June 19th, 2006
some recent ‘firsts’ at the farm
Just when you thought I had stopped writing about insects!
When I first began this blog, I had no particular intention of writing about insects as often as I do, but it just happened. I suppose it was to be expected given that observation of insects and spiders has become such a part of my life. It’s truly impossible for me to be anywhere without noticing a beetle here, or a spider there. It’s very difficult to explain how this process began, but seems to have had a lot to do with developing an awareness of life occurring on a very non-human scale. Once that level of consciousness began, the world became a very different place… a far richer place, with layer upon layer of sizes, shapes, types of organisms, and all quite fascinating. Along with the change in awareness came a different way of seeing the interrelatedness of all things — perhaps more from the bottom up, rather than the top down. It’s a very different way of looking at the living world and, for me, has resulted in a decided shift away from anthropocentrism (not that I was ever a particularly anthropocentric thinker — but am even less so now). But I digress….
Yesterday, while reviewing photos from the past week, I was struck by the number of recent “firsts” here at the farm. I’ve been seeing many different caterpillars, moths, butterflies, beetles, sawflies, spiders and others. Of course, finding new insects has a lot to do with how much time you spend out in the field and what times of day you go there. Also, it relates to how hard and how well you look… and a lot of that depends on how much you’ve learned and how well you use that knowledge. But there are other factors as well. We’re having a wetter spring than we’ve had in several years. Our winters seem to have become much less severe in recent years, so perhaps insect survival is being altered. As well, the habitat here at the farm is changing — and I would say to a greater extent the past 2 or 3 years, than in all that went before as the character of the woodlands areas has changed…matured.
So, what new things did I see this week?
The first new sighting was a caterpillar which I believe must be what is known as a Filament Bearer – Nematocampa resistaria – (see above – click on image for larger view). It was found on a goldenrod leaf along a fencerow of dense, mixed vegetation. At first glance, I thought it was just a bit of debris on the leaf as the creature was arched into a compact hoop. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a small caterpillar with long, wiggly, white-tipped tentacles which it curled, extended and retracted in the most bizarre way. David Wagner’s Caterpillars of Eastern North America states that “alarmed caterpillars shunt hemolymph into filaments, enlarging them by as much as twice their resting length” and that’s most certainly what I witnessed as it began to move about, stretching and crossing from one leaf to the next at quite an astounding pace — for a caterpillar.
The Bee-like Flower Chafer Beetle in the above photo — probably a Trichiotinus assimilis — was also a new sighting here at the farm. My previous sighting of this species was last July at Thomas Cove Conservation Area in Nova Scotia. But this week, I photographed it on a daisy at the edge of the trail through one of the poplar groves here at the farm. It’s a small beetle, and easily overlooked, but so very interesting. With striped elytra that look rather like a little saddle, and retractable antennae that almost resemble moose antlers when fully extended, it was a most enjoyable sight. I hope to see more of them over the coming days.
There were other “firsts” as well, and perhaps I’ll get to them later this week. But one thing that suddenly hit me this week is that, in the course of four summers of photographing hundred of insects, this farm must be one of the more heavily “insect surveyed” sites in the region. That in itself is quite an interesting thought!
Tags: Bee-like Flower Chafer Beetle, Trichiotinus assimilis, Filament Bearer caterpillar, Nematocampa resistaria
June 19th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
What great firsts! I love your discussion about how you’ve come to see so many of the smaller things on your farm. Seeing is definitely a practiced art. The Flower Chafer Beetle is really quite a beauty. I love those antennae, and for a moment I almost typed in the word antlers!
June 19th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
We’ve been visiting our bit of forest for nearly a decade, and there is always a “first” in each year. This spring has been replete with them.
June 20th, 2006 at 4:41 am
I also had some firsts in my garden and it is so neat to find them..once again great photos.
June 20th, 2006 at 10:33 am
I certainly had no premonition that insects would become a part of my repertoire. But the plant thing goes hand in hand with the arthropod thing, and that connects nicely to the bird thing and the reptile thing, and then there’s the frogs and fungi, and in the end it turns out that organisms really don’t care how you divide them up. They’re going to interact and I was going to have to accept it or be forever limited.
I like the idea of surveys. I had already done a plant survey for our 40 acres – one that I haven’t updated lately and must as Glenn continues to add the less-familiar grasses and sedges (excel is wonderful in this respect).
I’m just going to have to go through the blog and pull together all the invertebrates that I’ve observed and do the same for them. Even so I don’t have photographic records for anywhere near what I know is here.
June 20th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
RA – “seeing is a practiced art”… How true! How often do we begin to see the world differently once we learn a little about something new? In the early 90s, I studied architectural history (mainly North American), and I can’t even begin to say how much that has changed the way I look at buildings, towns, and cities. The history of a town is written in its architecture. The more we learn about our world, be it insects, plants, architecture… the richer the world seems for learning how to see on a different level that simply looking.
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Pablo – Yes, isn’t it interesting how some years are filled with new things? I think 2003 was like that here at the farm, and it looks like 2006 will be much the same.
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Jimmy – Thanks! Isn’t it fascinating to see all of the creatures that exist right outside of our doorsteps?
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Wayne – You’re so right about how all of these organisms interact. Developing an understanding of these relationships does require that we expand our knowledge beyond one small area. I’m always a little surprised when I speak to a someone who is a specialist in one field, but seems to not know too much about anything else. I wonder how they can be so interested in one type of organism, but ignore so many others. On the other hand, I know several people who, while known for one area, have such a mind-blowing knowledge of “the whole” that I can’t figure out how they cram so many details into their heads. It’s both remarkable and such a wonderful thing to see.
And yes, I like surveys too. I’ve really got to get my act together and find a better way of sorting my notes and photos. Lots of data, but not all that accessible as yet. (one of the many things to do — *sigh*)
June 20th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Bev – one of the things that bothered me the most about academia, and I’m definitely not a naysayer, was the tunnel vision that I encountered at every step along the way.
It’s doubtless what contributes to their success as tunnel vision people, and contributed to my ultimate lack of it. Although I never even attempted to reach the professional point at which I would be formally rejected for not being a tunnel vision person; the cards were on the table by then. In the academic world there really is no place for a generalist.
I’m much happier being a generalist, I think, though it nets me nothing except the satisfaction, and being a good teacher.