I Love Bugs

I do, I love them. Well most of them anyway. I must admit that mosquito's and flies gross me out to no end, and having a spider ON me kinda freaks me out in a hair raising kind of way. But other then that I am totally in.

So in the interest of further education and spreading the love, here is a post about some pretty bugs. The One-Eyed Sphinx and the Colombia Silkmoth. Both of them are common to this region of the world and quite interesting to look at.

Here is the One Eyed Sphinx, or the Smerinthus cerisyi:
He is about 1.5 inches long and has a wing span of about 2-3 inches. The interesting thing about him is that he blends perfectly to a tree and that if you you don't stop and observe, you will totally miss his beautiful under wings, because at rest they are usually folded under his over wings( those are probably not the scientific names for these but I'm sure you understand what I mean).

And here is The Colombia Silkmoth, or the Hyalophora columbia:

This is a big guy, his body is as large as my index finger in diameter, about 1.5 inches long and his wing span is about 5 inches. His body is fury with cream and brown stripes.

Moths are allot less skittish then butterflies, if you hold your finger in front of them they will often climb on board and let you take a good look at them. You can do them a favor and release them on to a tree trunk or a shaded wall as they usually prefer not to be in the direct sun light and seem to be a little dumbstruck when they are, landing somewhere they could get "squashed". Just don't touch their wings, they are fragile.

If you would like to know a bit more about moths, and see some absolutely beautiful photographs ( some moths are even more colorful then butterflies) i have posted a few links on the side bar in the Take a Look section for your enjoyment.

Have a great fathers day!
Danielle

Merlin Sighting

One of the perks...No let me rephrase that, the ONLY perk about having to drive one hour into the wilderness every morning for work, is that you get to see the wildlife. So fare I have see an owl, a wolf, a few Foxes, a mama and baby moose, a few coyotes, hawks and the occasional eagle from afar.

There are also the "extreme" critters, those are the one that will double dare each other to run in front of your vehicle to impress their "bros" so fare their has been one ermines, one jack rabbit and two deer ( not so bad considering deer are EVERYWHERE here) but never close enough to have a good look.

Yesterday was different. The sun was shining for the first time in a week, I was alone in the truck because the 2 other car poolers were already off for the weekend and the radio was playing really good tunes. I was enjoying my ride home when all of a sudden a bird came swooping down low from the left and I let go of the gas ready to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting it, totally ignoring the fact that their were 3 cars behind me on the highway. I did not have to brake though. My buddy the Merlin, known in scholarly circles as Falco Columbarius just wanted to surf the wind trail from my truck. he made a 90 degree turn and rode the wind next to my truck window giving me a spectacular view of his belly and wings.

He stayed with me for maybe a quarter of a mile and then he was gone. Coolest thing I ever saw, I felt totally blessed :O)

A word on my new header

I am planing to change the layout and design of my blog in the near future and was looking around for random wild flower images when I found this one on Canadian Geographic and fell in love with it. Here is a direct link to the gallery of Mikeinbc1 where you can find this one and 62 other beautiful photographs taken by this talented gentleman.

Here are a few more just to tempte you.First the runner up for my blog banner, "Rocky Beginning":

"Sunrise over Vancouver Island":

And My favorite "Acorn and Oak Leaves"