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Mud Daubed
On July 18, I found it sealed off. It is presumably stuffed with paralyzed spiders and a wasp egg. Or two: a kleptoparasite may have gotten in there. As is often the case with these scales, I didn’t notice the webbing and small spider, much smaller than the type hunted by these wasps, until I…
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Mushroom Madness
All the rain we’ve been having has resulted in a host of fungal fruiting-bodies. The enormous ones above (my boot is a literal foot, 12″ long) have been IDed as Green-spored Parasol (Chlorophyllum molybdites). Also known as the “vomiter.” Don’t eat. Another enormous specimen. A bolete this time. The pen is 3.75″ or 9.5cm long.The next…
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life and death
On Thursday, I saw this Swamp Darner planting eggs in this sodden piece of old wood in the Vale of Cashmere. I’d seen the same thing happening… eight years ago (!) At that time, the darner was attacked by a Catbird once she’d finished her ovipositing, or at least some of it. The Catbird won.…
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Heron’s “Knees”
Update: as a couple of comments below note, these knobby parts are actually the bird’s ankle-equivalents. I was imagining the bee’s knees when I came up with this post…
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Moth Week
D’oh! Yesterday you got two (2) posts for the price of one due to a scheduling error. Today, we celebrate National Moth Week. Raspberry Pyrausta Moth (Pyrausta signatalis) above. These were all seen recently. My walking stirred them up. More elaborate methods like lights and moth baits, gooey mixtures of fruit and beer, at night may…
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Trumpet Vine
Aesthetically, I’m not so sure about this yellowy-orange version of trumpet vine. But we have to abandon our perspectives. This messy, sprawling vine attracts insects with a vengeance. You’ll notice that many of these buds haven’t opened: there are extrafloral nectaries at work here, producing nectar on the outside of the flowers. Hence the wasps,…
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Firefly Season
When you poke around in the trees, turning over branches to look for galls and the like, you notice a lot of resting fireflies this time of year. Raptor Wednesday update: four American Kestrels flying, perching, and making a ruckus together.
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