Today may mark the end of the monarch butterfly season in my yard. This pupa is the very last that I’ve found. He attached himself to the end post of the rail on my front steps on September 22nd. Then shed his caterpillar skin, leaving it perched on top of his pupa form like a…
Turtle Visitor
Yesterday evening I was carrying in the groceries when I saw a new visitor headed up my drive towards my sidewalk. She was so brightly colored that, at first, I thought she was a male. Eastern Box Turtle Terrapene carolina I set the groceries down and took a closer look. Her eyes were a pretty…
Ambush
A group of mosquitoes is called a scourge which seems pretty fitting these days. I normally don’t think much about mosquitoes, but with all the wet weather, they’ve been impossible to ignore. They swarm around me every time I step outside. I never thought I would find one beautiful until I saw this one drinking…
Passionflower Pollinator
We have many types of native bees in our yard and I have always wanted to learn how to identify them. When I saw this bee on my butterfly bush, I took several pictures and went inside to look it up. The Xerces Society has a nice bumble bee guide that I downloaded, but none…
Waiting
I recently noticed someone new in the flowering vine that is twined around my porch rail. She is probably not new at all. I just hadn’t discovered her yet. She is so well camouflaged that I might not have ever seen her, if it weren’t for the large bright meal she was enjoying one day….
It’s A Girl!
This morning I stepped out on the screened porch to check on the monarch pupae that are hanging out there. We make sure to leave most of the caterpillars in our yard alone- but this year we raised a few. It is really hard not to pick up a caterpillar that is lumbering around right…
Yard Gone Wild 