Here at Leaning Oaks, this is the earliest of the Swallowtails to make an appearance. Starting in May, males can be seen patrolling the forest edge and garden areas, often sparring with other males. As the name suggests it is the palest of the 3 Swallowtails that we have here. Males are nearly white, females are very pale yellow. The commonest food plant for the caterpillars of Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) on the coast is Red Alder (Alnus rubra), however, it is likely that the Pale Swallowtail here is using Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor) as is larval food plant.
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Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina) are intermittant late spring and summer residents for us here at Leaning Oaks. They arrive in the second week of May usually and are gone by the 3rd week of July. We don't have records for every year either, although there is usually a pair in the neighbourhood. I suspect they are commoner than our records would indicate. One difficulty is that their song sounds a lot like the song of a Dark-eyed Junco (our most abundant songbird). This spring I did a call playback experiment and found the Juncos reacting to the Chipping Sparrow's song quite often - which made me feel a bit better since they couldn't tell the song apart either. This time it really is an onion (as opposed to the Fool's Onion #121). If you step on or crush Allium acuminatum the pungent smell will leave you no doubt. The very small bulbs are occasionally eaten, but due to the restricted range it is better to stick to those locally grown Saanich Peninsula onions! There can be up to 25 flowers on a stalk, each with the tepals that turn at the tips (a distinguishing feature of A. acuminatum). Another English name I saw was "Taper-tip Onion" ; aptly descriptive. However Hooker has the honours here. Joseph Dalton Hooker was an incredibly active botanist in the 19th century, was a close friend of Darwin's, was the director of the Kew Gardens and had the best eyebrows ever. http://www.jdhooker.org.uk/ Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater)are our only regularly occurring Icterid (new world Blackbirds) here at Leaning Oaks. We sometimes have fly-over Red-winged or Brewer's Blackbird, but we have yet to see either of those species land on the property. Despite the fact that this species is a relatively recent arrival to the west coast, its hard to imagine a spring without this species, their liquid call notes and constant head raising displays are a common sound and sight here in May, June and July. We have a few records as early as the first week of March through to the end of August. We have been photographing the birds that come to the gravel stream the past month, and we've noticed that the female cowbirds come to bathe often - but we have yet to see a male bathe. Rcently we have noticed that at twilight small flocks of Brown-headed Cowbirds can be seen flying northward, presumably off to roost in a suitable spot.
I learned a valuable lesson this weekend--never clean your windows. I inadvertently killed this beautiful Potter Wasp, Eumenes crucifera by spraying vinegar where it was hiding in a gutter. As it crawled slowly out, sputtering and shaking, I realized I had never seen this species before. Drying it off and mouth to mouth did not work.
Potter Wasps are solitary and make small amphora type pots out of mud for nests. Some species of the potter wasps will paralyze a caterpillar (or several smaller ones), stuff them in the nest where they will lay an egg and then seal the egg in the pot with this ready food source for when the larva emerges. I have now been peering intently at all the twigs in shady areas to see if I can find one of these exquisite wee nests. There are a lot of surfaces on Leaning Oaks in the shade. I kept calling this an onion, and then felt somewhat vindicated when I saw that one of the English names was "False Onion". It is presently Triteleia hyacinthina but is has been in the Brodiaea genus. It has no onion scent or flavour, but does grow from a bulb-like corm. It is yet another of the plants that grow in the meadow or forest edge that are adapted to the dry summers and moist winters.
Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla) is a member of the Berberadaceae, a family of plants that are quite useful here at Leaning Oaks, since many members of this family are not eaten by deer . Our unfenced ornamental garden has a disproportionately large number of Beberadaceans. This stand of Vanilla Leaf is from the garden , a small portion of rhizome was transplanted from the woods below the house into the flower garden 5 years ago. Like many members of this family, they produce almost all their leaves in one burst annually, so the initial transplant looked a little woebegon for the first year. Each year however, the area covered by these attractive leaves has steadily increased - and now it covers a sizeable patch in the garden. Vanilla leaf is a very good plant for one of the most difficult areas to garden in - dry shade. Vanilla Leaf is named after the smell of the drying leaves, formerly used as a a room deodorizer and an insect repellent. Since the fresh leaves have no discernable scent, one of the other common names is Sweet-After-Death. The active ingredient in terms of both the perfume, and it's insecticidal properties is a chemical called coumarin. Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana var. nutkana ) is in full bloom right now and the smell of the flowers is easily detectable when passing a shrub, especially in the evening. Unlike most other roses, Nootka Rose is detectable by one's nose even when its not in bloom, since the foliage has a spicy metallic smell. The smell always reminds me of childhood bike rides, often at the very end of the day - pushing way past the "be home before dark" curfew. The swampy section of Arbutus Road on the north end of Salt Spring Island was detectable by the aromatic foliage of the Nootka Rose -and it signified that the next driveway to the right was home. The flowers of this rose are significantly larger than the flowers of 111. Baldhip Rose, and it grows in much damper locations. Here at Leaning Oaks it is restricted to the very lowest point on the property. In winter, especially in full sun locations, the fruiting bodies or hips are very showy. Rose hip pie is a delicious, but the need to make sure the outer hip is used but all of the irritating hairy seeds are avoided make it a somewhat labour intensive dessert. Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) are a summer bird for us. They arrive the last week of April and stay until the first week of September. Our best looks almost always are when then come to the pond to bath and drink. To be more accurate, they are particularly attracted to the gravel beds that we built to filter the pond water. The shallow water flowing over the rocks and gravel are the favourite bathing area for many species, including these tanagers, Purple Finches, Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Warblers and others. This summer we intend to spend part of a day in a blind photographing the bathers, until then, these photos were "shot from the hip" during happy hour last Sunday on the deck beside the water features.
The Bubble Story
Once a newly hatched spittlebug is hatched it will wander until it finds a suitable host plant with a succulent supply of sap. The beak is inserted down to the xylem and they begin to suck considerable quantities of sap. The excess water and sugar is forced through the gut and out the anus where it adheres to the plant and nymph which moves the liquid over its body using the back legs. The nymph breathes through spiracles on the outside of the abdomen. Bubble making happens by vigorous movements of the abdomen as the nymph sucks air into its abdominal breathing tube and forcing it out, while pumping its abdomen and moving it every which way. There is a mucilaginous substance that is exuded from glands on the abdomen that keeps the bubbles from collapsing…and why the goober balls feel so slimy when you get them on your legs as you are walking. This foam keeps away predators, keeps the wee nymph moist and insulated. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0020179087900096 (the froth composition...should you care to know) The species that we found (pretty sure....I'd like to find an adult to be 100%) on Leaning Oaks is Philaenus spumarius - and *sigh*, it is a European introduction. There are other possibilities here for other species so we will keep looking. It can be a economic pest on some crops if in high densities or when the froth acts as a vector for fungi. So far our rosemary is doing just fine-- Oh--and if you want to identify your spittlebugs, Agriculture Canada has a book for you! On line courtesy of the Entomological Society of Canada: http://www.esc-sec.ca/aafcmonographs/insects_and_arachnids_part_10.pdf |
AuthorsTwo biologists on a beautiful property armed with cameras, smart phones and a marginal knowledge of websites took up the challenge of documenting one species a day on that property. Join along! Posts and photographs by Leah Ramsay and David Fraser (unless otherwise stated); started January 1, 2014. Categories
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