For all those interested, please come out to my talk today at the Science Rendezvous event at SFU today: 12:10 PM in AQ3005 at the Burnaby Campus. I will be discussing the foraging adaptations of this remarkable specialist predator of social wasps, with many exciting videos and pictures.
The other day, when I was out searching for aquatic insects for my new aquarium photography setup, I came to a small pond in the forest just below the school, and could have swore that a Red-legged Frog jumped into the water. I did not want to stir up the pond to much, so I told myself I would come back to confirm.
This morning, after sending my predation manuscript to my coauthors for their input, I went down for a peek. Sure enough, right at the border of the pond, was a beautiful Rana aurora! I took a few photos before letting the frog go on its way. I checked the pond with a net, and found that it was full of eggs and larvae, so this was not the only one! I am excited to see this, as this species has been declining across its range in BC (though they were quite abundant when I was a kid). It is good to know that despite the super pro-development forces at this school, that there still remain parklands that can support these frogs.
This weekend, I will be giving a talk at the Science Rendezvous at SFU (part of a national science festival), so perhaps in the morning I will do some more exploring of the wooded areas near the school. If anyone is interested in attending, my talk is at 12:30!
This photo of of a Red-throated Caracara was taken by Manfred Bienert on April 18 near the village of Bijagua, which is just adjacent to of the Reserva Biológica Indio Maíz and close to the Costa Rican border. It shows one individual of a group of six perched high in a tree with a piece of wasp nest (Polybia spp.).
This photo is important documentation of the continued presence of Ibycter americanus in Nicaragua, where they are considered extremely rare, having declined across most of Central America over the past several decades.
Despite the status of the Red-throated Caracara across much of this region, there are no formal conservation plans for these birds as they are not in danger of going globally extinct. In this way, the statistics used by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) can be misleading on a regional scale, as when a species is labelled “Least Concern” it misses out the fact that the bird may be disappearing in many countries.
Another caracara in the same group. Photo by Manfred-Bienert
In Mexico, Red-throated Caracaras have been considered extirpated for some time, although it was previously present in Oaxaca, Chiapas [1], and Veracruz [2]. They are listed as critically endangered in the Republic of Costa Rica [3], and “probably extirpated” in Guatemala [4,5]. In Honduras, the species has only recently been rediscovered after being largely extirpated since 1955 [6]. In Panama, they are considered vulnerable.
Factors responsible for these declines have not been identified, although habitat destruction is probably involved. Illegal shooting of birds could also be a factor, as they are likely to have a very slow rate of reproduction and a highly developed cooperative breeding system (we documented a group of 6-7 adults caring for a single chick) [7].
I am glad to see that these impressive wasp-loving birds have not completely disappeared from Nicaragua, and am grateful for people like Manfred Bienert for documenting the wonderful birds of the region.
References
1. Iñigo-Elías E (2000) Caracara comecacao (Daptrius americanus). In: Ceballos G, Márquez-Valdelamar L, editors. Las aves de México en peligro de extinción. Instituto de Ecología, UNAM–CONABIO–Fondo de Cultura Económica. pp. 126–127.
2. Lowery GH, Dalquest WW (1951) Birds from the State of Veracruz, Mexico. University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Publications. p. 556.
3. AOCR (Comité Científico de la Asociación Ornitológico de Costa Rica) (2005) Lista de Especies de Aves con Poblaciones Reducidas y en Peligro de Extincion para Costa Rica: 1–2.
4. CNAP (Consejo Nacional de Áreas Protegidas de Guatemala) (2009) Lista de Especies Amenezadas de Guatemala: 83. Available: http://www.conap.gob.gt/Members/admin/documentos/documentos-centro-de-documentacion/lo-nuevo/Lista de especies amenazadas de Gutemala -LEA.pdf/at_download/file.
5. Dickerman RW (2007) Birds of the Southern Pacific Lowlands of Guatemala With a Review of Icterus gularis.
6. Narish AJ., Jenner T (2004) Notes on the Red-throated Caracara, Ibycter americanus in Honduras. Cotinga 22: 100.
7. McCann S, Moeri O, Jones T, Donnell SO, Gries G, et al. (2010) Nesting and Nest-Provisioning of the Red-throated Caracara (Ibycter americanus) in Central French Guiana. Journal of Raptor Research 44: 236–240. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.3356/JRR-09-75.1.
Inspired by this great post by C.L Goforth, a.k.a. the Dragonfly Woman, I decided to get my feet wet with aquatic insect photography. This is a field which I have almost completely ignored, probably because I thought it was too challenging. But really, despite a few technical challenges, it can’t be all that different from other types of shooting, and there is such a wealth of fascinating and beautiful subjects to photograph!
So far, I have just acquired a tank (a small, cheap betta tank, c. 20 bucks) and I have yet to add the recommended spacer to restrict the movements of the subjects. I have situated the flashes as below, added some diffuser material (same stuff as in the Cheapskate Diffusers) and shot away at what was available, in this case the larvae of Culiseta incidens, a common early-season mosquito here on the West Coast (in fact they overwinter as mated adults).
I will keep this blog updated with further refinements and experiments as I delve into aquatic insect photography. To all my fellow insect photographers: why not join me as this insect season really begins?
So far the results look decent on tricky small subjects. I have not edited out any of the bubbles and other flaws, and I may have pushed the contrast up too much, but I am hopeful and optimistic! I especially like seeing details of the gut and musculature through the cuticle.
This frame shows one reason to get your lens axis exactly perpendicular to the glass of the aquarium: distortion!
I am fairly pleased with this frame, as it shows decent depth of field and good sharpness on the setae (hairs).
This larva was moving toward the camera with the feeding movements of its mouth brushes.
Here is what Culiseta incidens looks like as an adult.
Probably the coolest find of the weekend, this Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa) at Maplewood Park was the first I have seen on the Mainland.
This Weekend Expedition is actually another composite of three trips:
1) to Burnaby Lake with Mike, Catherine, Viorel and Tavi, stalking the elusive goslings
2) back to Hastings Park in the morning for some early insect shots
3) finally making it out to Maplewood Park in North Vancouver, accompanied by Adam Blake.
It was an exhausting weekend, with fine weather and good company, so I think I will let the images do most of the talking here!
Gallery 1: Burnaby Lake
Gallery 2: Hastings Park
Gallery 3: Maplewood Park
Piper Spit is the main, official entrance to Burnaby Lake Park. It is also a great waterfowl haven, with nest boxes for wood ducks and reed beds. I will go there tomorrow morning with Mike and Catherine to try my luck at shooting excessively cute Canada Goslings! I will of course have the full (heavy) kit with me so any cool insects or spiders are also fair game…
On Sunday I will go with Adam Blake to attempt to redeem last week’s debacle, and actually make it to Maplewood Park.
Last night, a chance photograph of a large Cellar Spider led to a wonderful discovery. Our Pholcus phalangiodes is gravid!
These Longbodied Cellar Spiders are temperate representatives of a largely tropical group of spiders, and are common members of the household fauna. This gravid cellar spider has a large distended abdomen and through the cuticle you can see her ovaries with their developing eggs.
The newly yolk-filled eggs are white, and as they mature, they become dark towards the end of the abdomen. I am expecting that soon we will see this female brooding her package of newly-laid eggs soon, as this one did in the same spot last year.
Within a month or so, these will hatch into gorgeous little translucent Cellar Spiderlings which will remain close to the female until after their first molt.
Despite her advanced gravid state, our Cellar Spider has not lost her long-limbed lean look, which is probably easy if you are a Cellar Spider! For more information about the reproduction of this impressively leggy species, see here.
isn’t she beautiful?
I just handed in a near-final draft of my predation paper, so I took a stress relief break to photograph some spiders. The philodromid (Running Crab Spider) is a male Philodromus dispar that we found on the way into the lab this morning, but the other one I do not know. Any ideas? UPDATE: this may be Neriene digna, a Linyphiid.
Dwarf Caimans (Paleosuchus spp.) and other crocodilians can be found with headlamps, but if you want to use your handheld flashlight, hold it close to the visual axis of your eyes in order to better perceive the eyeshine. Photo by Tanya Jones.
Headlamps are very useful for nighttime nature photography as well as tropical fieldwork. For extended trips, or just to get better performance, I use rechargeable NiMH batteries. These AAA cells come in packs of four, but most headlamps only require three. What to do with the fourth?
Well, it is always a good idea to have a spare light, and the little Fenix E-05 is a great little light the requires but a single AAA battery to produce up to 27 lumens (that is a lot!). Problem solved!
They are compact, waterproof and f-ing bright as heck! So bright, you don’t wanna point them at your eyes bright. I have used them in fieldwork as well as in some studio lighting of Black Widow behaviour (but I can’t show you as it is not yet published!).
These little guys cost about 20 bucks and have served in nighttime focus illumination of several rainforest creatures. When in the field or out of it, Catherine and I clip these to our bags for a handy tool for our illumination needs. There are several colours to choose from, which is important for accessorizing (kinda?). If you want to read up more on these inexpensive little lights, go to Ken Rockwell’s review here.
This Weekend Expedition, we set out to go to North Vancouver’s Maplewood Park. Just a short bus ride across the bridge, right? Well, if is if you manage to catch the bus! Catherine and I arrived at the bus stop just as our bus was pulling out…And it was Sunday, so the next one was in 25 minutes. No problem! Lets just walk to the next bus stop and wait there.
This bus stop was awesome, we had knitting to do and Tobey Maguire (Spiderman!) to keep us company. Except the next bus didn’t stop for us! Apparently, our special bus only stops at the first stop (not that they are labelled or anything. Thanks TransLink!). Rather than wait another 25 minutes, we decided to change plans and head to Hastings Park, a few blocks away. Have a look below to see what we found!
The crows are nesting!
this looks a lot like Brumoides histrio, a type of Ladybird beetle (Coccinellidae). UPDATE: this is actually Brumus quadripustulatus. Thanks V. Belov!
We call them harvestpersons. This one appears to be a harvestchild.
first Odonates!
To me this looks like an Anthomyiid. Anyone else have an idea?
I think this syrphid turned out pretty nicely.
The first Damselflies of the season!
I liked how the drop on this lupine magnified the details.
A Sawfly
This Ichneumonid was hunting on the Lupines
taken with the Monster Macro Rig…Even though the leaf was moving, the whole exposure is with flash, so no problem.
I wasn’t the only photographer there. Check out this guy with a large format camera!
Chironomid midges!
This Red-winged Blackbird was doing an awesome job defending his territory.
This was my favourite photo of the trip…This heron was unconcerned with me after I had squatted observing for a while. I was apple to approach really close.