Where you find burying beetles (see #294) you will find a bevy of mites. The term phoretic refers the association between these two in which one organism attaches to the other, so the mite or phoront,  uses the other organism or host (the beetle) for dispersal. So if you are horse-riding, you are the phoront. Oh, except the phoront is technically not able to disperse on its own. Oh well, you get the picture. It isn't the English name of this particular species of mite! As far as I could find, there aren't any common names for these guys. 

Carrying around all of these mites has a cost to the beetle, the mites are heavy and can be found in great numbers, affecting the beetle's ability to fly long distances. What is the benefit to the beetle? This is where things get very cool. When the beetle finds some carrion, the mites amble off and feed on fly eggs and larvae, ridding the carcass of competitors that also feed on this limited food resource that the larvae of the beetles depend upon to survive. And the wingless, very small mites get to a food resource. Elegant. Don't feel sorry for the fly; they are more efficient and long distance dispersers than the carrion beetles and thus are more likely to find another food source. 

The mites lay their eggs in the brood chamber of their burying beetle. The new mite generation (or deuteronymphs) clamber on to the male beetle, who disperses before the female. When the beetles meet up with others, the mites will spread themselves around to other burying beetles, apparently keeping the numbers fairly even between the beetles (Schwarz and Muller 1992).  The numbers can be immense, Leech (1934) counted 328 on one Nicrophorus conversator! Interesting that for all of Leeches observations, he did not observe that it was the mites that were keeping the carrion free of maggots. He attributed this to the beetle adults protecting the food source from the competitors and that the only benefit that he could see of all these mites was that they "probably eat the filth sticking to the hairy undersides of the beetle". 

Burying or carrion beetles are sometimes referred to as the "undertakers of the beetle world". I think of them as the arthropod equivalent of vultures-out there doing an important job so that we don't end up knee deep in dead animals. One of the common English names for this group are the sexton beetles, referring to one of the jobs that a sexton often had to carry out which was burying the dead. 

The beetles are attracted to the odors associated with early decay and are often the first on the scene.  Once an individual arrives at the carcass it will wait until a mate arrives and the pair will then proceed to dig out underneath the small bird or rodent until it is covered. Once this is done, the food item will be stripped of it's skin, fur or feathers. The happy little pair will then chew the flesh and cover it with salivary and anal secretions to help preserve it from decay, whilst compressing the corpse into a tight ball. Eggs are laid and when they hatch, the female (or some sources say either parent) will regurgitate liquids for the small larvae until they are able to partake in the yummy preserved food ball.  They mature within six to eight days, when they will leave the feeding chamber and pupate somewhere in the vicinity.  Leech (1934) does some good 'ol natural history observations that indicate that one of the parents remain on the meat ball while the larvae are feeding and describes it as "a frightened hen and her brood of chicks". He surmises that they are defending this food source from other carrion beetles or fly maggots. **

The life history between the different species of Nicrophorus (Greek for 'carrier of the dead') are generally similar, following the above pattern, although this . I believe that this is Nicrophorus defodiens. A few sources I found say that this species doesn't bury their prey but covers it with leaves. 

There was one very cool study done on niche differences  near Bella Bella . The authors looked at the diets of two species of Nicrophorus that co-existed within a salmon-bearing watershed. In this location one species, N. investigator ate 86.5% salmon, while this species, N defodiens lived on shrews and songbirds, 100%. Which is a good thing as Leaning Oaks is short on salmon! (Hocking et.al. 2007)

** Breaking news!! See installment #295 for the REAL story on what happens to the fly eggs and maggots!

Despite the fact that Tree Swallows  (Tachycineta bicolor) are not uncommon on southern Vancouver Island we only have a single record of this species at Leaning Oaks, a pair of birds on migration in April.  It is very likely we have overlooked "fly over" Tree Swallows.   Like the much commoner Violet-green Swallow, Tree Swallows are cavity nesters, using woodpecker holes,  rotted cavities in trees and nest boxed to raise their families.  Here on southern Vancouver Island they are more closely associated with water than Violet-green Swallows, which uses a wider variety of habitats.

I found dozens of these wee (~8-9 mm) skinny millipedes curled up in the soil where the garlic was about to be planted. They are Blaniulus guttulatus, an introduced species from western Europe. They can be a pest if there is already damage from fungus or mechanical damage so that the millipede can get inside the crop. Touch one of the garlic cloves and there will be war! 

The red spots are defensive glands that contain palmityl acetate (Weatherston et. al. 1971) , which was the first time that an acetate was found as a defense mechanism in a millipede. 

B. guttulatus is prone to desiccation and is more commonly found in heavier soils that stay moist. Which is what we try to do with the garlic. In this photograph you can see some of the typical millipede design; the thoracic segments, of which there are three. The first has no legs ("head" to me), then the 2nd and 3rd have a single pair of legs and then moving on, you get to the abdomen with two pairs of legs. All those legs are useful for pushing the long body through the soil or leaf litter. Away from the garlic. 

Western Parsely-Piert (Aphanes occidentalis) is an easily overlooked plant here at Leaning Oaks.  It forms a low flat mat on the edges of paths, cracks in the driveway and in flower beds that perhaps I am not weeding as often as I should.   The leaves are deeply lobed and covered in soft hairs.  The flowers are in clusters and are  small, greenish-yellow and without petals.  They are hidden in the dense leaf-like stipules- all in all, easily overlooked.  It is a member of the Rose Family.  This genus is closely related to Ladies Mantle (Alchimella). 

There are three species of Aphanes in BC.  This one is native, the other two are introduced.  

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) is the smallest of the 3 species of Accipiter Hawks found in our area.  It is less common at Leaning Oaks than Cooper's Hawk.  The two species can be difficult to tell apart, as they are very similar and there is some size overlap between the largest Sharp-shinned Hawks (females) and the smallest Cooper's Hawks (males).  Some useful id tips for this species are a smaller bill (giving Sharp-shins a 'budgie-faced' look), proportionately shorter tail,  and very thin legs and toes.  Despite the fact that small numbers breed on Vancouver Island, we have no summer records here at Leaning Oaks.  Our latest spring sighting is the first week of May and our earliest fall sighting is the last week of August.  

Small-flowered Alumroot (Heuchera micrantha var. diversifolia  ) is a member of the Saxifrage family and is a common species growing on shallow soiled rock outcrops and cliff faces at Leaning Oaks.  The leaves range from unmarked to intricately patterned with red veining.  Flowers are tiny and white and in racemes. Another commonly used name is `Crevice Alumroot`  Several named forms with purple or red leaves are available in cultivation (cultivars such as ``Palace Purple` and `Molten Fire`) and the species has been used extensively in hybridization programs to develop Heucheras for the garden.  As one might guess from the name, the root is extremely astringent.

Most people seemed to be surprized that there is such a thing as a "weedy" orchid, but there is. Epipactis helleborine  is a introduced plant that is most often found in dry, shady areas. 
It is often overlooked, and usually not very showy.  However,  this plant, a seedling that popped up in one of the herb gardens, was recieving additional water from our drip irrigation system - and produced a 0.8 m spike of green and purplish-red flowers.  They are insect pollinated plants, most often wasps and bees (you can see the back end of a Bald-faced Hornet on the lower right hand side of the flower spike).

This species has an enormous range, it is native from Portugal to China and has been widely introduced elsewhere.  Not surprisingly there are a number of subspecies and described forms.  

Nectar of this species apparently contains small quantities of Oxycodone and another opiod compound. Like most orchids the seeds are tiny, and it is estimated that a single Helleborine can produce up to a million seeds.