From Muscadines to Silk Moths

Top Photo: Muscadine grapes ripening on the vine. Muscadine grapes are native to the southeast and are a common and welcomed plant here at the museum. Many birds and mammals including cardinals, robins, and turkeys, groundhogs, gray fox, and humans eat the fruit. There are many vines throughout the museum grounds. If you can reach the grapes as they grow on the vine, it’s worth it to grab a few for yourself before they’re all gone. Cardinal flower is bloomingRead more

Colors

Top Photo: Snowberry clearwing hovers at butterfly bush flower spike in Butterfly House Outdoor Garden. Snowberry clearwing moths are a type of strong flying sphinx moth commonly seen hovering at flowers to sip nectar. They’re diurnal moths and resemble small hummingbirds or bees as they visit the flowers seeking nourishment. They are responsible for pollinating a large number of flowers, especially deep tubular flowers through the action of their long, sturdy, probing proboscis and hairy body which transfers pollen fromRead more

Basking Turtles, Mating Anoles, and Pupating Moths

Top Photo: It’s carapace to carapace as sliders enjoy the warm sunshine. After days of either brutally hot temps or pouring rain the wetland’s sliders were out with the sun on a rather cool (relatively speaking) dry day. it was double digit turtles on the floating platforms placed in the pond specifically for that purpose. Both platforms were utilized. Green anoles were taking advantage of the change in the weather to mate. This pair was on a wooden bench inRead more

Larva

Top Photo: Larva of unknown insect on fence at Red Wolf Enclosure. I was at the red wolf enclosure when I noticed a couple of summer campers intently watching an insect crawling along the wire fence which keeps the wolves in and the people out of the enclosure. I felt the need to investigate. The insect was about 3/8” to 1/2” and mostly yellow with black-tipped yellow spines over most of its dorsal surface. To my eye, it was reminiscentRead more

The End of July

Top Photo: Male eastern tiger swallowtail seeks nectar from buttonbush flowers alongside Floating Walkway in wetlands. Eastern tiger swallowtails have essentially two flights here in the Piedmont of North Carolina. I see them in spring, centered around April, then again in July and August. The spring brood or flight is made up of smaller individuals than the summer flight. This may be due, at least in part, to environmental factors. The spring butterflies had been feeding, as larvae, from earlyRead more

More Summer Stuff

Top Photo: Painted lady butterfly on purple coneflower. Just a brief look at a few sights out on the Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind loop. Asiatic dayflower grows throughout the Piedmont area. It’s a non-native, but it attracts various creatures to itself for a variety of reasons, shelter and food standing out in the case of the two creatures that were found on a stand of dayflower in Catch the Wind the past week. The six-spotted neolema isRead more
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Summer’s Here!

Top Photo: Male eastern pondhawk. Summer’s here and the time is right for basking in the sun. The young male eastern pondhawk in these two photos (above and below) is perched on a rock just off the floating walkway in our wetland. It can be identified as a “young” male by the green color on its thorax, which will become blue as the dragonfly matures. I’ve shown lots of pictures of basking aquatic turtles in the past few weeks. SoRead more
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First Half of May and How to Tell Murray Bear from Little Bear

Top Photo: Canada geese defend goslings. Note aquatic turtles and spotted sandpiper on float behind geese. The second week of May was warm with little humidity. It was a pleasant time to be outside. Here’s a handful of sights that were witnessed during that period. The six goslings which have been following their parents around the wetlands for the past week (first seen on May 2) still number six. Butterflies are becoming easier to find as spring rolls along. ARead more