Tendrils

Category: Caterpillars

  • Robins in Winter

    Robins in Winter

    Just a couple days ago an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) stopped by for a drink at the bird bath here at my cabin. It’s not at all unusual to see Robins here during any month of the year, even during winter. During the summer earthworms, snails, spiders and other arthropods make up much of their…

  • A Stop on the Way

    A favorite place to stop on the way to yoga. A favorite place to pull out my camera and get a picture.

  • Smooth Sumac Revisited

    Nothing better than Smooth Sumac doing its thing in autumn. I, along with many birds, love it!

  • Japanese Honeysuckle Berries

    Japanese Honeysuckle Berries

    Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), the Honeysuckle that many of us know from childhood with the luscious drop of nectar that we’d catch on our tongue. Mmmm. And surprise, that Honeysuckle gets berries. Berries that are poisonous to us humans. The nectar is safe but not the berries.

  • Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

    Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

    Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar (Euchaetes egle). This caterpillar just might alarm you if you’re growing milkweed with Monarch Butterflies in mind. No need to worry though. The Milkweed Tussock Moth and the Monarch Butterfly have grown up in the “same neighborhood” side by side, sharing the bounty. Both butterfly and moth caterpillars are eating a…

  • Frost

    Frost

    It was the coldest morning so far this autumn. At 32° not extremely cold but cold enough to please this lover of winter. Driving down the mountain on my way to yoga the changing leaves delighted me with their warm colors. Water running through the gravel and dirt of the road hadn’t gotten an opportunity…

  • More Hickory

    More Hickory

    Continuing on a thread that I started yesterday. These nuts are Bitternut Hickory. All Hickory nuts are edible but with this one, as the name implies, is one that you might want to skip. There are much better nuts in the woods. Some moths have the Hickory tree as their host plant. One that is…

  • Wheel Bug

    Wheel Bug

    The Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus) is a true bug that uses its enlarged front legs to grab and hold its prey, then punctures it with a robust, curved beak which it uses to suck the body fluids from its victims. It is part of a group of bugs called assassin bugs (family eduviidae). Measuring in at…

  • Little Wood Satyr

    Little Wood Satyr

    Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela). Not brightly colored. Not large. But this is not a moth but it is a butterfly. Its wingspan is 1.5 to 1.875 inches. They often perch with wings wide open on the leaves of trees or in leaf litter. Larval host plants are sundry grasses such as Kentucky Bluegrass, Orchard…

  • American Copper

    American Copper

    American Copper (Lycaena phlaeas). A butterfly that I seldom see. And yet the Massachusetts Butterfly Club describes its distribution in that state as, “One of our most ubiquitous butterflies.” Looking at a distribution map of this butterfly in North America I see it can be found from Nova Scotia south to Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas; and…