It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, but I’ll probably be back to posting more frequently now that insects and other creatures are making their appearance here at the farm. After a long winter of heavy snowfall, the weather has made an about-face and we seem to be jumping right into summer. The leaves are bursting out on the trees and the forests have changed from stark grays to hazy green in a matter of days. I meant to shoot some before-and-after photos, but we’ve had a couple of busy weeks and I never did get out with the camera.

However, I did manage to shoot a few photos of night moths seen around the front porch lamp on warm evenings. I’ve never really made much of an effort to attract moths, but we do get a few around the front door and living room window each evening. I try to remember to take my camera and shoot a few photos each night throughout summer as I’ve been trying (albeit rather slowly) to create a record of the moths seen around our farm through the seasons. If you’re interested, you can visit my moth photo gallery. Most of the moths in that gallery were photographed here at the farm, but there are also a few images of moths seen while we were out hiking at a couple of locations. I try to record the date and sometimes the time of each moth sighting so that I’ll have that information for future reference.

The moths at the top and bottom of this post are both new sightings here at the farm (click on images for larger views). The top moth seems to be a Major Sallow Moth (Feralia major - Hodges 10007), photographed on the morning of April 22, 2008. I’ve done some checking around for info on them and see that Lynn Scott, who has been photographing moths at a location not all that far from me, has sightings from April 19th to May 5th (see chart at bottom of page). According to the information about the life history of this moth found on an info page from the University of Alberta’s Strickland Entomological Museum’s website:

Like other Feralia species, the life history is probably closely linked to the appearance of new buds on the host conifers. Adults emerge early in the spring and lay eggs which hatch about the time the bud scales drop off the new buds. The larvae feed on the soft new needles until they harden, then pupate. They complete much of their transformation in the pupae before winter, and thus are ready to emerge as soon as it warms in spring. They are nocturnal and come to light.

Our place is surrounded by conifers — pine, spruce and tamarack, so it’s not too surprising that these moths would be found around our porch light.

The moth at the bottom of this post is the Dot-and-Dash Swordgrass Moth (Xylena curvimacula Hodges 9874), photographed at the porch light on April 22, 2008. In past years, Lynn Scott’s sightings for this moth range from March 26 to May 16th. Several sources list alder, poplar, willow, birch and cherry as the larval food plants. Again, we have a good deal of most of those trees here at the farm.

Anyhow, I plan to continue photographing moths this season. I’ll try to post some of my more interesting finds here on the blog, along with other insects and spiders seen this year. I’ve never really made a concerted effort to attract moths to any spot around the farm, but if time allows, I may do a little of that in the evenings this year.

Now, to abruptly change topics — A few of you emailed me yesterday to report that something weird had happened to my blog. Sure enough, when I tried to visit my blog, I was immediately “redirected” to a tech website in India (grrrrhhh!!!). After much checking through the code of various parts of my blog, I gave up and emailed David Shorthouse (you’ll recognize the name from The Canadian Arachnologist website), to see if he might have some idea about the source of the problem. He got me pointed in the right direction by suggesting that the “redirect” was somehow tied to the Yahoo Stat Counter plug-in. I immediately deactivated it and my blog stopped redirecting to the India tech website. So, for anyone who happens to encounter a similar problem, I’d suggest starting off with deactivating various plug-ins to see if that might be the source. Thanks to everyone who emailed me to let me know about the problem, and special thanks to David for helping me get the problem sorted out.

Tags: Major Sallow Moth, Feralia major, Dot-and-Dash Swordgrass Moth, Xylena curvimacula

Yesterday, I picked up a package that had arrived at the local post office. It was an advance copy of Animal Tracks and Signs, which is due out in August 2008. Several of my photographs are scattered among the many other photos and illustrations throughout the book. One of them is the image of the cocoon below. It’s always fun to receive a copy of a book, magazine or other piece of media in which one of my photos appears. I’m always a little uncertain of how an image will look, but most of the time, I’m pleasantly surprised, as is the case with this book. Once it’s out in print, I’ll be sure to order a copy to send to my mom, and another for my niece who is crazy over animals! (-:

A couple of days ago, while I was washing vegetables at the kitchen sink, I caught sight of something moving around on the side of one of the trees in the back garden. I grabbed my camera and shot a couple of photos. The visitor turned out to be a Raccoon hanging from the tree staring at the house. Over the past week, we’ve seen several Raccoons out and about. Skunks are also active now, so I’ve been taking care to check the yard before letting Sabrina out to roam. When she was younger and more foolish, she raced up close to get a good look at a Skunk that she found in the garden — and got sprayed. She’s a lot more careful these days. If I open the front door and there’s any scent of Skunk in the air, she’ll usually hang back and decide that she doesn’t really want to go outside after all.

As you can see from the Raccoon photo, there’s still plenty of snow on the ground. I can’t remember there *ever* being this much snow on the ground on April 5th — which also happens to be Don’s birthday. Happy birthday, Don! (note: the photo below was taken on a much sunnier, warmer occasion when Don and I were traveling in Oregon in October 2006).

Tags: Raccoon, Procyon lotor

Yesterday, as we traveled through the Perth to Westport and Opinicon Lake areas we observed much migrant bird activity. Beside Hutchings Road near Westport, we spotted a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) inspecting an icy stream flowing through a snow-covered field (click on all photos for larger views) At any spot where the snow had receded alongside the roadway, there were small flocks of foraging American Robins (Turdus migratorius).

At the intersection of Hutchings Road and County Road 10, we encountered a half-dozen Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) circling, and one roosting on the branch of a White Oak. We saw many other Vultures along the way mainly in the Westport and Opinicon Lake areas (we lost count, but the total for the day was probably around 20).

At Narrows Locks, the three Trumpeter Swans were off snoozing in the bay downstream from the dam in the causeway. The open reach of water below the dam is much larger than even a few days ago. In addition to the swans, we found about 50 Canada Geese (Branta canadensis), mainly wandering or swimming about in pairs. A pair of hawks was also seen circling to the east of the locks, but they were too far away for a certain ID. A single adult Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) was seen crossing Narrows Lock Road in the area of Round Lake.

On Chaffey’s Lock Road, an adult Raccoon (Procyon lotor) raced across the road in front of our vehicle, pausing atop a snowdrift on the roadside, before crawling through the page wire fence and disappearing into the forest. We encountered a total of 12 White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), with the greatest number seen along Opinicon Lake Road. The deer seemed to be in good condition. One pair that were wandering on the roadway, sprang over a snowbank, then scaled an almost vertical rockface that was probably at least 10 meters or more high — in seconds. A little further along the road, we came upon this trio that trotted easily across the road and up onto the rocky ridge where they paused to watch us before moving on.

All in all, it was a good day to be out and about. It’s great to see so much bird and mammal activity. It feels as though the land is coming back to life after a very long sleep.

Tags: American Robin, Turdus migratorius, Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, Canada Geese, Branta canadensis, Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus, White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus, Raccoon, Procyon lotor

Last weekend, while driving along Hwy 43 near Kemptville, we caught sight of a flock of Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) foraging in a dried out stand of corn stalks at the roadside. Here in Ontario, farmers leave a several rows of corn stalks unharvested alongside roadways to act as windbreaks in place of snow fencing. In addition to being a windbreak, these stands offer some forage for Crows and Turkeys.

As invariably happens when you pull over to the shoulder of the road near the corn stalks, the Turkeys become suspicious and drift away in the opposite direction. We were quite amused by one Turkey that kept ripping at the corn, seemingly unaware of us, or that it’s pals had wandered off. After a few moments, it began to make curious clucking noises and turned its head from side to side. Seeing that it had been abandoned, it trotted off across the snow to rejoin its flock mates. I shot a short movie clip of this Turkey catching up with the others. Below is a still photo of the flock as it moves away across the snowy fields (click on both photos for larger views).

Tags: Turkeys, Meleagris gallopavo