The Aquila THIS ISSUE. Issue #10 October 2017

Transcription

1 THIS ISSUE Birds of Thickson s Woods - Brown Creeper Thickson s Woods Moths #1000 Bald-faced Hornet Bumble Bee Project Painted Lady Butterfly White-lined Sphinx Moth (Phill Holder)

2 Matt Holder Environmental Research Fund Committee Carol Allan - Margaret Bain - Dennis Barry - Phill Holder - Sue Holder Kelly Holder - Nigel Parr Publications Production Team: Phill Holder, Margaret Bain, Carol Allan and Mike McEvoy The Birds of Thickson s Woods Nature Reserve Brown Creeper Certhia americana (Mike McEvoy)

3 Photographed in May (Ed McAskill) Next spring, when the first migrants are flooding through Thickson s Woods and there seems to be a Brown Creeper on every tree, take a much closer look at this quiet, unobtrusive little bird and realize just how subtly beautiful it really is, with its bright eye, its speckled camouflage coat of light and dark greys and browns above, and its silky white underparts. If you are lucky, you may also hear its high, soft, ethereal song which has been called one of the gems of bird music. It took me a while to learn this song, but eventually I decided that if I thought I was listening to a pretty little warbler song that I didn t recognize, it was probably a Brown Creeper. The Brown Creeper has a wide home range, from Alaska to Newfoundland, south to the mid-atlantic States in the east and Central America in the west. It prefers mature, older coniferous and mixed forests containing wide tree trunks with strongly furrowed bark, ideal for its meticulous foraging habits. It will spiral up and around and up and around a trunk, gleaning insects and spiders from the bark, then fly to the base of another tree and start its spiral search pattern all over again, its stiff tail giving it purchase on the bark like a miniature woodpecker. Listen to the song of the Brown Creeper Photographed in the fall (David Beadle)

4 Brown Creepers may have nested in Thickson s Woods in the past, but Dennis Barry doesn t think they have done so recently, mainly because these days, even though we see many migrants passing through in spring, we don t hear them singing very often. Males sing most actively in early spring while setting up a territory and attracting a mate, so this lack of song implies that they are moving farther on to nest, perhaps on the Oak Ridges Moraine but probably farther north in Canadian Shield country. Brown Creeper nests are miraculous to me and I ve only ever found a very few. The female builds a nest of soft, downy plant material tucked securely right underneath a loose flap of bark on the trunk of a dead tree. Both parents enter and leave the hidden nest so swiftly and stealthily that they themselves are close to invisible. But once the young birds have fledged, a family group will often travel through the trees together giving soft call notes to each other, making them a little easier to spot. Almost all of our Brown Creepers fly south in the fall, though nearly every winter one or two will stay through the coldest months in our Woods, somehow surviving, waiting for spring. As the smallest and most inconspicuous of all our songbirds, yet one of the most attractive, I think Brown Creepers definitely deserve our interest, admiration, and affection. Margaret Bain. Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor Common Nighthawks breed within the Reserve boundary and migrating flocks are often seen feeding over the Meadow., as was the case on September 4th when Mike McEvoy and I counted 14 nighthawks hawking for insects just at dusk. The next morning a resident found this Common Nighthawk in his backyard, and Mike photographed it. Phill Holder (Mike McEvoy)

5 Thickson s Woods Moths July is the peak period for moths, and despite the wet uncooperative weather we were able to set traps on four nights during the month, inching ever closer to our goal of 1000 species within the Reserve, which started as a challenge by David Beadle in On July 30th the conditions were ideal for mothing and David suggested that we attempt to shatter our one-night record of 2016 (360 species) and aim for a whopping 400. Last year when we went for a big night we coined the phrase Full Monty to describe placing six or seven traps in the Reserve. This time we went for an ULTRA MONTY and used twelve traps, including four in the Meadow, never done before. The lights at Thickson s Woods must have been visible from the Space Station that night. We did not get to 400, but did break our previous record and identified an incredible 383 species, with 28 new ones for the list. We are not aware of anyone in North America getting close to this one-night species total. It was a great morning emptying the traps and our grand total reached only eleven short of our quest to reach Left: Nias Tiger Moth Apantesis nais; Above: Orange Virbia Virbia aurantiaca; Right: Great Brocade Eurois occulta; Bottom: Goldenrod Flower Moth Schinia nundina (Phill Holder).

6 The weather was frustratingly inconsistent over the next few sessions, but we were able to add a few new species, including Nais Tiger Moth, Great Brocade, Orange Virbia, and Goldenrod Flower Moth. During August we added new species at each session, and the White-lined Sphinx on the cover of this issues got us to within three species. The Champagne remained on ice until August 21, when we did it! A thousand species: What a feeling, what a place, what an experience! The 1000 moth challenge is complete. We celebrated with Champagne and scones. Number 1000 was a Green-spotted Looper, quite a rare moth that was unexpected at Thickson s. A perfect moth to mark a thousand species. We have come a long way in such a short time. The first time we caught moths in traps was June 11, Dennis Barry and I didn t have a clue and moths were escaping everywhere, but we were able to get some photographs for David Beadle to identify for us. I have included the first moth we photographed, out of focus but identifiable as a White-banded Toothed Carpet. White-banded Toothed Carpet (Phill Holder) It has been an incredible experience, lots of fun with a great team. I know that Matt would be proud of us. - Phill Holder Note: All moths are caught, photographed, and released. There is no collecting allowed at Thickson s Woods Nature Reserve. # Green-spotted Looper Syngrapha viridisgma (Mike McEvoy)

7 One of our traps full of moths waiting to be identified (Phill Holder) Ultra Monty day, with Mike McEvoy, David Beadle, and Mike King photographing the night s catch (Phill Holder) The Matt Holder Environmental Education Fund will host free public Bat Walks and Butterfly Days at Thickson s Woods during the Spring and Summer. Check Facebook for announcements of our future events, dependent on weather. (Greg MacLeod) Above, bat biologist Toby Thorne talks bats to the crowd before leading a walk through the Reserve. Bats put on a great show and everyone enjoyed the experience. On the right, butterfly expert Jenna Siu tells the Butterfly Walk participants about the Monarch and other butterflies found in the Reserve before leading the group through the Meadow. (Mike McEvoy)

8 Big Brown Bat Over the past few years we have built an acoustic picture of bat activity around Thickson s. By listening to the echolocation sounds bats make as they fly, we can get a picture of what bat species are present, their relative activity, and what they are up to. Yet acoustics only tell us part of the picture. We cannot identify all species by their sounds. Nor can we answer more detailed questions, like whether the bats are healthy or breeding. To answer these questions, we need to catch some bats! One common method of catching bats is to use mist nets like those used by bird banders. This requires a skilled person to remove bats from the net safely. It should not be conducted without appropriate experience and the correct permits. As part of the Ontario Land Trust Alliance project on Endangered bats, we trapped bats at Thickson s this summer. I didn t know what to expect when I first set up the nets, but I was not expecting 25 Big Brown bats to fly into the net within the first few minutes of sunset! With Fiona Reid on hand to help, we soon had them out of the net and transferred into paper bags. We closed the net and processed each bat to record its measurements before sending it on its way. A young male (Mike McEvoy) The bats had clearly exited from a nearby maternity roost. We caught a combination of adult females (including several older individuals note the worn teeth on the female pictured right) and juveniles of both sexes. The bats all looked healthy. While Big Brown bats are among the most common in Southern Ontario, it is always exciting to find a maternity colony and see that they are doing well. Big Browns are not currently considered Endangered. However, with the rapid declines in other species, we cannot afford to be complacent. Happily these lucky bats are safe in Thickson s Woods, protected in perpetuity! Toby Thorne You can find information on Big Brown Bats and all of the bats found in Ontario in Toby s new book, Bats of Ontario, with illustrations by Fiona Reid. Available from An older female (Fiona A. Reid)

9 Bald-faced Hornet Dolichovespula maculata On a number of occasions this year we caught Bald-faced Hornets in one particular moth trap at Thickson s Woods. It wasn t until the third time this happened that Mike McEvoy noticed we were placing the trap within 3 metres of a fairly large hornet nest. We were concerned as we did not want to disturb the hornets, nor did we want to run the risk of being attacked by them. All social wasps are capable of producing a painful sting. None leave the stinger embedded in the skin as worker honey bees do, so these wasps can sting many times. Most stings occur to protect the nest site when a colony is disturbed. Hornets are extremely protective of their colony and will attack if someone approaches within only a metre or two of the nest. The distinctive face pattern of the Bald-faced Hornet (Mike McEvoy) Bald-faced Hornets are beautiful but intimidating insects, and at 18-22mm in length should be avoided if at all possible. The four or five we caught each time at dawn were pretty slow-moving, and Mike took advantage of their groggy state to get some really amazing macro photographs. This in turn prompted me to do a little research on these large hornets we knew so little about. In fact, these so-called Bald-faced Hornets are not hornets at all, but part of the Yellow Jacket family Vespidae. The only true hornet recorded in Canada is the European Hornet, Vespa crabro, first introduced to North America in the mid 1800s. Bald-faced Hornets occur throughout much of Canada and are a social species. Only the Queens survive the winter and each spring form new colonies, having been fertilized the previous fall. The Queen selects a location for her nest and begins building it with wood fibres, scraped from a fence or bark, then chewed with saliva to make a paper-like material. Once this nest is ready, the Queen lays the first batch of eggs, fertilizing each egg with stored sperm. The eggs hatch in 6 days and grow as larvae for 8 days, taking another 9-10 days to mature into active workers, which then take over further nest-building while the Queen lays more eggs. As large as a soccer ball, this nest was really close to where we place one of our moth traps. (Mike McEvoy) The paper-like nest is usually suspended from a tree branch, as was the case at Thickson s Woods, but it can also be under the eaves of a roof or on other man-made structures. When the nest is completed it can be the size of a soccer ball, with the entrance at the bottom of the nest. Inside are layers of paper cells that look like the honeycombs of a honey bee hive. A fully finished nest can house hornets.

10 Bald-faced Hornet (Mike McEvoy) The first batch of workers guards the nest while the Queen lays more eggs. As the eggs become larvae, the workers feed them on insects, nectar, tree sap, and fruit pulp. The workers also prey on the smaller yellow jackets, which they chew up and feed to the larvae. Later in the summer and early fall, the Queen begins to lay more eggs, some of which will become non-stinging male drones and others, females that will become new Queens. These fertile males and females fly off to mate, and once the males have done their duty, with nothing else to do, will seek out nectar or anything sweet like your beer at the barbecue or jam sandwiches at a picnic. The new Queens find a safe spot to overwinter while all the males and the female workers eventually die, usually at the first frost, as does the old Queen. A fascinating life history! Penn State Department of Entomology - Fact Sheet Marshall, S.A Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity. Phill Holder Thank you for your support We would like to congratulate Adam Rosso for winning the CANWEA Matt Holder Community Connection Award and thank the Rosso family, Adam, Simona, Claire, Violet, and Emily for their very generous donation.

11 (Mike McEvoy) We are fortunate that many of the residents of Thickson s Woods have taken an interest in our biodiversity research and it is rewarding when a resident alerts us to their discoveries like this Cecropia Moth caterpillar. At 10cm long this really is impressive. Publications available from FieldIdentificationSeries BATS OF ONTARIO Field Identification Series THE BASICS OF BIRD IDENTIFICATION Bird Topography FieldIdentificationSeries SILKWORM AND SPHINX MOTHS of Southern Ontario FieldIdentificationSeries SHOREBIRDS of Southern Ontario TOBY J. THORNE with illustra ons by Fiona A. Reid Ma Holder Environmental Research Fund Published by Hawk Owl Publishing PHILL HOLDER and MARGARET BAIN Matt Holder Environmental Education Fund Published by Hawk Owl Publishing DAVID BEADLE Matt Holder Environmental Education Fund Published by Hawk Owl Publishing JEAN IRON Matt Holder Environmental Education Fund Published by Hawk Owl Publishing THE BIRDS OF THICKSON S WOODS WHITBY ONTARIO Annotated Checklist PHILL HOLDER AND MARGARET BAIN

12 Bumble Bee Project (Mike McEvoy) Left: Sarah Johnson checking for Bumble Bee activity in one of our boxes. Above: a Two-spotted Bumble Bee. Right: a Common Eastern Bumble Bee wet with morning dew. (Mike McEvoy) We had black ants, red ants, slugs, spiders, earwigs, snails, and even two White-footed mice in our Bumble Bee boxes. Alas no Bumble Bees made their home in our boxes although we did see some bees checking them out early in the spring. Even though we did not get the results we hoped for, it was fun and we gained a lot of experience for next year, thanks to Sarah Johnson the Lead Biologist for the Native Pollinator Initiative at Wildlife Preservation Canada. She was always very helpful and optimistic. We will be continuing with the program next year and hopefully be more successful. We will certainly be placing the boxes where we can locate them without having to search through waist high vegetation or anywhere near the Red Fire Ant colonies. We did find lots of Bumble Bees throughout the Reserve and of three different species: Two-spotted, Common Eastern and Brown-belted. Wildlife Preservation Canada have a very good Bumble Bee Identification Chart which is available to download from their web site Thanks to Mike McEvoy, Graham Carmichael, Randal Heide, Executive Director of WPC and of course we couldn t have got this far without all the help from Sarah. Phill Holder (Phill Holder)

13 Painted Lady Butterfly Vanessa cardui The cosmopolitan Painted Lady butterfly Vanessa cardui can be found on almost all continents except Antarctica and South America. It also migrates long distances, similar to the famous Monarch butterfly. Painted Lady butterflies are typically uncommon in Ontario, but 2017 seems to have been a bumper year for them. So much so that the National Weather Service thought they were birds migrating when the mass movement appeared on their radar! The butterflies we are seeing are making their way to the southern United States and possibly northern Mexico to overwinter. These butterflies are strong fliers and can fly at an altitude of hundreds of metres during migration. However, if the wind conditions are off they ll take a break and refuel. The warm spell in September was perfect for them to feed on the late blooming goldenrods and asters in southern Ontario, and enjoyable for us onlookers as they made a pit stop in their journey. Jenna Siu We have seen quite a lot of Painted Lady butterflies at Thicksons s recently and I managed to get some photographs as a few visited a residents garden. (Phill Holder). Image copyrightusfws The radar capture (left) is extraordinary. Scientists at the National Weather Service (NWS) in Colorado noticed this unusual pattern was different from birds and later it was determined that the 110km wide pattern was caused by what must have been millions of Painted Lady butterflies. Birds Painted Lady Butterflies Go to for more on this phenomenal story.

14 As with all hummingbirds, males migrate earlier than females and immatures, so it was not at all surprising for a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird to be photographed on October 1st (Ed McAskill). All images and content copyright Hawk Owl Publishing