Volunteering at Wings of Fancy at Brookside Gardens V-X

In the training for volunteers at Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy, they told us it would take about 10 shifts to feel comfortable with all the roles; I have that many now and have decided that it’s all about getting comfortable enough to accept the variability in the people that come to the exhibit and the environment (temperature, humidity) during the shifts. There has been something unique about each of my shifts so far…and I’ve enjoyed the 30 minutes I have walking around the gardens before each shift – taking pictures there and then locking my camera in a locker while I am busy with my shift. So – here are some images and notes from my July shifts at Wings of Fancy!

Before the 5^th shift, I noticed moisture on a very thorny plant and a small green insect (grasshopper?) that was decorating a yellow flower (also full of water droplets).

I walked toward the anniversary grove and saw a very trusting chipmunk. During the unique event of the shift inside the butterfly exhibit were owl caterpillars. They had hatched from eggs laid on a canna plant. They were so tiny compared to the butterfly they will eventually become!

The walk before the 6^th shift was frustrating. I only had my cell phone with me and there were so many insects that I saw but couldn’t photography well without the zoom of my camera. I did take a picture of the construction going at the Nature Center next door to the Brookside Gardens Conservatories. Inside the butterfly house there were mystery caterpillars! They had hatched from eggs laid on a plant in the basil family – not one that is normally deemed to be a host plant. But the caterpillars were growing like crazy eating it. They were thought to be tropical swallowtail caterpillars. One had already made a chrysalis.

I brought my camera to use on my walk before the 7^th shift. I took a couple of zoomed pictures of some flowers along the boardwalk between the conservatories and the nature center.

But best picture was of a very black dragonfly…a picture I would have missed if I’d only had my cell phone. Inside the caterpillar house there were still 3 cecropia moth caterpillars but they were all huge. It won’t be long before they will all be cocoons and we’ll need other stars for the caterpillar part of the exhibit.

I took even more insect pictures before the 8^th shift – all along the walk up to the ticket taking station to the butterfly exhibit. There were bees and skippers all over the cone flowers.

And a milkweed bug on some milkweed. The unique event of the shift was that the volunteer contingent was short the ticket taker so I moved from being a flight attendant to ticket taker. It was good to be outdoors for the shift but I prefer the flight attendant role.

Before the 9^th shift, I walked over to the anniversary grove and saw the chipmunk again. As I walked back toward the Conservatories, I saw a flower that was poised to unfurl

And a wasp exploring on a nearby plant.

I walked through the parking lot to check the boardwalk and found  Joe-Pye Weed before I got there….and it was full of butterflies. I took picture of two spice bush swallowtail butterflies. One was very battered and the other in better condition.

Inside the caterpillar house the new stars were Monarch and Queen caterpillars. They were too small to tell apart (without a magnifying glass – which we didn’t have). All the cecropia moths had made their cocoons.

The walk before the 10^th shift started at the Joe Pye Weed. There were at least 8 eastern tiger swallowtails on the plants! The ones with more blue around the bottom edge of the wings are females; the ones without blue are the males.

There are beginning to be some precursors to fall from the trees

Although there are still a lot of flowers full of pollen for bees (like this hibiscus).

The unique part of shift was the key lime plant was drawing tropical swallowtails to lay eggs. Many of the visitors not only got to see eggs already on the plant but butterflies in the act. As I was explaining what was happening to a group, a butterfly landing on my hand and laid an egg on my ring (a very confused butterfly, obviously)!

Previous posts re Volunteering at Wings of Fancy: prep, I, II-IV.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in June 2017 – Insects

We made our first visit of the year to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens yesterday. There are so many things I noticed in the gardens that I am doing multiple posts: insects, birds, waterlilies, magnolias, lotus, and turtles. There are three types of insects I’ll highlight: bees, butterflies, and dragonflies. The bumblebee I photographed was on a buttonbush. Most of the plants are not in bloom yet so the few lowers were very popular. I noticed that there was only one bee per flower! The pickerel weeds were in full bloom and they were attracting bees as well.

I photographed a tiger swallowtail on the pickerel weed. There were not very many butterflies around the garden yet. Perhaps there will be more as the summer progresses.

The main insect my husband and it try to photograph at the gardens is dragonflies. They seemed to be a lot of them flying around but not as many were sitting long enough to photography. I managed to get at 6 different kinds: greenish area around wing attachment with brownish ‘dash’ near tip of otherwise clear wings,

Could be a different perspective on the same kind…or not (the wing attachment area does not look green and the clear part of the wings has an amber tinge),

Brownish red coloring and smaller than the previous dragonflies,

Fuzzy at wing attachment and black markings across the wings (clear tips of wing) – maybe Common Whitetail male,

Brown body and black markings across the wings (dark tips of wings) – maybe a Common Whitetail female, and

Clear wings outlined in black around the tip.

I’m sure we’ll go to the gardens again this summer. I wonder if I’ll see the same or different dragonflies.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 10, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Is air pollution getting worse or better? – Overall, air quality has improved…but we’ve also learned more about the harm air pollution causes…and there is still a lot more that needs to be done both is improving air quality and understanding aspects that are the most problematic.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #89 and #90 – Two groups of bird pictures. Which ones are your favorites? The first group includes the mating display of the great egret. My favorites in the second group are two of birds in flight: a wood duck and a peacock.

Artist uses fire and smoke to create incredible paintings of birds – More birds....images made with fire, soot and acrylics.

Lavau Celtic Prince: 2,500-year-old royal tomb starts to reveal its secrets – A tomb in eastern France…I liked the pictures of the artifacts as they emerged during excavation.

Insects color our world – Beautiful images….and some tips on actions that can help insects in our environment.

The Kid’s Guide to How the Internet Works – When my daughter was in elementary school 20 years ago, they were beginning to teach children about how the internet works and internet safety. Now it seems like this instruction is even more needed – critical to our children’s wellbeing.

Did children build the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna? – An article about the excavation of a cemetery of children, teenagers, and young adults. Based on the analysis of the skeletons, many have traumatic injuries and degenerative conditions caused by frequent heavy labor.

The US Lags Behind in Meteorology – Europe has forged ahead at a time when the US has cut computing power, research budgets and the National Weather Service. The American weather models are increasingly being discounted for forecasts more than 3 days out.

Antarctica is turning green – Antarctica is warming at a faster rate than the global average…about 0.5 degrees Celsius each decade for the past 60 years. Instead of white, there is more and more green!

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens – A photo guide to common damselflies and dragonflies – A two page quick reference. My husband and I will use it later this month and in July when we visit Kenilworth – attempting to photograph dragonflies.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 3, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #88 – My favorite is the roadrunner with the lizard!

American Trees are Shifting West – Based on analysis of tree inventories done between 1980 and one finished in 2015 and included 86 species of trees.

New York Marine Life Revealed at Brooklyn Photo Exhibition – Underwater views by photographer Keith Ellenbogen….raising awareness of the conservation needs of local marine wildlife and their habitats.

An inside view of Hong Kong’s hidden rooftop farms – Born out of fear of contaminated food! Fresh, locally grown vegetables are a luxury in the big city that imports more than 90% of its food.

Monarch butterflies: the problem with herbicides – Research that looks at the many factors that contribute to the decline of this migratory insect. I know that in our areas of Maryland there are a lot fewer Monarch butterflies than 20 years ago.

It’s Not Easy Being a Hatchling – 3 osprey hatchlings…growing fast….the live cam feed is available here.

New Online Database Catalogues 20,000 Threatened Archaeological Sites – Armed conflict, looting, tourists, construction….there are a lot of sites at risk. The link is an introductory article; the site itself is here.

The future of employment – There are quite a few categories of jobs that will be done by computers rather than people in coming decades. Some – like registered nurses and teachers – will still be performed by people.

Extremely Detailed Macro Portraits of Colorfully Exotic Insects – Insects….done with one shot, not stacked images.

Vacation at Toadstool Geologic Park – Sometimes out of the way places hold a charm found no where else!

Brookside Gardens in March – Part II

When I went to check the skunk cabbage last week at Brookside Gardens, a disgruntled titmouse gave me the eye. That was the only bird I managed to photograph as I walked around the gardens.

The growth that I had noticed between two rocks by the stream last month is now blooming – narcissus.

There were also small flags

And crocus in bloom.

March had been off to a warm start but we had some cold days just before I went to Brookside so I was pleased to find some trees that looked undamaged by the cold.

The camellia was a pleasant surprise…and fortified me for what came next.

A magnolia was evidently in full bloom when the weather turned cold. Now all flowers are brown. There could be a few buds that may still open. I’ll check next time I go. It's a very large tree that usually is full of large pick flowers....maybe not this year.

It was warm enough that there were a few insects out and about. Do you see the insect in this picture? (Hint: a little left and down from center.)

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 14, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Why some companies are trying to hire more people on the Autism Spectrum – The pilot programs in companies like SAP and Microsoft are net positive – for the companies and the high functioning autistic people they employ.

Ancient Chaco Canyon population likely relied on imported food – There is physical evidence that timbers, pottery and chert in Chaco came from the Chuska Mountains which are some 50 miles west of Chaco Canyon; corn probably did too. The soils in the canyon and the its tributaries are too salty to grow enough to feed any sizable population.

Researchers record trillions of migrating insects swarming through the skies – A study monitored insects flying over southern England above 500 feet. There were a lot more than expected – insects that move north in the spring and south in the fall. 70% of the migration takes place in daylight hours. A similar study of insect migration has been started in Texas…and had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of invertebrate they are finding!

The Next Big Thing: Healthy Homes – Important to think about for long term health….and maybe not as expensive as it once was.

What have the world’s oldest mummies kept under wraps? – Digital reconstructions of 7,000 year old bodies from South America is in its initial stages. The mummies are deteriorating because of microbes that are more active as the climate of the Atacama becomes more humid.

2016: Compound Interest’s Year in Review –  I like this site…and have included some of these postings when they originally came out…but there were more that were interesting.

United Stated of Cookies – A cookie for each state….and the recipe for it. Maryland is the Berger Cookie.

Scientists can now make lithium-ion batteries last a lifetime – Sometimes small changes make a big difference!

How the world’s biggest cities are fighting smog – There are techniques to take smog out of city air…technologies to apply in parallel with reducing pollution at its source. In many cities – both strategies are urgently needed.

Twelve new tombs discovered in Gebel el Silsila, Egypt – Even with so much focus on archeology in Egypt…there are still new finds.