Field course day 4 - Carden Plains & Clearwing hummingbird moth!

On the fourth day of the field course, we were at Carden Plains showing the students the unique alvar habitats and the flora associated with it.

Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) in the Liliaceae family is the provincial flower of Saskatchewan.

Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

A female Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) on Ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare).

Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens)

Small Skullcap (Scutellaria parvula) flowers

Mourning cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) found on the road while the students were looking at flowers.

My highlight of the day was seeing and photographing this Clearwing hummingbird moth visiting Tall cinquefoil flowers.

Clearwing hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) visiting Potentilla arguta








Beauty!




I took many photos but only these turned out the best because the moth was too fast for my camera to autofocus properly.

After a quick snack/coffee break at Kirkfield, we headed back to Peterborough, but not before stopping on the side of the road and looking for lady's-slippers in the marshy areas.

Showy Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae)

Showy Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae) with a flower beetle (I think) hiding from view.

What an awesome day!