Wildlife mid 2009

[Anthony Darby]

The underside is key. Looking at the forewing, the inner row of six submarginal spots, one distal (top of the 'cell', half way from tip to thorax) and two basal ( three quarters of the way from tip to thorax) spots  indicate Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus). The male Eros Blue would appear to have a row of five submarginal spots, one distal and one basal spot.

[Rodger Whitlock]

The depredations of a leaf-cutting bee on a small hosta. Neither of the two other hostas immediately adjacent to the right were touched.

These bees are quite fascinating characters. Some years ago, one dug its tunnel into a crack in my (badly settled) patio. When I moved the hose I had (as usual) left out, the poor bee arrived home with either prey or another fragment of leaf and deprived of the landmarks it had been using, could not find the entrance to the tunnel. It then began a methodical sweeping operation until it found the tunnel. As an experiment, I took two old porcelain doorknobs and placed them on either side of the tunnel, perhaps 8" apart, as landing beacons. Mrs. Bee didn't take long to adapt to these new landmarks and when she came in, she'd sail directly into her tunnel with no hesitation whatsoever.

[Paul T]

Rodger,

And when you were in the mood for some folly did you start moving the doorknobs to different parts of the patio just to watch her head for the wrong place? 

Insects really are amazing in how they adapt to situations.  It's no wonder that they're one of the most plentiful lifeforms on this planet.

[Lori S.]

Amazing, Rodger!  Here, it seems that leaf-cutter bees favour roses, and of the ones we have, particularly 'John Cabot' - for the thin pliable leaves, perhaps?

[Rodger Whitlock]

And when you were in the mood for some folly did you start moving the doorknobs to different parts of the patio just to watch her head for the wrong place? 

No, I didn't. In fact I was very careful to not disturb them. Having moved the hose and inadvertently confused Mrs. Bee was enough.

This is called "being kind to dumb animals",. but Mrs. Bee has an advantage in that I rather like leaf-cutting bees.

[Paul T]

Rodger,

I would actually be interested to see how much they do navigate from markers like that, and whether they did head to the same position between the doorknobs if you moved them.  Not meaning to be mean to them, but just interesting to see whether they did use them that heavily.

We get leaf cutter bees here on our roses at times, but I have never observed the bees at work so don't know what they look like.

[Armin]

Armin, I have confined the nettle larva to satisfy my curiosity.

Anthony,
I keep my fingers crossed it will develop to a Red Admiral.

[Armin]

A blackbird bathing in the sun!
Without a telephoto lens normally it is impossible for me to take a pic of bird which is smaller than an eagle. I catched this blackbird when it was nearly powerless while sunbathing.
Gerd

Gerd,
I made similar observations just recently. I also took a shot of a female blackbird taking a shower...

[Armin]

The underside is key. Looking at the forewing, the inner row of six submarginal spots, one distal (top of the 'cell', half way from tip to thorax) and two basal ( three quarters of the way from tip to thorax) spots  indicate Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus). The male Eros Blue would appear to have a row of five submarginal spots, one distal and one basal spot.

Robin,
I second Anthony. Looks more Polyommatus icarus.

[Ragged Robin]

The underside is key. Looking at the forewing, the inner row of six submarginal spots, one distal (top of the 'cell', half way from tip to thorax) and two basal ( three quarters of the way from tip to thorax) spots  indicate Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus). The male Eros Blue would appear to have a row of five submarginal spots, one distal and one basal spot.

Robin,
I second Anthony. Looks more Polyommatus icarus.

Anthony, thanks so much for the detailed description you have provided so I now know what to look out for; and thanks for your confirmation of Anthony's ID, Armin. Even though a common Blue, Polyommatus icarus is still very beautiful when a freshly hatched arrival in the meadow flowers.

[Armin]

Robin,
certainly I would haunt all butterfly species in the Alps meadows only to get good shots for this forum if I would live in such beautiful environment! 

[Ragged Robin]

I'm so aware how lucky I am to be in this environment, Armin, every day a new surprise to share -

Yesterday evening a shot of red caught my eye.... quickly I tried to focus on this beautiful Red Admiral, gazing into the darkness and looking so handsome on the summer green of the forest.

[Anthony Darby]

I noticed that one of the thistle-eating Painted Lady caterwallahs has pupated.

On last nights walk I checked out a burdock (Arctium minus) plant I'd passed earlier in the week. I had noticed that it was an alternative foodplant for these butterflies. Sure enough, one caterpillar tent.

[Rodger Whitlock]

I would actually be interested to see how much they do navigate from markers like that, and whether they did head to the same position between the doorknobs if you moved them. 

My own analysis is that they make full use of such markers. Mrs. Bee was much more precise and swifter entering her tunnel on the wing with the porcelain doorknobs as landing beacons. Remember that they were close to her tunnel, symmetrically disposed, and offered high contrast with the background.

Perhaps Mrs. Bee maintains a mental model of her territory something like the way electron microscopists record the location of anything interesting: a series of "photographs" at successively smaller scales, each one, say, twice as big as the one before, allowing them to return to an interesting spot at a very high level of magnification. When I had originally move the hose, she was able to navigate to the general vicinity of her tunnel, but then had to methodically scan the landscape until she saw a patch that matched one of the larger scale "photographs", skipping one or two intermediate stages.

I can't say if the doorknobs were so prominent that had I moved them Mrs. Bee would have bumped her head on concrete.

[Ragged Robin]

 

I also took a shot of a female blackbird taking a shower...

Armin,
She looks as if she is enjoying an environmentally friendly wing-power shower