11.15.2008
8.05.2008
Recent Things (Early August)
Gummi and phlox.
Deer up the road.
Unidentified violet mushroom.
Goldenrod beginning to bloom.
Ripening berries.
Amanita mushroom.
Red eft by yellow clover.
Bluejay feather in puddle.
Spring Azure.
7.30.2008
Butterflies and Caterpillars of Note
Summer of '08 has brought many close encounters with caterpillars and butterflies; here's a sampling.
Common Ringlet on daisy.
Mourning Cloak caterpillar. These caterpillars are "gregarious throughout development," sayeth my field guide.
Death of an unknown caterpillar.
Voracious Black Swallowtail caterpillar chowing down on fennel before being relocated to the more abundant dill patch.
Black Swallowtail.
Unidentified caterpillar.
Monarch caterpillar on milkweed leaf.
Shimmering remains of Common Wood-Nymph.
Some kind of Sulpher...
Unidentified caterpillar.
Black Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail enjoying sunflower.
If you've made it this far, you're ready for a little game. Check out the first pic below and test your critter-finding skills. Click on the photo for a larger version—see anything unusual?
If you looked carefully, you might have noticed this fellow (or gal). A great example of cryptic coloration (camouflage). A fine example, also, of how an eye-spot can present a scary-looking, don't-eat-me message to potential predators (that's not the caterpillar's actual eye). As you can see, the caterpillar has begun building its cocoon.
This is the larval form of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, pictured earlier on the sunflower.
For what it's worth, my preferred field guides for this genre are Caterpillars in the Field and Garden (Allen, et al.) and Butterflies Through Binoculars—The East (Glassberg).
7.29.2008
Recent Things
Hummingbird moth nectaring on monarda.
Fallen leaf.
Funky moth!
Glorious signage.
Huh?!
Eye candy in an unexpected spot.
Inch worm dancing on Black-eyed Susan (for Eva).
Drone fly (an insect mimic) on cosmos.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on sunflower.
Damselfly in meadow.
A neighbor's olde satellite dish.
Lily pollen. I hear tell you can make paint pigment from this stuff.
