Top Photo: Giant robber fly Some call them assassin flies. I first learned of them as robber flies. Whatever you call them, they’re predatory flies which perch out in the open, often near areas with heavy insect traffic in order to wait in ambush to snatch other insects out of the air. Visit a flowering group of Tithonia, milkweed, Joe Pye weed, or other rich nectar source with insects busily flying from flower to flower and you might see oneRead more
Month: August 2021
Needle Ant
Top Photo: Asian needle ant (Brachyponera chinensis). Depending upon who you reference, there are somewhere around 10,000 to 12,000 known species of ant in the world. New species are still being discovered. There’s an estimated total of some 20,000 species including what has yet to be described. The number 1,000 is most often returned in searches for North American species. And it seems 192 species is the most recently calculated number for North Carolina. I have no idea how manyRead more
Lacewing
Top Photo: Green lacewing egg on leatherleaf viburnum. While standing next to a leatherleaf viburnum near the Sandbox in Gateway Park, I took a close look at the leaves of the shrub, you never know what you’ll find, getting up close to vegetation. To my surprise I spotted two green lacewing eggs. There was one egg on two separate leaves several inches apart. I’ve seen lacewing eggs before, but perhaps only once here at the museum. Most descriptions of lacewingsRead more
Eating Elm
Top Photo: Larger elm leaf beetle larva feeding on elm leaves. Back at the end of May, we Rangers discovered many adult, larger elm leaf beetles on the far side of the museum’s outdoor loop between Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind. The beetles were all down low on the vegetation and boulders that line the path in that area. The insects weren’t eating but slowly walking about on the rocks and mostly poison ivy leaves, presumably to findRead more
Canada Geese Rising
Top Photo: Goslings resting at Sailboat Pond on May 15, two weeks after first being sighted in wetlands. I first saw the pair of geese with 5 goslings in tow on the first day of May. They were swimming across the open water of our wetlands. Waterfowl in general are precocious, that is, they’re ready to go the day of, or day after they hatch. The next time I saw them they had lost one their number. The four remainingRead more
Common Whitetail (female) on Black-eyed Susan
This dragonfly species, common whitetail (Plathemis lydia), is probably the most often encountered of all the 188 species of dragonflies and damselflies in the entire state. It’s found at or near just about any slow or still body of water in the state and often far from the lake, pond, or puddle of origin. The picture above was taken in Wander Away in Catch the Wind here at the museum. The dragonfly, as the title of this post states, isRead more
Invasive
Top Photo: Autumn olive berries. Autumn olive is considered an extremely invasive shrub. It can overwhelm the forest understory, fields and openings where it grows, crowding out native species. Here at the museum it flowers in March-April. The tart, red fruit is ripe by July-August. It spreads across the landscape largely through the action of birds. Birds eat the fruit, fly off and deposit the undigested seeds in their droppings. The seeds germinate where they fall. The fruit is tasty,Read more
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
Nest Box Update July 2021 (the final count)
We have six nest boxes on our bluebird trail. I inspect the nest boxes once per week following the same sequence each week; Cow Pasture, Explore the Wild, Into the Mist, Parking Deck East, Parking Deck West, and Butterfly House. This is a compilation of the nest box inspections for the month of July. July 6 Though there are two nest boxes containing nest material, one with house wren twigs (Cow Pasture) the other with bluebird grass and pine needlesRead more