Top Photo: Mimi relaxing. It’s spring, The air temps are rising and all of our bears are out enjoying the changing season. Mimi can sometimes be found in the plungpool of the black bear enclosure. She genuinely seems to enjoy just sitting there. It’s an exclusive springtime thing, she’ll swim and wade later in the summer, immersing herself in the two deeper pools of water at her disposal below the falls. All the bears, our 21 year old female Mimi,Read more
Posts filed in: Summer
Nest Box Update 4.22.25
Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. We still, as we did last week, have four active nests. However, we now have nestlings instead of eggs in all four of those nests. ——————————— As has been the case all season, the nest box at Cow Pasture hasn’t been touched. It’s empty. Last week there were five chickadee eggs in the nest box at Explore the Wild. Though there may be one egg still left under the nestlings pictured here, it will probablyRead more
Approaching Fall
Top Photo: Larva of larger elm leaf beetle skeletonizing elm leaf in Catch the Wind. We’re fast approaching fall. It has cooled some but not overwhelmingly so. There’s been a break in the barrage of high 90 degree days and stifling humidity. The tropical heat and humidity are temporarily on hold. But a break, no matter how small or short-lived, is a break. You can feel a difference. I’m mostly happy with it. So, here are a group of animals,Read 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
Red Wolf Names and Family Fun
Top Photo: From left to right, Adeyha, Cedar, Juniper, Oak, Sassafras, Maple (or it could be). The photo above depicts the two parent red wolves here on exhibit, Adeyha and Oak, and all but one of the pups born April 21, 2024 at the museum (the fifth pup is off to the side). And thanks to you who voted for them, the pups now have names. Cedar Juniper Maple Sassafras Tupelo I for one cannot distinguish who is who amongRead 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
Fungi
Top Photo: Bird’s nest mushrooms. A few days of rain and the dead wood and mulch comes alive. Fungi of all types have been popping out of tree stumps, branches and path-side wood mulch. Here’s just a few samples of what’s about at the moment. There’s more than one kind of bird’s nest mushroom. But you don’t have to know each species’ name to appreciate their uniqueness and remarkability. These typically 1/4” and smaller mushrooms pop up out of theRead 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