Egret Fancies

A recent sighting of Great Egrets at Halibut Point precipitated these curious images.

The egrets appeared like elongated gulls preening on a quarry wall.

Optical neurons fired phantasmic interpretations of the elements.

Birds of marsh and cove, islands and estuaries, adjusted their postures to rocky precipices.

Highlights exchanged places with shadows. A Green Heron sought its promontory.

The heron looked skyward as its exotic cousins took flight.

The egrets befriended the air, watery terrain shimmering beneath their silhouettes.

Meadowsweet Trilogy, Part 3 - Butterflies and Moths

 

Spring Azure on a budding meadowsweet shrub Spiraea alba

Butterflies and flowers have formed a couplet in my mind since an early age. I expected to see them abundantly paired on the meadowsweet shrubs currently in bloom, but the nectar so delectable to many winged insects has seldom attracted butterflies. That scarcity reflects concerns about worldwide population declines of Lepidoptera.

Gray Hairstreak butterfly

Lepidoptera, the taxonomic order of butterflies and moths, encompasses one of our most beautiful and recognizable insect groups. Its name derives from the Greek words for 'scale' and 'wing'. The minute scales that cover their bodies, often in colorful patterns, distinguish Lepidoptera from all other animal forms.

Grapeleaf Skeletonizer moth

Many of us have a hunch about distinctions between butterflies and moths, but as we learn more the exceptions undermine attempts at firming the categories. Absolute classification has proven elusive under the lens of modern scientific research. For generalists like you and me antenna shape is a helpful guide. In the first two photographs above butterflies show their typical filaments, segmented and ending in a club. They contrast with the moth in the third photograph with feathery antennae, quite plume-like in this case. A glimpse of the antennae will usually (but not always) get you on the right track in separating butterflies from moths.

An inconclusive subject, nevertheless a moth

Very often moths at rest fold their wings back over their abdomens rather than extending them upright or to the side like many butterflies. Very often moths present a chunkier appearance than butterflies.

Here in Massachusetts there are many more species of moths than butterflies, that we seldom see because they are commonly nocturnal. Nighttime activity gives advantage to drab coloration and to markings that aid camouflage by day, whereas bright pigmentation frequently seen on butterflies may warn predators of a day flyer's inherent or mimicked toxicity. But not all moths and butterflies fall neatly into these patterns.

Unlike butterflies, a moth's forewings are joined to its hind wings by coupling mechanisms to help the wings work in unison during flight.

Most Lepidoptera larvae (caterpillars) construct protective coverings within which they metamorphose to the pupal stage. Moth larvae almost always make cocoons, wrapped in a silk covering, while butterfly larvae make a hard, smooth chrysalis with no silk covering.

Butterflies and moths tend to have different types of compound eyes. Most moths' eyes function well in low light environments. Butterfly vision typically emphasizes acute resolution and color perception that are more advantageous in daytime.

Spring Azure butterfly

Meadowsweet shrubs host the Spring Azure in both its adult and larval phases. This species' wings present a lovely fleeting blue in flight that is rarely visible when the butterfly is perched.

Namesake azure on an upper wing surface 

Springtime Azures are followed by successive generations throughout the summer, often with slightly different markings that stimulate discussion on sorting them within the "Spring Azure Complex." One website of The North America Butterfly Association quips that "all it takes for a spirited argument are two taxonomists and one azure." What is inarguable is delight at the startling brilliance fluttering by.

Meadowsweet Trilogy, Part 2 - Bees, Wasps, Ants, and Sawflies

At full bloom and fragrance, the panicles of White Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) attract a varied host of pollinators around the open terrain of Halibut Point. Individual flowers measure about a quarter of an inch across.

(Left) Northern Paper Wasp
(Top Center) Andrenid Bee
(Bottom Center) Tumbling Flower Beetle
(Right) Argid Sawfly

The most noticeable pollinators are bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies comprising the taxonomic order Hymenoptera (from the Greek 'membrane' + 'wings'). Unlike other insects, they all have four flight wings with the hind wings connected to the forewings by a series of hooks.

A worker ant foraging in White Meadowsweet

Ants that visit the meadowsweet flowers are sterile, flightless female workers. Winged male drones and queens leave the nesting chambers only at mating time in preparation for swarming to a new colony.

A braconid wasp with a long ovipositor

Although some adult wasps feed on flower nectar they are not nearly as important as bees in the pollination of flowers. Many hunt and paralyze insect prey as a source of food for their young that develop from eggs inserted with the ovipositor.

Beewolf Philanthus gibbosus, Crabronidae

The beewolf is named for its predation practices. Adults eat nectar but capture other insects to feed to their young in nesting burrows underground. This species of wasp lays its eggs on bees that it paralyzes and coats in a layer of pollen to supply the emergent larvae with nutrients. Other insects scatter when a beewolf forages on meadowsweet.

Cerceris wasp, Crabronidae

The typical wasp's smooth-skinned, aerodynamic, constricted-waist form is well suited to its hunting lifestyle. Wasps of the taxonomic family Crabronidae are thought to be the ancestors of bees, which do not need such streamlined features and exacting maneuverability in making the rounds from flower to flower. Many wasps exhibit striking coloration patterns as a warning to potential predators of their stinging ability.

Cuckoo Wasp, Chrysididae

Wasps lack pollen-gathering hairs on their bodies, although some species are able to transport pollen effectively by other means. Cuckoo wasps, like birds of the same name, deposit their eggs in the nests of other species of their own kind.

Augochlora pura, Pure Green-Sweat Bee, Halictidae

This halictid bee probably draws some protection from its resemblance to the cuckoo wasp. Notice its somewhat plumper shape and distinctly furry appearance.

Halictus legatus, Sweat Bee, Halictidae

This species of halictid bee exhibits another pattern of wasp-like coloration. It collects pollen that clings to its covering of branched, feather-like hairs.

Apis mellifera, Honey Bee, Apidae

Carnivorous wasps are capable of stinging multiple times in self-defense or predation. Their stingers are not barbed like those of a bee. A honey bee stings only as a last resort and loses its life in the process as the stinger is torn from its body to keep pumping venom into the target.

Sawfly, Argidae

Sawflies, close relatives of wasps, bees, and ants, have a broad connection between abdomen and thorax rather than a narrow waist.

Another sawfly, Argidae

The great majority of sawflies are soft-bodied plant-eating insects with a stubby appearance, that fly weakly. Their life expectancy as adults is only 7-9 days. They live much longer in their larval stage as caterpillars with a reputation for destructive appetites on trees and shrubs. 

·  ·  · 

I'm happy to report that I've never been chewed, bitten or stung in pursuit of these portraits.

Meadowsweet Trilogy, Part 1 - Flower Beetles

 

Meadowsweet, Spiraea alba

One of the charming wildflowers gracing Halibut Point in early summer is meadowsweet. Its panicles of quarter-inch flowers bloom atop shrubs that grow anywhere from three to five feet tall, depending on available soil and moisture. Those little flowers form an appealing nutrition destination to many kinds of insects. As we've seen previously, the plant trades its energy resources for pollination favors.

Carpet Beetle, Cryptorhopalum triste

A Carpet Beetle, one of the tiniest visible to my eye, nestles right into a cluster of pollen-tipped flower stamens.

Oriental Beetle, Anomala orientalis

Its considerably larger relative the Oriental Beetle belongs to the scarab family. Scarabs are distinguished from other beetles by their unusual antennae, which terminate in three flattened plates that fit together to form a club. The family has a number of notorious members such as the Japanese Beetle with destructive appetites for leaves and other plant tissues. Many scarabs are brightly colored with a metallic sheen.

Soft-winged Flower Beetle, Attalus terminalis

A close look into meadowsweet inflorescences might reveal a carnival variety of creatures in the hexapod world, the six-legged fauna that vastly outnumber all other animals in population, species, and experimentation of design.

A Banded Longhorn Beetle, Typocerus velutinus, surrounded by Tumbling Flower Beetles

Another species of Flower Longhorn Beetle, Etorofus plebejus

A third species of Flower Longhorn, Strangalia luteicornis

Perfume and Pollination 2 - The Rose

Fragrance has long served the interests of roses by attracting both natural pollinators and human propagators. The scent of our native Halibut Point rose rivals the best of Syrian fragrances.

Virginia rose, Rosa virginiana

Compared to the privet, rose fragrance takes the high road emphasizing subtlety over quantity.

Small Carpenter Bee, Ceratina sp

Our rose draws admirers close with brightly colored petals, where its perfume seals the enchantment. This pattern favors us visually-oriented humans. It works well for various bees too, although bees can undoubtedly detect the fragrance at a greater distance than our own smell-deficient species.

Bicolored Striped-sweat Bee, Agapostemon virescens

Bees of many descriptions fly to the flowers. They satisfy their nutritional needs and carry pollen from the male stamens of one blossom to fertilize the female pistils of another. Erotic elements weave through all parties to the story ‒ flora, fauna, and civilization.

Masked Bee, Hylaeus sp.

Bumblebees can be frequently recognized among insects drawn to the alluring rose. Yet I am puzzled at never having seen a honeybee in its vicinity. That curiosity calls for further exploration.

Two Miner Bees,  Andrena sp., and a Carpet Beetle, Cryptorhopalum triste

Within the vastly diverse insect world only one other order, Coleoptera‒Beetles‒seems to have in important role in the pollination of roses at Halibut Point.

 Coleoptera derives from two Greek words, koleos meaning sheath and ptera meaning wings. Beetles are distinguished from other insects by their front pair of wings (elytra) modified into a protective, often colorful cover over their membranous pair of flight wings. To fly, beetles have to hold their elytra outstretched. They characteristically have chewing mandibles rather than piercing, sucking mouthparts.

Tumbling Flower Beetle 1, Falsomordellistena pubescens

Coleoptera, with about 400,000 species, is the largest of all orders. It constitutes almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms.

Tumbling Flower Beetle 2, Mordella marginata

Even the tiniest species are wonderfully diverse, complex, and integrated to their circumstances.

Long-horned Flower Beetle, Strangalia luteicornis

The flattened dish of the Rosa virginiana inflorescence follows the shape of most beetle-pollinated flowers. Its pollen is easily accessible and the plant's ovaries are relatively well protected from the biting mouthparts of beetles. 

Rose Curculio, Merhynchites bicolor

Rose curculio weevils drill holes and lay eggs in developing buds where their larvae feed on the reproductive parts of the flower. These depredations may still serve the ultimate purpose of cross-fertilization as pollen-covered beetles move from plant to plant. It would be interesting to chart the balance of losses and gains from their activity.

Hairy Flower Scarab Beetle, Trichiotinus affinis

Some beetles disfigure flowers by chewing holes in the petals. But petals are not an end in themselves. They exist to bring insects in contact with pollen. In the case of roses, fragrance lies within the petals themselves. They tempt, and are tempting to some tastes. 

Roses concoct exquisite scents from an array of more than 300 chemical compounds, of which only 4 produce most of the fragrance. According to Flower Power Daily.com, perfume harvesters have to collect as many as 60 roses to distill just one drop of essential oil and 250 pounds of petals are required to make an ounce of it. Clearly, in its own sphere, each flower orchestrates its grand purposes economically with only the tiniest potions released to the breeze.