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I photographed this Milbert's tortiseshell near the H2O center in Kelowna. At first, I thought it was a painted lady.  However, the colouring was not right, although similar.  This is the first Milbert's tortiseshell butterfly I have seen.  I did not get a very good photo of it;  It landed only for a moment and was gone again before I could get into a better position.  If you look closely, you can see that the image has been doctored.  I have the original image below; I erased the right wing and replaced it with a copy of the left one. You can see how my original image was edited to create the top image. The host plant for the caterpillars is stinging nettles.  I have always been impressed by the pain that one of these plants can impose on one who passes by a little too closely.  The pain is caused by formic acid, the same nasty chemical found in some stinging/biting ants.  The milbert's tortiseshell larvae have several defences against the t...

The yellow arrowleaf balsamroot flowers will peak next week.  Now is the time to see them. I have written on the arrowleaf balsamroot plant before ( click here ).  Also known as Okanagan sunflowers, these plants have just started to bloom.  One of the best views of them that I have found so far is from atop Dilworth Mountain at the park just above the local golf course.  They dot the plateau but are especially picturesque at the far end, away from the parking lot. I am going back again next week.  The bulk of them should be on full display.  I shot the pictures with my Z7ii Nikon camera, but I will bring a tripod with me.  I used hyperfocal focusing to get everything in focus, which worked most of the time.  Some of my images are a little soft for near-distance objects though, so I will also have to use manual focusing. The neat thing about manual focusing with a mirrorless camera is that you get a blue shimmering halo around everything that is in...

Road construction by Munson Pond.  Some of the birds I photographed there yesterday. They said they were going to build a road along the right-of-way last year and, sure enough, they were hard at it yesterday when I visited Munson Pond.  The good news is that they are over 100 feet away from the pond's edge - not a tremendous distance, but certainly not adjacent.  And, from what I could see, the wildlife continues to exist and thrive regardless of the presence of the machines. I suppose part of the reason for that is the fact that the whole area is surrounded by urbanization.  Vehicles in the surrounding area are nothing new.  Then there is the fact that they are a modest distance away.  I noticed that a black fabric barricade was put up (you can see it in front of the machines) along the whole distance.  That serves the purpose of preventing runoff and debris from heading towards the pond and prevents ground-dwelling organisms from straying too far in...

Black oil blister beetle eating spring whitlow grass.  Kelowna, early April. Our daughter was visiting us, and it seemed like a good idea to walk along the trails in the upper section of Mission Creek Park in Kelowna.  It was a banner day, both for enjoying the outdoors and finding insects that emerge early in the spring.  I photographed a half dozen of these 6-legged invertebrates, and the oddest of the bunch was the black oil blister beetle. It was hard to miss; the beetle's enormous abdomen was comical in proportion to the rest of its body.  Our youngest thought it must be a gravid queen ant.  I thought about picking it up, but there was a good chance it may have contained  Cantharidin, that nasty chemical that blister beetles possess.  I have caught a good many beetles in my time, and my beetle senses (similar to spider senses, but less fun) proved me right.  It was, in fact, a blister beetle. Part of the reason for my daughter's pronouncement...

I photographed this irridescent butterfly yesterday in Kelowna near Mission Creek Park. Elfin butterflies include a number of species; the brown elfin is common throughout most of North America, found in coniferous forests.  The adults are active in the spring and lay eggs individually in undeveloped flower buds of heath, salal, blueberry and huckleberry.  The egg hatches and the young caterpillar immediately begins feeding on the host plant, consuming bud, flower, and fruit.   In the fall, the caterpillar falls from the plant, undergoes metamorphosis, and forms a chrysalis.  It overwinters as such and emerges from its winter chamber in the spring to repeat the life cycle. This is the first elfin butterfly I have ever photographed.  I was enthralled by the iridescent colour play of the wings.  I had to follow a number of individuals until one landed long enough to be photographed.  I managed to get a few good shots off of this one; it posed perfec...

Red tailed hawk, Kelowna At first, I thought it might be a Cooper's hawk.  The reddish-brown chest and light ventral tail feathers were misleading at distance without magnification, but when I brought my camera to bear, the identification became clear.  What impressed me, once again, was the variation in feathering of these magnificent birds. Below is a comparison of different red tailed hawks I have photographed; three photos from the past compared to the one I photographed yesterday.  Of the three, the above photo most closely corresponds to the medium phase, although I think its head is more like the dark variation. Three different phase variations of red tailed hawks that I have photographed. The one on the left is often called Krider's red tailed hawk, it is more common on the plains, although I photographed this one in Kelowna a few years ago.  Notice that all the hawks have one feature in common - the belly band - which is a distinguishing attribute for the sp...