Wildlife March 2012

[ronm]

Good attitude.

[Anthony Darby]

Do you breed the Monarchs yourself Anthony?

No point Ron. If I cage a swan plant I end up with so many larvae I struggle to feed them. Last time I ended up with more than 2 dozen larvae and it killed my big plant. The butterflies are quite common round here and I've got some seeds of more substantial milkweeds, such as Asclepias syriaca, which may help in the future?

[ronm]

Understood. I had the same problem when I set up a ' butterfly farm' in Taiwan. Never enough Aristolochia!!

[Anthony Darby]

Understood. I had the same problem when I set up a 'butterfly farm' in Taiwan. Never enough Aristolochia!!

A friend of mine (Jan Pasternak) was commissioned to set up a butterfly farm in Bali. 9/11 put paid to that as the backers pulled out. The problem with birdwings and Aristolochia is the annoying habit of the final instar larvae chewing through the woody stem at the base, killing the vine. This happened when Edinburgh Butterfly House was breeding Ornithoptera priamus using Aristolochia trilobata and A. triangularis. Taiwan must have been an interesting venture?

[Olga Bondareva]

Trond, OMG, wolfs!   Poor dog!  

The owner said he was sorry for the dog but it was of old age and had a heroic death! He also said he hoped the wolf could live and that he would be happy to see it some day!

He is right. May be it's the best death for very old dog. But the fact is shocking me. Wolfs come to people's habitation.  

[mark smyth]

Has anyone seen the photo of 10s of wolves shot in USA or Canada? It's shocking. Many of the wolves carry satelite transmitters

[mark smyth]

shhhh!

[Anthony Darby]

Bum bee?

[Anthony Darby]

I've been watching these bees in my garden now for the past few months. I also saw them last year during the summer, but only now have I identified the species. It is the European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum), which was first seen in Napier and Nelson in 2006 and Auckland in 2008. They are quite common here. The males are territorial and can hover, waiting to pounce on the smaller females.

[Paul T]

Anthony,

They're very wasp-like, aren't they?  The closeup pic I would have thought was a wasp, although a very furry chunky one. 

[Anthony Darby]

I'm with you on that one Paul. Not sure what the sharp end of one of these is like? They are quite brutal to others of their kind!

[Paul T]

er.... Probably sharp?

[Anthony Darby]

 

[fredg]

Wildfowl from todays perambulation.

1 & 2 A duck  The only one there with this plumage. ID?
3 & 4 Great Crested Grebe. Several present, all at distance.
5 & 6 Mandarins. They're back  ( No 6 by MrsG )
7 & 8 Greylags   Both by MrsG 

[Peter Maguire]

I think that if that duck was a dog, we'd be calling it a mongrel.