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The State of Fatsia

Last month the fatsia alongside the trail on the Dinosaur Trail was blooming and abustle with activity. Insects, such as False Honey Ants, Yellow Jackets, Honey Bees, various flies and other nectar loving late season six-legged creatures were intently gathering the sweet nectar from the plant. This evergreen shrub is an East Asian species. It’s hardy to zones 7-10 or 8-10 depending upon which source you reference. Here in Durham we’re just about on the line between zones 7 andRead more
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Keep an eye out for…

Evening Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, Purple Finches, and Pine Siskins. Those birds are all considered winter finches. Purple Finches and Pine Siskins usually show up in our area each winter. Evening Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls DO NOT. There have been reports of all of those birds on Carolinabirds ListServ during the past week. I haven’t seen an Evening Grosbeak in North Carolina in almost twenty years and that was a flyby of 7 or 8 birds over the field area of Few’sRead more

Out for a walk

The turtle above was seen on the path above the Lemur House. I received a report from a visitor that they had also seen a hatchling walking along the Dinosaur trail today. Enjoy!Read more

Snakes and Skinks

Not the first of the season but the first photographed were a Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) and Ground Skink (Scinella lateralis) on Friday, the 16th day of March. March is when we start seeing these gentle little snakes (this one’s about 9 inches long). I’d seen at least two in the weeks prior to this photo being taken. Unfortunately for the snakes, both were being carried off by a Red-shouldered Hawk. Likewise with the snake, I had seen a skinkRead more

Odes, Leps, Herps, and some Aves

Green Darners have been ovipositing in the Wetlands (3/13). Up until this Tuesday I had only seen males patrolling the area. I was finally able to confirm the emergence of Fragile Forktails (Ischnura posita). I photographed a damselfly a week ago (3/7) but wasn’t sure of its identity, although I was fairly confident that it was a forktail. I’ve seen these forktails here at the Museum as early as mid February. It’s curious that I haven’t seen one earlier thisRead more
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Herp Firsts

The first American Toad (Bufo americanus) and Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) of the season made their appearances on March 9 here at the Museum. I thought that I spied a snapper poke its pointy snout out of the water the day before (3/8) but couldn’t be sure. There’s no doubt about the one below. Something new everyday!Read more