a place where nature, photography and writing meet
As some of you will remember, back on July 9th, I wrote: Yesterday, I collected the caterpillar below — what is, in all probability, a Virginian Tiger moth (Spilosoma virginica), often referred to as a Yellow Bear caterpillar. It was found on the tall Sweet Clover plant (Melilotus alba), which is often seen growing along […]
Cerastipsocus venosus ~ Bark lice This last few weeks, I’ve been fairly busy photographing insects and trying to deal with all of the camera downloading, image sorting, backing up of drives, etc… that is associated with digital images. I see so many things that I’d like to share, but am never quite sure just how […]
I’m very pleased to see that quite a few of you decided to give the Great Phymata Challenge a try. My own count was eleven, and I see that a few of you found the same number. I’ve posted the above photo with a pink ring around each phymata that I found (click on the […]
We’re still putzing around home in the final few days of Don’s very abbreviated single-week holiday, so my posts will continue to be rather abbreviated as well. Today’s post leaves the “work” up to you. Let’s see how everyone does (now, don’t disappoint me by not giving this a try, okay?). A couple of nights […]
A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I’d be posting about something that has occupied a bit of my time for the past week. This was the “suspense” that I talked about. Those of you who know your invasive species and are familiar with the dastardly Glossy Buckthorn bush (Rhamnus frangula), will understand the […]
Dogbane Beetle (Chrysochus auratus) on Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) Yesterday, robin from Dharma Bums commented: Someday, if you haven’t already done so, maybe you could tell us what you planted to attract all these incredible spiders into your spider garden. You do have such an inspiring diversity of species there. Shortly after I began this […]
Eight-spotted Forester moth caterpillar (Alypia octomaculata) Some of you may remember that, for a few weeks last summer, I raised Monarch caterpillars, then tagged and released the butterflies after they eclosed. I considered doing so again this summer, but we had plans to do a bit of traveling, so another Monarch rearing project seemed like […]