch strap in the Bragg Creek Natural Area on September 3rd.

Came across this lovely bright wildflower with a beautiful, tiny moth resting on the petals. Seen on July 9th at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park.