Top Photos: Green treefrog peeks out from frog pipe in Earth Moves. It may be hot out there, but at least their’s plenty to look at to get your mind off the temperature, somewhat. If you’re going to take a photo of a silver-spotted skipper, do it fast, they don’t sit still long. You never know what or who you’re going to run into. Yes, it’s hot, but you can’t see any of these things sitting inside with the A/CRead more
Posts filed in: Flora
Little Bear and Some Late Spring Encounters
Top Photo: Little Bear by the waterfall. Little Bear’s pelage stands out among our three black bears occupying the Black Bear Enclosure. The following are subjects you might encounter on our Outdoor Loop Trail in late spring to early summer, now. Two very common and widespread dragonflies, common whitetail and eastern amberwing are sure to be seen on any sunny day. Not as frequently seen but still common are Carolina saddlebags. They spend much of their time on the wing.Read more
Cicadas and Other Things Around the Campus
Top Photo: Magicada tredecim, one of two species of periodical cicadas emerging this spring in the Central Piedmont of North Carolina. You’ve most likely heard about the emergence of two broods of cicadas this spring, Brood XIII and Brood XIX of seventeen year and thirteen year periodical cicadas, respectively. Here in Durham and surrounding counties there is no overlap of the two broods but there are two species emerging at the same time from Brood XIX. Magicada tredecim and MagicadaRead more
More Spring Sightings and a Red Wolf Observation
Top Photo: Male common whitetail. Common whitetails are everywhere. Ponds, lakes, even slow moving rivers and streams are home to this ubiquitous skimmer. The standout white/blue abdomen and dark marks on the wings lend to the easy recognizability of the male. The female too, is easily recognized by the three dark markings on each of her four wings. They both tend to perch low to, or directly on, the ground. Another early season dragonfly making an appearance is the blueRead more
Spring Appearances
Top Photo: Fatsia japonica or Japanese Fatsia, fruit. Not native but planted on the Dinosaur Trail to enhance the sense of a long ago tropical realm, fatsia is in fruit, but going fast. The plant’s name is derived from the fact that fatsia, in an old Japanese language, means eight, presumably referring to the number of lobes on the plant’s large palmate leaves. This, even though the leaves never have an even number of lobes, or points. I’ve consistently countedRead more
Lemurs Eat, Tree Swallow Inspects, and Chickadee Nests
Top Photo: Lemur relishes redbud flowers. As you all know, or should know, redbud flowers are edible. To me, they have a sweet, crispy taste. They make a nice topping on a salad. Lemurs eat redbud flowers too. They seem to enjoy the colorful flowers with uncommon delight, as recently displayed by our resident ring-tailed lemurs. The flowers were placed in their enclosure by the Animal Care Team (ACT) and were quickly pounced upon by the primates. Here’s a fewRead more
Magenta Trees and Green Lizards
Top Photo: Redbud in bloom. Redbud is in full bloom here at the Museum of Life and Science. Don’t miss it! While looking around the campus at the trees, I noticed a noise in the leaf liter below. Two adult male green anoles were squaring off against one another. A brief, violent, territorial struggle ensued before they broke off, one scurrying into the brush, settling the dispute. As quickly as it started, it was over. Stay tuned for more.Read more
Toad Time
Top Photo: American toad calling from wetlands. American toads have begun their annual breeding frenzy. The large toads’ loud trill can be heard across the wetlands as they vie for mates. Once coupled, the toads move along in the water trailing behind strings of thousands of eggs, fertilized by the male as they emerge from the female. The eggs should hatch in about a week, the tadpoles becoming miniature toads in about two months, that is, if the pond inRead more
Springtime 2
Top Photo: Female mallard pauses to look me over while preening. Mallards stop into our wetlands often. They’ve nested here off and on over the years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Mallards are one of the most recognizable duck species in the world occurring to some extent on every continent except Antartica. Blue violets are in bloom. Yellow-bellied sliders are out taking advantage of the sunlight, basking on every available surface to warm and perhaps help rid themselves of parasites. Buckeye,Read more