Re: Mother Bugger !!!

by **Commander Clint** Mon Aug 22, 2016 5:52 pm

ourchickenshack wrote:Unfortunately we have never seen a whole lot of Monarchs around here - usually just a couple each year.

I use to see 100's of them around Southern Ontario. But lately, not very many.

That's a great Common Sooty-Wing Butterfly. cheers

by **chris.75** Mon Aug 22, 2016 10:29 pm

Absolutely stunning photos James jaw

by **ourchickenshack** Tue Aug 23, 2016 6:14 pm

Thank you again guys - very cool that you like the bugs What a Face

Here's a caterpillar that I found on our tomato plants yesterday ...

Tobacco Hornworm Caterpillar

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Apparently it is very closely related to the Tomato Hornworm Caterpillar that Clint posted a photo of earlier in this thread ...

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The main difference is the color of the "horn" and slightly different patterns on the sides . Even the moths they turn into are nearly identical cyclops

I also found this caterpillar on our green beans but I have no idea what kind it is ...

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by **Commander Clint** Tue Aug 23, 2016 7:09 pm

That's awesome. cheers

Caterpillar cousin's. lol!

by **Nico** Tue Aug 23, 2016 7:44 pm

Great Caterpillar pics James, quality is amazing cheers

Just opened the back door and seen this guy hanging off the gutter, swinging in the wind What a Face

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by **Commander Clint** Tue Aug 23, 2016 8:39 pm

Andy, that's a great spider picture. It looks like he's floating in mid air. cheers

I hope the spider was all that was swinging in the wind. cheeky

by **ourchickenshack** Wed Aug 24, 2016 5:26 pm

Love the flying spider pic Andy clapping

Okay - as I have been studying caterpillars recently I have learned that they actually go through 5 stages of development called "instars" . As they eat and grow they must shed there skin to get larger , each stage is called 1st instar , 2nd Instar etc . Their coloring and patterns actually change a bit with each instar stage .

Yesterday I was inspecting our tomato plants to see if I could find more of the Tobacco Hornworm caterpillars and found 3 different instar stages ...

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As you can see , as they progress through their instar stages they start to look even closer in appearance to the photo Clint had posted of the Tomato Hornworm What a Face

by **Commander Clint** Wed Aug 24, 2016 6:01 pm

Awesome.

You're not going to have any tomato plants or tomato's left, if you have that many. lol!

They even eat the un-ripe green tomato's if your not careful.

If you have an empty fish aquarium, fill it with soil. Then find a couple of neighbours with lots of tomato plants. Then just strip the plants when they're done bearing fruit, to feed the buggers. What a Face

It won't be long after they get to stage 3, they will start to burrow into the soil. Then form their chrysalis for the winter. Then in the spring, emerge as moth's.

by **ourchickenshack** Sun Aug 28, 2016 6:33 pm

Yep - they can be very destructive to tomato plants but luckily I have 2 areas where I am growing tomato's this year . I actually built a real garden this year ...

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The tomato plants in the garden area are doing fairly well so I have been removing the caterpillars there and moving them to a area on the side of our house where the tomato's aren't producing fruit but are still producing lots of vegetation for them to eat What a Face

by **Nico** Sun Aug 28, 2016 8:05 pm

Nice set up James cheers

I love the walkways with the stepping stone effect Very Happy

by **chris.75** Sun Aug 28, 2016 9:18 pm

thats a nice looking allotment JIm, well done buddy clapping

there are a couple of suspicious lookin plants, towards the chain link fencing Suspect

by **Nico** Mon Aug 29, 2016 7:45 pm

This little fella sits on my desk in a paperweight type thing What a Face

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It was given to me as a gift

by **ourchickenshack** Tue Aug 30, 2016 8:42 am

chris.75 wrote:thats a nice looking allotment JIm, well done buddy
there are a couple of suspicious lookin plants, towards the chain link fencing

I think your talking about the Okra - from a distance it does look suspicious Cool

We have okra , tomatoes (4 different varieties) , eggplant , zucchini . green beans , butternut squash , spaghetti squash , yellow squash , banana peppers and jalapeno peppers . Before it got so hot we had lettuce , spinach and cucumbers .

We also have oregano , basil , marjoram , sage , horseradish , chives , parsley , pineapple mint , and rosemary growing in various places in the flowerbeds around our house Very Happy

That's a cool scorpion paperweight Andy cheers

by **ourchickenshack** Thu Sep 01, 2016 9:21 am

Painted Lady Butterfly

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by **ourchickenshack** Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:00 pm

Commander Clint wrote:
ourchickenshack wrote:Unfortunately we have never seen a whole lot of Monarchs around here - usually just a couple each year.

I use to see 100's of them around Southern Ontario. But lately, not very many.

That's a great Common Sooty-Wing Butterfly.

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Although it's a terrible picture , I managed to photograph a pair of Monarchs mating What a Face

As soon as I took the photo they flew away - still "getting it on" cheeky

by **Commander Clint** Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:36 pm

Leave it to you James, to catch the butterflies in the act. clapping

by **Commander Clint** Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:20 pm

I managed to snap this picture yesterday on my phone yesterday, before leaving the cottage in Wasaga Beach. I don't know what kind of spider it is? But there where a lot of them around the cottage.

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by **cantina_patron** Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:33 pm

It looks like a species of Orb Web Spider Clint. We also get lots of different species of them appearing hear in the UK this time of year The big ones (like yours) are females.

by **Commander Clint** Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:41 pm

Thanks Steve. If I go back up, I'll take my good camera along and get some more pictures of them.

by **cantina_patron** Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:46 pm

Cool, it would be interesting to see how they compare.

by **ourchickenshack** Wed Oct 05, 2016 7:35 am

Commander Clint wrote:I managed to snap this picture yesterday on my phone yesterday, before leaving the cottage in Wasaga Beach. I don't know what kind of spider it is? But there where a lot of them around the cottage.

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Yep as Steve said it looks like some type of Orb Spider Very Happy

Here's a Halloween Orb Spider I had visit a few years ago ...

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and a Mantis that crawled on a prop I had set out side to dry a few years ago as well ...

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They look like they could be the Rancor of the insect world Wink

by **Nico** Sun Oct 30, 2016 2:36 pm

Cool Mantis James cheers

Found this guy hanging out on our garden waste bin What a Face

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Not sure what he is thou scratch

by **ourchickenshack** Sun Oct 30, 2016 4:42 pm

I believe that is a species of Green Stink Bug (Chinavia Hilaris) Andy Very Happy

It is way prettier then the ones we see here in Oklahoma cheers

by **ourchickenshack** Thu Nov 03, 2016 6:24 am

This years Halloween Praying Mantis cheers

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by **Commander Clint** Thu Nov 03, 2016 1:17 pm

Great Mantis, I've only ever seen them green colour. cheers