Summertime

It’s June, and meteorologically speaking, it’s summer. Here’re some photos taken during May as a way of saying goodbye to spring and hello to summer. Since we started off with a green tree frog perched upon Equisetum, or horsetail, in the top photo, we’ll continue with amphibians. Hairstreak butterflies are named for the long, hair-like scales that extend from the hind wings. They are pseudo antennae intended to fool would be predators into thinking the hind wing area is the headRead more

Tangled Webs

As the seasons move toward autumn, fall webworms are becoming more visible in the local trees and shrubs. They seem to be everywhere. They’re in many different species of tree including redbud, elm, mulberry, ash, and maple to name a few. They don’t seem particular about what type of tree leaf they eat. One resource has them listed as consuming the leaves of 400 species of woody plant (trees and shrubs). The small moth larvae’s silken webs cover the leaves asRead more

Odes, Leps, Herps, and some Aves

Green Darners have been ovipositing in the Wetlands (3/13). Up until this Tuesday I had only seen males patrolling the area. I was finally able to confirm the emergence of Fragile Forktails (Ischnura posita). I photographed a damselfly a week ago (3/7) but wasn’t sure of its identity, although I was fairly confident that it was a forktail. I’ve seen these forktails here at the Museum as early as mid February. It’s curious that I haven’t seen one earlier thisRead more

The Cycle Continues

Spring is moving right along here at the Museum. More insects are being seen, frogs and toads breeding, and turtles are out basking with ever more frequency. It can’t be stopped. There’s no turning back. It’s cold and rainy today (3/31), but once the low pressure system (two lows, in fact) that’s causing all of this wet weather passes our area, spring will continue the way it always has. The trees will proceed to leaf-out, birds will arrive from theirRead more
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Bugs on Milk Weed, Worms in Webs, a Potter, a Jumping Spider, and a Robber

Large Milkweed Bugs have hatched out as there were many nymphs on the Butterfly Weed in Catch the Wind during the first week of August. This was only a few days after seeing both Large and Small Milkweed Bugs mating and inspecting this plant. Seven days later the nymphs began to take on some of the characteristics of the adults. Fall Webworms have been at work on the Museum’s trees for a month or more. These caterpillars construct their webRead more

Some Most Unusual Beetles and other Goodies

While watching a small Northern Water Snake stalk frogs from the Wetlands Overlook, I happened to see something wiggling amongst the dense plants in the water. A quick look through my binoculars revealed two large Predaceous Diving Beetle larvae locked in mortal combat, one had a death grip on the other. These larvae were quite large. Depending upon the species, Predacious Diving Beetle larvae, or Water Tigers as they’re sometimes called, can get to 70 mm (2.75”). They have largeRead more