I have some singletons and a couple of longer additions, but the tank is running quite low (as is the “Photos of readers” feature). Please send in your contributions to either feature.
Today I’ll post some of the singletons and doubletons. First, two photos from Christopher Moss (all readers’ captions are indented):
American red squirrel: (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus):
Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus): one of the shyest birds I have ever managed to capture. [JAC: this is a female]
From Robert Lang: a lion [Panthera leo] photo he photographed in Botswana:
From Gregory James:
I was looking for Monarch caterpillars on our milkweed patch. I see the butterflies and eggs, but something must eat the caterpillars before I find them. In any case there are plenty of Milkweed Bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus), like this copulating pair, and tiny, glistening, little flies that someone who knows flies can probably identify.
Amy Edmonds show us what happens when a wild mallard hybridizes with a domestic one, in this case the familiar white American Pekin duck (a domestic variety of the mallard also known as the Long Island Duck):
Good stuff!
The metallic flies are long-legged flies in the family Dolichopodidae. Most adults are predators.
Do they go after monarch caterpillars?
Maybe the eggs or first instar larvae. But I am not sure. The flies are quite small.
They are quite small. Egg and first instar predation could explain the absence of caterpillars on the plants.
That might explain why there are hardly any eggs on my milkweeds in one area of the garden. I have seen these little bugs about.
Must be an old married couple, seeing as how they’ve lost interest in kissing while making the bug with two backs.
American Red Squirrels are my favourites. Small and ornery and wanting to be alone. I find them so cute. I have rarely seen them in my yard as they prefer conifers. There may be one nearby as I see one occasionally.
American Red Squirrels are my favourites. Small and ornery and wanting to be alone. I find them so cute. I have rarely seen them in my yard as they prefer conifers. There may be one nearby as I see one occasionally.