Wildlife mid 2009

[mark smyth]

Can I guess that the nest box wasnt deep enough?

New neighbours have brought two new cats to wind me up. My nest box for tits has been pulled down - young already gone. Today I bought some rat lime to catch the cats!

[ranunculus]

Do yo think they are practising for a new series called 'Come Swimming', Cliff  

Could be 'Goose swimming', Robin with Jane McDonald, Coleen Nolan, Carol McGiffin, Andrea McLean, Denise Welch, Sherrie Hewson and Lynda Bellingham?  Especially if one has a lisp! 

Apologies to the non-Brits - this is quite parochial.

[Lori S.]

A small group of pronghorns ("prong-horned antelope"), near Hanna, Alberta, today...  There is a little history (very recent, by European standards!) at the same location... the sign commemorates the school district of Blairgowrie, which existed in the vicinity from 1922 to 1938.
The third photo is pure prairies... note the barbed wire fence and caragana windbreak!

[Paul T]

Lori,

Are the antelope endemic to Alberta?  I don't sort of think of Canada and immediately think of antelope?  Are they escapees?

We get deer wild not far from here (there is a herd of them that visit's my sister's property 40 minutes from here), but they are not native to Australia, just brought in for hunting/eating purposes and have gone wild.  They can be a bit of a problem in some of the National Parks here in Aus as they breed too freely.  I know that they are a big problem in the US too, particularly in many of the Trillium habitats where they are threatening to wipe out some colonies through repeated grazing.

[gote]

Friday evening, (5/6) I tried to take a look at my wagtails. They were still in the nest. They gave me a look and four of them flew away around my ears. The fifth had entangled its claw in the nest and was 1-2 seconds later to take off. All five obviously healthy and sure on their wings   
We can now use the terrace 
Göte

[Anthony Darby]

Pronghorns definitely native to North America Paul.

[Paul T]

Fascinating, Anthony.  I've never thought of "antelope" as outside of the African continent.  You learn something new every day (thankfully, otherwise it would be pretty darn boring!  )

Thanks for the info. 

[Lori S.]

I should have been more precise... "antelope" is merely a common name, and very much a misnomer.  They are actually the only surviving species of an entirely different ungulate family... quite fascinating...
Their behavior is also very interesting.  Pronghorns are built for speed, very fitting to their grassland habitat (though I've only seen them lounging around in pastures!), and have phenomenal eyesight.  Rather than jumping fences, as deer do, they crawl under the lowest strand.  One used to see them only in the southernmost parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan, but in recent decades, they have made their way somewhat northward, and are a regular sight along that particular stretch of highway.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn

[Hristo]

Currently mobbing the various dianthus species in the garden are these beauties, Pandoriana pandora or the Cardinal Butterfly.
Large butterflies, comparable in size to the Swallowtail. Only problem, the food plant for the caterpillar is Viola and Pansy!!!!

[Ragged Robin]

An evening walk in the meadow and the light was amazing, shimmering through the grasses where I ventured - then suddenly Parnassius Apollo was dancing there just in front of me displaying every angle of its fabulous butterfly body with gossamer wings 

[Maggi Young]

How lovely to see these butterflies dancing. I am very  fond of that scabious.... it's a real charmer I think.

[Hristo]

Cracking shots RR, was it an obliging subject?

[Lesley Cox]

The Apollo brings back happy memories of Greece. Nothing like them here though.

[Ragged Robin]

Maggi, Hristo and Leslie, thanks for looking at the Apollo butterfly dance and I'm glad you enjoyed it in situ with scabious at their peak of attraction.  It certainly performed well as I waited for it to settle - it took some luck and guess work to decide which scabious to focus on!  I'm wondering what flower attracted its attentions in Greece Leslie?

Hristo, your photo of the Cardinal Butterfly is a great sculptural shot - I love seeing the underside of butterfly wings and the different patterns and colouring of the scales - they are so animated at the moment, caught up in the joys of life 

[Anthony Darby]

Never seen a Cardinal, but saw apollos in the Italian Alps in 1988. I have bred them and the larvae are lovely and feed on Sedum album.

Here is a moth that emerged from its cocoon this morning: Coscinocera anteus (related to the Hercules moth of PNG and Australia) from wild collected eggs sent from New Guinea. I was sent a couple of caterpillars as the rearer was going to India. I took one back and kept the other.