Sometimes, it pays to look down. There are many creatures going about their lives at ground level. So, while you’re not looking up at the trees or the skies for birds or at the flowers for butterflies and other nectaring insects, keep at least one eye down where you walk, the ground, you might see something interesting. At first, I wasn’t quite sure what the caterpillar in the above photo was. I thought it might be one of theRead more
Posts tagged: #Comet Darner
Odes Around Us
Top Photo: Carolina saddlebags. Dragonflies and damselflies belong to an order of insect called Odonata. Dragonflies are in the suborder Anisoptera, the damsels in the suborder Zygoptera. Dragonflies usually hold their wings out to their sides when at rest. They are typically larger and bulkier than damselfies. Dragons have large compound eyes which, in many species, cover most of the head. Some species eyes only just meet at the top of the head, but still cover a large portion ofRead more
Confused Comet
Last month the Exhibits Department drained, cleaned, and resurfaced the lining of the Sailboat Pond. So, what does all this have to do with a comet? Since refilling the pond with water there has been much dragonfly activity at that small body of water. I couldn’t help but notice a few Comet Darners (Anax longipes) flying about with the Blue Dashers, Carolina Saddlebags, Widow Skimmers and other “lesser” odes. One of these large green and red darners flying around theRead more
Two Spiders, a Beetle, and a Caterpillar
The spider in the above photo had found what it thought was a safe and secure hideout, in a tarp that covers the winch at the Take Off in Catch the Wind. Spiders can be identified as to family, and sometimes to genus, by the arrangement of their multiple eyes, that is, where the eyes sit on their head (most spiders have eight eyes). The above spider is definitely a wolf spider (Lycosidae) but I wasn’t able to go any furtherRead more
Mocha anyone?
Back in July of 2008 I found the remains of a dragonfly on the path in Catch the Wind. There was enough of the insect to determine that it was a Mocha Emerald, a dragonfly of small, shady forest streams. I added that ode to the list of dragonflies that could potentially be encountered (alive) here at the Museum. I based the dragonfly’s inclusion to the list on the fact that I found the insect where I did (in CatchRead more