Fieldnotes
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Nymphs, Satyrs, Buckeyes, Monarchs
Common Wood-nymph (Cercyonis pegala). Little Wood-satyr (Megisto cymela).(One of the eyespot patterns is torn.)Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia).Monarch (Danaus plexippus). All spotted earlier this month at Mount Loretto State Unique Area. The Little Wood-satyrs are early summer fliers, which probably explains why I’m not too familiar with them. It’s hot out there in the meadows of…
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Stop the car! Stop the car!
Get into those grasses, youngster! There are hazards all about. Sylvilagus floridanus on the verge. In this other case, stop the feet! The bunny froze right at the edge of a path. So did we. Rabbit at mid-chew. * Reading print is actively better for you than scanning a screen in terms of comprehension and…
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Lymantria dispar
The infamous Gypsy Moth caterpillar. Introduced to North America in 1869 by a fellow who wanted to cross them with silk worms. Within a decade, they were munching their way through our hardwood forests. The young larvae travel by wind, shooting out a silky thread like spiders to ride the currents of the sky. Mature…
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Agelaius phoeniceus
This nest may never have been used, but Red-winged Blackbirds definitely bred along this lakeside. Here’s one of this year’s models, still getting some help with feeding. The feather pattern is not without interest.
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Invertebrates
Let’s start Monday with a reminder that we are outnumbered. From some recent explorations in the city and beyond:Odonata larva.Jellyfish. Wolf spider.Worm. (With iridescent slime!) Leaf-footed bug. Snail. Yes, they — they’re hermaphrodites — are in there. Carry on.
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Silent Summers?
Eggs suspended on stalks: lacewings are known for this predator-evasion tactic, but I bet there are others as well. The number of insects on the planet at any given time has been estimated at 10 quintillion; another estimation measures it this way: there are 300 pounds of insects for every pound of human. Nevertheless, insect…
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D&D Roundup
Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) female. Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) male.Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) male.Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera) male.Sometimes, we must work with the image. This looks like a Stream Bluet (Enallagma exsulans), a new species for me. Only segment 9 is completely blue; the blue rings on the other abdominal segments are conspicuous. Plus habitat…
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Sweet Bees
Sweat bees in the family Halictidae are attracted to the salt in sweat. This little one would not be put off from my arm. Blown and shook off, it returned several times. I have no problem offering up extruded salts, but I was slathered in sunscreen, and that can’t be good for anything, even when…
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Birthday Boy
Tomorrow is Henry David Thoreau’s 200th birthday. This was his journal entry of March 23, 1856: “I spend a considerable portion of my time observing the habits of the wild animals, my brute neighbors. By their various movements and migrations they fetch the year about to me. Very significant are the flight of geese and…
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A Week on the Thoreauvian Rivers
“The Indian pipe is still pushing up,” noted Henry David Thoreau in his journal on August 23, 1858. The ghost plant, indian pipe, Emily Dickinson’s favorite flower: Monotropa uniflora emerging. Often mistaken for fungi, this is actually a heterotrophic flowering plant. There are several thousand species of such non-photosynthesizing plants in the world. Most of…
Backyard and Beyond 