Top Photo: Sycamore tussock moth caterpillar crawls along railing. If there are sycamore trees in the area you’re likely to run into one or more of these fuzzy, tufted caterpillars. The adult sycamore tussock moth has tan wings crossed with slightly darker bands on translucent membranes. More common and widespread than the sycamore tussock moth caterpillar, is the white-marked tussock moth caterpillar. It’s been reported munching on over 140 host plants including conifers. White-marked tussock moth’s adult form is aRead more
Posts tagged: #squirrel
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
More Squirrel “Food”
Top Photo: Gray squirrel enjoys what’s left of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We all know squirrels like to eat various roots, nuts, pine and other seeds. But those foods are either seasonal, difficult to acquire, or buried underground in a place where the squirrel simply can’t remember. Fortunately for them, there are plenty of alternative food sources, wherever people tend to gather. As a follow up on last week’s post, Pollen, Butterflies, and Squirrels, you can add theRead more
Pollen, Butterflies, and Squirrels
Top Photo: Male flowers of eastern red cedar or juniper. Pollen Red cedar is in bloom, and the male flowers are sending out pollen for the fertilization of female flowers, and for the rest of us to breathe in and sneeze. The local elm trees are in bloom as well. Elm is another tree, like the cedar, whose pollen is carried by the wind. Butterflies Not strictly an indication of spring, but of warm days throughout the winter and earlyRead more
The Fall
If you’ve been wandering around out-of-doors lately you my have noticed it’s fall, a great time to be out and about. Besides the leaves ablaze in the trees, there’s much to be seen and enjoyed on a walk along you’re favorite trail. Here are photos of some of what I saw on a trip around the outdoor loop through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind here at the Museum of Life and Science on one fine fall day. Depending uponRead more
Who’s out and about?
Some turtles… Read about Chip here. A Mallard… A squirrel… A land bird… And speaking of fox… And that’s it! Stay tuned, more to come.Read more
Squirrel wounds
The squirrel above was at the bird feeders. The wound, which appears to be rather fresh, didn’t seem to bother the squirrel as it went about feeding. But I suppose that there’s not much the squirrel could do even if it did bother the varmint except lick the wound. I guess the question is, how did the squirrel get the injury? If it were earlier in the year I might suggest that it was a warble that the squirrel keptRead more
Tracks
It doesn’t snow very often here in central North Carolina. When it does snow, it usually doesn’t last long, melting within a day or two, sometimes disappearing the same day. I try to get out as early as possible when there’s a covering of snow to have a look around and see what creatures have been stirring. A dusting of snow often reveals the comings and goings of many creatures that may be easily overlooked otherwise; a squirrel hopping alongRead more