Insects of Alberta 1

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.