Hi All, Well, I did think this was a grasshopper until Peter W set me straight! Look at the huge antennae. It flew onto my Jeep driver window after a lovely Fall walk along the Mel DeAnna trail, in late September. But when I first saw the insect, it was totally brown. I thought that this grasshopper would blow off the window as I drove, and come to no harm. Then it quickly started to turn bright green, as I could see out of the corner of my eye, starting at the top of the back, spreading downwards onto the legs, taking no more than a couple of minutes. I could actually see the green move down the legs. It folded its rear legs over its wings as I accelerated to 90 km/h, but did not blow off the vehicle, moving its legs back into normal position as the speed dropped to 50 entering Castlegar. The sun was very bright and shining directly on the insect. I found both of these behaviors very interesting. A quick Google search seemed to imply that katydids come in different colours, with no mention of a change in colour. While I thought it was a grasshopper, I looked for reference to the change in colour and was directed to a scientific paper from Europe, where the researchers were aware of colour change in one species of grasshopper, but failed to observe it in the laboratory. Regarding the folding of the legs over the wings in a gale force wind, that is really remarkable. Somewhere in their history the ancestors must have lived in very windy places. The story has a happy ending, I think. The creature was still on my window when I parked the car only 2-3 km as the Katydid flies from the Mel D’Anna trail, but had disappeared an hour later. Of course one of my avian friends may have felt like eating greens for lunch. Who knows? - Peter McIver, West Kootenay Naturalist
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Bluebirds are secondary cavity nesters, most often using holes made by woodpeckers. When dead trees with cavities are not available, they readily accept nestboxes. Providing and maintaining nestboxes increases their local numbers and helps in their conservation. Nestboxes may also have an advantage over other natural cavities in decreasing predators due to the specific size of entrance hole or slot and other accommodations that can be made. There are 4 Bluebird nestbox trails in the Castlegar area and others in the WKNA catch area, for instance in Rossland. The trails are being maintained and monitored by WKNA members. Maintenance includes repairing and ensuring the structural integrity of the boxes and cleaning out the old nests and debris after the nesting season / before the birds arrive in early spring. Monitoring involves more frequent checks on the progress of the nesting birds and young. Gratitude to Sarah Currie who managed a lot of these trails for the last 8 years. Sarah retired from this work this year, which marked a re-connection to the Southern Interior Bluebird Trail Society SIBTS, with our member Susan Spiller from Rossland taking out a membership for our club. This allows more detailed information such as number of young of which species hatched and /or fledged, to be collected and submitted at the end of the season. This info is sent to the British Columbia Nest Record Scheme, operating out of the Biodiversity Center for Wildlife Studies in Victoria. Membership in SIBTS includes “The Nestbox”, an informative newsletter sent to all our members via email. Websites to check out for more information on bluebirds are https://www.bcbluebirds.org and http://www.sialis.org/monitoring.htm Although WKNA's focus is on bluebirds, of course other cavity nesters use the boxes. This past summer we had Mountain and Western Bluebirds, Tree swallows, Black-capped Chickadees, and even flying squirrels. There was successful nesting and fledging of young from 7 Mountain Bluebird pairs, 3 Tree Swallow pairs, plus some Western Bluebirds and Black capped Chickadees. An eventful season. WKNA would appreciate volunteers to monitor one of the trails starting next spring. Two people working together could be the best since this beautiful area is a bit more remote with a rough access road. It can certainly be an enriching experience. If you are interested in this opportunity, or for more information, please contact Paula Neilson, [email protected]. - Paula Neilson and Susan Spiller, West Kootenay Naturalists
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West Kootenay Naturalists' AssociationTo know nature and keep it worth knowing. Archives
June 2023
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