Follow our adventures living in the woods and meeting wild ones. Check out Gerry the ruffed grouse, our hiking buddy, and watch Makwa the black bear as he grows up! This year we’re talking about pollinators and their host plants.
Dear Wood Folk, In Ontario, we have three crescent butterflies. The two main crescents are the northern crescent (phyciodes cocyta) and pearl crescent (phyciodes tharos), who may or may not be the same species, although the current line of thought is that they are separate species. That might flip flop. And third is the tawny …
Dear Wood Folk, Silvery blue (glaucopsyche lygdamus) butterflies are easily mistaken for similarly blue azures, who were featured in our diaries earlier this year. I almost included the silvery blue caterpillar (below in this feature) in the azure diary by mistake! The slivery blue are easier to find with their wings spread open than azures. …
Dear Wood Folk, For readers in Haliburton area, it’s not impossible we could see a black swallowtail (papilio polyxenes). Their range mostly stops in southern Ontario, but they are often seen in Peterborough. Because it’s such a longshot and I don’t spend much time to the south, I don’t have a picture of this butterfly. …
Dear Wood Folk, Hairstreaks (subfamily Theclinae) are distinct looking tiny butterflies that usually have a small protruding “hair” at the end of their tail. Today we’re focusing on the coral hairstreak (satyrium titus) and its very cherry host plants, but we’ll also give a brief summary of the rest of Ontario’s hairstreaks and the various …
Dear Wood Folk, Around cottage country, Ontario we have numerous fritillary butterflies. From a distance these bright orange butterflies are sometimes mistaken for monarchs. Fritillary can be a hard word to retain; at least it was for me. (Frit frit frit.. (h)illary. Repeat 10 times. Maybe picture a Hillary you know “freaking lit”.) Our most …
Dear Wood Folk, Red admirals (vanessa atalanta) are known for being social butterflies. These painted lady relatives are one of the friendliest and most common butterfly species in the world. Their main host plants belong to the nettle family (urticaceae). Nettles are also global, though some nettles may not seem as friendly as their butterfly …