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This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_Y8R+CDUEShWaUhKewhUDmw) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT After reading a number of reports of the arrival of winter birds in various locations, I thought I would mention that on a walk at Prospect High Head last weekend, a small group of us on a Wild Flora field trip noted a small group of Harlequin Ducks hauled out on some offshore rocks about 500 - 600 m along the trail from the Indian Point Rd trailhead. The group consisted of 3 males and 4-5 females/immatures. Later in the afternoon, as we drove the 333 loop, about 5 km north of the Swiss Air 111 memorial, we noticed several small groups, totalling 6-7 individuals, of Horned Grebes. Cheers, Bob McDonald Halifax ----- Original Message ----- From: James W. Wolford To: NatureNS Cc: Jim Wolford Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 5:06 PM Subject: [NatureNS] 3 insect reports + ad' for Quirks & Quarks NOV. 2, 2009 - I found a western conifer seed bug on our front screen door at home in Wolfville. Locally these bugs try to get into homes in autumn in order to overwinter, sometimes in numbers (but usually singles in my experience). This is a large insect with noticeable diamond-shaped enlargements on each hind leg. It was featured on a past Quirks & Quarks show for its special infra-red sense organ on its underside? for finding conifer cones by the fact that they are a bit warmer in temperature than their trees. NOV. 3, 2009 - In east Wolfville, in the garden of Brenda & Bill Thexton, Bob Thexton noticed a small swarm of flies that was moving up and down in a dancing movement, just a metre or so above the ground. This is probably a swarm of male flies, perhaps winter crane flies?, that is dancing and buzzing to attract females of the same species. I don't recall reports of these over the past couple of winters, but Jean Timpa in Wolfville used to report these often in late autumn or spring, and I think Andrew Hebda? eventually identified to that family a fly that was captured by someone and submitted. But I think we still need someone to have an insect net at the right time and place to capture some of the dancing flies and get them identified for sure. The flies in question are small, and are difficult to observe as they fly; they are smallish and Bob said these had long legs (like real crane flies). Speaking of flies, did some of you hear Quirks and Quarks last Saturday, Oct. 31, and the item on a "unicorn fly" being found in amber? Check it out by Googling "quirks" and clicking on the most recent show. Also note that the Q&Q Web site has many years of past shows all archived for all of us. Cheers from Jim in Wolfville Jim (James W.) Wolford 91 Wickwire Ave. Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada B4P 1W3 phone 902-542-9204 e-mail <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> "In wildness is the preservation of the world" -- Henry David Thoreau ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.423 / Virus Database: 270.14.46/2477 - Release Date: 11/02/09 19:39:00 --Boundary_(ID_Y8R+CDUEShWaUhKewhUDmw) Content-type: text/html; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16788" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space" bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2>After reading a number of reports of the arrival of winter birds in various locations, I thought I would mention that on a walk at Prospect High Head last weekend, a small group of us on a Wild Flora field trip noted a small group of Harlequin Ducks hauled out on some offshore rocks about 500 - 600 m along the trail from the Indian Point Rd trailhead. The group consisted of 3 males and 4-5 females/immatures.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Later in the afternoon, as we drove the 333 loop, about 5 km north of the Swiss Air 111 memorial, we noticed several small groups, totalling 6-7 individuals, of Horned Grebes.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Cheers,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Bob McDonald</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Halifax</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=jimwolford@eastlink.ca href="mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca">James W. Wolford</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=naturens@chebucto.ns.ca href="mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca">NatureNS</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=jimwolford@eastlink.ca href="mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca">Jim Wolford</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, November 03, 2009 5:06 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [NatureNS] 3 insect reports + ad' for Quirks & Quarks</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3><B>NOV. 2, 2009</B> - I found a <B>western conifer seed bug</B> on our front screen door at home in Wolfville. Locally these bugs try to get into homes in autumn in order to overwinter, sometimes in numbers (but usually singles in my experience). This is a large insect with noticeable diamond-shaped enlargements on each hind leg. It was featured on a past <B>Quirks & Quarks</B> show for its special infra-red sense organ on its underside? for finding conifer cones by the fact that they are a bit warmer in temperature than their trees.</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3><B>NOV. 3, 2009</B> - In east Wolfville, in the garden of Brenda & Bill Thexton, Bob Thexton noticed a small swarm of flies that was moving up and down in a dancing movement, just a metre or so above the ground. This is probably a swarm of male flies, perhaps <B>winter crane flies?</B>, that is dancing and buzzing to attract females of the same species. I don't recall reports of these over the past couple of winters, but Jean Timpa in Wolfville used to report these often in late autumn or spring, and I think Andrew Hebda? eventually identified to that family a fly that was captured by someone and submitted. But I think we still need someone to have an insect net at the right time and place to capture some of the dancing flies and get them identified for sure. The flies in question are small, and are difficult to observe as they fly; they are smallish and Bob said these had long legs (like real crane flies).</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>Speaking of flies, did some of you hear <B>Quirks and Quarks</B> last Saturday, Oct. 31, and the item on a <B>"unicorn fly" </B>being found in amber? Check it out by Googling "quirks" and clicking on the most recent show. Also note that the Q&Q Web site has many years of past shows all archived for all of us.</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>Cheers from Jim in Wolfville</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>Jim (James W.) Wolford</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>91 Wickwire Ave.</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>B4P 1W3</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>phone 902-542-9204</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>e-mail <<A href="mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca">jimwolford@eastlink.ca</A>></FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>"In wildness is the preservation of the world" -- Henry David Thoreau</FONT></DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV></DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <P> <HR> <P></P><BR>No virus found in this incoming message.<BR>Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <BR>Version: 8.5.423 / Virus Database: 270.14.46/2477 - Release Date: 11/02/09 19:39:00<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML> --Boundary_(ID_Y8R+CDUEShWaUhKewhUDmw)--
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