The Winter Wren is a palette of browns with dark barring on the wings, tail, and belly.
The Marsh Wren clings to wetland vegetation, tail cocked and legs splayed, often with each foot wrapped around a different stalk. This rusty-brown wren has black-and-white streaks down its back and a white eyebrow.
The Sedge Wren is a short-billed, russet-brown bird that lives in wet fields and shallow marshes.
The House Wren is a common backyard bird over nearly the entire Western Hemisphere. It breeds from Canada through the West Indies and Central America, southward to the southernmost point of South America.
There has been some nice shorebird photo ops at a local make shift pond created at a housing development area here in Sarnia.
The Giant Swallowtail is the largest butterfly in North America. It is quite often found in the meadowland area of Canatara. And we have had them in the garden this year.
The Chinese Mantis is a species of mantis native to Asia and the nearby islands. In 1896 this species was accidentally introduced by a nurseryperson near Philadelphia.
So, the story behind these images goes like this. First, I noticed the Black and yellow Argiope spider and the cool web. As I approached the web to grab a shot of the spider I flushed a grasshopper who inadvertently ended up in the spider’s web.
Interestingly Polyphemus Moth adults emerge from their cocoons in the late afternoon, and mating occurs the same day from late evening to early morning. Females lay eggs that evening, singly or in groups of 2 or 3 on leaves of the host plant. Newly-hatched caterpillars eat their eggshells, and caterpillars of all ages are solitary. Older caterpillars eat an entire leaf and then cut the leaf petiole at the base so it falls to the ground, perhaps a defensive measure to eliminate signs of feeding.
The Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly prefers open, moist places including fields, valleys, pastures, meadows, open woodland and prairies.
The Red Admiral is the most widespread butterfly in Ontario.
The Red-Spotted Purple butterfly is normally seen in the Eastern United States, from the Gulf Coast to southern Canada.
Black Swallowtails are one of the most common garden butterflies in southern Ontario.
Mourning Cloak butterflies are most often found near deciduous forests. However, their habitat includes many developed areas like suburban yards, parks, and golf courses.
Question Mark butterflies have a wingspan of 5 to 7 centimeters. Their coloring is deep orange with black spots and a lavender edge.
The American Painted Lady has an upperside with an uneven brown, yellow, and orange pattern. A forewing with a black apical patch, a small white spot in the orange field below the patch which you can see in this image if you look closely, and a white bar at the leading edge of the forewing.
Definitely one of my favourite butterflies to observe is the beautiful Common Buckeye, which I think is anything but common.
Cooper’s Hawks are a medium-sized hawk with the classic accipiter shape: broad, rounded wings and a very long tail. In Cooper’s Hawks, the head often appears large, the shoulders broad, and the tail rounded.
