A gorgeous Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis) came to nectar on the Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum) that volunteered in our backyard. The blue-gray color indicates a male of the species.
Here is that little guy in action:
One species of Snout Moth that featured prominently on the volunteer asters on our land was the Two-spotted Herpetogramma (Herpetogramma bipunctalis): The thumbnail shows the two spots on the dorsum that give the species its name. Their wings make a shimmering robe. And I love their tinker-toy legs! Some of these clips clearly show the asters' hairy stems and leaves that give this wildflower species its name--Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum).
Another species of Snout Moth that came to the asters frequently was Hymenia perspectalis, Spotted Beet Webworm:
This moth's common name is "Dingy Cutworm Moth," so named for the non-descript larva. But the adult is boldly patterned, clearly not "dingy."
Feltia jaculifera is a gorgeous, brightly patterned moth
This male (note the furry antennae) is feeding on Hairy Asters,
October 15, 2021.
In fact, an entomologist with bugguide.net says a better common name would be "Bright-striped Dart." I agree!
Here is the Chickweed Geometer, a moth whose larvae eat wetland plants, such as chickweed and smartweed.
Haematopis grataria, Chickweed Geometer, on Hairy Asters, October 2021
This one is a male as can be told by the lush bristles on his antennae!
He is part of the family of Geometrid Moths (Geometridae), or "Earth Measurers," so named for their larvae's method of locomotion. The larvae advance by gathering themselves up into a loop and then extending forward, earning the common name of "inch worm." Each "step" is supposedly one inch.
Here is a grass moth--long and thin to blend in with the blade of a grass. This one is yet another member of the Crambid Snout Moth family--so named for the extended mouth parts that look like a "snout." (S)he doesn't seem interested in sharing asters with a neighboring fly. Note that two-toned proboscis!
Lucerne Moth (Nomophila nearctica), a Crambid Snout Moth,
enjoys aster nectar. October 2021
Now for a member of yet another family, the Plutellidae, or Diamond-back Moths. Check out that tail fin!
Plutella xylostella, a Diamond-back Moth, nectaring on Hairy Asters, October 2022.
Here (s)he is in action:
Flies come and go while this Diamond-back Moth
nectars on Hairy Asters. But one fly--probably caught
What a radiating presence is a thistle! Winged creatures fly to it, and energized, fly away: Here are some of the creatures that came to Wavy-Leaf Thistle (Cirsium undulatum) in the last week of June and the first week of July:
In order of appearance: Ruby-throated Hummingbird; Thistle Fly (Paracantha sp.); Grass Skipper (Hesperiinae); Wild Joy Beetles (Euphoria sepulcralis); Looper Moth (Caenurgina sp.); Leaf Beetles (Diabrotica cristata); Blister Beetle (Epicauta atrata); Eight-spotted Flower Longhorn Beetle (Typocerus octonotatus); Striped Sweat Bee (Agapostemon sp.); another Grass Skipper (Hesperiinae); Bee-like Flower Scarab (Trichiotinus piger); another hummingbird; grasshopper; lightning bug; crab spider; Leatherwing beetle corpse plus Slender Crab Spider (Tibellus sp.); Silver-tailed Petalcutter (Megachile montivaga); American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus); Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
The audio features Dickcissels singing persistently with a Bob White in the background.
Now the Tall Thistles (Cirsium altissimum) are starting to bloom. Here is what I wrote about "Thistle School"--in the Junction City Union, September 7, 2021:
Puzzling to many is the behavior of male Blanchard's Cricket Frogs! They often seek each other out, two by two, for a "partner dance" involving leg displays and tumbling.
Here are two little males I encountered yesterday along McDowell Creek:
Only males do these leg displays, according to herpetologist Eva Horne.
Females lay eggs in water, and the males fertilize the eggs externally--so what these male-male interactions have to do with reproduction is not clear.
At the end of the video, one of the "dancers" goes off to start chorusing. You can see his inflated vocal sac is almost as big as he is!
Beloved herpetologist Joe Collins wrote that Cricket Frog "breeding choruses" may be misnamed, as they do not indicate that eggs have been or will be laid. They may serve some "unknown purpose," he wrote.
The interactions shown here appear more friendly and cooperative than aggressive and competitive. These two youngsters play well, politely taking turns jumping on top of each other!
Every prairie restoration goes through a "Penstemon digitalis phase," I am told--a time when Foxglove Penstemon seems predominant. Our Creek Field is coming down off that phase, but there is still plenty of Foxglove blooming heartily. This year the flowers were covered by diminutive bumble bees--a kind I had never seen before, or at least never noticed. It was so hard to get a still photo, as the small bees were either deep inside the tubular flowers or moving hectically from flower to flower. Finally, I had enough photos to submit to bugguide.net and got an ID: Bombus bimaculatus, Two-spotted Bumble Bee. Apparently, the identifying field-characteristics are small size, long face, and the second abdominal segment, where the yellow hairs stop before reaching the sides, leaving two black "corners." I include freeze-frames in the following video showing one of the corners.
B. bimaculatus has an unusually long tongue, especially designed for tubular flowers such as those of Foxglove Penstemon.
Over the years, small, shiny green bees nectaring on wildflowers in our prairie restorations have been identified for us by bugguide.net as two different kinds of Sweat Bees. The first is a genus of "Striped Sweat Bees," genus Agapostemon, shown here on Wavy-leaf Thistle, in our Road Field. Wavy-leaf (Cirsium undulatum) is a magnificent native pollinator-plant:
The second is a different group of metallic-green Sweat Bees, classified as tribe "Augochlorini." Here are some Augochlorine Sweat Bees on Grey-headed Coneflower, in our Creek Field:
Now after all these years I am finally putting two-and-two together! Both kinds of shiny green Sweat Bee are members of the bee family Halictidae, and both are wonderful pollinators!
