Two kinds of daddy long-legs live in southeastern Pennsylvania, including eastern and brown. They are not spiders, but they are arachnids, related to spiders, scorpions and other creatures. The eastern type is brown with a darker mark on top of the abdomen while the brown species is uniformly brown all over. Both species have eight really long, slender legs. They hold the middle of each leg high with the result being that their rounded, quarter-inch bodies are low to the ground. The second pair of legs is longer than the others and also used as antennae.
Daddies do not spin webs, but track down their prey of tiny invertebrates. Both kinds have poison glands for paralyzing their prey, but their mouths are too small to do any damage to us people, though many folks are afraid of them anyway, as they are of spiders. Daddies are harmless to us.
These two kinds of related creatures live in most of North America and have similar habitats and habits. Here in the east they are most likely to live in woodlands and older suburban areas. I see both types in abundance, mostly on the bark of larger trees and on the ground where they can run and hide pretty quickly. Both species are well camouflaged in those niches for their own protection, but one can begin to see them most everywhere in proper woodsy habitats when you can see through their blending into those niches.
Several individuals of each species often cluster into tree cavities for protection and warmth through each night. Interestingly, their legs are tangled among each other in those hollows.
After mating in summer, female daddies use their slender ovapositers on their rears to place eggs, one at a time, deep in soil where those eggs overwinter. Both kinds of daddies survive the winter in the egg stage and the tiny young hatch in the spring, and mature during summer.
If the reader is lucky enough to see daddy long-legs of either species, remember they are harmless to us, and beneficial in that they eat lots of invertebrates. If searching for these spider relatives, check the bark of maturing trees in woods, the niche where they are most likely to be. They are handsome, little critters in their own plain ways, well worth the search for them.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Summer Saltmarsh Sounds
Several kinds of birds nesting in salt marshes between barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean and the mainland of the eastern United States sing or utter other sounds typical of those unique marshes from April through summer. Each of those sounds is unmistakable, and not only identifies the vocalist, but adds to the aesthetic beauties of salt marshes.
Thousands of acres of tall spartina grass, black needlerush and threesquare, all of which are grass-like, compose those salt marshes along the Atlantic shore and provide shelter for nesting birds. Inlets, back waters and tidal creeks dissect the continuity of those marshes. And there are many acres of exposed mud flats in those marshes when the tides of salt water go out.
Bold, handsome laughing gulls are the most iconic nesting birds of salt marshes along the Atlantic coast. Adult birds of this species have black heads and loud, almost incessant cries that sound like laughter. They snare live small fish and a variety of invertebrates and are scavengers, feeding on dead fish, invertebrates and anything else edible in the marshes and along sandy beaches. And hundreds of them at a time also constantly frequent every beach and boardwalk, where they are seen by most visitors to the shore, for hand outs from well-meaning people.
Male red-winged blackbirds often sing their boisterous "kon-ga-ree" songs while perched on top of high grasses and rushes swaying in the wind. These are striking birds with black plumage all over, except a red shoulder patch on each wing. Brownish, and camouflaged, female red-wings, meantime, spend their time building grass nurseries among the tall grasses and reeds a few feet off the ground, laying about four eggs in each one and incubating those eggs for a couple of weeks. Male red-wings help feed the young, mostly on a variety of small invertebrates.
Male marsh wrens have a loud, rattling song that also commands attention. These wrens are warm brown, with a few short, white stripes on their backs. Marsh wren males build several grass nurseries high in tall reeds and grasses, but the female of each pair picks the cradle she will lay her eggs in. This species consumes insects.
Male seaside and salt marsh sparrows utter faint, buzzy songs, again while perched on wind-swayed grasses and reeds. Seaside sparrows are gray all over, with darker markings and a small, yellow mark behind the beak on each side of the face. Salt marsh sparrows are brown with darker markings and a dull-orange triangle on each side of the face. Both these kinds of sparrows eat insects, small crustaceans and other types of invertebrates in summer marshes. And both these kinds of sparrows build cradles near or on the ground among the marsh vegetation, the seasides more in bottom land niches and the salt marsh species in higher, drier habitats, which reduces competition with each other.
Clapper rails are basically brown and about the size of small chickens, but are vertically thin, like a wooden rail, and have longer legs than those domestic birds. They have a loud call that sounds like "kik, kik,kik,kik, and on and on. Rails mostly hide among the high vegetation where they nest on the ground and feed on fiddler crabs, insects and other kinds of invertebrates. They also emerge from the shelter of high plants when the tide goes out, exposing acres and acres of mud, to ingest crabs and other critters in the mud. And they retreat to the vegetation again when the water comes back. These rails, and seaside sparrows, are the only permanent residents in this grouping of salt marsh birds.
Willets are a kind of large sandpiper that also nests on the ground in salt marshes. They loudly call "pill-willet, pill-willet" and so on. They are gray-brown all over and have large patches of white feathers under their wings that are visible when hey fly. And like most salt marsh birds, willets consume a variety of invertebrates.
Ospreys and great egrets hunt fish in the channels and back waters of salt marshes. Ospreys raise young in trees nearby or on platforms and catch larger fish by dropping from the air on them feet first. Their eight talons, four on each foot, drive into the fish for a secure grip. One can sometimes hear the high-pitched "peeeeeeee" calling of ospreys in salt marshes.
The white and four-foot-tall great egrets are quite noticeable in the marshes, even from a distance. These striking birds wade the shallows to catch smaller fish. Occasionally we hear their low growling as they fly from one fishing place to another in the marshes.
If visiting the shore during summer, listen for these birds of the salt marshes. They help make time along the coast more interesting and enjoyable.
Thousands of acres of tall spartina grass, black needlerush and threesquare, all of which are grass-like, compose those salt marshes along the Atlantic shore and provide shelter for nesting birds. Inlets, back waters and tidal creeks dissect the continuity of those marshes. And there are many acres of exposed mud flats in those marshes when the tides of salt water go out.
Bold, handsome laughing gulls are the most iconic nesting birds of salt marshes along the Atlantic coast. Adult birds of this species have black heads and loud, almost incessant cries that sound like laughter. They snare live small fish and a variety of invertebrates and are scavengers, feeding on dead fish, invertebrates and anything else edible in the marshes and along sandy beaches. And hundreds of them at a time also constantly frequent every beach and boardwalk, where they are seen by most visitors to the shore, for hand outs from well-meaning people.
Male red-winged blackbirds often sing their boisterous "kon-ga-ree" songs while perched on top of high grasses and rushes swaying in the wind. These are striking birds with black plumage all over, except a red shoulder patch on each wing. Brownish, and camouflaged, female red-wings, meantime, spend their time building grass nurseries among the tall grasses and reeds a few feet off the ground, laying about four eggs in each one and incubating those eggs for a couple of weeks. Male red-wings help feed the young, mostly on a variety of small invertebrates.
Male marsh wrens have a loud, rattling song that also commands attention. These wrens are warm brown, with a few short, white stripes on their backs. Marsh wren males build several grass nurseries high in tall reeds and grasses, but the female of each pair picks the cradle she will lay her eggs in. This species consumes insects.
Male seaside and salt marsh sparrows utter faint, buzzy songs, again while perched on wind-swayed grasses and reeds. Seaside sparrows are gray all over, with darker markings and a small, yellow mark behind the beak on each side of the face. Salt marsh sparrows are brown with darker markings and a dull-orange triangle on each side of the face. Both these kinds of sparrows eat insects, small crustaceans and other types of invertebrates in summer marshes. And both these kinds of sparrows build cradles near or on the ground among the marsh vegetation, the seasides more in bottom land niches and the salt marsh species in higher, drier habitats, which reduces competition with each other.
Clapper rails are basically brown and about the size of small chickens, but are vertically thin, like a wooden rail, and have longer legs than those domestic birds. They have a loud call that sounds like "kik, kik,kik,kik, and on and on. Rails mostly hide among the high vegetation where they nest on the ground and feed on fiddler crabs, insects and other kinds of invertebrates. They also emerge from the shelter of high plants when the tide goes out, exposing acres and acres of mud, to ingest crabs and other critters in the mud. And they retreat to the vegetation again when the water comes back. These rails, and seaside sparrows, are the only permanent residents in this grouping of salt marsh birds.
Willets are a kind of large sandpiper that also nests on the ground in salt marshes. They loudly call "pill-willet, pill-willet" and so on. They are gray-brown all over and have large patches of white feathers under their wings that are visible when hey fly. And like most salt marsh birds, willets consume a variety of invertebrates.
Ospreys and great egrets hunt fish in the channels and back waters of salt marshes. Ospreys raise young in trees nearby or on platforms and catch larger fish by dropping from the air on them feet first. Their eight talons, four on each foot, drive into the fish for a secure grip. One can sometimes hear the high-pitched "peeeeeeee" calling of ospreys in salt marshes.
The white and four-foot-tall great egrets are quite noticeable in the marshes, even from a distance. These striking birds wade the shallows to catch smaller fish. Occasionally we hear their low growling as they fly from one fishing place to another in the marshes.
If visiting the shore during summer, listen for these birds of the salt marshes. They help make time along the coast more interesting and enjoyable.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Dominant Flowers Along Country Roads
Several kinds of adaptable and abundant flowering plants bloom along roads in Lancaster County farmland during June and July. The most dominant species there, it seems, are the beautiful sky-blue blossoms of chicory and the pink of red clover flowers, followed by the pink blooms of common milkweeds and Canada thistles. All these plants are alien to North America, except the milkweeds. But all provide beauty to us human observers and nutrition for bees, butterflies and other kinds of insects. Unfortunately, many roadsides are mowed, which eliminates the flowers' beauties to us and nutrition for insects. But roadsides that aren't mowed are more of a treasure to people and insects.
The four-foot-tall chicory plants and their lovely, blue blooms seem to be the dominate species among the dominants. Their beautiful flowers are open during mornings, but generally are closed by early afternoon. One could drive a rural roadside in the morning and see thousands of cheering chicory blooms, but come back that same road in the afternoon and think- where are those striking blue flowers?
Chicory plants are tall and spindly with few leaves, but their several one-inch-across blossoms each summer day are quite noticeable to even casual observers. And, interestingly, chicory stalks can produce a few flowers on inch-long stubs in regularly mowed roadsides.
Red clover is a kind of hay that escaped from adjoining fields. This plant has lush, deep-green foliage and pink blooms that are attractive along with chicory flowers. This plant copes with regular mowing by quickly growing back and producing new blossoms. Cottontail rabbits, wood chucks and white-tailed deer like to nibble clover leaves and blooms.
Common milkweeds have dusty-pink blooms that have a sweet scent. This important, native plant is host to a variety of insects that eat parts of it, including monarch butterfly caterpillars, milkweed tussock larvae, aphids, red and black-spotted milkweed beetle larvae, greater milkweed bugs and their larvae and lesser milkweed bugs and their young. The caterpillars of both kinds eat milkweed leaves, aphids suck its sap, and both types of milkweed bugs eat the seeds of milkweeds in their pods.
Canada thistles stand up to five feet tall and form patches of themselves. They each have several prickly leaves that defend the plant from browsing animals and several lavender-pink blossoms that
also have a sweet fragrance. This species, however, is invasive and many people try to eliminate it. But I think it, and the other plants in this grouping, is here in America to stay, in spite of our efforts.
Many kinds of butterflies, bees and other insects visit the flowers of these plants to sip their sugary nectar. These roadside blossoms, as long as they aren't mowed off, are sometimes the only ones available to those insects in farmland where most every acre is cultivated to an inch of its life, as we say. And many of the butterfly species are as beautiful to experience along rural roads as anywhere.
Certain kinds of spiders, especially the large, black and yellow garden spiders in their big, circular webs, live among roadside vegetation. Those spiders, of course, feed on the other invertebrates they catch in their webs.
These adaptable and abundant country road flowers and the invertebrates that visit them are cheering and interesting. And they are sources of food to insects and other creatures that may not have other sources of nutrition.
The four-foot-tall chicory plants and their lovely, blue blooms seem to be the dominate species among the dominants. Their beautiful flowers are open during mornings, but generally are closed by early afternoon. One could drive a rural roadside in the morning and see thousands of cheering chicory blooms, but come back that same road in the afternoon and think- where are those striking blue flowers?
Chicory plants are tall and spindly with few leaves, but their several one-inch-across blossoms each summer day are quite noticeable to even casual observers. And, interestingly, chicory stalks can produce a few flowers on inch-long stubs in regularly mowed roadsides.
Red clover is a kind of hay that escaped from adjoining fields. This plant has lush, deep-green foliage and pink blooms that are attractive along with chicory flowers. This plant copes with regular mowing by quickly growing back and producing new blossoms. Cottontail rabbits, wood chucks and white-tailed deer like to nibble clover leaves and blooms.
Common milkweeds have dusty-pink blooms that have a sweet scent. This important, native plant is host to a variety of insects that eat parts of it, including monarch butterfly caterpillars, milkweed tussock larvae, aphids, red and black-spotted milkweed beetle larvae, greater milkweed bugs and their larvae and lesser milkweed bugs and their young. The caterpillars of both kinds eat milkweed leaves, aphids suck its sap, and both types of milkweed bugs eat the seeds of milkweeds in their pods.
Canada thistles stand up to five feet tall and form patches of themselves. They each have several prickly leaves that defend the plant from browsing animals and several lavender-pink blossoms that
also have a sweet fragrance. This species, however, is invasive and many people try to eliminate it. But I think it, and the other plants in this grouping, is here in America to stay, in spite of our efforts.
Many kinds of butterflies, bees and other insects visit the flowers of these plants to sip their sugary nectar. These roadside blossoms, as long as they aren't mowed off, are sometimes the only ones available to those insects in farmland where most every acre is cultivated to an inch of its life, as we say. And many of the butterfly species are as beautiful to experience along rural roads as anywhere.
Certain kinds of spiders, especially the large, black and yellow garden spiders in their big, circular webs, live among roadside vegetation. Those spiders, of course, feed on the other invertebrates they catch in their webs.
These adaptable and abundant country road flowers and the invertebrates that visit them are cheering and interesting. And they are sources of food to insects and other creatures that may not have other sources of nutrition.
Barn-Nesting Birds in Summer Fields
Barn swallows, house sparrows, rock pigeons and European starlings are abundant in Pennsylvania croplands from the end of June through the rest of summer. These species are aliens to North America, except the swallows.
All four of those kinds of birds raised broods of young in barns and other buildings in farmland and now the young and older birds alike are getting food from surrounding fields, making that farmland the more interesting. But these bird species rely on different foods in different parts of the croplands, reducing competition for it among themselves.
Groups of the beautiful, purple and orange barn swallows catch small, pesky insects in mid-air over croplands. The swallows zip along and weave among each other without collision, being quite entertaining to human observers.
Between feeding forays, however, the barn swallows line up on the twigs of trees, corn stalks, roadside wires and the roads themselves to rest and preen their feathers. They sit on the roads as they traditionally have done on beaches and mud flats, but lift off the road to avoid vehicles. But once in a while, one gets killed on a road.
Flocks of European house sparrows and their youngsters of the year perch in ripe, but not yet mowed, grain fields to feed on the grain on the seed heads at the tops of the stalks. These plain, little birds are light enough in weight to stand on the stalks while eating. Obviously, the swallows and sparrows don't compete for food.
House sparrows also perch on corn stalks between feeding, and they gather on roadsides to ingest tiny bits of stones to help grind the seeds in their crops and stomachs. But when a vehicle approaches, they quickly fly into the corn and grain fields for refuge.
Pairs and gatherings of rock pigeons, and their relatives the mourning doves, feed on grain in the fields, but only after the grain crop has been harvested by machinery. These birds are too heavy to perch on the stems, so they are obliged to consume grain off the ground after the harvest. Pigeons and doves also ingest little stones from the sides of country roads to crush the seeds in their crops and stomachs.
Groups of European starlings, and American robins and purple grackles, move about on harvested grain fields to pick up invertebrates on the ground that were exposed by the machinery removing the tall vegetation. Here again, one can see that the starlings don't compete with the other types of birds in this grouping for food.
Though barn swallows, house sparrows, pigeons and starlings rear offspring in Pennsylvania barns, flocks of them feed in surrounding fields without rivalry for food among them. And those common, everyday birds make agricultural areas the more interesting to us human observers.
All four of those kinds of birds raised broods of young in barns and other buildings in farmland and now the young and older birds alike are getting food from surrounding fields, making that farmland the more interesting. But these bird species rely on different foods in different parts of the croplands, reducing competition for it among themselves.
Groups of the beautiful, purple and orange barn swallows catch small, pesky insects in mid-air over croplands. The swallows zip along and weave among each other without collision, being quite entertaining to human observers.
Between feeding forays, however, the barn swallows line up on the twigs of trees, corn stalks, roadside wires and the roads themselves to rest and preen their feathers. They sit on the roads as they traditionally have done on beaches and mud flats, but lift off the road to avoid vehicles. But once in a while, one gets killed on a road.
Flocks of European house sparrows and their youngsters of the year perch in ripe, but not yet mowed, grain fields to feed on the grain on the seed heads at the tops of the stalks. These plain, little birds are light enough in weight to stand on the stalks while eating. Obviously, the swallows and sparrows don't compete for food.
House sparrows also perch on corn stalks between feeding, and they gather on roadsides to ingest tiny bits of stones to help grind the seeds in their crops and stomachs. But when a vehicle approaches, they quickly fly into the corn and grain fields for refuge.
Pairs and gatherings of rock pigeons, and their relatives the mourning doves, feed on grain in the fields, but only after the grain crop has been harvested by machinery. These birds are too heavy to perch on the stems, so they are obliged to consume grain off the ground after the harvest. Pigeons and doves also ingest little stones from the sides of country roads to crush the seeds in their crops and stomachs.
Groups of European starlings, and American robins and purple grackles, move about on harvested grain fields to pick up invertebrates on the ground that were exposed by the machinery removing the tall vegetation. Here again, one can see that the starlings don't compete with the other types of birds in this grouping for food.
Though barn swallows, house sparrows, pigeons and starlings rear offspring in Pennsylvania barns, flocks of them feed in surrounding fields without rivalry for food among them. And those common, everyday birds make agricultural areas the more interesting to us human observers.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Some Caterpillar Foods
There are many kinds of caterpillars, both of moths and butterflies, in eastern North America and they all feed on certain kinds of vegetation. But some species consume the foliage of one or a few specific types of plants. Those caterpillars are too well adapted to specific vegetation for food. It's easier, I suppose, for female moths and butterflies to lay eggs on just a few kinds of plants, but overspecialization could lead to those insects' demise. Those kinds of moths or butterflies could become extinct if their larval food plants do, and if those insects don't adapt to other types of foods.
Tent caterpillars are moth larvae that feed on wild cherry leaves during May. They live in tents of webbing they make themselves and venture out, mostly at night, to feed. By the end of May they pupate in the soil and emerge a few weeks later as small moths ready to reproduce.
The green larvae of I O moths also consume cherry tree foliage during summer. The adult moth of this species has a large, fake "eye" on each hind wing that makes those wings together look like the alarming face of an owl, which scares off would-be predators.
Rosy maple moth caterpillars, as their name implies, eat the leaves of red and silver maple trees. The lovely moth of this species has pink on its wings.
Locust under wing moths have gray front wings that camouflage them on tree bark where they rest during the day. Their back wings, however, are black and red, which could startle birds when those wings are suddenly exposed. The caterpillars of this moth eat only the foliage of black locust trees.
The larvae of milkweed tiger moths, which are furry for their protection against predation, eat only milkweed leaves. These caterpillars are attractive, however, with their many tufts of burnt-orange, black and white hairs all over.
Hickory-horned devils, the caterpillars of regal moths, are frightening to people as well as to birds and other critters. They are about six inches long, mostly green and have several long, poison-filled spines of different colors on their bodies that would give any predator a nasty mouthful. This larvae only eats the foliage of hickory and walnut trees.
Caterpillars of hackberry and snout butterflies consume only the leaves of hackberry trees. Snout butterflies have what looks like a tiny nose in the front of their faces.
Female red admiral butterflies lay their eggs mostly on stinging nettle plants early in May. Stinging nettle is also called burn hazel, which stings or burns our skin a bit when we touch it, yet it is a food of those caterpillars. I wonder how they do it.
By the end of May the mostly gray red admiral larvae ate many of the leaves of each plant and are ready to pupate in the ground. A few weeks later they emerge as beautiful, red and chocolate butterflies ready to breed.
The tiny pearl crescent larvae feed exclusively on aster leaves and stems. The small butterflies of this species have a one inch wing spread and are mostly a lovely orange and brown on their wings. Pearly crescents are one of the last butterflies to be seen in October, still feeding on nectar in aster blossoms.
The swallowtail family of butterflies is noted for the larvae of each species eating only one or two kinds of plants. Zebra swallowtail caterpillars, for example, consume only the foliage of paw paw trees. The range of zebra swallowtails is naturally restricted to the range of paw paws.
Larvae of spicebush swallowtails eat only spicebush and sassafras foliage. These caterpillars have a couple other interesting things about them. They roll up the leaf they are eating with silk they make themselves so they can hide in it while they ingest it. These mostly green caterpillars also have a fake eye on each side of the front part of their bodies that make them look like a snake or some other more fearsome creature. Those fake eyes are so good that when I look deep into one of them, I get the eerie feeling the eye is looking back at me, even when I know the eye is a fraud.
Black swallowtail larvae eat parsley, carrot and related foliage. One can have these caterpillars in their yard simply by planting parsley. They are pretty with green, yellow and black lines over the top of the body from front to back.
Last, but not least, are monarch larvae. They only eat leaves from members of the milkweed family. Plant milkweeds if you want them in your yard. Monarch caterpillars are attractive, with black, white and yellow stripes from flank to flank over the tops of their bodies.
But monarch butterfly migrations are the most intriguing part of their life cycle. Adult monarchs leave certain forests on mountains in Mexico where they wintered early in March and push north. Somewhere in the United States those monarchs breed, lay eggs and die. The next generation continues north, breeds and dies. But the fourth generation of monarch caterpillars of that same year pupate in September and do not mate or lay eggs. They migrate southwest to those same forests on the same mountains in Mexico their great grandparents left that spring. How do those butterflies know the way? And how do they know they arrived in the right forests when they were never there before? No one knows. It is one of those great miracles of life on Earth. And all that from lowly caterpillars eating milkweed leaves.
Caterpillars are lovely, interesting creatures that feed on specific plants. Perhaps their eating only certain kinds of vegetation lessens competition among them for food. But it is dangerous to have only one or two means of support.
Tent caterpillars are moth larvae that feed on wild cherry leaves during May. They live in tents of webbing they make themselves and venture out, mostly at night, to feed. By the end of May they pupate in the soil and emerge a few weeks later as small moths ready to reproduce.
The green larvae of I O moths also consume cherry tree foliage during summer. The adult moth of this species has a large, fake "eye" on each hind wing that makes those wings together look like the alarming face of an owl, which scares off would-be predators.
Rosy maple moth caterpillars, as their name implies, eat the leaves of red and silver maple trees. The lovely moth of this species has pink on its wings.
Locust under wing moths have gray front wings that camouflage them on tree bark where they rest during the day. Their back wings, however, are black and red, which could startle birds when those wings are suddenly exposed. The caterpillars of this moth eat only the foliage of black locust trees.
The larvae of milkweed tiger moths, which are furry for their protection against predation, eat only milkweed leaves. These caterpillars are attractive, however, with their many tufts of burnt-orange, black and white hairs all over.
Hickory-horned devils, the caterpillars of regal moths, are frightening to people as well as to birds and other critters. They are about six inches long, mostly green and have several long, poison-filled spines of different colors on their bodies that would give any predator a nasty mouthful. This larvae only eats the foliage of hickory and walnut trees.
Caterpillars of hackberry and snout butterflies consume only the leaves of hackberry trees. Snout butterflies have what looks like a tiny nose in the front of their faces.
Female red admiral butterflies lay their eggs mostly on stinging nettle plants early in May. Stinging nettle is also called burn hazel, which stings or burns our skin a bit when we touch it, yet it is a food of those caterpillars. I wonder how they do it.
By the end of May the mostly gray red admiral larvae ate many of the leaves of each plant and are ready to pupate in the ground. A few weeks later they emerge as beautiful, red and chocolate butterflies ready to breed.
The tiny pearl crescent larvae feed exclusively on aster leaves and stems. The small butterflies of this species have a one inch wing spread and are mostly a lovely orange and brown on their wings. Pearly crescents are one of the last butterflies to be seen in October, still feeding on nectar in aster blossoms.
The swallowtail family of butterflies is noted for the larvae of each species eating only one or two kinds of plants. Zebra swallowtail caterpillars, for example, consume only the foliage of paw paw trees. The range of zebra swallowtails is naturally restricted to the range of paw paws.
Larvae of spicebush swallowtails eat only spicebush and sassafras foliage. These caterpillars have a couple other interesting things about them. They roll up the leaf they are eating with silk they make themselves so they can hide in it while they ingest it. These mostly green caterpillars also have a fake eye on each side of the front part of their bodies that make them look like a snake or some other more fearsome creature. Those fake eyes are so good that when I look deep into one of them, I get the eerie feeling the eye is looking back at me, even when I know the eye is a fraud.
Black swallowtail larvae eat parsley, carrot and related foliage. One can have these caterpillars in their yard simply by planting parsley. They are pretty with green, yellow and black lines over the top of the body from front to back.
Last, but not least, are monarch larvae. They only eat leaves from members of the milkweed family. Plant milkweeds if you want them in your yard. Monarch caterpillars are attractive, with black, white and yellow stripes from flank to flank over the tops of their bodies.
But monarch butterfly migrations are the most intriguing part of their life cycle. Adult monarchs leave certain forests on mountains in Mexico where they wintered early in March and push north. Somewhere in the United States those monarchs breed, lay eggs and die. The next generation continues north, breeds and dies. But the fourth generation of monarch caterpillars of that same year pupate in September and do not mate or lay eggs. They migrate southwest to those same forests on the same mountains in Mexico their great grandparents left that spring. How do those butterflies know the way? And how do they know they arrived in the right forests when they were never there before? No one knows. It is one of those great miracles of life on Earth. And all that from lowly caterpillars eating milkweed leaves.
Caterpillars are lovely, interesting creatures that feed on specific plants. Perhaps their eating only certain kinds of vegetation lessens competition among them for food. But it is dangerous to have only one or two means of support.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
A Pole, a Pigeon and a Peregrine
On the afternoon of June 24, 2015, I was driving through farmland between Ephrata and New Holland in Pennsylvania. I saw a few birds on power lines along the road and stopped to identify them with 16 power binoculars. There were two male red-winged blackbirds singing from the wires, several mourning doves on other wires farther away, and a few each of American robins and purple grackles still farther off. But a brown and white lump on top of a wooden pole supporting those wires caught my eye. I looked at that bump and discovered it was a large hawk of some kind eating a dead rock pigeon it no doubt killed and had taken there to ingest.
The pigeon, one of many in Lancaster County's cropland, was lying belly-up under the hawk on the pole. The pigeon's wings flopped off the edge of the pole and, sometimes, feathers floated away on the wind. The raptor was tearing off chunks of meat and insides from the dead bird. It must have been feeding for a while before I got there because its crop was bulging full of pigeon meat.
During the time the hawk was feeding I was trying to identify it. It was large, dark-brown on its back and upper wings, but had a lighter chest. I figured it was either a red-tail, Cooper's hawk or an immature peregrine falcon. The raptor seemed slim so that ruled out a red-tail, which are bulkier. And when the bird turned its head from side to side to watch for possible danger, I could see the dark face markings that indicated peregrine. So I identified the hawk as an immature female peregrine falcon. Female raptors are larger than their mates.
Meanwhile, the falcon finished her meal and I knew she would soon fly away. So I watched and waited for her flight. Soon she left her perch and flew toward me still seated in my parked car. Suddenly she veered to the right and I could better see her shape, size and flight pattern. She was a peregrine in Lancaster County cropland. She was a bit of wildness in a human-made, human-dominated habitat where pigeons and other birds abound.
Peregrine falcons, like bald eagles and ospreys, are making a come-back in this local area, and throughout much of the United States. We will being seeing more of these exciting raptors all the time, if that wonderful trend continues.
The pigeon, one of many in Lancaster County's cropland, was lying belly-up under the hawk on the pole. The pigeon's wings flopped off the edge of the pole and, sometimes, feathers floated away on the wind. The raptor was tearing off chunks of meat and insides from the dead bird. It must have been feeding for a while before I got there because its crop was bulging full of pigeon meat.
During the time the hawk was feeding I was trying to identify it. It was large, dark-brown on its back and upper wings, but had a lighter chest. I figured it was either a red-tail, Cooper's hawk or an immature peregrine falcon. The raptor seemed slim so that ruled out a red-tail, which are bulkier. And when the bird turned its head from side to side to watch for possible danger, I could see the dark face markings that indicated peregrine. So I identified the hawk as an immature female peregrine falcon. Female raptors are larger than their mates.
Meanwhile, the falcon finished her meal and I knew she would soon fly away. So I watched and waited for her flight. Soon she left her perch and flew toward me still seated in my parked car. Suddenly she veered to the right and I could better see her shape, size and flight pattern. She was a peregrine in Lancaster County cropland. She was a bit of wildness in a human-made, human-dominated habitat where pigeons and other birds abound.
Peregrine falcons, like bald eagles and ospreys, are making a come-back in this local area, and throughout much of the United States. We will being seeing more of these exciting raptors all the time, if that wonderful trend continues.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Interesting Neighborhood Insects
As across much of the world, there's a lot of insects in our neighborhood in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during summer months and into early autumn. All insects are intriguing, even otherworldly, but some kinds more so than others. They make our neighborhood interesting.
Every summer we experience a few kinds of insects in abundance on our lawn. Hundreds of male fireflies flash their cold, fairy lanterns at dusk and into the night from mid-June until well into July, with a peak of courtship flashing around the beginning of July. Dozens of female worker honey bees visit the white clover flowers in our lawn to collect nectar and pollen. And many annual cicada males whine in the trees as part of their courtship during August days and evenings. August evenings wouldn't be complete without the shrill, pulsing trills of male cicadas.
And we have several other kinds of insects in our neighborhood that make life a bit more interesting. A few kinds of bees add intrigue. A few years ago we were removing a wooden, enclosed bench from a small garden. Under it was a field mouse nest of grass that was being used by a small group of bumble bees. A few workers and larvae were in the nest at the time. I covered the nest with a board, but the bees abandoned their disturbed home.
We used to get female carpenter bees under an old, wooden porch railing. Those bees chewed round holes the diameter of their bodies deep into the decaying wood under the rails. There they deposited a ball of nectar and pollen, laid an egg on top of it, and sealed off he entrance. Each larvae ate its ball of provisions, pupated in the hole and later emerged as a mature bee.
Every summer I find several round holes in the soft, thin leaves of our red bud tree. Apparently, we have one or more leaf cutter bees here. Females of this kind of bee raise young in the hollow stems of roses and other species of shrubbery. They use the rounded bits of leaf they cut to line each nest in the hollows and to seal each cell from the others. The larva in each compartment eats its ball of nectar and pollen, pupates and emerges as an adult bee.
And on our deck just this summer, 2015, I've noticed up to 16 female worker honey bees at once in a flower pot filled with enhanced potting mulch that is soaking wet from recent rains. Apparently, the bees are there to get water and minerals from the mulch. It's interesting to see their constant comings and goings.
Some summers I plant parsley that female black swallowtail butterflies lay eggs on. The resulting beautiful larvae eat the parsley down to the ground. Then they pupate and later come out as adult butterflies ready to breed and spawn. Meanwhile, the parsley grows new leaves.
A few times on September evenings over the years, several migrant monarch butterflies have landed for the night on our tall Norway spruces. But the next morning they are again fluttering southwest toward their winter home in certain mountains in Mexico. The miracle of the monarchs is that these great grandchildren of monarchs that left those mountains in March of that year go to the same groves of trees on the same mountains their great grandparents came from, though they never were there before. How do they know where to go and where to end their migrations. We don't know. It's one of the great miracles of life on Earth.
We get a couple of interesting moths in our yard every summer. I've seen a few striking white-lined sphinx moths in shrubbery on our lawn. And I saw one crawl from a woodpile in the yard where it probably pupated. Sphinx moths are small with swept-back wings for fast flight. And this species does have several white lines on its wings.
The lovely and appealing hummingbird moths visit flowers on our lawn to sip nectar. This type of moth is a paradox. It resembles a large bee, hovers at blossoms like a hummingbird and is a daytime moth.
A few times over the years at home, I've seen clusters of several white caterpillars on our red-twig dogwood bushes. But I was always stumped trying to identify them. Then one day, by accident, I realized these were not caterpillars at all, but rather the larvae of common sawflies. But they looked like caterpillars, ate dogwood leaves and crawled off to pupate in the soil.
We have a couple kinds of interesting flies on our lawn. One is the diminutive, iridescent and attractive long-legged flies that prey on tiny insects on foliage. The other is several iridescent green bottle flies that pile on dog droppings like turtles sunning on a log. They get nutrition form those droppings, but are also vulnerable to the predations of yellow jackets, which is a kind of predatory hornet. Adult yellow jackets sip nectar from flowers, but feed paralyzed insects to their larvae in their underground, paper nests; paper they make themselves from dead wood.
We have two major insect predators on our lawn- hanging flies and praying mantises. Hanging flies are large and yellow, hang by one foot from a leaf and use their other legs to snare passing insects from the air. Mantises walk over foliage and stalk their victims. They grab prey with their large, "toothed" front legs.
We've had a few insects on our pussy willow bushes over the years. A couple years several giant willow aphids on the woody stems of our pussy willow bushes. They are camouflaged there while sucking sap from the tender bark. Some years several pretty, red and black-spotted lady bug beetles and their larvae live on our pussy willow stems where they catch and eat smaller kinds of aphids and other tiny invertebrates. And at some point during late July and into August every year, several annual cicada grubs emerge from the ground at night and climb those pussy willows, and other shrubbery, to come out of those larval shells as adult insects with wings. The next day the adult cicadas fly away, leaving their empty, larval shells on the stems.
One year, there was a colony of female cicada killers in our neighborhood. Cicada killers, which are a kind of wasp, prefer bare ground in clay soil to create their underground nurseries, and that is where that neighborhood colony had theirs. I could see cicada killers bringing in paralyzed cicadas and walking those victims down into their burrows. There they laid an egg on each cicada for the wasp larva to eat.
By the end of July and through August and September, the green and camouflaged snowy tree crickets and other kinds of tree crickets chant or trill, according to the species, each evening and into the night. Those are males fiddling with their wings to entice females of their respective species to them for mating. That wonderful fiddling is a major part of late summer and autumn.
Check your own neighborhood for interesting insects. There's probably more of them out there than you suspect.
Every summer we experience a few kinds of insects in abundance on our lawn. Hundreds of male fireflies flash their cold, fairy lanterns at dusk and into the night from mid-June until well into July, with a peak of courtship flashing around the beginning of July. Dozens of female worker honey bees visit the white clover flowers in our lawn to collect nectar and pollen. And many annual cicada males whine in the trees as part of their courtship during August days and evenings. August evenings wouldn't be complete without the shrill, pulsing trills of male cicadas.
And we have several other kinds of insects in our neighborhood that make life a bit more interesting. A few kinds of bees add intrigue. A few years ago we were removing a wooden, enclosed bench from a small garden. Under it was a field mouse nest of grass that was being used by a small group of bumble bees. A few workers and larvae were in the nest at the time. I covered the nest with a board, but the bees abandoned their disturbed home.
We used to get female carpenter bees under an old, wooden porch railing. Those bees chewed round holes the diameter of their bodies deep into the decaying wood under the rails. There they deposited a ball of nectar and pollen, laid an egg on top of it, and sealed off he entrance. Each larvae ate its ball of provisions, pupated in the hole and later emerged as a mature bee.
Every summer I find several round holes in the soft, thin leaves of our red bud tree. Apparently, we have one or more leaf cutter bees here. Females of this kind of bee raise young in the hollow stems of roses and other species of shrubbery. They use the rounded bits of leaf they cut to line each nest in the hollows and to seal each cell from the others. The larva in each compartment eats its ball of nectar and pollen, pupates and emerges as an adult bee.
And on our deck just this summer, 2015, I've noticed up to 16 female worker honey bees at once in a flower pot filled with enhanced potting mulch that is soaking wet from recent rains. Apparently, the bees are there to get water and minerals from the mulch. It's interesting to see their constant comings and goings.
Some summers I plant parsley that female black swallowtail butterflies lay eggs on. The resulting beautiful larvae eat the parsley down to the ground. Then they pupate and later come out as adult butterflies ready to breed and spawn. Meanwhile, the parsley grows new leaves.
A few times on September evenings over the years, several migrant monarch butterflies have landed for the night on our tall Norway spruces. But the next morning they are again fluttering southwest toward their winter home in certain mountains in Mexico. The miracle of the monarchs is that these great grandchildren of monarchs that left those mountains in March of that year go to the same groves of trees on the same mountains their great grandparents came from, though they never were there before. How do they know where to go and where to end their migrations. We don't know. It's one of the great miracles of life on Earth.
We get a couple of interesting moths in our yard every summer. I've seen a few striking white-lined sphinx moths in shrubbery on our lawn. And I saw one crawl from a woodpile in the yard where it probably pupated. Sphinx moths are small with swept-back wings for fast flight. And this species does have several white lines on its wings.
The lovely and appealing hummingbird moths visit flowers on our lawn to sip nectar. This type of moth is a paradox. It resembles a large bee, hovers at blossoms like a hummingbird and is a daytime moth.
A few times over the years at home, I've seen clusters of several white caterpillars on our red-twig dogwood bushes. But I was always stumped trying to identify them. Then one day, by accident, I realized these were not caterpillars at all, but rather the larvae of common sawflies. But they looked like caterpillars, ate dogwood leaves and crawled off to pupate in the soil.
We have a couple kinds of interesting flies on our lawn. One is the diminutive, iridescent and attractive long-legged flies that prey on tiny insects on foliage. The other is several iridescent green bottle flies that pile on dog droppings like turtles sunning on a log. They get nutrition form those droppings, but are also vulnerable to the predations of yellow jackets, which is a kind of predatory hornet. Adult yellow jackets sip nectar from flowers, but feed paralyzed insects to their larvae in their underground, paper nests; paper they make themselves from dead wood.
We have two major insect predators on our lawn- hanging flies and praying mantises. Hanging flies are large and yellow, hang by one foot from a leaf and use their other legs to snare passing insects from the air. Mantises walk over foliage and stalk their victims. They grab prey with their large, "toothed" front legs.
We've had a few insects on our pussy willow bushes over the years. A couple years several giant willow aphids on the woody stems of our pussy willow bushes. They are camouflaged there while sucking sap from the tender bark. Some years several pretty, red and black-spotted lady bug beetles and their larvae live on our pussy willow stems where they catch and eat smaller kinds of aphids and other tiny invertebrates. And at some point during late July and into August every year, several annual cicada grubs emerge from the ground at night and climb those pussy willows, and other shrubbery, to come out of those larval shells as adult insects with wings. The next day the adult cicadas fly away, leaving their empty, larval shells on the stems.
One year, there was a colony of female cicada killers in our neighborhood. Cicada killers, which are a kind of wasp, prefer bare ground in clay soil to create their underground nurseries, and that is where that neighborhood colony had theirs. I could see cicada killers bringing in paralyzed cicadas and walking those victims down into their burrows. There they laid an egg on each cicada for the wasp larva to eat.
By the end of July and through August and September, the green and camouflaged snowy tree crickets and other kinds of tree crickets chant or trill, according to the species, each evening and into the night. Those are males fiddling with their wings to entice females of their respective species to them for mating. That wonderful fiddling is a major part of late summer and autumn.
Check your own neighborhood for interesting insects. There's probably more of them out there than you suspect.
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