Top Photo: Female blue corporal clinging to siding of restroom building at Cafe Plaza. Odes* are finally being seen around campus. At least four species are confirmed, blue corporal, lancet clubtail, green darner, and common whitetail. Both blue corporal and lancet clubtail are early season species and make brief appearances each spring. Blue corporals prefer still water but can occasionally be found around slow streams and rivers. They typically perch on or near the ground. However, the one pictured wasRead more
Posts filed in: Insects
Toad Time, Skink, first Slider Hatchling, and a Goose!
Top Photo: American toad calls out from wetlands. Like magic, American toads were out breeding in numbers on 24 March. It looked to me, though, most of the toads I witnessed splashing about, calling out, and attempting to mount one another were unsuccessful in finding suitable mates. It seemed most of the toads, if not all, were males. Females are larger than males. All the couplings I saw were short-lived and consisted of rather small individuals. Males will mount otherRead more
A Change in the Air
Top Photo: Yona (right) approaches Little Bear at pool in Black Bear Enclosure. Its wasn’t long ago that Yona Bear was a loner among loners, always off by herself. She was aggressive towards the other bears in the enclosure. It seemed, she had a chip on her shoulder. Black bears by nature are solitary creatures, but Yona, our second youngest bear of the four in the enclosure, was even more of an isolationist. She was habitually off on her own,Read more
Polyphemus
Top Photo: Polyphemus (pol-uh-FEE-muhs) moth cocoon hanging from twig in Earth Moves. Some silk moths spend the winter in cocoons in the leaf liter. Some burrow underground. At least some Polyphemus moths winter as pupa wrapped up and hanging from a twig or branch of their host tree via a peduncle. The further south Polyphemus moths live, the more likely this behavior. Occasionally, though, these hanging cocoons drop off into the leaf liter. The one pictured here was found hangingRead more
Yellowjacket, Green Anole, Winter Wren, and Marbled Spider
Top Photo: A worker yellowjacket enters the tunnel to its subterranean hive. Yellowjackets nest underground, though they may construct a hive in a hollowed out log, under the siding of your house, or in other seemingly vacant and unattended cavities. The ground, however, is the most frequent site chosen by a queen in spring. A single queen constructs the below-ground hive and tends to the initial eggs, larvae and pupae. Once workers emerge from pupation they take over all dutiesRead more
The Warblers and The Aphids
Top Photo: Northern Parula on river birch. The other day while down in Explore the Wild on a cool October morning there was an active group of migrant songbirds working the trees along the shoreline. The group was composed of mostly yellow-rumped warblers, a few northern parulas and some kinglets. While the yellow-rumped warblers (butter-butts) were attracted to the wax myrtle fruit, which is in abundance this year, a river birch tree held the attention of the other birds inRead more
October
Top Photo: Thorny olive flowers. If you happen to be strolling past the Farmyard and sense something powerfully fragrant invading your nose, it’s probably thorny olive (Elaeagnus pungens). It’s related to autumn olive and Russian olive, two invasive shrub species from Asia. We have much autumn olive on our campus, no Russian olive that I’m aware of and just a few locations overgrown with thorny olive which tends to ascend trees and nearby structures when it can. Thorny olive, unlikeRead more
Time to Get Outside
Top Photo: Banded sphinx moth caterpillar. A banded sphinx moth caterpillar is an impressive sight. The one shown here is munching away on wing-leaved primrose-willow in our wetlands. Banded sphinx moth caterpillars are variable and may be nearly all green, much like its relatives the tobacco hornworm and tomato hornworm, mostly green with black, red and yellow markings or like the one pictured, which is marked with red, black, and yellow. Regardless, they all have the white diagonal stripes characteristicRead more
More Fall Sights
Top Photo: Hearts-a-bursting on the Dinosaur Trail. The second week of fall brought even more new sights than the first. Read on to find out what. Euonymus may be known to gardeners by various names, burning bush, golden euonymus, winter creeper, and others, all non-native plants in the genus Euonymus. However, hearts-a-busting, or bursting hearts (Euonymus americanus) is a native understory shrub which can be seen at various places along our outdoor trail loop. It’s also know as strawberry bushRead more