6 Spotted Tiger Beetle in Ancaster

We went on a nice hike today to the McMaster Forest, which has some very nice undisturbed areas. There is a prairie here with Big bluestem grass. McMaster Forest is a 115-acre property located at 1105 Lower Lions Club Road, Hamilton, and is owned by McMaster University. The property was designated as environmentally significant natural land, to be used for ecologically sensitive teaching, research, and recreation purposes.

Along the way, we saw this beetle on the ground. My first thought was that it was one of those ash borers that are decimating all the Ash trees here, but it was actually a 6-spotted Tiger beetle. It had enormous fangs. There was some poison ivy midway into the trail once we were in the open area. I guess that all depends on which direction you do the loop LOL. It was 18C and overcast.

We also saw and heard an Eastern Toehee pictured here (not my photo).

I find cameras never capture deep woods very well. In this instance, my Samsung S21 Pro did a better job than my Canon G5x Mark II. (some AI thing it did)

I thought these Mayapples with a native Solomon’s Seal would make a nice background for my laptop.

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