28 de abril de 2023

Emergence at Construction Staging Site

I continue to check this area south of Lake Kittamaqundi (and off South Entrance Rd.) in Columbia for our county butterfly survey. Last year, it was the only place where I found Common Checkered Skipper. Yesterday, I had another look, hoping for more butterflies after recent heavy rain finally gave the ground a soaking following a dry spell. I didn't find that many species, but Eastern Tailed-blue and Pearl Crescent obviously had emerged recently. I counted 8 of the Tailed-blues and saw at least 7 Crescents. The Tailed-blues, males and females, were posing nicely with wings open.

Posted on 28 de abril de 2023, 03:44 PM by cgkoonce cgkoonce | 2 observações | 0 comentários | Deixar um comentário

30 de janeiro de 2023

Old Photos -- New Entries (and trusty old compact camera)

While clearing out older files in my photo editor, I'm coming across items suitable for iNaturalist and other wildlife monitoring platforms. I took a lot of photos before I joined any of these forums, enthusiastic about my new ultrazoom point-and-shoot camera; however, I'm finding many taken with my old Canon ELPH 100 compact camera. Even with some deterioration in its optics and intrusion by dust specks or stains, it gets some good shots when the light is bright, and later editing can make them even better. (By the way, I discovered with the help of tips posted online by other photographers, that some of the specks and stains in the camera's optics can be removed by holding a vacuum cleaner over the extended lens. I've done that a couple of times, and now I keep the camera closed up in a bag to protect it from dust when not in use.)

Butterfly photos [to be] linked to this post were taken with the ELPH. The American copper and great spangled fritillary are species we are not finding as much recently in our Howard County Butterfly Survey. There is also a golden-backed snipe fly, taken with my ultrazoom.

(Another camera tip: Resist temptation to take quick shots in light rain or any rain with an ultrazoom. The retracting lens when you turn the camera off carries moisture into the camera body, and I have had to buy a new ultrazoom as a result of the damage to the optics and electronics. Somebody online had suggested that taking such shots was possible, but they probably were thinking of DSLR's with separate lens component which does not retract into the camera.)

Posted on 30 de janeiro de 2023, 03:09 PM by cgkoonce cgkoonce | 7 observações | 0 comentários | Deixar um comentário

06 de novembro de 2022

Schooley Mill Park Butterflies; Another Warm November Day

As the unseasonable warm trend continued, I decided to visit Schooley Mill Park yesterday, Nov. 5. With its abundant wildflowers, this park had been a good place to find butterflies earlier this year. Temperature was about 75 F when I arrived; sunny with some cloud cover. However, it was also breezy, which I think kept the number of butterflies down. Total of five species found, also reported to our Howard County butterfly survey:

1 Sachem
2 Orange Sulphur
1 Variegated Fritillary
3 Pearl Crescent
2 Common Buckeye

The linked photos are pinned to the general area of the park where I found those individuals. Others were seen around the park.

After Schooley Mill Park, I drove up to the Howard County Conservancy at Mount Pleasant. This is usually a great place to find butterflies. (It is included in the list of noted places to observe in Butterflies of the Mid-Atlantic by Blakney and Gallagher.) By the time I was there, temperature was closer to 80 F, but breeze persisted and was quite gusty at times. Other than a probable lone pearl crescent flitting low over the mowed grass trail ahead of me, this visit to the Conservancy turned up no butterflies.

Posted on 06 de novembro de 2022, 01:23 PM by cgkoonce cgkoonce | 3 observações | 0 comentários | Deixar um comentário

05 de novembro de 2022

Construction Staging Site Attracting Butterflies

This area of disturbed ground south of Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia, Maryland, has been productive for butterfly-watching this year. I have been visiting it regularly during walks around the lake for our county butterfly survey*, and it continues to attract butterflies as a warm weather trend continues in November. Yesterday, November 4, felt like butterfly lisiting I had been doing in September and early October. Meanwhile, other areas nearby where I could expect to find butterflies might have only the odd orange sulphur or cabbage white, though bees and pollinating flies were active in them. The abundance of butterflies persists at this particular area thanks to abundance of white or heath aster, the main nectar supply now. Goldenrod continues to bloom here, but it does not seem to have the same attraction. (Boneset was another nectar source earlier.) Additionally, the wide expanse of disturbed ground created by the human activity provides plenty of puddling opportunity.

The staging site apparently supports ongoing development in the nearby Merriweather District. Various heaps of soil, gravel, rubble and other material appear and disappear. Some construction vehicles and equipment are left parked in the section closer to the road. In fact, when I'm visiting I must take care to watch out if operators are moving the vehicles and stay at the end of the site away from the road. I usually enter and leave through the narrow verge of mowed grass and wildflowers separating the site from the paved path along it, a branch of the lake circuit path.

Species of note: I list at other locations, but the only Common Checkered-Skippers I have found this year have been at this one. Two yesterday; one a month or two ago. I recall finding one here a few years ago before the construction activity began, and it was the only one I saw that year, too.

*Howard County butterfly survey, managed by members of the Howard County Bird Club.

Posted on 05 de novembro de 2022, 01:10 PM by cgkoonce cgkoonce | 13 observações | 1 comentário | Deixar um comentário

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