Photo Diary of a Western Wood Pewee Nest
Heather Nordstrom is chronicling the development of a western wood pewee nest on her front porch.
20 May 2019 Western Wood Pewee
20 May 2019 Western Wood Pewee
20 May 2019 Western wood pewee nest
15 June 2019 Western Wood Pewees
16 June 2019 Western Wood Pewees
16 June 2019 Western Wood Pewees
17 June 2019 Western Wood Pewees
18 June 2019 Western Wood Pewees
18 June 2019 Western Wood Pewees
18 June 2019 Western Wood Pewees
Fritillary Butterfly
I found this fritillary dying, and took these photos.
Gray squirrel predating valley oak gall wasp larvae or eating galls?
Is the squirrel hunting oak apple wasp larvae or eating the galls? There are a lot of gall pieces on the ground. I think the squirrel is after the wasp larvae inside the galls. There is too much gall lying around, and is reminiscent of what they do to pine cones to get the seeds out.
Pallid bat’s scorpion-filled midden
Ryan McQuoid took these photos of a pile of scorpion parts, left over by a pallid bat, in Copperopolis. The bat has no trouble hunting and catching scorpions. Ryan asked the customer if she ever saw scorpions, and she said no. The bat is doing her a great service. 3 June 2019.
Chromosera cyanophylla
Heather Nordstrom took these photos of Chromosera cyanophylla, a beautiful and colorful mushroom. 6 June 2019, near Eagle Meadows (about 7500 feet elevation), Tuolumne County, Ca. Thanks to Jacob Pulk for the identification.
Some references:
Chromosera cyanophylla …. photo by Heather Nordstrom
Chromosera cyanophylla …. photo by Heather Nordstrom
Chromosera cyanophylla …. photo by Heather Nordstrom
Swallow Exclusion at Bear Valley
Here are photos from a difficult swallow exclusion job we did on a very tall building at Bear Valley. The swallows were nesting under the eaves at the top of this tall building. The exclusion was necessary, because the birds carried swallow bugs, that were entering the structure. We put up bird netting to block their access. David Katosic, Bill Breidenstein, and Josh Esposito were all involved in the project.
In addition to the exclusion, David Katosic used our power washer to clean the siding way up there.
Box wrench pierces truck tire
Jason Price picked up a box wrench; well, it was actually his service truck tire that did. The wrench punched right into the tire, ruining it. That was an expensive wrench. 30 May 2019.
Army Ants in Columbia California
I found a nest of army ants while looking for ants, and more specimens of the unknown species of green lacewing, in the Gold Springs subdivision, in Columbia California, in Tuolumne County.
Dr. Philip Ward has identified, based on sample sent to him, that these are army ant workers, of the species Neivamyrmex opacithorax.
This was the first time I had found an actual nest of these ants, since seeing my first specimens decades ago in the Wards Creek Road area. These ants are rare, or at least hard to find. There are some photos showing where the nest was found, at the bottom of this post.
According to Dr. Philip Ward, “there are three species of Neivamyrmex in northern California (N. nigrescens, N. californicus, and N. opacithorax). They are active predominantly at night – and hence may be more common than we realize. These three species prey mostly on other ants and occasionally on termites. They are nomadic, that is to say, they do not have permanent nests. After they deplete their food supply in one area they move on. Army ants are now absent from most urban areas in California because they have been eliminated by the introduced Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). They are no match for this aggressive, introduced ant species.
Notice that these ants are almost blind; they have no eyes, except, as the literature says, a single eye facet. They don’t bite and they don’t sting. They are harmless and beneficial.
30 May 2019 Columbia CA
A debris-carrying green lacewing larva
A customer, who lives in the Gold Springs subdivision in Columbia, brought in a specimen for identification. It turned out to be a debris-carrying green lacewing larva. The debris consisted mostly of dead ants. I found one bark beetle too, along with fibrous, stringy materials.
I sent the images to Dr. Lynn Kimsey of the Bohart Museum at UC Davis, who contacted Dr. Catherine Ann Tauber (aka Kady), an expert at green lacewings. She is probably the top authority on these insects, and wrote “A Systematic Review of the Genus Leucochrysa (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in the United States.“
Per request, I sent Kady the sample. She replied, saying “it definitely is in the green lacewing genus Leucochrysa (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). This is a very large, mostly Neotropical genus, with two poorly defined subgenera. A total of only seven Leucochrysa species are reported from the USA. … and, at this point, your larva seems different from those of all of the known species.”
Dr. Tauber thinks it might be related to Leucochrysa nigrilabris, a South American species.
If you find one of these insects, please save it, alive if you can, and contact us at Foothill-Sierra Pest Control. More specimens are needed. These YouTube videos show similar debris-carrying lacewing larvae, to help you get an idea of what they look like. video1 video2 video3
Here are some images from the web. These insects can use a variety of materials for their camouflage.
Original post: 13 May 2019, Columbia Ca.
Below are images we took of the Columbia specimen.
Termite tubes coming up through paver stones
Jeff Hollis sent us this photo of subterannean termite tubes coming up between paver stones. Note that the tubes are constructed of the paver stone material. Sonora California, 2 May 2019.
