More Moths

It has been incredibly busy as of late! I admit I have been slacking when it comes to the blog, but I find it much more enjoyable to be outside looking for "content" than sitting inside writing ;-)

Anyway, I have been able to set up the moth sheet some more in the last couple weeks, so I'll share some more photos. Exams wrap up on Tuesday, so after that there should (hopefully) be more posts as I am able to explore even more outside!

On a side note, myself and a bunch of my friends, fellow young naturalists, are doing a little *friendly competition* to see the most species in 2018, as well as see how many species we can find collectively. Already we are up to over 730 species! I embedded the iNaturalist project's latest additions on the side bar (below "about me") and you can view the project here.

Black-dotted Glyph (June 15)

 

Canadian Agonopterix Moth (June 15)

 

Large Yellow Underwing (June 16)

Double-banded Grass-Veneer (June 24)

Large Yellow Underwing (June 24)

Elegant Grass-Veneer (June 24)

American Idia (June 24)

Aproned Cenopis (June 24)

Single-dotted Wave (June 24)

Double-banded Grass-Veneer (June 24)

Armyworm Moth (June 24)

Bent-winged Owlet (June 24)

Wedgling Moth (June 24)

Red-shawled Moth (June 24)

Oblique-banded Leafroller (June 24)

Flame-shouldered Dart (June 24)

Unidentified moth (June 24)

Large Yellow Underwing (June 24)

Sod Webworm (June 24)

Midnight Mothing

Yep...now I am hooked on mothing.

Yesterday, I found a few materials around the house, and set up a moth sheet in the backyard. It wasn't anything too fancy, just a white bed sheet and an old aquarium black light, but it did the job!

I'm still relatively new to moths and nocturnal insects, so many went unidentified, but there were a few I was able to name (hopefully accurately!)

I spent about five hours watching the sheet, it certainly didn't disappoint!

Common Earthworm...my first visitor!

Unidentified moth

Lots of little guys!

Unidentified dart moth

Dart moth sp.

Unidentified

Bee Moth

Leafroller moth sp.

Triaenodes sp.

Bristly Cutworm Moth

Bristly Cutworm Moth

Oblique-banded Leafroller Moth

Masked Hunter

Catharis rufa

Green Pug

Flame-shouldered Dart

Bristly Cutworm Moth

Curve-toothed Geometer Moth

Some sort of insect...

Red Twin-Spot

Bristly Cutworm Moth

Brown Bark Carpet Moth

Armyworm Moth

Unidentified beetle

I am looking forward to monitoring what else will show up in my backyard over the next few months!

A Couple of Dragonflies

Another "catch up" post...

Besides birds, dragonflies are another really big interest of mine. I caught these two on May 27th, which was probably my first "good" dragonfly day of the year.

Common Green Darners are common spring to fall residents in London. This was actually my first time ever being able to catch this species. It certainly did not make for easy extraction from the net!

The second one is a Beaverpond Baskettail, which I believe is very unusual in this area of Ontario. On iNaturalist this is actually a first county record, and the most southern record in Ontario. iNaturalist, like eBird, is not the be all end all, so I'd be interested to know what other records there are of this species in the area!

Pinery Prairies

Long time, no post, I know. I have been very busy as of late. Every moment I am not doing school work, I am spending outside looking at nature!

I hope to get a few posts out regarding spring migration, but in the meantime, I thought I'd write a quick post about my lifer Prairie Warblers I saw in the Pinery last week.

So...here they are! A beautiful adult male and female (I also heard a second male singing). The female appeared to be building a nest, so hopefully soon we can expect some baby Prairies!

After the warblers, we took a little detour and saw my long overdue first of year Vesper Sparrow. What a great little after school outing!