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Index of Subjects Yesterday we visited Mt Uniacke House grounds again ostensibly for 'gathering', while I spent most of my time 'hunting' in the old greenhouse area and on the drumlin, but not finding much. Apart from meadowhawk dragonflies and a few larger species, the only insect that was common was a small bumblebee -- seen literally in the 100s. I assumed that it would be the same species as Angus's 25, below, feeding on 'jewelweed', but in checking the many Bombus impatiens in BugGuide, it doesn't look like a match. The Mt U bumblebee was decidedly small and had the upper abdomen of dark orange with the tip of the abdomen blackish, and would not be much more than 10 mm in length. Of the Bombus group figured on BugGuide, it most resembles B. ternarius, reported from Maine, though some images there put the length of B. ternarius a good bit longer than my estimate. I took no photos -- is there any hope of guessing the ID from this limited description? What about B. centralis? This species was less interested in goldenrod (everywhere, but some flowers now are fading) than in what my daughter says is 'ironweed', which I initially assumed would be an alternative name for Angus's 'jewelweed', but not so. Jewelweed is apparently Impatiens spp, with pretty pink flowers, while the very abundant stuff that these bees were visiting does look like the ironweed found on-line, with small purple thistle-like heads, Vernonia spp., of a different family. The only butterflies around in these open areas in ~2 hours of looking were Common Wood Nymphs, though these were much less abundant than 2 weeks ago in the same places. Quite a few Virginia Ctenuca moths were flying late on, and some small syrphids (hoverflies) plus small grasshoppers. I saw a few native wasps and a couple of bees, but only a single honeybee. Having largely given up I tried instead sweeping grassy vegetation at one spot near the greenhouse, which turned up large numbers of jumping bugs, including several thorn-head treehoppers and buffalo treehoppers. So not all insects are down and out, or scarce. For fairy fern ring afficionados (all 3 of us, if that), there are actually three fern rings up on the Mt. U drumlin, though the two new ones are further up, smaller and less perfect, all sensitive fern. The first ring I originally estimated by eye at ~20 feet across, but this is way off. I've since surveyed it fairly accurately and it's 30 feet across and close to perfectly circular. So something odd is going on underground up there. Steve (Halifax) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quoting Angus MacLean <cold_mac@hotmail.com>: > Last evening at MIner's Marsh, I was pleased to find ~25 Bumble Bees > on Jewelweed (N. side of marsh). Even more surprising, they were all > the commonest BB in our area, Bombus impatiens. So there are pockets > of these bees still surviving although in many areas, one can only > find a couple. > > There was a number of small skippers flying too but never allowed > close scrutiny. This morning I tried again & photographed a few. > They were all Least Skippers. A few years ago loads of European > Skippers could be expected but apparently those are on the decline. > (The latter are "imports" from Europe so perhaps not a bad thing). > > There are lots of "white" butterflies at the marsh & one would > assume they are Cabbage Whites. However a closer look revealed at > least half are Mustard Whites ... late for their flight period? > > There were few birds. A female P/B Grebe could be heard grunting & > Kingfishers are ever present. The water level is too high to invite > any shorebirds but perhaps the hot weather will draw down the level > enough to entice some of the taller waders. > > Angus
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Index of Subjects