I have been posting my photos of different species I have encountered on the iNaturalist website. Many are species I have found here in the Metchosin Community.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=garryfletcher&verifiable=any
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Dragonfly nymphs in their last instar crawl up the stems of pond plants where the adult emerges . I see many exoskeletons still clinging to the stems:
INSTAR: An instar ( i/ˈɪnstɑr/, from the Latin “form”, “likeness”) is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (ecdysis), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. ( Wikipedia)
The Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor showed up in late July. Several buzz the pond continuously on a warm day.
An excellent resource for identification of dragonflies on British Columbia is http://www.pbase.com/terrythormin/bc_anisoptera
I can’t recall seeing so many Tiger swallowtails around the yard in other years as we are seeing this year.
Our non-invasive but introduced butterfly bush Bidulphia sp. is particularly attractive to them.
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Papilio
Species: P. rutulus
Papilio rutulus Lucas, 1852
A dead fir tree on the south side of the property had broken off and fallen during the winter. Removal of a piece of bark turned up a horde of termites doing a great job of returning the tree to the earth.
Zootermopsis angusticollis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Isoptera
Family: Termopsidae
Genus: Zootermopsis
Species: Z. angusticollis
Zootermopsis angusticollis Hagen, 1858
This one showed up on our deck window this morning. Caution: These wasps are very aggressive when defending their paper-house nest.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Genus: Dolichovespula
Species: D. maculata
Dolichovespula maculata (Linnaeus, 1763)
This week I took pictures of the two species of frogs which I frequently see here in Metchosin : Both add to the chorus in the spring from our pond beside our house.
The audio in the clip below starts as I am walking in our house toward the front door in March. As I open the door, with the pond a few metres from the house, this is the sound we get every night for several months in the spring. Click on the small arrow below.
