The End of July

Top Photo: Male eastern tiger swallowtail seeks nectar from buttonbush flowers alongside Floating Walkway in wetlands. Eastern tiger swallowtails have essentially two flights here in the Piedmont of North Carolina. I see them in spring, centered around April, then again in July and August. The spring brood or flight is made up of smaller individuals than the summer flight. This may be due, at least in part, to environmental factors. The spring butterflies had been feeding, as larvae, from earlyRead more

Ghost Pipe, Treefrog, Sphinx, Yellowjackets, and a Large Skimmer

Top Photo: Ghost pipe growing and in bloom among ferns on Dinosaur Trail. Ghost pipe, or Indian pipe, though resembling a fungus is actually a flowering plant. The plant’s tissue does not contain chlorophyll and it doesn’t photosynthesize its own nutrients as most plants do. It has to rely on other sources to maintain itself. Ghost pipe gets its nutrients by tapping into fungi which themselves are tapped into nearby tree roots. Each summer the plant sends up white translucentRead more

A Snake, a Catbird, some Flowers, and a few Insects

Top Photo: Rat snake in a tree. The rat snake above and below was in the branches of a dawn redwood tree alongside the boardwalk leading to Explore the Wild. It’s not unusual to see a rat snake in a tree, they dine on bird eggs and nestlings among other creatures like rats, chipmunks, frogs, lizards and similar small wildlife. They are excellent climbers. The catbird in these photos was harassing the snake relentlessly with quick salvos with its billRead more

More Summer Stuff

Top Photo: Painted lady butterfly on purple coneflower. Just a brief look at a few sights out on the Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind loop. Asiatic dayflower grows throughout the Piedmont area. It’s a non-native, but it attracts various creatures to itself for a variety of reasons, shelter and food standing out in the case of the two creatures that were found on a stand of dayflower in Catch the Wind the past week. The six-spotted neolema isRead more

Otters and More

Top Photo: River otter latrine. Our roughly three acre wetland drains into a small creek which connects with Ellerbee Creek. Ellerbee eventually flows into the Eno River and from there Falls Lake, all part of the Neuse River watershed. These creeks, rivers and lake are the trails, roadways and highways in which river otters and other aquatic animals move across the countryside. I occasionally see one or two otters in our wetland, but their visits are usually marked only byRead more

Swallows and Flowers

Top Photo: Family of geese pass behind recently fledged family of northern rough-winged swallows The young swallows are watching their parents fly overhead, and begging for food. Each year a family of northern rough-winged swallows brings their newly fledged young into our wetlands for training. The adults want the young birds to hit the skies and catch their own insects on the wing. The fledglings seem more interested in begging for handouts than learning how to hawk insects. But eventuallyRead more

First Half of May and How to Tell Murray Bear from Little Bear

Top Photo: Canada geese defend goslings. Note aquatic turtles and spotted sandpiper on float behind geese. The second week of May was warm with little humidity. It was a pleasant time to be outside. Here’s a handful of sights that were witnessed during that period. The six goslings which have been following their parents around the wetlands for the past week (first seen on May 2) still number six. Butterflies are becoming easier to find as spring rolls along. ARead more