Gray Squirrel and the Hawk

Top Photo: Red-tailed hawk cruises over the museum’s airspace. As cold weather descends on us, our resident eastern gray squirrels reinforce the insulation in their nests. The one in the following photos apparently caught the attention of one of the local red-tailed hawks. The redtail came in for a closer look as the squirrel made haste for the nest. Alerted by Animal Care Patrick (Pattie) to all of this activity, I was able to get a few shots to share.Read more

Early Fall and Things are on the Move

Top Photo: Late flowering boneset blooms in late summer to early fall. It’s early fall and many creatures and plants are prepping for the cooler, leaner months ahead. A walk around the museum’s outdoor loop always brings a surprise or two. Here’s a handful of subjects you might encounter out there during early fall. Late boneset (Eupatorium serotinum) blooms in August through October. Common boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), or just plain boneset, blooms a bit earlier in the season. The biggestRead 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

Banded Sphinx

Top Photo: Banded sphinx moth caterpillar preparing to chew on wingleaf primrose-willow in wetlands. Last September, I photographed a banded sphinx moth (Eumorpha fasciatus) caterpillar on an end-of-the-season wingleaf primrose-willow (Ludwigia decurrens) in the wetlands. There were only a hand-full of those plants in the wetlands at the time. This year, there are many. The larvae may be green-themed, red, black, or multi-colored. The genus name Eumorpha means “well formed” or “good shape” and the species name fasciatus refers toRead more

Nest Box Update 7.25.23

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. We are now down to zero nest activity. ————————— The Cow Pasture nest which held five house wren nestlings last week has fledged them all. I could hear them in the woods behind the nest box as we checked in on them this morning. The remaining five nest boxes are empty. ——————————— I’m calling the season over. I’ll make one last trip around the nest box trail at the start of next week, but IRead more

Nest Box Update 5.30.23

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. We now have three nests which show at least some activity. One has four nestlings, one with bluebirds sitting on five eggs, and minimal nesting material in another. ———————— The Cow Pasture nest box has four nestling house wrens. They look healthy and may fledge by next inspection. Both Explore the Wild and Into the Mist nest boxes are empty. The nest box on the east side of the parking deck still has three smallRead more

More Spring

Top Photo: Northern Mockingbird establishes its territory. Note leaf buds sprouting from tree branches. As temperatures settle back from highs in the mid to upper 70s to seasonal norms of 50s and 60s, more signs of spring are being seen around campus. Here’s some examples. The day following the capture of the photo above, fresh young leaves emerged from the buds of the fig tree our mockingbird was claiming as his own. Blue violet is common along paths in ExploreRead more

Oak and Niko

Top Photo: Oak (left) and Niko carefully watch members of the Animal Care crew in their enclosure during routine maintenance. Now that word is out about the new pair of red wolves having arrived at the museum, Niko and Oak, you may want to come have a look at them. Both wolves are still getting used to their enclosure and the rush of people stopping in or passing by the exhibit space. They’ve only been on-site a handful of daysRead more

Northern Water Snake vs Copperhead (rerun)

Top Photo: Copperhead Over the last few weeks I’ve gotten several emails with attached photos requesting the identification of the snake in the pictures (copperhead). With that in mind, and the fact that fall is upon us, and copperheads will be moving about more, I offer a link to a previous post on distinguishing copperhead from northern water snake, both locally common on the North Carolina Piedmont. The following first appeared in May of 2013 Click here > Northern WaterRead more