AstroGypsies

A walk out to check the always empty mailbox is an adventure. Stepping over the Juvenal’s Duskywings all over the road as well as the American Ladies and Red Admirals! Those colours! The new beauty on our walk out today was tiny, that is a wild strawberry flower! A White-spotted Sable moth!

The dragonflies have exploded as well! Mostly Chalk fronted Corporals and American Emeralds but I caught site of a big blue guy, too quick for me! The variety is astonishing and the numbers of them! Eat those mosquitos and blackflies guys! I watched a Springtime darner doing the wild thing..(?) or eating the other dragonfly!? Yes, apparently he is feasting on another dragonfly 0_0..must be tasty! Yikes! It’s a dragonfly eat dragonfly kind of world!

Thankfully I belong to a Facebook page Insects and Arachnids of Ontario and they keep me straight on who’s who in this amazing insect world! ….and yesterday the Swallowtails arrived on the honeysuckle! Not just one type of swallowtail, but two!

The Canadian Tiger Swallowtail is found in most provinces and territories in Canada, as its name implies. Its range extends north of the Arctic Circle in the Yukon, and to Churchill in Manitoba, Little Shagamu River in Ontario, and to Schefferville in Quebec. Adults fly during spring and summer and one brood occurs. Females lay eggs singly on the host plant. The caterpillar folds the host plant’s leaves and ties them together with silk; they then eat from this structure. The pupae overwinter, then emerge in May.

Eastern Giant Swallowtail-There has been a northern expansion of the range of the giant swallowtail in recent years which has been linked to increasingly warm temperatures, and particularly to a lack of September frosts in regions of expansion starting in 2001. Larvae were then able to withstand a few frosts before they pupated. The immediate effects of this warming, as well as their effect on host plants and predators, can explain the giant swallowtail’s range expansion.

I sat in front of the blooming chives one afternoon going nowhere (my energy levels have been low, lots of joint aches and issues that may be a vitamin B12 deficiency, who knew it could affect you so much but looks that way!) and I watched all the different bugs and butterflies that came and went! The tri-coloured bumblebees are astonishing! The jury is still out on what the other guy was, may be a Two-Spotted bumblebee, there are SO many different varieties! Trying to document them all…on the chives ha! Sorry guys, I’ll still cut a few for scrambled eggs! Chives that is;)

Even if the hummingbirds are not cooperating at my hanging baskets, the dragonflies and hummingbird moths are! The Hummingbird Clearwing…that tush! Looks like a mini flying lobster! Ha!

The cottage road continues to provide great views of both the slithering and hopping variety of reptiles here! Snake haters skip this part! I absolutely love to watch the Northern Water Snakes swim. It’s a marvel of natural engineering! No fins, no feet or arms! An engineer could probably explain the bow waves and ripples they create! So far my favourite Spring photo!

One Northern Water Snake watches me as I walk past the culvert…eyeing me…hopefully not for dinner…just kidding! The Northern Leopard frogs are out for them as well as hundreds of minnows, and a few American Bullfrog pollywogs are still swimming about! Yum, frogs with no legs! Ha!

We could all snack on the grasses the Beavers so seem to enjoy, or are they clogging the culvert again! New grates are installed, so far, so good! I check every time I walk past! Ha! I guess I got sidetracked here, the reptiles are not exactly flapping colour! I haven’t even started on the birds! We’ll save that for later this week along with Rocket’s girlfriend the raccoon;) Saludos amigos! Enjoy the rainbow!