Top Photo: Eyeshine from two raccoons about to climb up on the Floating Walkway in Explore the Wild. It’s a well known fact that raccoons use the floating walkway in Explore the Wild to get around the wetlands, they leave tracks for me to find every night. Otters use the walkway as well. Besides their foot prints, otters also leave behind signage in the form of scat, usually on the rocks next to the walkway, or on the walkway itself.Read more
Posts filed in: Fall
Farewell to the Oka and Martha Pack
Top Photo: Red Wolf family in September 2025 at Museum of Life and Science before departing for Wolf Conservation Center. Martha on the left, Oka on the right and Ember, Proton, and Scuppernong in the middle. Oka and Martha came to us through the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY in the fall of 2024. They’ll be heading back to their old stomping grounds this fall, November to be exact. This, after having a litter of three strong andRead more
Chicken Mushroom, Rare Wren, Odd Sweetgum, Active Tadpoles and Basking Turtles
Top Photo: Chicken of the woods. Chicken of the woods is a shelf mushroom which grows directly from dead wood. It does not have stems or stalks, and it’s a polypore, meaning it has numerous pores on the underside of its caps or shelves rather than gills to spread its spores. This mushroom may be bright yellow or orange when fresh but may fade to white or tan as it ages. It’s edible. However, while doing research, I found it’sRead more
Monarchs Passing Through
Top Photo: Female monarch butterfly stops to refuel on long journey south of the border. It’s that time of year when masses of monarch butterflies trek south, more specifically southwest, to their wintering grounds in the fir forests of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in central Mexico. On their way they may stop to nectar and even lay eggs so that a new generation of monarchs can complete the journey, overwinter in the Mexican highlands and head back north theRead more
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
The End is Near, Summer That is
Top Photo: Ripening persimmon. There are many persimmon trees in and around our wetlands. The fruit is fast ripening. Much of the fruit will drop into the water. Fret not, fruit that plops into the water is not wasted. Our population of sliders in the wetlands will take care of whatever falls from the trees and into the water. An interesting fact about persimmons, they make excellent catfish bait. There are no catfish in our pond but if you liveRead more
Grass, Passerines, Ducks, Hyla, Fungi, and Mammals (lemurs, red wolves, and w-t deer)
Top Photo: Grasses blow in the cool wind from the floating walkway in the wetlands in Explore the Wild. Seed production and dispersal is part of fall. The seed produced by the grasses in the wetlands will carry far and wide with the help of the wind. As of November 20, there were still a few green tree frogs hanging on in Catch the Wind and Explore the Wild. They were juveniles. Alder blooms in February. The male catkins andRead more
Marbled Arachnid
Top Photo: Marbled orb-weaver negotiates the forest leaf litter. Marbled orb-weavers (Araneus marmoreous) are striking spiders. Large bright yellow or orange abdomens with hieroglyphic-like markings set it apart from the other orb-weavers out and about in the Piedmont at this time of year. They’re one of the most easily identifiable and latest, in terms of seasonality, spiders out there. I typically come across one per fall season here at the museum. Today, I saw two. Like other orb weavers theseRead more