Top Photo: Two of five pups born on April 21, 2024 at Museum of Life and Science. The five red wolf pups, Cedar, Juniper, Maple, Sassafras and Tupelo and two adults Oak and Adeyha, that we now house will soon be transferred to the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY. Come by to see them. Wish them well. Good luck!Read more
Posts filed in: AZA
Monarch Migrants
Top Photo: Migrant monarch butterfly lays egg on one of the last remaining leaves of common milkweed in the Butterfly House Garden. It’s September and monarch butterflies are moving through. In fact, September through early October is peak time for the long distance migrants to cut across our state. Sure, you’d see many more if you were in the mountains or along the coast due to the concentration factor. A combination of geographic features (physical barriers) and regional wind conditionsRead more
Stinkhorn and Flies
Top Photo: Fruit flies feed upon the sporogenous gleba of a Ravenel’s stinkhorn on the Dinosaur Trail. While gazing down at the Ravenel’s stinkhorn next to the Alamosaurus on the back side of the Dinosaur Trail, I noticed one large fly, a flesh fly, and many more much smaller Diptera (about 2mm in length). The little flies had red eyes and looked to be fruit flies. The first thing that came to mind was indeed, fruit fly. But I couldn’tRead more
Howling Foam
Top Photo: Excited by the sound of sirens in the distance, the red wolf pups howl in response. Some mornings the wolves howl multiple times, always stimulated by passing sirens. The precipitating frequency seems to be consistent. Fire trucks are preferred. Mornings are the active period of day for the family. The pups, however, may be excited by the most mundane of things at any time. They were very suspicious of a floating mass of foam bubbles in the poolRead more
MidSummer Sights
Top Photo: Eastern tiger swallowtail nectars on joe-pye-weed (native) in the Butterfly House Garden. As summer creeps along, insects like the swallowtail above are busy feeding, constructing hives and webs, or reproducing. Mentioned in a previous post, orange-striped oak worms are now in their final instar (stage of caterpillar development) before they crawl off to find suitable pupation sites. I found some of their eggs a few weeks ago and share them with you here. In their quest for pupationRead more
Slime Mold?
Top Photo: Apparent slime mold. The tiny gray specks (≤ 1mm) that make up the above and following photos were pointed out to me by Ranger Pen. The sharp-eyed and curious Pen spotted them in the leaf litter alongside the path near the Butterfly House. I initially thought them some kind of insect eggs or perhaps a fungi. A closer look, after taking photos of the mass, revealed that each tiny, gray, round blob was at the end of aRead more
Hercules, Oakworms, and a Tussock Moth
Top Photo: Female eastern Hercules beetle. The beetle in the banner photo above was brought in to the museum insectarium by Facilities Tech Daniel. He found the beetle at a gas station early one morning while on the way to work. It was later released in the Butterfly House Garden. Gas stations are good places to search for some types of beetles, moths, and other insects who are attracted to the 24 hours of artificial light provided by the businesses.Read more
Nest Box Final Count 6.18.24/6.25.24
Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. The last nest with birds has emptied, all the birds have fledged. There are new berry baskets in each of our six nest boxes in case a bluebird, chickadee or even a house wren decides to give it another go. But, it’s late in the season and though we’ve gone into August in years past, it doesn’t seem as though it will happen this year. I see no new nest under construction, though one nestRead more
Nest Box Update 6.11.24
Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. We now have only one active nest with three nestlings. One nest just fledged five bluebirds while all the remaining nest boxes are empty. — The Cow Pasture, Explore the Wild, Into the Mist, Parking Deck East and Parking Deck West boxes are all without occupants, the PKW nest having just fledged their five nestlings during the past week. The Butterfly House nest box, the last on the list of weekly inspections, has three bluebirdRead more