Top Photo: Muscadine grapes ripening on the vine. Muscadine grapes are native to the southeast and are a common and welcomed plant here at the museum. Many birds and mammals including cardinals, robins, and turkeys, groundhogs, gray fox, and humans eat the fruit. There are many vines throughout the museum grounds. If you can reach the grapes as they grow on the vine, it’s worth it to grab a few for yourself before they’re all gone. Cardinal flower is bloomingRead more
Colors
Top Photo: Snowberry clearwing hovers at butterfly bush flower spike in Butterfly House Outdoor Garden. Snowberry clearwing moths are a type of strong flying sphinx moth commonly seen hovering at flowers to sip nectar. They’re diurnal moths and resemble small hummingbirds or bees as they visit the flowers seeking nourishment. They are responsible for pollinating a large number of flowers, especially deep tubular flowers through the action of their long, sturdy, probing proboscis and hairy body which transfers pollen fromRead more
The End is Near, Summer That is
Top Photo: Ripening persimmon. There are many persimmon trees in and around our wetlands. The fruit is fast ripening. Much of the fruit will drop into the water. Fret not, fruit that plops into the water is not wasted. Our population of sliders in the wetlands will take care of whatever falls from the trees and into the water. An interesting fact about persimmons, they make excellent catfish bait. There are no catfish in our pond but if you liveRead more
Basking Turtles, Mating Anoles, and Pupating Moths
Top Photo: It’s carapace to carapace as sliders enjoy the warm sunshine. After days of either brutally hot temps or pouring rain the wetland’s sliders were out with the sun on a rather cool (relatively speaking) dry day. it was double digit turtles on the floating platforms placed in the pond specifically for that purpose. Both platforms were utilized. Green anoles were taking advantage of the change in the weather to mate. This pair was on a wooden bench inRead more
Otters
Top Photo: River otter cruises by. Standing on the boardwalk that surrounds the shallow pond in Explore the Wild I could see one, no two, brown objects on the far side of the wetlands surfacing, shaking off then quickly diving back under the water’s surface. Could they be a couple of female or young male hooded mergansers that didn’t migrate to their breeding grounds, too young to breed and dropping in to the local ponds to see what’s available inRead more
Larva
Top Photo: Larva of unknown insect on fence at Red Wolf Enclosure. I was at the red wolf enclosure when I noticed a couple of summer campers intently watching an insect crawling along the wire fence which keeps the wolves in and the people out of the enclosure. I felt the need to investigate. The insect was about 3/8” to 1/2” and mostly yellow with black-tipped yellow spines over most of its dorsal surface. To my eye, it was reminiscentRead more
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
A Turnabout for Little Bear
Top Photo: Little Bear (right) and Murray Bear “play” with each other in the bear enclosure. It seems, that all of the sudden, 4 year old Little Bear and 2 year old Murray Bear are best buds. Previously, Murray would attempt to engage Little, as well as much older Mimi Bear (21 yr) only to get growled at and chased away. Little was often antagonistic towards the youngest and latest addition to the bear enclosure. In the recent past LittleRead 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