Even though summer is fading into fall, there’s still plenty of flowers blooming and insects buzzy. In fact, insects are probably more numerous at this time of year than at any other time. Here’s a sample of what you may see on a leisurely walk through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind, or any local park, nature preserve, or in your own backyard. Blue dashers are small dragonflies found at just about any pond, lake, marsh or ditch inRead more
Posts filed in: Flora
Go Out and Take Some Photos
There are many photo opportunities here on our 84 acre campus. Here’s some of the things I ran into the past few weeks. While at “Bird Viewing” in Catch the Wind, I noticed a young brown thrasher picking up discarded or spilled sunflower seeds below the feeders. The inexperienced bird flew within ten feet of me and briefly posed for a photo (tip-sit quietly at the feeders). Along with the thrasher and squirrel, an American robin was picking off wormsRead more
Things to Look for While Strolling the Outdoor Loop at the Museum of Life and Science
Yellow-bellied sliders are frequently seen out basking in the sun in our wetlands. Occasionally, and typically in spring and early summer, a snapping turtle partakes in the catching of rays. There are Colorado potato beetles and there are false potato beetles. Both eat plants in the nightshade (solanaceae) family, a group of plants of which both potato and tomato belong. This family includes many other species of plants including horsenettle or Carolina nettle (Solanum carolinense). We have much Carolina nettleRead more
Idle Thoughts?
As we humans hustle through our days occupying our thoughts with whatever it is we think about during our daily routines, a particular project we’re working on, what to eat for lunch, or whether to go to the mountains or to the beach the coming weekend, we unknowingly pass by a myriad of creatures sharing our world whose thoughts, if they have them, are far less abstract and more consequential to life itself. What creatures? Stop and have a lookRead more
Spring Happenings
Before and after your visit to the Red Wolf Enclosure to see the wolf pups out in Explore the Wild, be sure to keep a keen lookout for some of our local wild fauna here at the Museum. The garden in front of the Butterfly House, the sides of the paths around our outdoor loop, and the Wetlands are host to many a diverse creature waiting for your discovery. Currently, insects, frogs, and birds are stealing the show. Beetles, dragonflies,Read more
Spring has Sprung!
If you needed more proof, other than the 60 and 70 (even 80) degree weather we’ve been having, that spring has come early, here’s more evidence to the affirmative. I’ve been hearing spring peepers, upland chorus frogs, pickerel frogs, cricket frogs, and even American toads calling. And, I’ve been seeing a handful of species of butterfly fluttering about, including question mark, spring azure, American snout, sleepy orange, and falcate orangetip. The peepers and chorus frogs don’t surprise me. A couple of nightsRead more
February Blooms
As happens each February, hazel alder is in bloom here at the Museum. Hazel alder (Alnus serrulata) is a small tree or large shrub which grows along ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers throughout the state. It’s deciduous, which as you know, means it loses its leaves each fall. The male catkins and female flower buds appear in fall. They bloom in early spring before the alder’s leaves appear. February is spring for this plant here in piedmont North Carolina. TheRead more
Seed Dispersal
Butterfly weed, a type of milkweed, is setting forth its flat brown seeds. The seeds have been growing inside long thin pods since the summer and have now burst open to expose the seeds to the elements, one element in particular, the wind. The seeds are attached to fluffy white, silky filaments which help to carry the seeds, often, far away from the mother plant. The plant pictured happens to be in Catch the Wind here at the Museum, aproposRead more
Mistletoe
Now that the leaves are falling from the trees, mistletoe is becoming more obvious. It’s mostly found in the upper branches of hardwood trees in the form of a somewhat round clump of greenery amongst an otherwise barren tree. Luckily for me, there’s one small red maple here on the Museum of Life & Science campus that’s hosting several mistletoes at a very convenient height, eye level. As you may or may not know, mistletoe grows from the branches ofRead more