Category: Natural History
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Bullet Frass
It may seem like an odd title for a post on one of our more common backyard butterflies, but I promise I’ll explain it in a moment. You may have seen this distinctively marked species as it darts about your yard from flower to flower. It is the Silver-spotted Skipper, one of, if not the, Read more…
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A Shy Beauty
I spotted this beautiful flower last week while mowing a path down the power line. You have to look for it out there because, being only a foot or so in height, it appears to be peeking at you from the tall grasses. But it is actually quite common. Carolina Wild Petunia, Ruellia caroliniensis, is Read more…
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You’re So Sensitive
While mowing a path through the meadow this week I noticed a bright pinkish-purple flower in the grasses. I remember seeing the unusual flowers of Eastern Sensitive Briar a few years ago in the Sandhills habitat at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. And now I am thrilled to discover it here, growing Read more…
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Green-eyed Monsters
Okay, monster is a bit too strong a term for this beauty, until you have been bitten by one, that is. Luckily, most horseflies are merely bothersome to me relative to the many other types of flying biting things that attack us here in the southeast – mosquitoes and deer flies being much more aggravating Read more…
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A Plant that Hops
During a brief respite from one of the downpours this past week I went out to the garden to see what was out and about. I noticed some movement on a flower stem and a close look revealed this well-camouflaged insect, a planthopper. Planthoppers appear to be less common than the generally smaller leafhoppers in Read more…
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Hovercraft in the Garden
They look like tiny bees or wasps zipping around the garden flowers, but they are Flower Flies. They are also known as Hover Flies for their ability to hover and even fly backwards, a feat that few other insects can match. Their resemblance to insects that sting most likely affords them some protection as they Read more…
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That is One Giant Mosquito!
I remember the first time I noticed one of these a few years ago…my reaction probably included a statement or two like Holy $%*^!! Look at the size of that thing! I had heard a few people make remarks like this about Crane Flies, which are not mosquitoes, but are sometimes mistaken for giant blood-suckers. Read more…
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Meadow power
Despite the heat and humidity, I decided to take a stroll down the mowed path underneath the high voltage transmission line that borders the property where I live. This area has an interesting mix of grasses, shrubs, and small trees and contains a diversity of animals and plants not usually found in my woods. This Read more…
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This Magical Place
To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from. Terry Tempest Williams I could blog for another week or two on the beauty and majesty of my recent trip to Yellowstone. But, I will be back, with Read more…
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Sagebrush Speedsters
One of the changes I’ve noticed in the 25+ years I’ve been going to Yellowstone is an increasing number of Pronghorn in recent years. It used to be that you saw them mainly around the Gardiner area, but now they have greatly increased in numbers across the northern range, especially in Lamar Valley and Little Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 