Field Guide – Linda & Robert Scarth

We mentioned our trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos in March in an earlier post. The trip was an anniversary present to ourselves. We enjoyed seeing and photographing both male and female birds – especially if they were a mated pair. This morning, the mistiness outside our windows reminded us of the cloud forest and the fascinating birds found there. At the Bellavista Cloud Forest Preserve west of Quito, we saw this pair of  Masked Trogons (Trogon personatus) over the course of several days.  The male wore an almost iridescent green monk’s hood while the female’s was a soft warm brown.

They came each morning to feast on the moths which were perched on the posts, trees and a large sign near our room. They were seen at other times perched in the mid level of trees around the preserve. One morning when the male flew off into the forest before the female was ready to leave, she called “kwow” at intervals before finally leaving in the direction he had flown.

The mist of the cloud forest can limit the colors and apparent sharpness of even a sharp image file. The darker colors seem diluted by the mist in the air. Moving the black point up a bit in the Lightroom Develop Module or in Photoshop ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) when opening a raw file can improve the contrast and detail in the image. Atmospheric conditions every where affect the quality of light but can sometimes be adjusted when preparing and optimizing an image file.

Some gardeners worry needlesslly about spittlebugs but photographers can find them interesting subjects. Spittlebugs or froghoppers are small insects resembling broad leaf hoppers. There are several thousand species in over 300 genera. The eggs usually hatch in early summer. The nymphs of many species attach to stems or leaves and make a nest of bubbles from which they emerge several weeks later. Some species make their nests on roots in the soil.

Most of the ‘bubble wraps’ have small bubbles. This nest had a large drop similar to a dew or rain drop though it was a warm evening with no rain. When the drop is in good focus the leaves of nearby plants are seen as wavery lines in the refraction. There are other bubble nests which should provide other patterns in the morning.

This composition is a group of contrasting textures – the soft bubbles, the hairy stems, angular cell pattern in the leaf and soft out-of-focus leaves in the background. Combining patterns can produce more to engage the viewer after examining the main subject. Natural history images can be both documentary and small works of art.

We mentioned butterflies in yesterday’s post. As well as the Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta) which have been very abundant this year, the preserve we visited was well supplied with American Coppers (Lycaena phlaeas) and a few Juniper Hairstreaks (Callophrys grneus) among the species flitting over the yellow flowers.

The American Coppers (above) were very bright. The top of their wings is described as brown with copper trim in most guide books. We saw some whose brown was almost black. The contrast against yellow flowers where they were nectaring was striking. The native American Coppers live in the far north and alpine tundra. The ancesters of the ones we see in the Midwest are thought to have immigrated in hay brought from Europe in colonial times. They like sandy dry areas like this preserve.

We saw a few Juniper Hairstreaks (another inhabitant of dry sandy areas) like this somewhat worn individual. The remaining green scales were on the wings’ underside was irridescent. The jagged white line edged in brown is another identifier. The green scales are said to be camouflage when they perch in red cedar trees, the larval food. When several Juniper Hairstreaks meet they often engage in the spiral flight similar to Red Admirals. These minature tornado swirls of color happen and cease within a few seconds.

Spring flowers and some insects came early this year. It is a wonderful time to see the color.

We love to travel and to photograph. It is also good to find treasures close to home. Today it was photographing several species of Lithospernum – one of which is uncommon in this area – and other plants, butterflies and more at a new preserve just 30 miles away. We have visited several times to photograph the unusual fens in the two ponds and the uncommon and common species residing around the property.

Fringed Puccoon (Lithospernum incisum) is recorded here in eastern Iowa in sandy areas like the area where these grow. However, it is more likely found further west in the central plains. We have photographed it in the Badlands in South Dakota. It is less often included in field guides than the Hoary and Plains Puccoons, even for regions where it is found.

The much more common and abundant Hoary Puccoon (Lithospernum canescens) and other yellow flowers – Golden Ragwort and Yellow Wood-sorrel – served as camouflage for the occasional Fringed Puccoon plant. The Fringed Puccoon is a paler, more lemony yellow than the Hoary Puccoon which has a more yellow-orange cast.  The Hoary Puccoon has soft hairy leaves that a quite visible in the image below.

This Hoary Puccoon blossom cluster was home to this tiny spider. It played peek-a-boo with the camera for some time and did not abandon its home as many will do when being photographed up to life size on the sensor in some images. We have yet to determine its species but think the white band at the front of the carapace may help in identification.

We are certain that future posts will include species and comments from this interesting place.

The Fourth Annual Day of Insects was Saturday March 24, 2012 at Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa. It, like previous gatherings, was well attended by a group of midwesterners who find the small as charismatic as the large. Led and organized by Nathan Brockman and MJ Hatfield, fifteen presentations about peoples passions (from providing homes for climate displaced insects to writing regional field guides to descriptions of odonata jaws) provided topics to think and talk about.

The organizers and presenters are pictured below with brief summaries or comments about the presentations.

Nathan Brockman,  Curator of the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing, was master of ceremonies for the day.

Marlin Rice – Charismatic and Rare: A Top Ten List of Insects You May Never See in Iowa – defined CF as the ‘cool factor’ of his favorite insects with the American Burying Beetle at the top of the list.

Betsy Betros – Writing for Passion, not Profit – Regional Nature Field Guides - began the manuscript and photographs to aid herself in identification and expanded from there.

Aaron Brees – Natural History or Conservation Status of the Navada Buck Moth (Hemileuca nevadensis) in Iowa – discussed the natural history of the group that lives in the Loess Hills and whose caterpillars eat Redroot rather than willows or oaks.

John Pearson – Natural History or Conservation Status of the Navada Buck Moth (Hemileuca nevadensis) in Iowa – discussed the conservation status and land management and burn strategies to protect the population in the Loess Hills.

Isaac Powell – Endangered Invertebrates: Conservation Efforts at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo – emphasized the work to protect the Salt Marsh Tiger Beetle. Also discussed the American Burying Beetle, whose original range matched that of the extinct Passenger Pigeon.

Todd Hubbard – Benthic Index (CBI) – Construction of a Biological Tool for Assessing Iowa’s Coldwater Streams - how limnologists use insect information to evaluate water quality.

Mike Birmingham - Benthic Index (CBI) – Construction of a Biological Tool for Assessing Iowa’s Coldwater Streams - continued discussing the construction of the index.

Lon Drake – Assisted Migration of Rare Shrubs and Their Obligate Butterflies in Southeast Iowa - planting food plants at the edge of ranges to offer refuge to insects as regional climate changes with more cloud cover and longer growing seasons.

Frank Olsen – Is the Purplish Copper Pushing Up Daisies in Iowa? – a butterfly surveyor’s account of one species that has probably disappeared from Iowa.

MJ Hatfield -  public relations advocate for all things arthropod and co-owner of the Iowa Insects discussion group, started the afternoon session. She invited people to join the conversation by subscribing to Iowa-insects at listserv@list.uiowa.edu. Leave the subject line blank and put subscribe Iowa-insects in the message box.

Ken Tennessen – The Scoop of Dragonfly Nymphs - discussed, illustrated and demonstrated how the various types of jaws of odonata nymphs work.

Erwin Klaas – Dragonflies and Damselflies at Ada Hayden Park, Ames – one of two birders who started documenting the odonata in a favorite birding site as the park was developed.

Wolfgang Oesterreich - Dragonflies and Damselflies at Ada Hayden Park, Ames  continued. Klaas and Oesterreich photograph and keep lists by year of their observations.

Andrew Williams – The Frontier of Conservation Science or What Do We Think We Are Doing? - Defined conservation as the prevention of allowing things to go extinct. Advocates for awareness of food plant specificity studies and preservation.

Andrew Meeds – 2011: A Bug Odyssey – an account of the swarm sponsered by bugguide.net. The next bugguide swarm with be July 26-29, 2012 in Mobile, AL

Meg Storkamp – From ‘yucky’ to ‘that was kind of cool’: Insect Projects with 7th Graders - How a teacher uses the collection and study of insects to teach many skills.

James Mertins – Thylodrias contractus – Now isn’t that odd?  – the history and study of the ‘odd beetle’ – an insect only found in human habitations and then only rarely.

Kyle Johnson – Winter Insects – an account of insects found on snow and ice in Michigan and Wisconsin.