Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Yarrow

This photo was taken on Judy Osborne's property on 25 August 2015, According to Wikipedia, other common names for this species include gordaldo, nosebleed plant, old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, thousand-leaf, and thousand-seal." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achillea_millefolium Six days ago, on 25 August, 10 of us arrived at a friend's house, ready to go north of Calgary to near Sundre, for a few hours of botanizing, This was the second visit to Judy Osborne's for a few of us, me included. The previous trip was on 30 June 2015. By now, of course, a lot of the wildflowers are finished, but I found enough other things to photograph, including a distant, beautiful Red-tailed Hawk, a Wood Frog, a Yellowjacket (wasp), and a mushroom or two, plus a few of the plants in our friends' garden at the beginning and end of the day. Their garden is one beautiful sea of yellow at the moment. No scenery shots during the day, as the visibility was so bad, due to the smoke coming from serious, widespread forest fires in the northwest United States. Thanks so much, Judy, for having us out on your beautiful property again. It was a most enjoyable day, despite the dreadful, smoke-filled air. We look forward to being out there again next year! Many thanks, too, to Barry, who drove a few of us out there and back to Calgary. A long, long drive and it was much appreciated!

During a day of botanizing the day before yesterday, 30 June 2015, at the property belonging to Judy Osborne - James River, N. of Sundre - I happened to notice this small Red-blue Checkerd Beetle standing on a Yarrow flower. Just three of us went with Judy to visit her cabin (or, as she describes it, her "shack") and the surrounding forest and river. What a beautiful property she has - 100 acres of forest, meadow, and river valley - and we so appreciate her having us there to record the plants, insects, birds, etc. that we could find. I've never seen so many beautiful wild Roses! She also has a Great Gray Owl, but there was no sign of it when we were there. We are always happy to visit someone's land and compile a very detailed list of our findings for them. It's always a win/win situation - we enjoy what we are doing and love to explore a new location, and the owner ends up with a record of what was found on their property. Judy very generously provided a delicious lunch for us, too, which we ate out on the deck, surrounded by busy little Pine Siskins visiting her bird feeder. Thanks so much for this absolute treat, Judy, and for driving the three of us out there from our meeting place in the city. We were so lucky with the weather, enjoying a day of sunshine. How things changed when we got back to Calgary. Our meeting place was near Chinook Mall and to drive home, I had to drive through flash flooding!! I don't remember ever having to drive through water like that! What a storm this part of the city must have had! The Internet was down last night, too. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/flash-flooding-causes-prob...

I'm not sure what this Beetle is - also not sure how much if its appearance is actually pollen. Photographed on a Yarrow plant on 21 July 2012, NW of Cochrane. Thanks to Art (LeapFrog!) for the ID! bugguide.net/node/view/126517

I rather liked this fence that we saw by the Community Centre at Elbow Valley Estates (off Highway 8), when we spent a few hours botanizing the surrounding forest on 10 August 2012. The flowers are pink and white Yarrow.

Apparently, this is called a Green Soldier Fly (Odontomyia cincta), and I don't remember ever seeing one before. I had no idea what I was photographing at the time - to me it looked more like a beetle except that it had wings. It's quite a beautiful insect, I think. Telemacro photo taken on 21 July 2012, NW of the city. I was feeling a little disappointed that I had found no owls (after being so spoilt the last few months!), so I pulled off the road on my way home to see what wildflowers might be growing. I only took a few steps before finding this insect on a Yarrow plant and another one that I don't yet have an ID for. "“Adults take nectar, also sometimes found on dung” and “Eggs are laid on the edge of body of water. Larvae are aquatic, feed on algae. They stick tip of abdomen up through water surface to obtain air.“ From BugGuide.

Thanks so much, everyone, for your help in identifiying this insect that I photographed on a Yarrow plant at Maclean Pond, off Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66), on July 21st. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scathophaga_stercoraria

I believe this little fly is a Deer Fly. They have black and white wings and the most amazing eyes : ) I always think they look as if they are wearing designer sunglasses, lol. This one was busy at work on a Yarrow plant at Maclean Pond, Kananaskis, on August 16th. Love the tiny specks of pollen on its hairy legs!

This very tiny Tarnished Plant Bug was on a Yarrow plant growing in Jim Coutts' amazing homestead garden, just north east of Nanton, southern Alberta. Love seeing these little bugs with their white heart pattern : ) The adult is about 3 mm wide and 6 mm long. and has a "distinctive, triangular or ‚ 'V'- shaped marking in the upper centre of their backs and membranous wingtips ... Only recently have lygus bugs been considered serious economic pests of canola." Just got home from a busy, busy day, birding for maybe three hours this morning and then a special trip just south of the city to the Calgary Zoo Ranch. We are very fortunate to get this chance, and so were able to see a few endangered Whooping Cranes, which are in a breeding program there. Sandhill Cranes are also kept there. Also saw endangered Vancouver Island Marmots and several endangered Przewalski's Horses. www.srd.alberta.ca/BioDiversityStewardship/WildSpecies/Bi... nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AsiaTrail/fact-phorse.cfm www.marmots.org/

I thought this was a Shield Bug (on Yarrow plant), but then came across a different name of something similar on Google. Thought I wrote it somewhere, but I can't remember where : ) Or maybe it's an immature one of a Shield Bug species? Quite a fancy pattern for such a tiny bug. Found and shared by Doug (dougwaylett) in Jim Coutts' homestead garden, just north east of Nanton, Alberta. Thanks, Doug!

Yesterday afternoon, I drove westwards, a huge smile on my face as I headed towards the foothills and very eastern edge of the mountains. My first stop was at Maclean Pond, hoping to find various mushrooms. I did find a couple of tiny ones (same species), but I did better at finding and photographing a few wildflowers and this beautiful Police Car Moth. "This is a fairly large moth with a wingspan of up to 50 mm. The wings are jet black with large white patches between the black scaled veins. As well, there are two orange patches of hairs on either side of the thorax, right behind the head. It is this colour combination, that of an old style police car, that gives it its name. Larvae are hairy and black with yellow and blue markings. The Police Car Moth is found throughout the province in or near forested areas. Adults fly throughout July and early August." From www.royalalbertamuseum.ca .