Top Photo: Common snapping turtle contemplates its next move. The snapping turtle pictured here was heading towards our wetlands. It may be a new arrival, having come up the creek which lies a dozen or so meters behind it. The creek is where our wetland drains. There’s a substantial drop where a large pipe delivers our wetland’s overflow into the creek. The drop keeps creatures like this snapping turtle from continuing their journeys via a direct route to our wetlandsRead more
Posts tagged: #milkweed bug
A Few Butterflies, a Great Egret, and a Lifesaver.
Top Photo: Large milkweed bugs mate between milkweed seed pods. Butterfly sightings are increasing. The common buckeye pictured here is a fairly easy find in grass along road and path edges. The Joe-Pye-weed in Wander Away is in bloom. Its tiny blossoms attract a variety of insects including hairstreak butterflies. Though I wanted to show you a juniper hairstreak on the Joe-Pye-weed as well, the one I was in pursuit of kept itself just out of reach. You’ll have toRead more
Pearly-Eyes, Beetles and Others
Top Photo: Northern pearly-eye. There are three butterflies in our region known as pearly-eyes, northern pearly-eye, southern pearly-eye, and creole pearly-eye. Though they all are reported from this area, the one that I come in contact most often is northern pearly-eye. They’re all medium sized butterflies and very similar in appearance. The northern pearly-eye, as does the others, has a row of eye-spots on the forewing. Northern and southern pearly-eyes have four eye-spots. Creole pearly-eye has five. In Northern pearly-eyeRead more
Falling Into Winter
We’re on the back side of fall and sliding into winter. There’s still much going on out-of-doors with lots to see if you keep an eye open to it. Here’s some of what I’ve been seeing. Asters are late summer and fall blooming flowers. They’re still blooming in the garden in front of our Butterfly House. Red buckeye fruit have already burst open spilling their large brown seeds (buckeyes) to the ground. Several common snapping turtle hatchlings were spotted bothRead more
August Has Gone By
August is over and we’re sliding into fall. Here’s a small sampling of sights I witnessed this past month above and beyond what I’ve previously posted. At the top and below are pictures of Bembix wasps. The various, rather gentle, non-aggressive wasp species in the Bembix genus burrow into sand to house and feed their young. They feed the larvae flies. They’re often called sand wasps. The picture above is of a Bembix wasp standing at the entrance to itsRead more
Milkweed (Butterfly Weed)
The one, and pretty much only, Butterfly Weed plant out in Catch the Wind is about to cast its seeds to the wind. There are no leaves on the plant, just a bunch of scrawny looking stalks and some seed pods. But don’t pass by that one lonely milkweed plant out in Catch the Wind without stopping to give it the once-over. There are creatures present worth examining. A few weeks back I mentioned here in this Journal that thereRead more
Some close encounters
I’ve been seeing more cicadas on the paths during the past week, some alive, some expired. Not as close as the cicada, but close enough… The “tail” on the butterfly above is usually longer than it appears in the photo. This butterfly may have narrowly escaped being eaten, the predator getting only a portion of the “tail” not the butterfly itself. The tail is actually an extension of the wings like the tails on a swallowtail butterfly. It won’t beRead more
Bugs on Milk Weed, Worms in Webs, a Potter, a Jumping Spider, and a Robber
Large Milkweed Bugs have hatched out as there were many nymphs on the Butterfly Weed in Catch the Wind during the first week of August. This was only a few days after seeing both Large and Small Milkweed Bugs mating and inspecting this plant. Seven days later the nymphs began to take on some of the characteristics of the adults. Fall Webworms have been at work on the Museum’s trees for a month or more. These caterpillars construct their webRead more