Butterfly Show at Carleton University

I went to the butterfly show at Carleton University last week.  Learning from my experience two years ago, I went there first thing in the morning so that I did not have to wait in-line or be surrounded by loud people.  Sadly, I was there for only 15 minutes before schoolchildren started to pile into the greenhouse.

Poster

I brought only my macro lens and small flash with me, and I tried to note as many of the butterfly species I photographed as possible.

June update - Everything

Since arriving in Colorado, my life has been incredibly busy and interesting, which is why I have not updated my blog until now.  This post is a quite poor in terms of topic organization, I apologize.

Researches

One of my many research projects is to examine if Mertensia plants with different floral orientation are influenced by rain differently, and one measure of this effect is the number of nutlets (seeds) each plant produce.  To test this, I constructed and placed a rain shelter over a plot with several Mertensia plants, manipulated floral orientation (upward or pendant) of haphazardly chosen plants, supplemented pollen to these plants, and waited until the end of the flowering season to collect the nutlets.

July update - Animals

Different types of animals I photographed this month.

Mammals

Least chipmunk (Tamias minimus)
 

June update - Invertebrates

I saw quite a lot of invertebrates (butterflies, beetles, flies, bees, spiders, and one millipede) in June.  Most are not yet properly identified.  I will try to do so later in the field season.  Until then, just enjoy the diversity of invertebrates seen here in Gunnison National Forest.

Unknown sulphur butterfly.

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.

Daily life in Colorado - Part 6

My work here in Colorado is coming to an end as my plants are producing nutlets and ready to be collected.  Technically, we will leave this coming Saturday, but we may stay for an extra couple of days to tidy up all the loose ends.

Research

Each Mertensia flower has four ovules and thus can produce up to four nutlets per flower.

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.

Chasing butterflies and dragonflies

There was no bus services today because of the holiday (Victoria Day); plus, I figure it's probably time for me to start doing some exercises by biking to school today.  When I was getting close to the school, I saw a path leading to a field that I never paid attention to before.  Then I saw the field was busy with butterflies and dragonflies flying around.  Definitely a great detour.

This was the dragonfly that I saw today.  I took some photos of it, and I think it looks like a Frosted Whiteface, but any feedback is appreciated.

Frosted Whiteface (Leucorrhinia frigida) female

Insects of Ivvavik National Park

Trent University was open this morning until 2 PM when the school decided to cancel all of the classes because of the snowstorm.  So here I am sitting in my room enjoying the most snow I have ever seen in my life while reminiscing the insects that I observed in Ivvavik National Park.  Despite the abundance and diversity being pretty low relative to southern latitudes, it's the Arctic after all, it is still fascinating to see the critters that call Ivvavik home.

Green Comma (Polygonia faunus)

A unknown Flower Fly (Syrphidae) on Grass of Parnassus flower.

Old World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)

Dorcas Copper (Lycaena dorcas) - definitely one of my favorite butterflies from the summer.




Unknown Sulphur (Colias sp.) - quite drabby-looking considering other brightly colored individuals.


Colias sp.

Northern Blue Butterfly (Lycaeides idas)

Unidentified Bumblebee (Bombus sp.)

Unknown Marble Butterfly (Euchloe sp.)

There is an event tomorrow hosted by the Kawartha Heritage Conservancy that I hoping to go with some people.  Hope it will not be canceled. 

Black Swallowtail and (almost) Blue Moon

I was at school yesterday (Aug 29) doing some work.  After a while, I brought my camera out with me to go on a stroll behind the building.  I didn't see anything worth photographing until I saw this Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) visiting the clovers.  Swallowtails are pretty difficult to photograph since they are very fast flyers and rarely stay still in one spot.  I was chasing it around (from a non-disturbing distance) before I took this decent photos.  The males are brighter and with a yellow band near the edge of his wings; thus, this is a female.

Riding the fixed bike to Finn Slough; Seeing snakes

Took my newly repaired bike to the dyke this afternoon.  Let's hope the inner tube is indeed puncture-resistant as it says on the package.

There was one Western Tiger Swallowtail flying around the trees at the end of the trail and defending its territory from other fliers.

Revisiting Paulik Park, Richmond

I arrived back in Richmond three days ago, and I have been just relaxing and not doing much outdoor stuff.  Today, after doing some errands for my parents, I drove my mother to Paulik Park to look for some wildlife.  I don't think I have been to this park during any of the summers, so I was surprised to see all the beautiful flowers and pollinators and hummingbirds that were hanging around the garden.

Almost like a secret garden.

Biking to look for housing

I am quite stressed nowadays about me not having a place to stay when I return from the field in August.  I looked at two places today - one was cheaper but shared with four other graduate students; the other one was a bit pricier but only shared with two other people.  Neither are really suitable.  Plus I don't have much time left after today since I have two full days of first aid training starting tomorrow. 

Not sure what I will do...

On the way to the pricier one.  Biking past this everyday might be a pleasant bonus.

 
Saw many Red-winged Blackbirds and grackles.  But the best sighting was this Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes).
 

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.

Butterflies other than Whites

Today's a good Sunday.

Nice weather.

More photos from May and June

Today is the second day of my days-off. Yesterday I went to nearby towns in Fenelon Falls and Beaverton, I quite like Beaverton, especially a cool little shop called "Shirley's Country Clutter" where I found two door hangers with Loggerhead Shrikes on them and I also saw a Blue Jay nestling in the back of the store too.

Anyways, here're more photos from my days-off in May, as well as some photos in the field. A couple weeks ago, our field was covered with beautiful wildflowers, definitely a great place to be.

From my last days-off (May 24 & May 25)

More photos from Carden

Here are more photos that I wanted/needed to share:

Mama robin feeding her nestlings. At this moment, the nestlings had already fledged and the nest is now empty.


I think this is one of the fledglings. Who knows, there are many robin nests around our cabin and in the field site.

More observations from the backyard

Yesterday, I saw this pretty Black Swallowtail (Papilio protenor) flying in the backyard. Strangely, there is also a North American butterfly having the same common name, but having the different scientific name Papilio polyxenes.

So pretty. If you look closely, you can see its curled proboscis.

I spotted the same Swinhoe's japalura (Japalura swinhonis) as last time. This time, it was hiding in the underneath a flowering pot - away from the direct sunlight.

I will have to ask around again for this following organism, but while I was poking around the plants, I saw this pair of mushroom hiding beneath a larger plant. What a find!

I will be traveling to Taipei this afternoon to begin my volunteer work starting next week. I am both excited and also sad because I won't be seeing my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and family members for the next three months.
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