Early Morning Walk

When at home in the province on weekends, i feel some semblance of rejuvenation. Maybe it is the result of clean air that is not as heavy as the polluted atmosphere we breath at the big city. It literally is easier to breath at home. I don't linger in bed because i have lots of things to do in the garden, and if there is spare time i will try to photograph some butterflies.

This morning i opted to go out, literally from bed i just slid on my slippers and go out clinging my camera. I felt a bit hungry but that can wait till i return. I intended to be out for just maybe an hour. It turned out that it rained that night, which i didn't even notice, maybe i had a very deep sleep. The plants are all still wet and there are still some puddles on the sidewalk. I am very familiar with the vegetation, the cracks on the pavement, the possible insects i will be spotting, and a lot more.

But i am always fascinated with my findings, as if it happened only the first time!

There is nothing more revujenating than the fresh air after the rains at night! And there is an emotion evoked by these fully refreshed grasses with still the dews on them.

Even the Artemisia scoparia, a weed favored by our butterflies, look so healthy.

 I spent lots of time trying hard to get some macro shots of the bubbles, got lots and lots of shots.

 I refer to this as my terrarium, with grasses mirrored in the bubble.

 

Our sidewalks are teeming with healthy weeds with these violet flowers, Ruellia tuberosa. I also spent a lot of time looking for any larvae eating them, they wont run out of food in this lush growth. 

 It is disappointing that our golden shower tree, Cassia fistula, has been fully pruned as it grows so enormously. The green and yellow butterflies, Catopsilia pomona, will find some alternative hosts as food. I just don't know what those plants are. 

 My single bush of Duranta erecta, a favorite nectaring plant for most of our butterflies, already need some trimming. The berries are already turning yellow, getting old. It has to be rejuvenated too. Can you see the male Mormon on it? Papilio polytes

 Some black ants converged on towing their big food, cricket, to their nest. 

I found 5 of these black thorny larvae on my hoya plants, many young leaves are already sacrificed as their food, so i gathered them and transfered to an area far from the hoyas. I wonder if they can find alternative food there. But these creatures are voracious, and they walk so fast. 

A pollinated hippeastrum failed to grow, aborted before its time. The sad thing about this plant is that they flower only once a year! It is another year of waiting for another attempt in cross pollination.

Our papaya with violet/blackish petioles have plenty of small fruits. There are 2 ripe fruits now, but they are not spared by the crows that linger in our area for whatever food they might find, including my mother's chicks if they are not properly protected. 

Lastly, here is a lovely find. A pair of blue-naped kingfisher are so noisy on our camansi tree. They are a bit far up the tree, and i only have a 50mm lens, so this is heavily cropped. At least we can see them a bit clearly. The female on top seem to be talking as its beak is widely open. 

My intended time for walking definitely did not materialize, it was extended until i was out for 3 hours, 6:30 - 9:30 a.m. I cannot anymore pretend that my stomach is not complaining, i am very, very hungry now that i have first to have breakfast. Besides,  the sunlight is already a bit biting the skin. 

Macro Monday 2
Nature Notes
Image-in-ing
Our World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday

Hoya meliflua is my Ruby Today!

I am looking for any structure for Ruby Tuesday. But my files are all mostly full of my hoyas! I cannot search in my other external drive as i normally leave that old one at home. So a newly photographed Hoya meliflua is handy for this meme. I hope you will enjoy this as not many garden bloggers are familiar with hoyas.

 Hoya meliflua is native to the Philippines, a prolific bloomer and not really very difficult to grow. It normally flowers during our hot dry season, which enduce it to produce lots of umbels. This is the 3rd year that my plant is blooming.

The red color is actually the stain of the nectar flowing on the velvety corolla. Upon opening the color is a bit pale, but immediately produce the red color a few hours after as nectar production is immediate. Of course, insects love sipping the nectar too. The above bee cannot easily leave because of the lure of the nectar. 

I stayed a few minutes taking a lot of shots of the bee. I am not disappointed in my purpose, as i am trying to find an insect with hoya pollinarium carried by their feet. This bee accidentally got the pollinarium because its feet has small hooks that stepped on the spot where the pollinaria are located. There are always 2 pollinaria in one socket, and this bee got one. If ever it injected the pollinarium to the stigma of another flower, cross pollination happens and will produce a natural hybrid. That is a wonderful outcome for a hoya grower if that happens. I hope this bee alights on more flowers of another species, to possibly pollinate them. Oh how i wish, i will say a few prayers! LOL.

Ruby Tuesday Too

Our World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday
Image-in-ing
Floral Friday Fotos

Insects on Hoyas 2

Part II

Moths are assumed to be the pollinators of hoyas. There are still no concrete evidence to this assumption, but arises due to the fact that most hoyas open before dusk concomittant with the scent and nectar production. They remain so during the night. Some hoyas diminish the scent the following day and resume the strong aroma the following evening. It is not known if the receptivity of the stigma is continuous during the life of the flower. 

Most moths are nocturnal or active at night. What else will the hoya flowers lure with their sweet scents if not for the nocturnal insects! This led to the assumption that they are hoya pollinators. However, concrete data or evidences to this assumptions are not yet published, so they still remain assumptions. I tried observing the insects that visit the hoyas, day and night whenever i have the time. But of course, night observations are very limited when i purposely go there with a flashlight and camera, a bit cumbersome task. Sighting moths are by chances only, purposeful observation needs some light source which disturbs them or chase them away. Sometimes the moths fly away before i can focus my lens. I was just lucky in documenting a few species because my garden is just a few meters from the terrace.

 A moderately sized moth which allowed me to photograph it sideways and on top is not identified yet. The Philippine Lepidoptera group on Facebook are still trying to identify it.

 top view of the first moth on Hoya fungii (sorry for the photo quality)

 Genus: Lyclene (Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini)

  AMATA WASP MOTH, Amata sp. (Erebidae; Arctiinae; Syntominae)

 still NOID

Tiger and lichen moth; Trischalis sp. (Erebidae; Arctiinae; Lithosiini) 

Above and Below are the same green moth. It is amusing and interesting as it always assume camouflage at the tips of hoya leaves. I tried driving it to move elsewhere, but it just landed on another hoya leaf and purposely sought the tip before it stopped moving. A perfect camouflage!

PYRALID MOTH, Doloessa sp.   

(Pyralidae; Galleriinae) 

 a monkey moth, Eupterote sp.  

Geometrid moth, Agathia sp. 

BLUE GLASSY TIGER, Tirumala ishmoides

METALLIC CAERULEAN, Jamides alecto manilana

Hypolimnas bolina philippensis

BROWN PANSY, Junonia hedonia ida

This is seen on the grasses at the ground under the hoyas.

A common mormon pupa on a Hoya mindorensis, isn't it great. But this was only possible because a young hoya plant was near the base of the citrus plant, the host for this butterfly larvae. The other week i just saw the caterpillar munching on the citrus leaves, now it has pupated. I wish it will eclose next weekend when i am home again. 

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday

Imag-in-Ing 

Camera Critters

Saturday Critters

Insects on Hoyas

Part I

 Since i started tending hoyas in 2011 i left the habit of chasing butterflies and moths. I only have the afternoon of Saturday and the morning of Sunday for the hoya activities, before i leave again for the big city. I cannot say that it is a stress-relief because the very limited time to finish the work make it stressfull too! I just don't know, but i like what i am doing. A hoya-enthusiast friend very aptly said that the other half of hoya addiction is hoya photography. And in my case, not only the flowers catch my attention, but the leaves, the peduncles, the stages of blooms, the roots, and the insects that visit and reside within the hoya community.

I thought only moths and butterflies visit hoyas. Hoyas start blooming in the afternoon before dusk, concomittant with the sweet fragrance that most hoyas emit. This connotes that moths pollinate them because moths are mostly nocturnal. However, a lot of life go there at daytime, and a lot of them make the plants their home. My hoya area is a biodiversity in itself, with preys and predators living within it. And i am the onlooker, observer, photographer, gardener, rolled in one!

This is a fruit fly, often associated with ripening fruits, but i see them often on hoya leaves. They just stay there for long hours unless they are disturbed.

This fly, no identity yet  but maybe also a blowfly, is often seen on hoya leaves and stems too.  I just don't know yet if they are friend or foe. Like the fruit fly, they just leave when disturbed. 

 Another species of fly with the same behavior has more hairy body and legs. Maybe this is one of the Blowflies because of the hairs on its body. A report says it voraciously consumes larvae of other species, and primarily they are necrophagous, eating decaying organic matter.  

Being necrophagous, i just don't know what they are doing on hoya leaves and flowers. I still haven't observed them sucking nectars as other insects do. However, i have seen a post by a hoya enthusiast of the hairy flies with hoya pollinaria on its legs. Those feet probably can pollinate hoyas.

This metallic green beetle is often seen in hoyas too. I am now sure the reason it is there, sucking nectar. It was caught in action, as the nectar are produced in between the two corona lobes. However, reports say it is sucking plant sap also, so it can also be a hoya foe.

This black beetle might just be lost, or it might also be looking for nectar as the top and bottom beetles do. However, i haven't seen it sucking nectar yet as it is not very commonly seen in hoyas.

Clinidium calcaratum, are reported to feed on slime molds and decaying fungi. Why it is found here sucking the nectar obviously defies the original normal observation. But who can resist the taste of the hoya nectar, it surely cannot. It kept on sucking even with my prodding presence, seems oblivious of my disturbance.

 I guess this is a ladybeetle. They eat mealybugs, i hope their population increase.

 Isopods are terrestrial crustaceans. They are also called pillbugs or sowbugs. They are often found in moist places or under decaying logs and leaf litters and aid decomposition. I often found them in the media when decaying coconut husks are included. However, some of them wander on the hoya leaves, and i wonder why they just stay put there unless disturbed. While exposed they can be prone to other insect predators like spiders and ants.

NOCTUID MOTH or GREEN GARDEN LOOPER, Chrysodeixis eriosoma (Noctuidae; Plusiinae; Argyrogrammatini)

The above also looks like a fly, but i don't know for sure. It is at the active predatory act as shot, having a big ant for its prey. Look at the feet, they have some orange appendages that really look like hoya pollinaria. I wonder if the previous picture i once saw in the hoya group photos, i thought are pollinaria might be this species. This might be a very significant shot, as not many photos have been shot having those pollinaria, and hoya pollination is a very difficult job. It is not conclusive yet what insects do these, i just don't know if flies are one of them.

 Oh the above insect is very much known as a gardener's friend because it preys on many insects. The sad part is they also prey on beneficial and lovely insects. I saw a green one darting on a butterfly, but failed. Another one was successful in getting a butterfly i am currently shooting, but it is in the duranta flowers. Recently, i just noticed 2 egg masses of praying mantis on the Hoya diversifolia.

The above looks like a cricket. It is on a trunk which also has climbing hoyas. They are omnivorous, meaning they eat both plants and animals, as we do. They have preference for rotting plant materials, but also like tender growing plant parts. They are not discriminating when it comes to food, so i guess it is preying on many things in my hoya community, be it insect eggs, larvae, or plants. I hope it can be caught by the praying mantis.

Nature Notes

Macro Monday 2

Our World Tuesday

Image-in-ing

Camera Critters