[NatureNS] Lack of flying insects (was Golden-crowned Kinglet

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From: Burkhard Plache <burkhardplache@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2016 23:55:45 -0300
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Blackflies, on the other hand, were thick this weekend on Frederick Lake
(located at the Bluff trail, between Timberlee and Tantallon).
They were bad even in the middle of the lake, with a fair breeze.
Burkhard

On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 9:21 PM, Eric Mills <E.Mills@dal.ca> wrote:
> It would appear that they (mosquitoes) are all taking a vacation on Brier
> Island. I will gladly forward a few tens of thousands that are spending time
> in our clearing along the Camp Road.
>
>
> Eric
>
> ________________________________
> From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca <naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca> on
> behalf of plchalmers@ns.sympatico.ca <plchalmers@ns.sympatico.ca>
> Sent: June 20, 2016 6:01:56 PM
> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
> Subject: [NatureNS] Lack of flying insects (was Golden-crowned Kinglet
> family group
>
> W e sat out on the deck overlooking the Basin for the first outdoor supper
> of the year last night in Bedford, and both my brother and I commented on
> the almost complete lack of mosquitoes. In many other years they would have
> driven us indoors.  My brother also found that black flies hadn't been a
> problem earlier in the spring at all.
>
> At home in Halifax, I've been noticing something (probably a caterpillar of
> sorts) is feeding heavily on maple and ash leaves.   They're covering the
> lawn chairs with their tiny black frass.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Patricia
>
>
>
> On June 20, 2016 at 1:42 PM Susann Myers <myerss@eastlink.ca> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Billy.
>
> That's the sort of thing I've been experiencing, too.  My memories of being
> in the woods for the breeding bird atlas in mid-June a few years ago are of
> having swarms of black flies so thick around my head that it was hard to
> hear the bird songs I was trying to ID.  And this year, after a few on
> migration count day, May 14, I haven't seen any black flies along the
> Eastern Shore.  I'm not complaining, by any means, but it does seem unusual.
>
> Cheers,
> Susann
>
> From: bdigout
> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2016 12:28 PM
> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Golden-crowned Kinglet family group
>
>
> Hi Susann;
>
>   I've been fishing the nearby streams after the rains we had last week, and
> although I was expecting them, there were absolutely no black flies.  This
> may have been because it was from daybreak until probably 7:00 A.M. although
> in the past they were quite bad.
>
> Billy
>
>
>
> BillyOn 20 Jun 2016 07:02, Susann Myers wrote:
>
> Pat McKay and I did some woods birding yesterday along the Old Mineville
> Road, a very quiet rough track that runs between West Porters Lake and
> Mineville, HRM.  In one area there were a lot of Golden-crowned Kinglet
> calls, and we saw a group of more than 4 kinglets flitting around in the
> woods together, feeding and calling.  We couldn't get a good enough look to
> confirm fledgling plumage, but this appeared to be a family group.
>
> A little research confirmed that this is the right season for a first brood
> of fledglings to be out of the nest and moving about with their parents.
> Tufts gives April 16 for the average start of nesting on Wolfville Ridge,
> and roughly mid-May for the completion of egg laying.  The Birders' Handbook
> indicates that incubation takes 14-15 days, and fledging another 14-19; it
> also indicates that this kinglet typically has 2 broods.
>
> Also notable were a good showing of butterflies and a lack of other flying
> insects - no black flies, and the only mosquitoes that bothered us were at a
> salt marsh in the early morning, where we went to hear Sora.  Although the
> day became windy, there was no wind felt down at ground level in the woods.
> Are other birders noting this absence of insecs?
>
> Cheers,
> Susann Myers
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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