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Wasps building a nest inside the sign at Mission Recreation Park by the H2O Center, Kelowna. Wasps like holes.  The voids in dirt, soffit, siding, and even metal structures like the sign housing in the above photo all lure a recently emerged queen wasp in.  Her goal is to find a small entrance, easily guarded, into a cavity large enough to build her coming empire.  She, without any help, forages for nest materials (chewed wood fiber that she mixes with her saliva) and builds the first cells that will eventually house her brood.   Once the initial few cells are formed, she lays an egg in each and then hunts for food.  The developing larvae require protein-rich food consisting of whatever invertebrates are available.  The prey is chewed into a paste and fed to the young.  Now, here is the weird thing.  The larvae emit a sweet secretion called "larval nectar" that is the primary food of the adults.  The adults will also take sugary secretio...

Male northern shoveler duck.  Top:  male's bill and eye.  Bottom:  female. I have written on shovelers before ( here and here ), but I got a nice shot of one the other day at Munson Pond, and I thought I would do it again.  I want to focus on something specific to this interesting duck - its bill. Sometimes referred to as "spoonbills" or "spoonies", shovelers get their various monikers from their somewhat unique bills, at least in the duck world.  Highly adapted, the oversized structures are perfect for filtering out particulates from muddy sediment.  They have rows of lamellae - small bristle-like projections on the top and bottom of their bills.  You can see a good example here .  It remindes me of the baleen that many whale species have to filter out the water and leave the edible contents behind for swallowing. Other waterfowl also have lamellae, but it is particularly well developed in shovelers.  Another bird well known for their l...

Male green-winged teal enjoying the sun at Munson Pond in Kelowna. I have seen green-winged teals on the Pacific coast, but this was the first one I have seen in the interior of BC.  I had a hard time getting a proper photo of it, as I was behind vegetation and not having a lot of success finding a hole where it wasn't blurring the shot.  The advantage was that I could get closer to the ducks without spooking them. Green-winged teals breed farther north, although Kelowna is within their southern breeding range.  Range maps indicate that they are year-round residents here, although this is the first one I have seen since living here for 5 years now. Teals are dabbling ducks, so they feed in shallow areas, consuming aquatic vegetation and invertebrates.  Unlike other dabblers, green-winged teals may shallow dive on occasion.  They do not form bonded pairs over their lifetime as do Canadian geese.  Instead, males and females dissolve their familial interaction...

The hooks on the tick's legs can cling to anything.  Tick length:  4 mm.  Male. This tick used to be on me.  It wasn't there when I got up, but I discovered it after I took my dog out.  I was on the grass for only a few moments, but it was long enough for it to grab hold and find a patch of skin.  I have it in a plastic pill container at the moment; I think I will freeze it and put it under a microscope later.  That should be interesting. I live in Kelowna where these ticks are apparently common, although this is the first one I have ever seen.  They do not carry Lyme disease as a rule of thumb, but are vectors for other diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) or rabbit fever ( tularemia ).  Both these diseases are potentially fatal, but can be treated when symptoms start to show.  The good news is that less than 1% of tick bites cause RMSF, and even less for tularemia.  In the US, less than 1000 people contract RMSF ea...

One of a dozen wood duck chicks I saw at Munson Pond yesterday in Kelowna. Now that the deciduous trees have finally come into their leaves, I can say that spring is officially here.  That fact was brought home yesterday while visiting Munson Pond.  A small clearing between reeds allowed me to see the procession of a wood duck family; a line of chicks followed by mom and then dad. I arrived early in the morning. I suspect that the chicks had just left the roost. The order of the birds was unusual in that the chicks were in the lead.  I usually see one or both parents at the head with a dutiful line of progeny following.  The fact that the chicks were leading suggested that they were familiar with the routine. They couldn't have been more than one or two weeks old. Wood duck chicks are born in a cavity, either a hole in a tree or a wooden nest box with a sizable hole.  They are helpless when born, but are able to leave the nest within three days.  They fall ...

Male ring-necked duck (left and top right) and female (bottom right). I have seen a lot of ring-necked ducks in western BC, especially on the Island, but have seen very few of them in the Kelowna area.  I was pleased to see a pair today as I was visiting Munson Pond for the 2nd time this month. Ring-necked ducks are diving ducks (as opposed to dabbling ducks).  They dive beneath the surface of the water completely to forage for the vegetable and plant matter they eat.  During breeding season, the ducks eat more invertebrates than plant matter.  These include snails, clams, crayfish, leeches, and all manner of aquatic insects.  Clams are ingested whole and are crushed by the strong gizzard.  Vegetation becomes more important after breeding has ended. They can be found throughout most of southern BC during breeding season and may be permanent residents where open water exists.   I have mistaken scaups (see my blog on scaups here ) for ring-necked du...