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Nice Doo
I usually think of the end of “caterpillar season” as being a week or two after the Museum’s annual BugFest event in September. This year (and maybe its just because I am retired and out and about more) I have been seeing the larvae of quite a few species in my travels well into October Read more
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First Frost
I looked out the window this morning and saw that the dawn had left its mark on the meadow – faint traces of ice coated the grasses and other low-lying vegetation under the power line – the season’s first frost. Frost is deposition of water vapor directly into ice crystals on a cold surface. Frost Read more
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Elk and Islands in the Sky
I had an outing this weekend with a great group of folks in Cataloochee Valley and up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our goals were to observe the elk during the mating season ritual called the rut and experience the beauty of the mountains during the fall leaf season. I’d say mission accomplished on both. Read more
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A CROWDers Pleaser
The past several days II have been on the road in the mountains of North Carolina. I had a program on Saturday at Stone Mountain State Park and had a great hike across the large granite dome for which the park is named. The park was packed with campers and hikers taking advantage of the Read more
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Dolly Sods
The mountains are calling and I must go. John Muir For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I decided to revisit one of the most beautiful places I have been in the East, Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. Many years ago I had read about this unique highlands area and had wanted to Read more
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Extreme Dining
The abundance of insects feeding on pollen and nectar in the goldenrod patch out on the power line has naturally attracted an array of predators. One of the more formidable-looking of these is the Wheel Bug, Arilus cristatus, our largest member of the so-called Assassin Bug group. Wheel Bugs are named for the unusual gear-like Read more
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There is a Fungus Among Us (or at least among them)
I love nature, I just don’t want to get any of it on me. Woody Allen I gave a talk the other night to the Raleigh Chapter of the Carolina’s Nature Photographers Association. They were a great group and seemed to enjoy my topic about macro photography. One story, in particular, raised a few eyebrows. Read more
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Caterpillar Conundrum
I have been away a few days celebrating a major birthday (hard to believe it is that number) and returned to find a few caterpillars from BugFest still active (most were released the day after the event). I was particularly pleased to see the snappily-attired Turbulent Phosphila munching away on its host plant, Greenbrier (Smilax Read more
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Beautiful But Deadly
While out searching for caterpillars last week I came across a tiny juvenile Gray Treefrog in the bushes alongside the road. I walked back to the car to get my camera but when I returned, the frog had disappeared. As I looked for it I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. Read more
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Caterpillars as Art
“The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity” George Carlin I’m sure that’s just how some caterpillars feel, under-appreciated at best, reviled by many a homeowner at worst. Caterpillars are often seen as those critters that “eat my plants” without the person making the connection to their necessity in order Read more
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Roads End Naturalist 