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.