Top Photo: Paper wasp investigates fall webworms’ protective “tent.” Fall webworms (Hyphantria cunea) are already forming their protective webs in some of the trees here at the museum. The webs, or tents, are full of caterpillars who spend their lives inside the web, never venturing out to eat. The webs cover the area in which the caterpillars are feeding. The larvae only come out when its time to pupate in the leaf liter, the soil, or cracks and crevices inRead more
Posts tagged: #butterfly
A Moon Moth and a Monarch
Top Photo: Luna moth waits out the day clinging to a conifer. It’s always exciting to see a luna moth, whether its clinging to vegetation or gracefully fluttering though the trees. Though nocturnal, they’re quite often seen during the day. Males can be told from females by much broader, feathery antennae. The female’s antennae are feathery, but much less so. The added material on the male’s antennae assists in picking up the scent of pheromones given off by the females.Read more
From Hummingbirds to Mushrooms
Top Photo: A lichen “pipe.” What appears at first to be some sort of corn-cobish kind of smoking pipe is actually a ruby-throated hummingbird nest. Ranger Dakota noticed it lying in the leaf litter adjacent to the Farmyard. As soon as I saw the object I knew it was a hummers nest, about 1 3/4” high, 1 1/2” across and covered with lichen. The nest must have fallen from a loblolly pine above us on the path. The delicate lookingRead more
Pollen, Butterflies, and Squirrels
Top Photo: Male flowers of eastern red cedar or juniper. Pollen Red cedar is in bloom, and the male flowers are sending out pollen for the fertilization of female flowers, and for the rest of us to breathe in and sneeze. The local elm trees are in bloom as well. Elm is another tree, like the cedar, whose pollen is carried by the wind. Butterflies Not strictly an indication of spring, but of warm days throughout the winter and earlyRead more
You Had to Be There
Top Photo: Hermit thrush surveys its winter quarters near red wolf enclosure at museum. A hermit thrush can be difficult to spot when sitting motionless amongst branches, twigs, and leaves of trees. Even while it calls out with a chup…chup…chup or slowly repeats a slurry, whistled tone, it can be hard to pin down. Perseverance sometimes pays off when the bird switches perch, the movement catching your eye, and you got him. While walking along a service road out ofRead more
Cardinal and Pandora, Tortoise Beetle, and Annual Caterpillar Feast
Top Photo: Male cardinal wrestles with large green caterpillar. The cardinal flopped to the ground no more than a dozen feet from us on the Dinosaur Trail. It had a large green caterpillar under its control. Two months earlier, just feet away from where we now stood, I photographed a male cardinal tearing apart two luna moths. May was a busy month for luna moths, mating and laying eggs. Could this big caterpillar which was now committed to being eatenRead more
A Few Flying Insects
Here’s a quick look at some flying insects I’ve encountered during the past few weeks. American lady butterflies are fairly large and easy to spot in the flower garden at the Butterfly House. These butterflies look similar to a southwestern species which makes it to the state every couple of years. On this species, American lady, note the white dot on an orange rectangular area of the forewing which is visible from both above and below. On the underside ofRead more
Confusing Butterflies
Top Photo: Pearl crescents mate. There are two small, orange and black butterflies in our area that are very similar in appearance and may easily be confused with one another. I’ve gotten them mixed up on more than one occasion. As mentioned, both are orange and black, both fly low to the ground and both can be found in the same habitat, though one prefers wetter areas. First, a warning, the butterflies are variable in pattern and coloration. They don’tRead more
Some Sights From the Wild
Hearts a bursting or strawberry bush (Euonymus americanus) is showing off its namesake fruit. There are a dozen or so of these plants across the campus. The easiest to see and photograph is on the Dinosaur Trail, on the right side of the path just past the Albertosaurus. While on the Dino Trail, keep an eye out for a flatworm or land planarian, especially on warm, rainy days. Most people are familiar with planarian worms from biology lab back inRead more