Mastodawn

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Ms. Que Banh May 8

Photogenic profile of a #BaldFacedHornet.

#wasp #yellowjacket #insects #pollinators #BackyardWildlife #BackyardNature #nature #wildlife

Ms. Que Banh May 8

#BaldFacedHornet isn't a true hornet. It's in the yellowjacket wasp family.

#wasp #yellowjacket #insects #pollinators #BackyardWildlife #BackyardNature #nature #wildlife #NatureVideos #NatureShorts

Swiss Army Nerd May 6

This isn't just any wasp...

The anchor-shaped marking on the first abdominal segment identifies an eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons), and the dots identify a queen.

Most yellowjackets die each winter; a few queens survive to start new colonies each spring. #entomology #backyardnature

Swiss Army Nerd May 4

"Hey, there are weird things in the raised planters...they look like exoskeletons." They were exactly that - puparaia (the hard outer shell of a pupa, left after the adult emerges) of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens). A bit of careful digging revealed some additional pupae. #backyardnature #entomology

Swiss Army Nerd May 2

After a recent storm, I spotted a tiny speck on the glass of my front door. I thought it was a leaf, but I decided to take a closer look...and I've never seen a land #snail this small. (I have absolutely NO guess as to genus or species...) #backyardnature #malacology

Ms. Que Banh Apr 30

#Squirrel - a chonky one.

#BackyardWildlife #BackyardNature #wildlife #Saanich

A Tooter Apr 26

My yard appears to be the place for avian action this morning: a pair of robins are courting and chickadees appear to be building a nest in the apple tree.
#birds #birding #backyardBirds #backyardNature

Swiss Army Nerd Apr 26

That twig is no twig; it's an "inchworm". Larvae of geometrid moths (family Geometridae) only have two pair of abdominal prolegs; that's why they move in the "inch by inch" way that gave them their name. (Geometridae means "earth measurers".) #entomology #backyardnature