Search Results for: garden

Weekend Expedition 29: life isn’t all slo’ mo’

Well, we have been working hard for 9 days with the Photron SA-5, and this weekend was mostly busy as well. I managed to get some time out to take some photos amongst all the high speed madness. Most of these shots were taken during 6 minute downloading breaks with the camera, and I also snuck in a quick trip to the local community garden.

Culiseta incidens, probing my finger.

tanking up!

Graphocephala fenahi, the rhododendron leafhopper.

A beautiful syrphid bumblebee mimic, Eristalis flavipes.

A flower longhorn in the community garden.

A western yellowjacket delves under bark for prey.

OK, you have made it to the end of the photos. Did I ever mention that I am part American? The following 2 videos were shot at a whopping 10,000 frames per second.

Productive slacking

Jul17

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Occasionally, when it is a nice day out, it is too much to be good and stay in…Even when I am fighting the good fight, writing grant proposals and revising manuscripts, sometimes the lure of the outdoors becomes irresistible. This morning was one of those times. Just before lunch, I grabbed my camera and headed out to shoot for 40 minutes in the SFU Community Garden. I am glad I did, because it was the most productive 40 minutes shooting in a long while!

I was extremely excited to see these beautiful halictids out. I am pretty sure this is Agapostemon but it is hard to tell with the tibia so loaded with pollen!

I thought there might be a spider associated with this dead Cabbage White, but the only thing feeding was this fly. Pretty cool anyhow!

This Philodromid gives a good lesson in persistence and struggling through adversity.

I really can’t get enough of these Halictids. They are just like living jewels!

Takeoff!

The crème de la crème of the outing was this beautiful Laphria with a honeybee. I only had a short time with this beauty, as the strong wind caused it to fly far when I startled it.

So overall, my little adventure produced some decent shots! To top it off, when I returned to the lab I got an email informing me that a paper I am coauthor on had been accepted for publication in the Canadian Entomologist. Productive slacking! Is there anything better?

Weekend Expedition 22: Strathcona Park, Vancouver

Jun17

This Weekend Expedition was to the wilds of Stratchcona Park (no not that one). This is a large park in East Vancouver that features some huge cottonwoods, playing fields and a big community garden! Also, there is a bald eagle nest in one of the cottonwoods, so it is just the place for an insect/raptorophile such as myself.

These chicks will likely fledge in a week or so. I thought this was a cool shot showing them all stacked up in the morning light.

There are many ways to enjoy the park, like biting your best friend’s head at full gallop!

A Cranberry Girdler (Chrysoteuchia topiaria) rests on a grass stem. The gardens are a good source of pests!

A male Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum: Megachilidae), a European import, waits on Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantina) for a female.

A female Wool Carder gathers Lamb’s Ear fibers for her nest.

The Varied Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci) is a gorgeous flower feeder in the summertime.

Coming in!

Honeybee in a poppy.

A pretty little ichneumonid (Mesostenus thoracicus)grooms.

The under-log fauna. Isopods are actually quite attractive little beasts.

A large stinkbug on a dead daisy.

A Linnaeus’s Spangle-wing (Chrysoclista linneella), sits on a trunk. There were hundreds out today, flying around a grove of European Linden.

This crab spider enjoys the haul of Spangle-wings.

Highlights from the Wild Research Butterfly Workshop

Jun8

Today I helped out with a Wild Research workshop on the BC Butterfly Atlas and citizen science at UBC Botanical Garden. Here are a few of the memorable pics.