Category: Natural History
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Florence Cats
If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine. ~Morris West Florence has already had a huge impact on things here in the Piedmont, far away from her predicted point of landfall. While this is minor compared to what people in the more direct path of the storm will… Read more…
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Hot Holiday
It’s summer and time for wandering… ~Kellie Elmore After I retired (you remember back when I was retired) I loved the fact that I could go to some of my favorite places on a week day when fewer people would be out and about in the wild places I love. I certainly didn’t want to… Read more…
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Mothing, Part 2
Look closely. The beautiful may be small. ~Immanuel Kant The last post had some recognizable moths, some big ones, some brightly colored ones. But countless moths are frustratingly small (when you are trying to identify them), and many are, at least at first glance, LBT’s (little brown things). But the magic of a macro lens… Read more…
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Mothing, Part 1
…to understand something of the wonders of a world which becomes the more wonderful the more we know of it. ~W.J. Holland, in The Moth Book, 1903 I set out my moth light for two nights a little over a week ago to see what species might drop by here at the house. Melissa and… Read more…
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Stripes
These caterpillars come in brilliant green, pink and yellow, banded, and striped forms that often look nothing at all like each other. ~MOSI Outside blog post If you are not a fan of bugs, then you may want to take a break from this blog for a bit because it is what is happening right… Read more…
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Caterpillar Clusters
Groups tend to be more extreme than individuals. ~Daniel Kahneman In spite of the heat and humidity (or maybe because of it), this is one of my favorite times of year – caterpillar time. The period between mid-August and mid-September tends to be the best time to find the greatest variety of interesting caterpillars in… Read more…
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Harvey
The larva of the Royal Walnut Moth is a striking object. With its curved horns and numerous spines it presents to the uninitiated a truly repellent aspect. ~W.J. Holland, in The Moth Book, 1968 I must agree with Mr. Holland in that I have seen many “uninitiated” people react with horror on their first sighting… Read more…
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Surprise Visitor
Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us. ~Boris Pasternak I have been enjoying all the Eastern tiger swallowtails in the yard these past few weeks, along with the antics of the hummingbirds at the feeders and wildflowers. Living in a house of windows has its advantages as I can easily keep an… Read more…
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Zestful Zebras
Butterflies and zebras. And moonbeams and fairy tales. That’s all she ever thinks about. Riding with the wind. ~Lyrics from Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix Zebra swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) are surely one of North Carolina’s most beautiful butterflies. Their bold pattern of black and white stripes, long tails, and the bright red spots near the… Read more…
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Spider Hunter
…most will be murderesses, but they have brought murder to a fine art, an act of exquisite precision. ~John Crompton, introduction to his book, The Hunting Wasp As we were starting to get into the car last weekend at my folks’ place, I saw some movement on the driveway. A closer look reveled a large… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 