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: Flora
Ode, Lep, Vespid, and Herp
Top Photo: Blue dasher obelisking. ODE Certain dragonfly species, when perched in bright sunshine, may raise their abdomens upward to varying degrees to align with the sun. They do this, according to researchers, to minimize the surface area which is exposed to direct sunlight, thereby avoiding overheating. The behavior is called obelisking. An obelisk is a square or rectangular structure, usually stone, tapered to a point (picture the Washington Monument). Researchers thought the dragonfly’s abdomen resembled an obelisk when describingRead more
Life Goes On
Top Photo: Considered invasive wherever they’ve been introduced, American bullfrog and red swamp crawfish are known for their ability to alter and take over habitats. Here’s some photos to guide you through the dry times (we’re in a drought, but life goes on). Even though we’ve been high and dry in our wetland the cattails continue to grow. Many birds have fledged in the past several weeks, like this young Carolina wren. This is an adult common grackle staking outRead more
More Spring
Top Photo: Tiny fruit of early spring pawpaw. A few weeks ago we saw the blooming of the pawpaw flowers. Pollination has occurred and we now have fruit growing from the stalks. Green anoles have awakened to the spring. The big males are displaying their rosy dew lap. Fringe tree blossoms have come and gone. Swamp rose has acquired galls initiated by tiny wasps, spiny rose gall wasps (Diplolepis bicolor). The wasps lay eggs in the plant stem which stimulatesRead more
Redbud, Swallows, and Elm
Top Photo: Redbud lights up the spring forest. It’s when the redbud trees bloom that you realize just how many of the small trees there actually are in and along the forest edge. It blooms well before many other flowering trees, even before it sends out its own leaves. The tree’s leguminous magenta flowers brighten up the spring, and are so much more pleasing than the white, and stinky, Bradford pear blossoms. The pears are planted everywhere you look alongRead more
Some Spring Things to Look For
Top Photo: Saucer magnolia bursting open. A week ago and the saucer magnolia flower buds were obvious but not yet open. Then, they all seemed to burst open at once. Squirrels are eagerly gathering up food and consuming it on the spot. The black walnut pictured here is just one of the many choices available, having been cached in the fall and relocated when other food is scarce. While standing on the Main Wetlands Overlook I spied a small pieceRead more
Geese, Opossum, Pollen and Turtle
Top Photo: Canada geese return to wetland. As they do every February, a pair of Canada geese have arrived to stake a claim on a piece of our wetland. More will likely show up as we roll into spring (last year we had six pair vying for space in our three acre wetland). An opossum spent the entire day some twelve feet up a vine that wrapped itself around a tree next to the Dinosaur Trail. It’s not unusual toRead more
Leaf Crunch’n 2025
Top Photo: Sycamore, ready to crunch. It’s that time of year to think about crunching leaves. Click on the link below to see a repeat of a post from 2021 that will, hopefully, get you in the mood. It’s Crunch Time! Ranger GregRead more