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.

Audubon Park, New Orleans

This is will the final post from my New Orleans trip.  I presented my research on Wednesday (July 31) afternoon and we left New Orleans the following morning, so Tuesday was my last opportunity to explore New Orleans.

Based on the recommendation from one of my supervisors, I woke up extra early on Tuesday morning and took the streetcar through the famous Garden District and arrived at Audubon Park to do some wildlife-watching.

The first thing I saw at the park was this beautiful garden and fountain.  There were some Monarch butterflies visiting the flowers and I was planning on taking some photos, but there was a strange individual talking to himself so I gave up on that idea.

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 day 5 - Coon Lake Bog

The first week of field course concluded at Coon Lake Bog and with the students being tested on their plant identification skills at a "secret" site.

In the morning, we first went to the Ecology Park in the city.

Lupine flowers in the park.

Pollinators Drinking Nectar

Another day hanging around the community garden hoping to see and photograph the hummingbird.  The hummingbirds were nowhere to be found and so I decided to photograph the pollinators instead.  Looking through the photos made me realize how different the feeding methods are for all of these creatures.

Skipper with its long proboscis.

Birds, insects, and flowers of the community garden

I tried to look for the hummingbird again this afternoon at the community garden.  It might had been too hot because very few things were active, except for insects and a few birds.  Here are some of them.

Young unknown sparrow.

Insects around where I live

It is still cloudy and humid here in Ontario. In the afternoon, I went out to look for and photograph any thing of interest - mostly insects today. Unfortunately, there are many unfamiliar insects (to me), so I will have to identify and learn all of them for the first time.

A paper wasp?

Insects at London Farm & Goldfinch

I visited London Farm for the first time since coming back. All the tulips are gone, replaced by other brightly-coloured flowers.

There were different kinds of insects in the garden as well.

Biking to West Dyke Trail

Here are some of the things I encountered while out biking at West Dyke Trail.

Red-eared Slider, one of the many in the ditch.

Pretty good day - wildlife-wise

This Glaucous-winged Gull was staring at me when I arrived at Phoenix Pond in Steveston. Looking around, I realized there was a dead salmon in the water below.

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.

Visited C.K.S. Shilin Residence Park

On the second day of this long weekend, I visited the Chiang Kei-Shek Shilin Residence Park in Taipei City. It is the official residence of the former president, Chiang Kei-Shek, and it has been transformed into a park/garden/historical attraction. I would definitely recommend this place to visitors coming to Taipei City as it is a free park and offers plenty of photographic opportunities - people, wildlife, nature, landscape, architecture, etc.

I took many photos today, so I will just briefly comment on each photo.

Entrance of the park.

Views inside the park - ranging from trails in the mountains to well-cared gardens to an outdoor concert center.

There are plenty of Muller's Barbet in this park too.

Evident by the crowd hanging outside a barbet's nest - from curious visitors to serious photographers.

An unidentified skipper. It is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae, that's all I know for now.

A juvenile Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus). The juvenile has black and white spots with streaked underparts. Compare it to the adult at the end of this post.

One of the biggest attractions is the beautiful and colorful roses, orchids, and other flowers.

Three unknown beetles enjoying the sweetness of the flower.

There is a small ecological pond that attracts many insects, including this Ceylon Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis similis).

Beside the nest of the barbet surrounded by people, I stumbled across this site all by myself and watched by no one. So exciting. In the bottom right photo, a preying matis was caught by the adult barbet.

An unidentified dragonfly.

An adult Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus).

A Common Tiger (Danaus genutia) - closely resembles the Monarch butterfly (D. plexippus) of the Americas.

Thank you, caretakers of the park, for maintaining this beautiful park!
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