My husband is a much better photographer than myself. He also has an appreciation for our wild kingdom and a great eye for spotting stuff. We both love finding, identifying, and watching all the wonderful insects out there, this is a collection of his best from the past couple of weeks.

Orange Patched Smokey Moth or possibly Black and Yellow Lichen Moth

American Grasshopper, boring name for an exotic looking and beautiful insect

Same American Grasshopper

Silvery Checkerspot caterpillar

Unidentified...

White Marked Tussock Moth, my favorite of the bunch

Unidentified cricket...

Likely a Buck Moth

How do Hummingbirds Drink?

   Have you ever wondered how a hummingbirds tongue works? Watch this video to find out!


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What's Blooming Now, etc.

Lepidoptera Family, your table is ready, Asclepias Tuberosa is now being served

Clematis "The President" weaving in between Milkweed and Coneflowers.

Penstemon "Husker's Red" and Nepeta "Six Hills Giant"

An anonymous Columbine still getting it done. These have now spread all over the yard and have been blooming since early April.

An anonymous Coreopsis

The Serviceberries are almost ripe, the birds have really been checking them out.

A Soldier Beetle on Astilbe

Ladybug at sunset

Whoa! Looks like the deer is not too happy to see the skunk. I can't tell you how many times we've been awakened in the middle of the night by skunk spray being pumped in by our our conditioner unit. I can assure you it's not pleasant.

Friends in the night?

A Deer and a Raccoon sharing a meal and a moment

Not the greatest pictures of course, but cute none the less. 

If you're a mischievous critter lover like myself and you haven't seen The Fantastic Mr. Fox then you must! This guy reminds me of Kylie (the possum) with his swirly eyes.

Speaking of Mr. Fox (or Mrs.?).....Simply beautiful.

Cicadas, a snake, and more...

   I happen to really like cicadas. There's been a lot of talk lately about the emergence of Brood 19 of the 13 year cicada. Yes, cicada, not locust. People often call cicadas locusts but they are not, locusts are grasshoppers which are capable of significant agricultural damage. Cicadas do very little noticeable damage, unless you don't like their buzzing, in which case they may damage your sanity. There are annual cicadas, species which emerge every summer, and periodical cicadas, a slightly different species that emerges only once every 13 or 17 years. Our last periodical emergence was in 2003, which was brood 9 of the 17 year cicada. They sound a little different, the ones in 2003 sounded like a UFO whirring in the woods, very creepy. The annual ones are more buzzy. We don't have any emerging yet here in SW VA, but I hope we will. We can also look forward to next years brood 1 of the 17s. If you are a crazy bug lover like myself or just curious and looking for more information, check out http://www.magicicada.org/ where you can report sightings, see maps of their emergence, and more. You can also listen to a interview with cicada researcher John Cooley at the University of Connecticut on the Science Friday program on NPR here.

   I'd love to show you a picture of that cicada, but alas, I do not have one. How about a picture of a Snowberry Clearwing instead?



It's a moth, can you believe that? Closely related to the Hummingbird Moth, the Snowberry Clearwing is a bumblebee mimic. It's flight pattern is more "bumbling" like a bee, whereas the Hummingbird Moth has more of an smooth "in and out" motion to it. Otherwise they look identical. You can read more about it here and see a map of sightings in your area.

   I also spotted my first snake of the season, thanks to the alarm call of mommy and daddy Cardinal. I just love it when they say "predator over here!" with their loud "TWEET, TWEET, TWEET!".



I thought about trying to encourage him or her to move along and stop stressing out the Cardinals, who have a nest nearby, but it said "leave me alone", so I did. I really enjoy seeing snakes, I don't see them very often. They're one of those things like owls, you know they are there, they're just hiding or super camouflaged.

   Elsewhere, I just recieved an order of natives from Shooting Star Nursery. They are located in Kentucky, not too far from me, and have a huge assortment of natives from my region. I've been extremely pleased with their quality, the hard part is restraining myself from ordering everything! This time I got some Carex pennsylvanica (Pennsylvania Sedge), Penstemon calycosus (Smooth Beardtongue), solidago caesia (Woodland Goldenrod), and Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed).

This picture was taken right after I unpacked them and after a day in the sun they straightened up and really looked lovely. Now, as soon as I get these in the ground, what will I order next.....

Last nights critters.....

   We had quite the crowd visiting last night, and if it wasn't for the critter cam, I'd have missed all the action! I'm surprised I have any plants left with all the deer passing through lately, but careful planning, trial and error, and a few doses of my favorite deer repellant Deer Out, they pretty much only take a nibble or two here and there.

Last nights visitors include in order of appearrance:

• Raccoon #1 (a nightly regular)
• Foxy
• Possum
• Raccoon #2
• Deer, at least 4
• Raccoon, unidentified
• Deer, at least 2

It's a zoo out there, I just hope they're careful crossing the roads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bid them a fond farewell.....

   My last two monarch caterpillars disappeared yesterday afternoon. They were the only two still alive and accounted for from the original dozen. They were definitely large enough and ready for their chrysalis stage, so I don't think they met an untimely end like the other ten. They just crawled off somewhere to pupate in privacy, the asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) plants they were on were certainly not supportive enough for them.
   It's been a very stressful stewardship for me, I was under the assumption that monarchs were immune to predators due to their consumption of the milkweed toxins. That's what all the anecdotal evidence I've read suggested. So when my caterpillars started disappearing one by one, I was quite troubled. Birds aren't supposed to eat them right? I believed I should expect at least 90% of the caterpillars to reach maturity, when in fact I lost 90% somehow. Should I have attempted to protect them? I didn't think I had to, they're supposed to be poisonous. Attempting to protect them might be interfering with the natural cycle of things.
   I can't tell you how relieved I was to come across the following information this morning: according to the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP), only 5-10% of monarch caterpillars survive to the 5th instar stage, with results being extremely variable. That's real scientific data. My results are normal! Monarch caterpillars do have natural predators, with the tachinid fly perhaps being the worst. I did not know about the MLMP, now I'd like to participate next time a Monarch lays eggs in my yard. They have a ton of useful and informative data over at their website (http://www.mlmp.org/) gathered by researchers and citizen scientists, check it out and consider submitting your observations next time you have monarchs too. It's just that easy to get involved and make a difference!

Elsewhere.....a word of warning.....check your herbs closely before you pick them!

   
I was making lasagna the other night and went out to my herb garden to pick some parsley and basil. When I reached down to grab a leaf, this little fella moved. It's about 12mm long, some kind of looper or inchworm (moth). I've been checking my parsley for black swallowtails, no luck yet, but this guy's pretty cool too. I haven't been able to identify it yet, according to my guidebooks only black swallowtails use parsley as a host plant. Also the books say loopers and inchworms generally use trees as hosts. If you have any ideas please let me know!