Bug Update

Time for a little bug update...first, a picture of the mounted luna moths with a great self portrait reflected in the glass.

Next, the mounted cecropia I found in June with a clear wing moth to the left, an unidentified gray moth at the top, and the white one is actually a species of tiger moth. Sadly, it's quite small and when it went to sleep its wings were folded. I'm hoping to get another to put on its back with its wings spread so the underside will be visible and you'll be able to see why it's called a tiger moth.

Today, the Wookie and I did a 24 k ride on the St. Margaret's Bay Trail. We went as far as the Ingramport River. It's a beautiful trail that we hadn't been on for a year due to the many rocky areas. Since last year its been resurfaced so it was a much better ride. I'm pleased to say I didn't forget to unclip my feet once! Yay! We also saw lots of bugs, a snake , and a shrew or a mouse making a mad dash to cross the trail. It got a third of the way across and dashed back into the bushes as we were almost on top of it. I picked up a very tired bumble bee off the trail so it wouldn't be run over and after a few seconds she decided to fly off, seemingly recovered. We also found a very common caterpillar, though I'd never photographed one before or identified it. I'm pleased to say it's a Tussock moth caterpillar. There are several hundred species of them in the world so I'm not sure which one this is. It may be the Rusty Tussock moth.
(By the way, that's our old logo for the station I work at. We're still classic hits, kind of, and the dot is gone...it's back to being a "point". And our new tag line is "We play anything.")

The other interesting caterpillar we came across was a species of wooly bear, but one I'd never seen before. It had the most gorgeous sable coloured hair with very light blue spots on its body segments. I suspect it's a species of tiger moth (as most wooly bears appear to be) but I'm not sure which one.

I have about 5-8 more moths to mount and hopefully will get to them in the next week or so.

On the butt front, so to speak, I have a huge bruise and two other smaller ones on my butt and hip. No pictures, sorry, and my right lower leg looks like it had a run in with several coffee tables. Thankfully nothing was broken and I had no pain riding today.

Back to work tomorrow after several days off and I can guarantee it's going to be busy. Hope the place didn't fall apart while I was out exploring...

S.