Bill Haley, as many of you may know, is equally dedicated to Butterflies. And has taught us the species passing, just as he has the hawks. And there have been sooooo many butterflies this year. I didn't compile a list, but we could have shared the space with a group of butterfly watchers who would have come away more satisfied with their numbers than we, with our hawk numbers. :)
Several of us took pictures of the Gulf Fritillaries, which loved to harvest from the nectars of Queen Anne's lace and other flowers along the bluff. Dozens of Sulfurs flitted by our lenses. And there were many others - Great Spangled Frits, Buck-eyes, Dianna's, Little Blues, Hairstreaks, and Monarchs among them. Although the Sulfurs were in abundance, the Monarchs definitely were not. We saw and counted fewer this year than ever.
Another day, we were instructed by Jim Rowell on Praying Mantis. He and Lora McBride had interesting videos to share. In one, Lora showed us how the European Hornet, tore apart a Praying Mantis on her windshield one day. The mantis parts continued to move long after the Hornet had severed them.
Jim found specimens along the banks in the "weeds" across our little field. Including this pic - last year's egg sac attached to the limb of briars, probably Blackberry vine. A tiny hole, is where the tiny baby Mantis emerge. Dozens of them, perhaps 75 or more he said. But, being also prey, few survive. Most years he finds several Mantis alive in the brush, but none this year.
Jim said that the builder of this mantis egg sac would attach it high enough to be above the snow depths for this area. Jimmy is pointing to the tiny hole from which the baby Mantis emerge.
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One of our guests, was an avid wildflower seeker, and she spent a long afternoon, after coming for Hawk watch education, on climbing the hillsides, touching and smelling, and comparing species with the details in her book. She found 15 species, before the evening began to steal the light. Even though a large number of them had begun to fade and die away, there was still plenty of evidence of what they had been in their beautiful prime.
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Thread Waisted Wasp
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| measuring it's prey |
On another afternoon, Jimmy noticed an odd wasp dragging a caterpillar much larger than itself. We watched in awe as this skinny 1 1/2" wasp carried out a living drama before our eyes. Bill later showed us in his bug book, that what we had watched was a Thread Waisted Wasp. A reference to it's very tiny "waist". This Black/brown/red wasp had prepared a hole in the ground, and placed a rock over the top before going out to hunt his prey. From what I read, the adult wasp actually feeds on nectar of flowers, but feeds an immobilized, paralyzed caterpillar, to it's larvae.
The wasp, we watched, dragged it's 2+ inch caterpillar to the pre-dug hole, but left it lying along side it's much too small opening, while it excavated some more.
We watched it carry balls of dirt, which it held beneath it's head to a small pile where it had already been piling the dirt.
Eventually, she straddled the caterpillar, and appeared to be measuring it. Then she returned to the hole and dug a bit more out, then promptly dragged her prey into the hole.
Once it disappeared, she laid her egg into the living prey, found her way out of the hole and began to fill in behind it. She scratched dirt and carried it back from the pile, and tamped it down with her head. Mostly she scratched at grains that were tiny enough to pack into the hole, much smaller than what she had carried out. Once the hole was finally full, she took a tiny stone and used it as a tool to pound the soil into a tightly packed spot where the hole once was. One could not tell there had ever been a hole there at all, afterwards.
Once complete the wasp camoflaged the entrance by carrying bits of grass and placed it over the spot. If it were not for the pile of excavated dirt, we wouldn't find it again at all. I truly loved seeing it measure and use the rock tool. Amazing stuff. Kin to the dirt dauber wasp, it is beneficial to gardens because it removes worms that eat plants. It's also a pollinator, and doesn't sting unless stepped on.
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Finally, when the hawks just stopped flying one afternoon, Justin and Robin Nation, of Lebanon saw a Pine Warbler I heard singing just behind us. He grabbed up his camera and noted, he wished he had the lens on manual instead of auto, so he could have dialed in the bird clearly without auto selecting the grasses in the way. He reset his camera, and followed the Warbler into the grassy area. Within minutes, he had made his way all the way to the telephone pole taking pictures. When he returned, he had tack sharp, full frame pics of several migrants. What he had discovered was that all the Chickadees, Titmouse, Finches, Bluebirds and Pine Warblers calling all about us were just an indication that a "fallout" of warblers had settled in for the night all around us. He and his mother, were delighted, because they were relatively new birders (2 years LOL), and had a list of warblers they had wished to see somewhere. (I remember how exciting that time was.) They hadn't suitable habitat near their home to scout around in. We admonished them to stay, as many times others have, and find birds to their heart's content. He had breath taking photos of Blue-headed Vireo, Tennessee Warbler, and Pine Warbler and several others. He called off Common Yellowthroat as his final bird before we left them to see what they could see. We would have stayed but we were exhausted. I fondly remember those days of discovery.
There have been some wonderful finds in the last few days, along with some wonderful company.
If the hawks aren't flying, the world around us still excites.
Saturday's stats coming up next.
UNTIL THEN----KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!!
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