These critters were near the entrance to St Amants Restaurant Friday morning…

Here is a wonderful website:  SELECTED MOTHS FROM ONTARIO CANADA

You can determine which one(s) are tent caterpillar moths!

Yes, that is D’s hand.  We made sure that she washed them before heading back into the kitchen!

An inflorescence is the seed bearing part of a plant.  A plant’s inflorescence often takes the form of a flower or a panicle in the case of most grasses.

Here is a nice primer.

I decided to look more closely at the timothy  and other grasses growing in local fields:

There seems to be two colours to the stamens. Different varieties? maturities?  You’ll have to click on these to see the structures:

I think that I caught this one just as it was maturing … as the stamens were extending out from the core of the seed head.

Classic panicle from some kind of grass.

We used to call this one orchard grass. It grows to about 3′ high.  This image shows the seed head, panicle, “unfolding”.

A slightly different structure.

Elegant droop…. which gets more erect as the plant matures over the next few hours.

I have become quite intrigued by the huge variety of Thalictrum flowers to be seen at the edges of streams and fields.  It seems that we have two varieties and many changes as the plant matures.

Quite early in the blossoming process …

Later, more mature stages of the inflorescence:

Some more showy, conventional flowers:

Daylilies are coming into their prime now…

Viper’s Bugloss

Evening Primroses are starting

As are the Rudbeckias, with a fly that mimics a bee.

These shrubs are coming into blossom, just past the late Reno and Peter’s corner on Riverside Rd.  They look like Buckthorns to me, especially the second one.

And, of course, we are being watched by this “bandit”:

I am having a hard time keeping up to the explosion of life taking place at this latitude.  I can imagine how quickly it is moving up North!

PS   I was reminded yesterday of my error a few weeks ago where I called a peony a dahlia.  Sorry.

Visited the Old Still River Road to see some fireweed, lil birdies, a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers and the vestigia of Lowbush Cranberry.

Hazelnuts are growing quickly:

Lil sparrow?

Two Hairy Woodpeckers rummaging for bugs under the bark of dead elm trees…

Remnants of the Lowbush Cranberry Bog after the roads crew replaced the nearby steel culvert with a plastic one.  The low lying bog was removed, perhaps to regrow over the next 25 years or so.  Sorta makes one appreciate nature whenever it is visible.  Here today, gone tomorrow!

Short time with the camera today.  Getting organized for other activities.

Here is an example of the beautiful Mallows across from D’s Place, near St Amants bottle return shed.

A good cluster of Common Rush (as opposed to Grass or Sedge).

Special inflorescence on the rush:  ( I can easily see the spider web on the enlarged version but no spider.   You?)

And speaking of inflorescence, the Meadow Rue, Thalictrum is starting to set seed now.

Suddenly the buds and blossoms are showing in the (well hidden) Lowbush Cranberry bog on Old Still River Road.  The bumble bee is ensuring that we’ll have a crop to harvest at Thanksgiving time.

The sun was partially obscured by smoke from the Northern Saskatchewan wildfires giving a reddish tinge to the light.

Viper’s Bugloss up close.  Apparently the structure minimizes evaporation of the nectar by sunshine and prevents dilution by rainfall.

A Yellow Warbler peaking out from the Tag Alders on Hwy 529.

A nice patch of Oxeye Daisies.

This is as close as I could get to this rangy bear before it ran off into the bush … on the way to Byng Inlet.

I think that this is an immature Goldfinch as it stayed in one spot while another one flitted around it.

This is the one that was doing the flitting.  Mother?

This Chipmunk paused in its scampering to check out the camera.

This is the remains of an old house that burned to the ground overnight.

Big Lake Pickerel Weeds in the setting sunlight.

Oft-photographed Big Lake in a different light.

Ditto.

A drive down Hwy 529 yielded these sights:

Arctic Skipper?

Back end of a ?? before it flew off.

Even the iridescent thorax doesn’t help me ID this moth:  HELP!

Swamp Candle, which I have just learned is NOT part of the Solidago (Goldenrod) family.

Taking some lunch home for the kids?

This Goatsbeard Umbel is worth clicking on.

Dogbane has similar toxic latex as the milkweed is a common food source.  AKA Indian hemp

Another little beetle looking for food on the Common Milkweed.

Iris versacolor are just about finished their blooming period (about 3 weeks).  All the energy is now going into the seed pods, later into the rhizomes for next spring’s rapid growth.

I couldn’t resist showing you this nice shadow of this Viceroy.

The smoke from the fires out west are spreading over the Great Lakes giving a red tinge to the evening sun.  Next post.

Took a detour to Skerryvore on the way to Parry Sound and took some pictures.

Results:

Vipers’ Bugloss sans honeybees.  (Click on the image to enlarge.  See any bees?  Normally these patches are “swarming” with honeybees.)  This plant is one of the most stable sources of nectar for honeybees.

Several Scenic Moose pastures

Nice drive.

Yes, a female, judging by its white wingtips …

White Admiral …  stirring something up.

Male … ebony jewelwing.

Lack of streaking on breast indicates female or juvenile American Goldfinch.

and a nearby Male American Goldfinch.

I liked the colours so I took a picture.

Line astern formation.  Searching the reeds for grasshoppers and other insects.

A songsparrow, perhaps?

Mourning cloak, one of the few butterflies that overwinter in the leaf litter or in the bark of trees.

Elusive American Redstart.  I don’t have many photos of these this year.

I have a lot more of these warblers … Chestnut Sided.

I spent some time with Stan and Harry who were removing the branches that covered the lodges at the  Sundance ceremonies at Portage Lake.  Many Crees (Moose clan) from the James Bay coast and Anishinaabe (Beaver clan)  from the Great Lakes gathered for 4 days of drumming, fasting, rituals and celebrations,  sleeping in lodges formed by these frames.

Portage Lake Dragonfly.

Red Winged Blackbirds don’t  let me get too close.

Nice Wild Chicory are starting to bloom along the shoulders of the roads now.

The Canada Geese and Mallard Duck families are maturing rapidly.   Here is a proud Mallard mom:

… with her ducklings:

I was asked if I’d ever seen more than one Clearwing at a time.  Rarely, as they tend to be territorial, like Ruby Throated hummingbirds.  Here are a couple of rare shots:

Very delicate, unknown moth:

Detail of one floret:

Mourning Cloak Butterfly:

Several folks have asked about the presence of the very dangerous Giant Hogweeds in the neighbourhood.  These are benign Cow Parsnips.

When in doubt avoid these large plants!