A Smokey Day

Barton Mountain ridgeline about 3 PM

We had a vicious outbreak of wildfire smoke from Quebec yesterday. The air quality index rose throughout the day to a high of 219 around 3 AM this morning. The forecast said that it would improve at 9 AM today, but it has not been as quick a scouring as I had hoped. The air alert is now extended to 12 noon today. The AQI at 9:30 AM today is still at 169. I have opened one door and one window because it has been suffocating inside the house, even with a fan upstairs and down. Sleep was fitful and interrupted often. Lucy panted in the heat, but she and the cats remained in bed throughout the night.

The road to Lyndonville about 4 PM

This outbreak of smoke is not as bad as it was for Connecticut and Washington, DC in May, when their AQI went over 300 for days. But this doesn't happen here, and it was scary. I also have my end-of-school cold, so I was anxious and coughing and miserable.

Northern Vermont State University, Lyndonville

Leaving Orleans County to Caledonia County

Amy's neighborhood about 6 PM

I am, though, counting my blessings and more aware of the danger of forest fires. There almost was one here in the 1990s but it was doused before it was big. It could happen, and we have to be aware of our actions to avoid any fires. I also don't have to live in a fire area like the Canadians. I can't imagine what it is like to live close to it and see the land and wildlife that you love destroyed. 

Sunset in Barton

This was a high AQI at 9:30 PM but it only got worse

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Moths, Beetles, Spiders and Ticks

One-eyed Sphinx (Smerinthus cerisyi)

On Tuesday, June 20, we had an unscheduled bug hunt. I had sort of run out of lessons for the kids, so we went outside. I thought it would be to play, but they grabbed their bug containers and hunted. And they found some beauties!

I finally did my sphinx moth photos properly, with finger and head shots. I wish I had audio taped the student reactions when they saw me lift the moth on my finger the first time. The gasps were just huge. The little kids barely moved. When the moth began to shake as it warmed its wings, they warned me. Those little pre-K and K kids learn!

We had time to have other children hold the moth and they passed it finger to finger and quietly gasped and "aww-ed" as the moth walked on their hands. They had never experienced such a sensation before. I quickly took as many shots as possible.

The next moth they found was a hickory tussock moth. This is a fuzzy caterpillar moth that you do not want to touch. But the adult is gorgeous. Once again, we held it and passed it from child to child. By this time they had become old hands at moth handling. The boys were enchanted by the green eyes.

Hickory Tussock Moth (Lophocampa caryae)

Another moth, though, was my favorite of the day: the Splendid Dagger. I had never seen this one before, so it was a lifer for me. I have a fondness for black and white moths, just as I do for black and white cats.  😉

Splendid Dagger (Acronicta superans)

One boy, our youngest, has a passion for spiders. He even uses "arachnid" properly at his young age. He wants spider movies all the time, not insect videos. On the last day of school, I granted his wish and we watched the PBS Nature "The Spider Hunter" video. This sheet-weaver spider was his find. They actually do make webs that look like messy sheets.

Sheet-Weaver Spider (Subfamily Linyphiinae)

Blackclock Ground Beetle (Genus Pterostichus)

There seem to be a lot of ground beetles at school. Actually, there are a lot of ground beetles everywhere, but the kids at school always find them. In the fall, when the days and nights are warm, I will teach them how to make pitfall traps to capture them overnight.

When we released our bugs, the moths went straight for the shirt of Steve, the classroom counselor. That was fun for the kids and great for the camera.

American Dog Tick (Dermacentor variabilis)

Alas, when we came inside again, my little spider boy spied a tick on his sneaker. How he saw it baffles me. I could barely, barely see the dot on his shoe. I love my bug camera that zooms in so well. I now carry my tick kit (tweezers, identifying card and alcohol wipe) with me all the time because of Lucy and ticks this year. We carefully disposed of the tick properly.

I love my summers. But oh, I am going to miss those little boys. We did sneak one more hunt in on the last day of school after the spider video. That hunt was stupendous! Stay tuned.

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Almost the Last Bug Hunt

Soldier beetle (Cantharis livida)

Last week we had what I thought would be our last bug hunt at school (it wasn't). The kids found some interesting things in just a few minutes. Each photo is labeled.

I am so proud of what good caretakers of bugs the kids have become. They are not scared. They handle them correctly. They report quickly what they find. Finally, they release properly to the same spot that they found the creature.

On Steve's arm with a happy face.

We have a lot of fun with the kids and the bugs. I never expected Steve, the classroom counselor, to allow a soldier beetle on his arm, but he did and was very careful. There were a lot of jokes and laughter about man-eating bugs! In the end, though, the beetle threw Steve back, probably because he didn't taste good enough. 

Flying away

A slug. I have to do my slug and snail unit next year.

A crane fly

Unknown spider on student's finger

I still won't handle a spider in my hand, but this child did! I know of only one other student (in the high school) who will also hold spiders. In Vermont, there are no dangerous spiders, so there are no worries.

Asian Lady Beetle

I will miss having my little bug hunters gathering wonderful bugs and learning and constantly asking questions. I'm looking forward to next year.

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Non-native

A pollinating drone fly

This fly, while important for pollination, is probably not native. I won't know until its identity is confirmed. It's my first fly of the season and I was happy to find it. It's been so cold and windy at my house that I have barely seen anything fly or creep about.

I was not as happy to find it on cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). So we have a non-native fly pollinating a non-native, invasive plant in these photos. 

Anthriscus sylvestris

I'm going to have to stop getting exercised over non-natives. They are here to stay and I have no power over them. I'm going to sit back and simply enjoy the show. The cow parsley (also called wild chervil) is part of the carrot family. Those are the plants that black swallowtails love. I can't find a definitive answer on whether they use this one as a host plant. Cow parsley is invasive and quarantined by many states, so I can't plant it for butterflies. It will probably show up in the ditch in the road sooner or later because snow plows are one of the best spreaders of seed out there.

I will visit these plants as often as I can over the season to see if I can find any caterpillars.

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Puddling Crescents

Crescents (Genus Phyciodes)

I immediately need to explain why I have not identified these butterflies down to species. It's another genetic mess of similar species in the same genus: the Northern Crescent and the Pearl Crescent. In northern Vermont, we see both. My rule of thumb used to be that the Northerns had yellow clubs and were the first of the season. The Pearls were smaller and came later in the summer. But my identifications have been challenged by butterfly biologists, and one cannot argue with them. Now, I only go to genus. I can't even share any verified photos of either species because all IDs, I read, are suspect.

Pearl Crescents and Northern Crescents are often confused, and the identity of some examples shown on Butterfly websites and in books is debatable. Generally Northerns are obviously larger and dominated by orange above, with the dark borders tending to be narrower. The veins in the mid portion of the wing are more likely to be orange than in Pearl Crescents (more likely mostly black there). Pearls, especially the males, tend to have a lot more black above, and often very wide dark borders. Below Northerns tend to be more orange on the hind wings. Pearls often have the antennal clubs entirely dark or with only a small whitish tip (apparently the males always do in the Northeast), but this varies from place to place and individually. None of these is a totally relaible (sic) trait by itself, and the "overall picture" is important, one needs to avoid focusing on just one or two details when trying to separate these two species, and different traits may work better or worse in one region than in another. The traits of a line through the middle of the hind wing with dark veins in Pearls, and not in Northerns (at least in males) doesn't always work, and should be taken with a grain of salt.

from  "Species Phyciodes cocyta - Northern Crescent -Hodges#4481.1"

 But anyhow.

I came home to these two puddling in the driveway and was able to get some shots of them. They are beautiful, bright, tiny little creatures and I love to see them. Somehow, they impart happiness in ways that other butterflies do not.

If you want more identifying information on the two species, try these reads and photos:

• Northern Crescent
• Pearl Crescent

and, as Bugguide says:

• Not quite Northern or Pearl

I used to be obsessed with identifications being down to species. But that has, thankfully, passed. Now I can simply relax, enjoy, and take the best photos I can so that perhaps future people can settle their names. At least Phyciodes does not interbreed. That I know of.  😉

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A Small-eyed Sphinx

Small-eyed Sphinx - Hodges#7825 (Paonias myops)

     

This moth was given to the class by a tiny K student, who handled it ably and professionally as he was taught. He even refrigerated it to calm it so it would not ruin its scales. As always, we took photos in class, but I was so happy to see the moth and to hear how he handled it that I missed some vital poses that I usually take with sphinx moths: a hand shot, a close up headshot, and, necessary with sphinx moths, an open wing shot.  It was safely released when photos were completed.

I had never seen this species before. I've shot the plentiful one-eyed sphinx and blinded sphinx, but never this. I had not even heard of this species before. I've learned that it is not uncommon, not rare. It is present in southern Canada and nearly all of the US. It is plentiful. Just not on my land. All of the photos I have seen have the same saturated brown tones.

But why is it called small-eyed? I found a photo taken by my fellow moth-er Joanne Russo, one of Vermont's greatest moth photographers and chronicalers, and share it here. You can see the small, dark "eyes" when the wings are open.

Joanne Russo 

Some rights reserved.

Absolutely I am keeping my eyes wide open for more of this guy.

You can probably find it, too.

from bugguide.net

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A Canadian Tiger Swallowtail. I Think.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis)

The Eastern and Canadian Tiger Swallowtails are nearly identical except for bars and markings on the ventral side of the wings. You usually never see the bottom of the wing unless the butterfly is puddling: taking nutrients from wet soil. And that is what this one was doing.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtails puddling.

Puddling is usually done by male tiger swallowtails, but I have seen reference to females doing it occasionally. Apparently the males "gain virility" with the nutrients and salts obtained in the soil. Very often, there are beautiful groups of butterflies puddling. Yesterday there was just this one. I have only seen two this year because the two hard killer frosts in late May killed the lilac blossoms. When the lilacs bloom they are covered in the tiger swallowtails.

I do not have a verified photo of an Eastern Tiger. Usually they are labeled "tiger swallowtails and allies." But yesterday's tiger showed me under its wings. You will see a nearly solid black straight band on the edge of the wing. Eastern tigers have broken bands. My tentative identification is not yet confirmed, but I am feeling confident.

Ventral side of wing

The Canadian tigers are smaller than the Eastern tigers. They also appear before the Easterns. The species will also hybridize, creating new variations in their patterns. Identification can get complicated, if not impossible at times. 

More information:

• Canadian Tiger Swallowtails Puddling (Mary Holland)

• Taming the Tigers: An Identification Guide to Canadian and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and their Intergrades (Bryan Pfeiffer)

• Observations on the Puddling Behavior of the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio Glaucus Canadensis in Northern Michigan (J. Mark Scriber)

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Bill & Hillary

Meet Bill & Hillary

In the spring of 2016, during the Clinton and Trump presidential times, I had a classroom counselor whose name was Andrew. He was the best counselor there was in the school, yet he was so young. He was so young, that I had taught him mathematics in fifth grade. We developed a terrific relationship with each other and with years of kids and were known for being able to complete each other's sentences. 

One day, a mated pair of mallards showed up at school and came every day. Andrew and I called them Hillary and Bill. A third male tried to steal Hillary away from Bill, and we named him Donald. But Hillary and Bill stayed together and even came back with their ducklings. 

Andrew has moved on to US Customs now. I don't work full time anymore, and time continues on. Thankfully, nature gives us the same cycles that we can pretty much rely on year after year that blunt the sadness of loss. So I was thrilled to see another Hillary and Bill at school yesterday. They were being fed by Sarah, our executive  secretary. She reminisced also about a pair of white ducks that she used to have on the lake. Each summer they would live wild and each winter they would return to the farm for shelter. When they died, the town posted memorials for them. 

This year, Hillary and Bill are not as wild as the first pair. They even attempted to enter the school! I almost wish they had. But we can't let them. It's a violation of state law to even feed them, let alone allow them to enter.

See you later!

We have eight more days of school. There's a field day, a beach day (if it warms up), an ice cream day, and cleaning up. I'm glad Hillary and Bill will be hanging around.

_/\_/\_

New Swallowtails

Eastern Black Swallowtail
Papilio polyxenes
male

As we have done every season, Jody gifts me caterpillars from her garden and I raise them. I only received two Eastern Black Swallowtails last summer from her, though. (Come to find out, she gave dozens to kids in her neighborhood in order to raise awareness and curiosity.) I was not hopeful that my two would survive the winter. The enclosure got knocked over by unknowing people in the winter, causing one chrysalis harness to break so that it was lying on the enclosure floor. Like Monarchs, the black swallowtails are supposed to eclose head up so that they can successfully pump their wings with fluid from their abdomen. I have read that if that does not happen, they do not survive. I could have repaired it, but the chrysalis grew fuzz, so I assumed it was infected with something and would not survive.

Amy came today and told me I had a butterfly. It was the broken harness butterfly. We took him out into the sunshine, photographed it, and set it free. It soon flew away to a new life. 

Swallowtail #1 (also male) is held by Amy and shaded by me.

Amy and I then ran errands at the pharmacy, gas station, metal recycling, bottle recycling, and a store where we ended up chatting with the owners. When I returned home, the other swallowtail had eclosed! What to do? It threatened rain and was cold. After a very hot three days, our temperatures have sunk to a high of 59° today and will be colder tomorrow. That is not butterfly weather! I couldn't keep it, either, because I am not able to feed it. I let it pump its wings up and dry off and then the sun came out. Lucy and I immediately went outside for photos and release. It settled on bedstraw and orientated itself to the sun for warmth and to finish drying, which is the first photo. 

A swallowtail still in the enclosure displaying its beautiful underwing.

I texted Jody with the photos and she reported that her neighbors had five eclose yesterday: four males and one female. I still have two unknown cocoons: one from this spring that a student gave me, and one from last year. I doubt either will eclose, but I will hang on to them. 

Swallowtail 2 was lively and walked up my sweater.

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Anna Goes to South Carolina

2:05

Anna left New Haven yesterday from Tweed-New Haven Airport to attend the graduation of a niece in South Carolina. I was fascinated that they were allowed wifi and transmitted the takeoff. How fun to watch! Wifi was in and out during the flight and I missed the landing by seconds. Even over the Atlantic, I could see her live on the phone.

I apologize for the one little glitch: my meds notification on the phone.

Here is a video of the takeoff made by Anna.

00:06

The plane in New Haven

00:08

I don't recognize where this was filmed during the flight.

Screenshots from Find My of Anna in the air:

Finally, taxiing into the airport at Myrtle Beach:

00:17

Watching the kids travelling—to Barcelona, Cuba, Los Angeles, Texas—fascinates me somehow. Or perhaps these are only images that a mother could love. 😉🤷

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