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Index of Subjects Hi Angus, On the drumlin at Mt Uniacke Estate this afternoon about half of the stands of goldenrod are now in full flower and the small tri-coloured bumble bee B. ternarius were extremely common, now ignoring knapweed. Small brown meadowhawk dragonflies were also quite common. A week ago behind Crystal Crescent beach near Sambro, ternarius was also very common on knapweed, no goldenrod flowering then; saw 5 hummingbird hawks H. thysbe visiting knapweed back then. A few large tachinids and solitary wasps as well on goldenrod at Mt U today, two conopids, two Villa beeflies but very few other flies -- no large hoverflies at all. Very slim pickings. There were dozens of Virginia Ctenuca moths at the same location/time last year, but saw only one this time, and only one brown butterfly. The one isolated patch of goldenrod that had 7 fly galls last year has only one gall this year, so predictably none next year. General impression is that numbers of most insects are quite depressed this year, though not ternarius. Steve (Hfx) ________________________________________ From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] on behalf of Angus MacLean [cold_mac@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 11:36 AM To: naturens Subject: [NatureNS] Bumble Bees Two of the NS bumble bees, Bombus impatiens & B. vagans, are first found around mid-May (Queens can be earlier) & are common & regular through the summer. Bombus ternarius (Tri-colored Bumble Bee) started to show up in some numbers about two weeks ago & are now quite common especially in open areas near woods. They will become the dominant bumble bee in most parts of NS through the summer into the late fall. There are five other bumble bee species listed for NS & four cuckoo bumble species. All can be considered rare to uncommon here & some are in moderate to steep decline across their ranges. So far this summer I have only noted one of these (two sightings). We have a large stand of Oregano (garden escape) on our property. Although almost finished now I have noted numerous impatiens & vagans on them but no ternarius. A few days ago I discovered a good stand of Knapweed still in blossom & virtually all bumble bees on them were ternarius. There are very few flies this summer although a few tachinids have appeared recently. These should be quite common by now. There are always a few species of hover flies (Eristalis) but this summer there are few aphids. Since larvae of many hover fly species feed on aphids I wonder if their populations will be much lower next year. The above comments may not apply everywhere in NS. Different opinions are welcomed. Angus
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