Top Photo: Viceroy butterfly. With all of the black willows we have growing in and around our wetlands here at the Museum of Life + Science it’s not surprising we have viceroys flying about. Willows are the host plant for viceroys, they lay eggs on the leaves and the caterpillars eat the leaves. Viceroys also use eastern cottonwood as a host. However, there’s only one cottonwood in our wetlands (at Water’s Edge – another tree is out of sight ofRead more
Posts filed in: Leps
Small Things
Top Photo: Tiny monarch caterpillar (1st instar) feeds on milkweed. At hatching, monarch butterfly larvae are small, about 2 – 5 mm small. They molt four times during their caterpillar phase (five instars) growing larger each time. The larva in this post, since being photographed, has disappeared. If it made it through the caterpillar stage it would be a chrysalis or perhaps an adult butterfly by now. I looked over the milkweed the original adult oviposited on, and the caterpillarRead more
Fall Butterflies Plus
Top Photo: Painted lady butterfly nectaring on Joe-pye weed. It will be in the 90s all week. Regardless of the high temps we have just moved into meteorological fall. Let’s have a look at a handful of butterflies that are out there braving the heat. Painted lady butterflies are cosmopolitan. Here in North America they’re migratory spending the winter months in the southwest and moving north in the spring and summer in varying numbers each year. Sometimes the numbers areRead more
Wolf Relief and a Caterpillar
Top Photo: The heat, the humidity, the pups…Finally, Carolina gets a break. After a long stretch of sweaty heat what will probably be a short-lived, but welcomed, break in the humidity is upon us. A Caterpillar While hiking the outdoor loop I noticed a group of caterpillars busily munching on a sapling white oak on the side of the path. At first glance I thought they might be fall webworms. “Can’t be webworms, no web!” Still, they looked familiar. ThereRead more
Turning the Corner
Top Photo: Monarch larva. Fall is creeping up on us. And though it’s forecast to be in the 90s all week I can feel, and see, the season turning. Here’s what’s going on in our neighborhood. Amanita mushroom (Amanita jacksonii) is a common mushroom of the Piedmont. The one pictured was along the path in Explore the Wild. They’re edible, but I’m not recommending eating them. It looks as though something has eaten part of the mushroom. Buttonbush is wellRead more
Spring to Summer and Little Water
Top Photo: Wetlands losing water to evaporation. As spring rolls into summer, meteorologically speaking, drought hangs over us, the wetlands are drying up exposing more and more of its muddy substrate. But life goes on. Here are some photos of the past few week’s sights and more. As you can see above and below the wetlands is becoming a mud flat. If rain doesn’t appear soon it’ll become a meadow. You can see numerous tracks in the mud of turtlesRead more
Fox, and a lot More
Top Photo: Gray fox pup. Things are moving fast out on the outdoor loop through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind. New life, travelers, and old friends are all making the scene. A gray fox has decided to den in a rocky depression between the Red Wolf Overlook and the Lemur House (the red wolves themselves have put out 5 young this spring). I’ve counted 3 fox pups but may have missed one, confirmation on the three. A coupleRead more
Palamedes
Top Photo: Palamedes swallowtail explores redbay leaves at Museum of Life and Science. Thanks to Richard Stickney, known by most regulars at the Museum of Life and Science as the Lead Conservatory Specialist at the very popular Butterfly House, I got to see an unusual sight here at the museum on the 18th of April. In fact, Richard hadn’t seen another one here since July 14 of 2021 (another sighting was on 16 May, 2010 by a local naturalist atRead more
Swallowtail, Azure, and Orangetip
Top Photo: Eastern tiger swallowtail. Three butterflies known for early season flights have been seen this past week. There are two flight periods when eastern tiger swallowtails can reliably be seen, now, and late summer to fall. There are two separate broods. The butterflies you see now, in spring, have overwintered as pupae and are smaller than the individuals that you’ll see in summer. As caterpillars, they fed on late season, less nutritious foliage in late summer and fall beforeRead more