Monarchs and milkweed

What is better than the sighting of one Monarch butterfly? Seeing three at once. I always wonder if we have one, repeatedly, or several over the day.

There have been disasters over the years regarding the Monarchs. A 'mild' drought (Cats, & Monarchs, 2016), a fire in their overwintering Mexican habitat, this was prefaced by a low in 2012 (major 2012 drought: Monarch butterfly sightings!). "Experts" had dire warnings, but they are rebounding. I knew they would. Populations of all critters ebb and flow, according to environmental conditions. The tent caterpillars are a prime example!

One butterfly fooled me last month... but I was hopeful.

a viceroy

Now, you'll have to trust me on this. There are three in the first photo. I am simply not fast enough, although the second one focused beautifully on the two dancing together in the wind!


The milkweed is AMAZING! The smell is so glorious. A lot of bugs use milkweed for food and shelter, BTW. Monarchs use it exclusively as a place to lay their eggs and their caterpillars feed on the plant. This is why we need them in the ditches between here and Mexico.They lay eggs, migrate some more, and go north.


I'm so glad I didn't mow down the blueweed! It looks a bit odd. You can see how we have a drought. Little rain in June (JUN), and July doesn't look hopeful.
 

Then, in the front yard...


Lest I forget: The momma dock spider has put in her time. RIP!


The babies have spread out over the plant.


My veggie garden is pretty wretched. I forgot about it. The monarch likes the milkweed in their, though. My back yard is a bit whacky, as I let the milkweed sprout where they like!
Monarch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Monarch 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Monarch lifecycle, U. of Minnesota

More signs of spring!

Daisy loves her frog pond

I took the cats for walkies in the forest. We went down to the frog pond. It teems with life.

Smiths Falls flowers

after walkies we went to the backyard

love those colours!

lilac buds

one scolds from above

tree frog egg hatched 

amazing - this will be a tree frog!

look who else is up and about!

Buster and I rested on the front porch

It's that time of year! Horses everywhere...

Horsefly

See the colours in its wings

Yes, they are biting, those mosquitoes, and, whilst gardening, I was harassed by a horsefly.

Big twerp.

No mind. I have birds about.

Lovely birds that eat millions of bugs for us every day!

What a busy king of the castle!

 This kingbird was picking bugs off of the driveway and front yard. Bless its little soul. It was working very hard, like a jet fighter pilot.

I went down to LAWS and spotted these horses grazing in the field.

The horses kept moving, but had to scratch some, too!

Everyone suffers from the bugs!

Wait for me, Mom!

That's my Mom!

Sorry, no treats for you!

And off it went...

How to treat bug bites

lady beetle

A few days ago, I wrote about some techniques for avoiding and preventing bug bites. Once you have a bite, relief is a beautiful thing. Most bug bites are simply an irritation.

Bugs are everywhere in nature. Where we live, in rural Ontario, and regularly walk in the forest, they live and breathe and attack in that quest for survival. I've even been bitten by lady beetles!
Yesterday, while checking my cat for burrs I spotted a tick. He was bringing home 2 or 3 burrs each time he went outside, each time he went out into Oliver's Field. The tick was teeny, and looking for a home!

Hubby's black fly bite! Huge rash.

While prevention is the best way, sometimes you have to treat bug bites. The danger, for dogs and cats, is getting heartworm from mosquitoes. There are many once-a-year preventative chemicals that your vet can recommend. Truly, the danger to us is that your pets will bring these critters into your home. Now, mosquitoes are a pain in the house. They'll buzz you all night. Black flies are better, to my mind, as they don't like being in your house and won't bother you!

Of course, once bitten, you are likely itchy.

There are several products, like After Bite, which relieve the itch. If you apply it early, it'll lessen the effects.

Wash off the bite sight, then apply them. Some are far better than others. The alcohol kills any bacteria. A local pharmacist (Perth) makes his own itch relief. Rural living!

If you are bitten by a tick, there are ways to remove it properly.

snow flea

Taking tweezers, pull it up from the bottom.
This is what we had to do for our cat.Brown Dog Tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) and American Dog ticks Dermacentor variabilis). The black-legged tick is the one that carries Lyme Disease.

Sady has a Dog Tick which we removed.

Creepy little thing that hangs on.
They have eight legs.

I think this is the Brown Dog Tick, ironic, that, seeing as it planted itself on hubby's cat! It was fully engorged and 3 times its disengorged size. Poor old Sadie was more upset with us trying to remove it than with the tick itself! The vet has publications, mostly published by companies that sell tick prevention chemicals. Good photos, nonetheless. Pick up a brochure, they'll show you what you need to identify.

Mosquito!

Butch, our raccoon, has fleas!

This is a beetle that lives in the water,
or flies about! About 3" long at my back door

Bug season is going full throttle!

No, not Bugs Bunny!
But sometimes I'd like to shoot our bugs with something other than a camera.

In Muskoka...
May is blackfly season, June begins mosquito season, by July the deerflies fly off with chunks of your skin, then the horsefly, even larger, haul chunks of your carcass.

Living, as I am, in Lanark County, near Perth, we are about 5 degrees warmer, and the warmer, more temporate climate, means that mosquito season begins earlier. The blackflies are almost gone, as the heat of the day dries up the ponds where they laid their eggs last fall.

deerfly

mosquito

I posted on Facebook that I have never been bitten by a blackfly, mosquito and deerfly all on one day! The mosquitoes like the cooler mornings and evening. The deerflies love the heat. We live in the middle of a protected wetland. We are sitting ducks, er... humans!

There are ways to protect yourself. If you haven't protected yourself, be sure to get something to put on the bite afterwards, especially for children. When I taught school in Parry Sound, kids would come to school with their legs covered in bug bites. It pained me to see it!

Patches for your cap, found at Lee Valley Tools

Bug hat

Bug shirt - you can spray the outside of the shirt
with bug repellent.
The deerflies bite right through clothing!

Blackfly bite

 Bug spray, if you don't wear long pants, will keep them at bay. For awhile, if you aren't, say, gardening!!! Once bitten, treat the bites right away with something. It really helps.

5 days after the bite

Spider on electric toothbrush.
They eat bugs!

Lyme Disease Lanark County Health Unit

- As temperatures rise above 4ºC, the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit would like to remind you that while enjoying and working outdoors you should take precautions to avoid being bitten by ticks. Lyme disease has been identified in the health unit region and is now considered to be a risk here.

What are the symptoms of Lyme disease?

The symptoms of Lyme disease usually happen in three stages, although not all patients have every symptom. The first sign of infection is usually a circular rash called erythema migrans or EM. This rash occurs in about 70-80 percent of infected people. It begins at the site of the tick bite after a delay of three days to one month. Other common symptoms include:

• fatigue
• chills
• fever
• headache
• muscle and joint pain
• swollen lymph nodes.

If untreated, the second stage of the disease can last up to several months and include

• central and peripheral nervous system disorders
• multiple skin rashes
• arthritis and arthritic symptoms
• heart palpitations
• extreme fatigue and general weakness

If the disease remains untreated, the third stage can last months to years with symptoms that can include recurring arthritis and neurological problems.

Deerfly patch, and
I sewed in hanky/flaps for protection

Although rarer than Lyme disease, there are other infections that can also be contracted from blacklegged ticks. These include Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis; Babesia microti, the agent of human babesiosis and Powassan encephalitis virus. The precautions outlined above will also help to protect individuals from these infections.