Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦

@donnag

Aquatic entomologist, kayaker, naturalist Ed: Newsletter of the Biol. Surv. Canada & Mayfly Newsletter born at 314 ppm Professor Emerita at UPEI, Fellow of the ESC Retired home to BC's spectacular Sunshine Coast

502 Siguiendo1967 Seguidores675 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y donnag.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· 6d

A couple of peaty images from eastern Canada

Peat bog on the Magdalene Islands, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada

Purple pitcher plants from a bog on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jul 11

ours hang out in the moss in the the cedar groves.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jun 12

Love Blepharoceridae! Here are some Blepharicera tenuipes from Newfoundland, in eastern Canada.

ventral image of a larva of an aquatic fly called Blepharicera tenuipes. The larva is pale cream in colour, and each segment has leg like structures out to the sides, and a suction cup structure in the middle, to help it hold on to rocks in strong current.

dorsal image of a pupa of an aquatic fly called Blepharicera tenuipes. it is roughly oval in shape and flattened, and pale brown in colour.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· May 9

Well at least you found your target bird! Here are a couple of my favs from Donana from a few years back.

Eurasian spoonbill trying (ultimately unsuccessfully) to swallow a crayfish. The bird is large, with brilliant plumage and a large flattened black beak. It is standing in water up to its knees, as it tries to swallow the crayfish.

Three Eurasian spoonbills having a snooze beside a pond. The birds are large, and have brilliant white plumage. Their large flattened black beaks are tucked under their wings and they are standing on one leg.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Apr 16

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #HeadShots and the Alt theme is #Gulls

side view of a gull holding a sea shell in its open beak. The gull has a white head and a yellow beak.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Apr 9

It's the time of year for wood ducks in the woods. Here's a wood duck on a tree branch in a greater Vancouver (BC) park.

a colourful wood duck is perched on a branch in the woods, with a background of bright green leaves in early spring. The duck has a bright orange beak, and the head is a patchwork of green and reddish brown.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Mar 31

From my husbands workshop this week: more stunning turned bowls. The bowls in the back are 7" in diameter, and the one in the front is 5". The centre layer in the bowls in the back is Timberstrand, one of the manufactured mass timbers. the centre layer in the front bowl is spalted maple burl.

Three wooden bowls made from layering different types of wood, and then turning them on a wood lathe. Each bowl has a plain wood upper and lower layer, then the centre layer is contrasting, with distinctive patterns.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Mar 17

The #BirdOfTheDay theme is "Reflections" ... so here is a surf scoter in Davis Bay on BC's Sunshine Coast showing an odd double reflection in the ocean swell. #birds

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Feb 27

Big milestone day for me: finished curating ~1400 archived vials from several 1970s/80s collecting expeditions in Newfoundland & Labrador. Result: >15,000 specimens & 66 species of mayfly. Breakdown: 63 from Labrador, 25 from Isl. of Newfoundland; 25 in common. 37 genera represented, in 12 families.

a map of eastern Canada, with black dots showing sites in Newfoundland and Labrador where mayflies were collected during the 1970s and 1980s.

photos shows a desk with microscopes set up for identifying mayflies, and a shelf unit filled with vial racks. Each rack contains several vials of mayflies, collected in the 1970s and 80s by workers at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

A vial rack containing vials of mayflies collected in the 1970s and 80s by workers at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Vials contain from one to several dozen specimens, and these were opened, labels updated with georeferenced locality information, and identifications updated as much as possible with current taxonomic information.

A selection of vials of mayflies collected in the 1970s and 80s by workers at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Vials contain from one to several dozen specimens, and these vials were opened, labels updated with georeferenced locality information, and identifications were updated as much as possible with current taxonomic information. These specimens will be returned to the Newfoundland Museum, The Rooms, for long term storage.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Feb 26

Quite a treat to encounter some cute little Diptera in vials inadvertently included amongst my Newfoundland and Labrador mayfly vials: these are Nymphomyiids and blepharicerids.

a pair of mating Nymphomyia walkeri adults. These tiny little flies would have feathery wings when they first emerge, but lose their wings when they re-enter the water to mate.

A larva of Nymphomyia walkeri from Newfoundland. This is a tiny little white worm-like larva with a shiny head and little prolegs all along the abdomen.

Dorsal view of a Blepharicera tenuipes larva from Labrador, Canada. The larvae is a pale tan in colour, with a darker mark on its head. Each segment is expanded out on each side, with a proleg on each side.

Ventral view of a Blepharicera tenuipes larva from Labrador, Canada. The larvae is a pale tan in colour, and each segment is expanded, with a dark, circular sucker in the centre to help the larva hold on to rocks in fast water. Little finger-like gills can also be seen on each segment.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Feb 11

From Chris Borkent: Fellow Dipterists/systematists/ecologists: Agri./Agri-Food Canada plans to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects. Dr. Art Borkent has prepared an open letter to support keeping the unit open. To sign, please read & follow the instructions here.

Fellow Dipterists / systematists / ecologists, if you have not yet heard, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada is planning to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, supposedly for financial reasons. The open letter below has been prepared by Dr. Art Borkent. If you agree with the letter, and would like to add your name in support, please follow the directions below.

Message is as follows:
*********************
The following is an “Open Letter” that will be presented to the Canadian press by a Member of Parliament, Ms. Elizabeth May. If you can support this petition, please send your name, full affiliation and address (including country) to Art Borkent’s email: artborkent@telus.net
Your name will be added to a supporting list that will likely never be seen publicly but needs to be noted by our member of parliament. Please consider helping to stop the removal of the Diptera Unit in Ottawa, Canada.
Please remember that we are writing this for the press – someone gave advice that it should be written at about the level of an intelligent 14 year old.
If any of you are members of another society of specialized Dipterists or otherwise, please feel free to send this on to your other colleagues.
I am hoping to have this submitted to Elizabeth May with all the signatures by Friday, Feb. 13. Time is of the essence.

best wishes, Art Borkent and David Grimaldi

(Message too long for alt-text): the text of the first page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes.

(Message too long for alt-text): the text of the second page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes.

A sampling of output from the Diptera Unit at the CNC

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Feb 7

Except that the chart needs to be updated to include that Canadians measure distance in hours, which adds a whole new wrinkle! 🙂

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Feb 3

Agreed - the struggle is definitely real!

four glass vials with aquatic insect specimens inside and green stoppers. The stoppers on the left have swollen so they are impossible to remove without breaking them and potentially damaging the specimens inside.

The green stoppers from the vials in the previous photo showing how they've swollen and degraded. A new stopper is also shown (lower left) for comparison. One of the stoppers (top left) was able to be removed without tearing, but the one on the right shows how the swollen stoppers break when trying to remove them.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jan 19

A #BirdOfTheDay theme focusing on #Winterlight , any bird highlighted by winter sunlight. Also #birdsyoulove . This is a leucistic Anna's Hummingbird, photographed in Sargeant Bay provincial park on Canada's southwest coast, on a February morning a few years back.

face-on photo of a white hummingbird, with its wings outstretched.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jan 9

Yukon Trappers' Stop, William Kurelek, 1977

a long vertically narrow painting showing a dark sky in the upper fifth with green and blue streaks of light from an aurora, and a snowy scene at the bottom with a lone figure snowshoeing towards a cabin on the horizon.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jan 5

Via the "Language Nerds" on FB

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jan 4

Needed a walk in the woods today to escape the news. Bonus was a waterfall at the end of it. Meet Homesite Creek Falls, on Canada's south-left coast.

A waterfall in the woods. The waterfall consists of two main parts - one higher than the other - with a strong flow of water from recent rains.

A forest on the west coast of Canada. The forest floor is covered in green ferns, and the trees (mostly cedar) have straight trunks. The trunks and branches are covered in bright green moss.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jan 3

Agree.

The sun streaming through the trees in a west coast forest in south-west Canada. The trees have a coating of white, from a fresh snowfall, and the sun is giving them a golden glow.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Jan 1

It is a damp and foggy day here on this first day of 2026 on the south-left coast of Canada. But it is immensely cheering to still have so many flowers blooming in my garden!

a collage of flower photos taken in a southwestern British Columbia (Canada) garden on New Years Day, 2026. There are three rows of photos, and they include some yellow and orange daisy like flowers, a yellow snapdragon, some small blue photos, a red azalea flower, two small pink flowers, and a white and a pink heather, with their tube like flowers.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Dec 15

Greetings from a forest in the south-left corner of Canada!

A shady forest with sun peaking through the trees, showing a star-like burst of light in the middle of the photo.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Dec 12

definitely among my favs!

photo showing a rocky shore in the foreground, then a group of five ducks swimming just off shore. The ducks are strikingly coloured, with black and white markings and patches of rusty brown over their heads and backs.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Dec 9

You will be visited by three spirits

Three turkey vultures perched on the railings of a waterfront pier. The birds are large with black feathers and a bright red head.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Dec 1

It is hard to put into words how grateful I am for the work of taxonomists who produce the wonderful keys I use to identify my mayflies. These are specimens collected in Newfoundland and Labrador in collecting trips from the 1980s.

photo showing the head and forelegs of a mayfly, Drunella cornuta, collected in Newfoundland in 1980.

Showing the underside of a mayfly, Drunella walkeri, collected in Labrador in 1981.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Nov 24

an image showing a brilliant pink sunset over houses and trees, with mountains in the distance.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Nov 22

Entomologia Terrae Novae is an unpubl. manuscript by Philip Henry Gosse (1833) on the insect fauna of Newfoundland. The ms (which has been digitized in the Biodiversity Heritage Library) was returned to Newfoundland a few years back.See the story and the link to the book at s.si.edu/2rjaVvV

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Nov 5

Mine might not be high enough quality, but they do show habitat as well... (I love common yellowthroats!)

A common yellowthroat warbler perching on a branch above a wetland. The bird is a tan colour, with a striking black face with white above, and a bright yellow throat. Photo from Sechelt Marsh, southwestern British Columbia.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Nov 1

Cool news about moss species on Haida Gwaii (islands off the coast of British Columbia, Canada), from the "Gwaii Haanas - Islands of Beauty" facebook site

Our terrestrial team partnered with UBC bryologists to complete a flurry of surveys for rare and endemic mosses in central Gwaii Haanas. The primary focus of the fieldwork was a set of detailed surveys for an endangered species, Dalton’s moss, whose entire Canadian population is found within a single inlet in Gwaii Haanas. We found several new populations of the moss and the information from the survey will be vital in defining its critical habitat in the upcoming federal recovery strategy.
In addition, new populations of several critically imperilled, red-listed and endemic species were located. Data will be used in part to support species-at-risk listing processes, taxonomic science, and add weight to the formal designation of Haida Gwaii as a “Key Biodiversity Area” in Canada.
British Columbia is a renowned global hotspot for moss diversity, recognized with areas such as Southeast Asia, the Northern Andes, and the African Highlands (among others) as being globally significant. Within BC, Haida Gwaii is a vital and rich part of that provincial diversity, with many rare and unique species making their home in our forests. A well-known example is our lush mats of Takakia, considered by many to be the most ancient land plant on earth. Other examples include species that are found only on Haida Gwaii and in the Himalayas; some that only live on Haida Gwaii and in Northern Europe; some species are only found on Haida Gwaii and in the tropics; Some species are endemic and found nowhere else on earth.

Four images of mosses from a survey by Gwaii Haanas parks people and UBC bryologists for rare and endemic mosses in central Gwaii Haanas.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Oct 28

A sunny day between rainstorms on Canada's south-left coast. Clack Creek, located near Robert's Creek, BC, is flowing well after all the rain.

A side view of a waterfall, against the deep green of a Pacific northwest forest.

A stream flowing around rocks and fallen trees, against the backdrop of a deep green Pacific Northwest forest.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Oct 26

If you need to see something beautiful today, here is a leucistic Anna's Hummingbird from a couple of summers back, from a seaside park on Canada's south-left coast (Sargeant Bay, BC).

A mostly white hummingbird perched on a branch in front of blue sky. This is a leucistic hummingbird, some some patches of darker feathers as well.

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦@donnag· Oct 22

Now streaming (#WaterfallWednesday)