Moth Season 2020 has Begun!

As anyone who has read my blog for a while will know, I'm a big fan of moths.  Each year, I look forward to finding new and different species of moths, along with enjoying the familiar ones.  It's kind of funny that I like moths, considering that I also use a lot of wool yarn, but there are only a few species of moths that actually lay their eggs on wool and other animal fibres.  I'm not very interested in those ones!

I'm also developing greater interest in bees (especially native bee species), beetles, and other interesting insects I find in the yard.  There is so much biodiversity just in my own yard.  I don't need to travel or even leave my yard to find a wealth of interesting species.  Today, I wanted to share some of the best of my observations of the past week.  I catalogue all of them on iNaturalist, and you'll see that as a running widget on my blog, but here are some of the highlights!

Here's a lovely tri-coloured bumble bee (Bombus ternarius) enjoying a dandelion.  I get a lot of these bees at this time of the year, and many right now are queens.

This is a three-banded lady beetle that I found in my greenhouse building.

This is a species of nomad bee.  They are solitary bees that lay their eggs in other bees' nests.  Bad behaviour!

Another kind of lady beetle, but this one is the fourteen-spotted lady beetle.  As you can see, it's white and black, rather than red and black.

One of my favourite moths is the ruby tiger moth (Phragmatobia fuliginosa).  It's such a rich red-brown colour and has such a fluffy "mane" around its head.

This is a metallic flea beetle.  The colour is just amazing!  They are difficult to identify down to a species level.

This funny looking cutie is the American lappet moth (Phyllodesma americana).  I think it looks like it's wearing a dress.  This is an easily recognizable moth that is quite widespread.

This is the olive and black carpet moth (Acasis viridata).  No, they don't eat carpet!  I love the colours on this one also.

This colourful critter is the red cross shield bug (Elasmostethus cruciatus).  They feed on alder, and I have a lot of alder around here!

There are a group of flies called bee flies, which look like bumble bees in some ways, but they are smaller, and not at all related to bees.  This one is the pygmy bee fly (Bombylius pygmaeus).  It has a long proboscis (mouth part) like a straw for drinking nectar.  

This is a colourful zale moth (Zale minerea).  I know it's just browns and creams, so not exactly colourful, but the patterns are amazingly beautiful in my opinion.

This one is actually colourful!  It's a Comstock's sallow (Feralia comstocki).

I had never seen one of these beetles before today.  It's the ribbed pine borer beetle.

This is the otter spiramater moth (Spiramater lutra).  Again, it's a beautiful moth even though it's mostly just brown and black.  

Not everybody likes insects, but I think they're missing out on a lot of beauty if they don't stop to take a closer look sometimes!  

Garden Shed

Because my builder and his helper have been off their regular construction work due to Covid-19, I've been able to benefit from their down time because they've been available to get my own projects done.  In addition, they're getting paid because I'm providing some work.  It's a win-win!  Thus, on Thursday, following up on the greenhouse earlier this week, they began to build my garden tool shed. 

The tool shed will store all my smaller garden tools and needs, but it also has a potting bench inside. The bench was originally in the building Marc uses for his bike projects.  It is made from treated lumber, so I just hung onto it, knowing it would be useful, and now it is.

I asked my builder to create a hole in the end of the top bench.  This way, when I do some potting up, I can sweep all the potting soil off the bench through the hole.  I'll position a tote or trug under the hole, and collect all the sweepings, which will then go to the compost pile, or be otherwise re-used.  It's an easy way to clean up.  You can also just see that at the back of the bench, there is a space that will allow me to store my handled tools - the handles will go down into the space and the tools will all be visible.

The door handle is a piece of maple from the limbs that fell from my maple in last year's Hurricane Dorian.  I think it looks quite interesting, and it is very functional.  The door is an antique door that my builder found for me.

The octagonal window is also being re-used.  I'm not sure how old it is, but it's at least vintage.  I love the shape and I think it lends a personal touch to the shed.

The roof is recycled steel from an old barn.  On Friday, the front of the shed was covered with cedar shingles that had been left here by the previous homeowner.  Another use of existing materials that works very well for this project.

In addition, they re-installed my laundry line after its demise last fall in the hurricane. 

AND, they put up a much sturdier, new goat gate.  Miss Lucky Nickel was becoming quite adept at figuring out new ways to thwart the old wire gate, and it was warped beyond recognition and repeatedly fixed with baling twine.

Now, she has something new to bash her head on!  She's not impressed.  I can tell.

I am really glad to have all this new activity to improve the yard and its usability.  Having this new shed right next to the greenhouse is ideal.  I can easily pop into the shed to grab a tool that I need in the greenhouse.  Perfect!  I can also easily do transplanting and store any fertilizer or other plant products in the shed, ready for use in the greenhouse.  More raised beds will also be coming to the area in front of the buildings.

Marc also helped today by installing three new outdoor lights. They were on special at Costco so it was a good time to upgrade, and these are much nicer than the old ones.   

The future looks bright!

Sir Francis Drake

A reader pointed out to me on the post before the last one that I had not previously mentioned Sir Francis.  I'm a bad blogger, or just a busy one, and I realized that I had never introduced my blogosphere to Sir Francis.  So here we are. Let me start by saying, I have a duck.

This duck was not a duck that I actively sought out.  Rather, he came to me the way many critters have come over the years, an unexpected offer from somebody who knew I might enjoy having him.  And my soft heart, which is powerless at resisting, said yes.

Sir Francis is a male duck, and the term for a male duck is a drake.  Obviously, therefore, his name is a nod to the Elizabethan gentleman, Sir Francis Drake, who lived from 1540 to 1596, and was an English sea captain and explorer.  He carried out the second circumnavigation of the world from 1577 to 1580, during which he claimed what is now California for the English.  Kind of a bummer that they didn't keep it.  Oh well.

In any case, meet Sir Francis Drake II, who is a male call duck.  Call ducks are bantam (i.e. small sized) ducks that are primarily raised for pets, but are also used in hunting to attract wild ducks.  Obviously, that's not on the table for this duck!


He has lovely iridescent feathers and can show shades of green and blue depending on the light.

He currently lives in a large dog crate in the home office, but now that spring has more or less arrived here, an outdoor enclosure is in progress.  He will eventually have a little duck hut and a fenced area with a kiddie pool.  He will also have 1 or 2 girlfriends to keep him company.  Right now he has a plastic tote for a bathtub.   Here's the hut in progress.

Sir Francis has a tendency to chatter a bit during conference calls, which leads to some delight on the part of my colleagues, who think that having a duck on the call is good fun.  As you can see he also sports a white spot on his chest, and a wee touch of brown on some of his feathers.  He's very handsome.

 So now you know.  I have a duck.  No big surprise there really.  Keep quacking and carry on!

Chick Progress

This is a picture-heavy post, but just for interest's sake, I've matched up the pictures of the chicks today with their day 1 pictures.  Some of them are quite firmly in the awkward adolescent stage at which they have lost their fluffy cuteness and have progressed into semi-feathered semi-cuteness, with a touch of teenage angst.  There are some major size differences (which is expected based on the egg sizes they hatched from) and some clear roosters showing up.  I'll give my best guesses here.  I put a mini hand sanitizer bottle in the pictures today for scale.  It's the little travel size.  I realized, looking at the pictures, that I've had it for more than 8 years now, since it's from Walgreens (we don't have Walgreens in Canada) and has no French on the label.  Thus, I must have brought it with me from Iowa!  Amazing how these things are found in the back of the drawer as needed!

Three of the current brood were hatched later than the rest and are still quite small.  They are easy to identify.  It is a bit early to guess on gender but these 3 might be hens if I'm lucky.

Cinnamon Chipmunk, Day 1 (far left)

Day 14, Best Guess: hen

Chocolate Chipmunk, far right, Day 1:

Day 14, best guess: hen

Solid black with white chin, middle, Day 1:

Day 14, best guess: hen

There is a wee bit of brown speckling on some feathers.

Chocolate Chick, Day 1:

Day 25, best guess: hen 

She's a little darker than I expected but has a lovely ring of golden neck feathers.  Her feet and legs darkened a lot.

Day 1: Black with a white eye marking

Day 25: Best guess: hen
She has some white wing feathers and more speckling than I would have expected on her underside.

I think she might have cheek muff feathers, which means she has a bit of Ameraucana in her. I think her mom is one of my Ameraucana bantams.

Day 1, yellow and greyish chick with light beak, back striping:

Day 25:  Biggest bird, very mixed feathers and patterns.  Quite interesting.  Best guess: roo
Definitely at an awkward stage!

Day 1: Pale coloured chick, light beak

Day 25:  Seriously?!  Best guess: Roo
This bird really surprised me with the extent of dark colour in the feathers, including on the head.  I thought it was going to be nearly solid white at hatch time.  It's also very large now.  The slight pink tone to the comb area makes me think it's a rooster.  Darn it!  A pretty bird.

Day 1: Chipmunk with gold tones


Day 25, best guess: roo
This is a really beautifully feathered bird with great colour, but the comb screams roo.  Possible head crest feathers too.  Grumble...

Day 1: Chipmunk chick

Day 25: Interesting!  Best guess: hmmm..... 

Honestly, I'm not sure.  There's a bit of comb swelling, but no pinkish tone yet.  Might be a hen.  Really neat feather patterns and interesting colours.  Quite a stocky bird. 

Day 25:  Sorry, this bird missed its chick pic!  I'm sure it's a rooster though.

Day 1:  Tiny black chick with feathered legs
This one was the smallest of the batch.

Day 25:  Head crest!  Best guess: roo
This one has some grey tones in the feathering and quite a head crest forming.  It has silkie toes, which explains the head crest.

 I'm not sure if it's a roo, but I suspect...

Day 1:  Solid black, including beak

Day 25:  Smallest one (of the initial batch), best guess: hen
I'm not entirely sure, but she acts like a hen and has no comb swelling.  Silkie toes.

Day 1:  Last one!  Black with white shading, dark beak mark

Day 25, best guess: roo
Interesting head feathering.  Again, it has the look of the lacing on my Ameraucana bantam, so I think that's the mom.  No silkie toes.

I just love barnyard mix birds.  They're fun to hatch because you really have no idea what you're going to get.  The feathering is always a bit of a surprise.  I am happy with this set of hatchlings and hope to have some lovely hens.  The extra roosters will unfortunately be for soup stock, but they'll live their first year happily digging in the dirt. So far it looks like 5 roosters for sure, which if that number holds, 8 hens would be quite lucky out of 13 birds.  I'm sure others will declare themselves though!