What’s going on out on the land?
Invert Sign at Dunby Rd.
Learning more about invertebrates and the signs they leave behind is such a valuable part of wildlife tracking to me. I feel like when I teach or share about the inverts, most people are kind of “cool, but where are the mammals?” about it, but I hope to keep learning more so that I can inspire some deeper respect and awe about a couple whole other phylums! There is so much life out there, that doesn’t look like us, move like us, eat, excrete, breed or breathe like us and every time I learn something new I get stoked. I am grateful to get to share some of that excitement in this post.
Three Common Silk Moth Cocoons
Throughout the past few years I have come across a few different large cocoons belonging to Silk Moths, who are large moths in the family Saturniidae, in the order Lepidoptera. As I encounter the cocoons I tend to look them up and try to learn something about them but eventually the individual identifications of each unique species is lost, except maybe the Cecropia. I wanted to write a short blog post, starting with the main three cocoons I encounter, helping to remember who makes which cocoons so I can better remember in the field.
Spruce Pineapple Galls
For a few years I have come across a gall on Spruces all over the Eramosa River Valley. Most of the Spruces are Norway Spruces , but I have also found them on White Spruce. They were mysterious to me so I looked them up a couple of years ago and learned that they were called the Pineapple Spruce Gall, or Spruce Pineapple Gall, or Eastern Spruce Gall depending on who you’re asking, but that was where my knowledge ended. Recently, after coming across them again, I decided I needed to learn a little bit more about them.
Tracking Walkabout, 2023.05.29
A couple nights ago, right before recording my radio show, a friend called and asked about some hole in the side of his walled in porch/anteroom/whatever thing. He even sent some photos. While we were on the phone, something flew past him and he described it with excitement.. It was like a big bee or something but it was shiny. I knew right off who it was.