More urban insects on campus

As I mentioned last month, there is a group of pollination-enthusiasts conducting weekly pollinator observations on uOttawa campus.  Here are some of the insects and plants we have observed this month.

Because of all the insect photographs I am taking, I bought a small flash this month and started incorporating a diffuser and reflector into my macrophotography based on the tutorial from this blogger.

Rose Curculio (Merhynchites bicolor)

Insects of Gunnison National Forest, Colorado

As I prepare for the upcoming field season and refresh my memory on the flowering plants of Colorado by reading my own blog post that I realized that I still haven't blogged about the birds and insects of Gunnison National Forest from last year.  Oops!  I guess this is what happens when school becomes an overwhelming part of your life.

Anyways, here are photos of insects observed from the 2014 field season.  They are not as well identified as the flowers and birds.  Sorry to the insect-lovers.  But feel free to leave a comment (or two) if you know some of the species and/or if I identified something incorrectly (very likely since I did most of the identification last summer and didn't check them since then).  Thanks in advance.

Male Osmia sp.

Close-up on Jagged Ambush Bug

My photos from New Orleans are still in the sorting folder at the moment.  That's the problem of taking too many photos.

Let's work on something much easier.  Went to school on Saturday to drop the university vehicle off and took this photo as I was waiting for the bus.  Nice and simple.

Worked on my thesis from the house today.  I was originally going to catch a bus to school in the afternoon to clean out my office space, but I missed the bus.  So I walked around the neighbourhood instead.  I only had the 50 f2 OM lens on the camera, so I couldn't get too close (or too far) from things.

Photographic update

Sorry for the lack of update lately, I have been working hard on my thesis so that I can complete my degree before the new school year (so that I don't have to pay any more tuition).  I am also working on another research project, preparing my PhD application, arranging travel arrangements, and so forth.  I will be flying back to BC this coming Wednesday for a few days, then I am off to Whitehorse to attend an Arctic/Alpine Pollination workshop (information here), and my summer travels will wrap up in New Orleans (via Vancouver and Toronto) where I will be presenting my research at the Botany conference.

I don't have free time to go anywhere to take photos, but I still bring my camera everywhere I go just in case.  Here are the photos I took this past two weeks.

July 1

Attending the Multicultural Canada Day Festival 2013 in Peterborough.  The low-point of the day was that a friend had her kayak stolen from top of her car while we were at the festival.  To have this kind of thing happening, especially during Canada Day, is just not acceptable.  The kayak (see posting here) was brought over from Europe, so it is likely the only one of its kind in Canada, if anyone has seen it (anywhere in Canada), please contact the Peterborough police (more info in the link above).

Field course in Algonquin - Part 4

Friday (June 21st) was our last full day here in Algonquin.  The students presented their results in the evening, test on Saturday morning, and then we came back in Peterborough on Saturday evening.

In the morning, we asked the students (those that felt comfortable with their presentation) if they would like to go for a walk at the Beaver Pond Trail. 

Towards the middle section of the trail, we actually stumbled upon a beaver (Castor canadensis) on the trail gnawing on a low branch.  Just a few moments ago before seeing the beaver, the students were talking about a man-killing beaver (news here), and so the students were startled (to say the least) when they saw the actual animal.  Long story short, the beaver paid no attention to the shrieking students and left, while the only photo I could get was above.

Field course in Algonquin - Part 2

The remainder of the field course involved a lecture every evening, so that the students can utilize the daytime to work on their field projects.  I took these photos around the research station when I wasn't busy helping out the students.

Fiddleheads, if I remember correctly.  I took it because it reminds me of a person doing the love pose.

Taking a quick break

Since returning from Algonquin, I have been quite busy and don't have much time to go out and take photos even when it is nice out.

Got a photo of the Supermoon on Sunday after dinner.

Today, after working all morning and afternoon, I decided to go check out a spot near where I live that I think may have some opportunities for photography.  And I turned out to be correct!  The place is a man-made pond with ongoing construction all around it for more housings.  The trail is short (less than 100 m) and planted with many introduced species.  But they still attracted an interesting variety of insects.  I also heard Green frogs calling from the pond.

Good start to June - flowers, insects, and birds.

Came to school today to do some work.  Along the way, I saw this single yellow iris among the grasses next to the Otonabee River.  Strange place for a garden plant to be.

Very pretty nonetheless.

Herping at Trent's Canal Nature Area

The weather this past few days has been quite amazing - warm and humid during the day and then periodic downpours (with thunders) in the late afternoon - the kind where you will be completely soaked if you happen to be outside during the downpours.

View from my office window.

The Herpetology class went out today to Trent's Canal Nature Area to survey the frogs based on their calls, and I volunteered myself to help out.  We went out  yesterday to check out the sites and heard mostly Grey Tree Frogs calling and one lone Spring Peeper.

Mystery death of a Cuckoo Leafcutting Bee

Yesterday, after working from my office for a while, I went out behind the office building and looked for wildlife. First creature I saw was this Metallic Green Bee (Genus Agapostemon) visiting these aster flowers.

Love its colour.

Raccoon Family at Lost Lagoon

I accompanied my mother to downtown Vancouver today to pick up prizes that she had won from a local newspaper contest.  Afterwards, while it was still early, we decided to bus to Stanley Park and walked around the Lost Lagoon.  According to this post (the photos from that post have all been taken down by the server, sorry), the last time I was there was more than three years ago!?

Anyways, today was a nice day to be out - although there were too many people to our likings.

Several Mute Swans around the lagoon.

Shaw Nature Reserve

In the morning we learned about the botanical and floral diversity in pollination biology. For example, the different mating and breeding systems for plants, as well as the history of categorizing flower types to better associate the pollinators and the appropriate pollinator syndrome.

Photographed a Syrphid during a break.


Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis)

In the afternoon, we headed to a different part of Missouri Botanical Garden outside the city. It is called Shaw Nature Reserve.

Presqu'ile Provincial Park - Part 1

As I mentioned on Friday, my supervisor asked me if I want to tag along with her class (and a few people from our lab) on Sunday to Presqu'ile Provincial Park to do some bird-watching. Of course I said yes!

I went a little bit overboard with photo taking today, so today will be split into two parts.

Walking to the bus stop to get picked up at 6:40am. Haven't woke up this early in a long time, but the morning sky is so pretty!

Quick update on my life & First AAA trip.

As expected, school is just too busy for me to spare times for photography. Sometimes I do like to stop and relax and look at the Otonabee River, but I rarely have the time to take my camera out and take pictures. Also, time goes by so fast when in school that I rarely have time to record what I did each day. Am I continuing to seize my days? Let's see, I remembered attending the Avian Appreciation Association (AAA) meeting on Thursday, and we introduced ourselves and planned on where we would like to go for birding. On Friday, I was suppose to discuss my project with one of my supervisors, attend a seminar talk by Dr. Locke Rowe from U of T. There was also a Pow Wow at Curve Lake on Saturday, but I was so tired from the past few days that I decided to stay home and not go. Plus, my roommate and I got a couch for our living room. It looks much better now.

Now, onto today! Today I went on the first field trip with the AAA club to a town north of Peterborough called Lakefield. We went to a sewage pond and tried to spot some ducks. We didn't see many ducks (Mallards and American Black Duck - a lifer that I probably would identify as a Mallard without help), but did saw other birds too, including another lifer, the Chestnut-sided Warbler!

Lakefield's sewage lagoon

Revisiting Jackson Park and the day/night before

First week of grad school went by very fast. Yesterday, we had WHMIS training in the morning (not really applicable to us biologists who uses very few chemicals in the lab) and more TA training in the afternoon (more applicable this time as it applied to situations in biology and during field works). Plus we got to know other graduate students and their research projects.

Nice weather yesterday.

Then in the evening, there was the second annual Pub Crawl hosted by Trent's Graduate Student Association (GSA). It was pretty fun because there were free or cheap beer and it was great getting to know and hanging out with people in my research lab.

Insects from Iona Beach

I drove my mom to Iona Beach Regional Park to check out some wildlife before we went over to pick up my father from work.

Nice weather today. I am beginning to think that birding in the summer is not as exciting as spring or fall (when the birds are passing through during migration). We saw a lot of swallows, some gulls, and some ducks.

Insects in Richmond

I went out for a bike ride this afternoon. Such a nice day. Can't believe it is only summer here, whereas autumn is changing the colours of the leaves in the Arctic Circle. There are many things different here down South, such as the large trees, people, lifestyle, inexpensive food, and biodiversity.

I stopped at Gilbert Road Community Garden and spent a great amount of time photographing the insects that came my way.

Yellow-faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) sticking out its long tongue.

Happy Taiwan Day & Sad Farewell Party

Today is Taiwan National Day (10/10), and my supervisor invited me and fellow co-workers and friends to her house for a party.

Dahu Park MRT Station

Dahu Park

My co-workers and I met at the MRT station first and strolled around in Dahu Park before we headed to the host's home.

Little Egret with an injured leg.

There were some fishermen in the fishing area. Near the fishermen were Intermediate and Little Egrets waiting for get little fishes that the fishermen do not want.

Intermediate Egret


Intermediate Egret preparing to take off when we got too close.

Afterwards, we walked to our supervisor's home, where we had a great feast and wonderful time together. They even presented me with a surprise gift. After a wonderful lunch and a satisfied belly, we hiked to a mountain trail behind the house and headed towards a waterfall promised to be a wonderful scenic view. And indeed it was.

Liyu Mountain

Pretty little stream along the trail


While crossing the (above) bridge, we saw a Formosan Gossamerwing.

Large banana flower!

Loyal dog guarding its owner's home.

Preparing to go into the mountain.




What a beautiful habitat!

The beautiful (unnamed) waterfall as promised! I think I will call it Waterfall of Good Memories!

365 Days ago (2008-10-10) ...
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Exploring the parks in Tianmu & 3rd place for my presentation!

Feeling bored by the afternoon, I decided to walk around and explore the parks near my residence. The first park I went to was Yinghuagang Park, a very small park outside an apartment building and Tianmu's Yellow River.

Despite the small size, I still saw many interesting things, such as this Papilio demoleus on the other side of the wire fence.

Papilio demoleus

At the end of the park was a small playground, and on the other side was a small farm with bamboo, fruit trees, and other vegetable patches.

Guarding the farm were small feisty (but adorable) puppies.

The farm also attracted plenty of butterflies, bees, and dragonflies.

Such as this Peacock Pansy.

Crossing the park on a small bridge, I came to the riverbank of the Yellow River. Even though the river channel is quite unnatural, it was still nice to watch and hear the water rushing by.

Then I wandered around a bit in the neighbourhood and photographed this unafraid Red Percher.

Wandering upstream of Yellow River, I came across Tianmu Park, a much larger park that I had vague memories of playing here (with my elementary friends) before I immigrated to Canada.

There is a narrow but sturdy bridge for us to cross over the Yellow River.

I also went to the riverbank and captured some beautiful images of the river flowing underneath the canopy.

When finishing photographing the river, I came across this minute and bright damselfly.

Turned out it was a common damselfly named Yellow Featherlegs (Copera marginipes). What a pretty little thing when it was looking at me through my camera lens.

After an hour or so, I needed to head back home to get ready for the finale banquet of my internship. But not before I captured some images of this patient Swinhoe's Japalura. I shall be back to this beautiful park to reminisce my childhood memories and capture new memories.

By the way, I received the 3rd place award (in the Life Sciences category) for my presentation on Taiwan Barbet. What a wonderful day it was today!
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