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Margined Blister Beetle
It looks a bit like a Lightning Bug but don’t be fooled. This is a Margined Blister Beetle (Epicauta funebris), which can be found in North America east of the Great Plains. There are three color forms of this beetle, black, ash-gray, and margined as seen here. They exude a substance called cantharidin if disturbed,…
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Cardinal Flower Revisited
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), an intense scarlet flower that is native to southeastern Canada south through the eastern and southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America to northern Colombia. The same color as my pickup truck, Chevy’s Victory Red. With a tubular flower it’s the perfect shape for hummingbirds which love the blooms. Butterflies are…
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Sleepy Orange Butterfly
Another orange (or is it actually yellow?) butterfly. Sleepy Orange Butterfly (Eurema nicippe). It is not enough to know that the butterfly you’ve seen is yellow/orange. You must pay attention to the details. In this case there is a diagonal dark smudge on the lower ventral wing which can be consistently seen. And if you…
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Orange Sulphur Butterfly
Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme). A butterfly that flitters about with a wingspan of 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It has a large range, found from southern Canada to central Mexico. Being a generalist, its host plant is often vetch, clover, alfalfa, and other pea family plants. Eggs are laid on the host plant and hatch 4 to…
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Shaggy Mane Mushroom
Shaggy Mane Mushroom (Coprinus comatus) commonly seen in North America and Europe, though in my years of looking for fungi, I’ve only seen these which I’ve captured in pixels, down the dirt road, on my mountain. They grow in man-made habitats such as lawns, along dirt roads, beside hiking trails, in neglected areas, or even…
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Stalked Scarlet Cup
Another of the saprobic fungi. Stalked Scarlet Cup (Sarcoscypha occidentalis) lives as a network of root-like mycelium within dead branches, stems and other pieces of dead wood, on the moist forest floor. The mycelium, working within the dead wood gets nourishment by digesting the wood. They’re important decomposers in the forest. Stalked Scarlet Cup favors Oak,…
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Slugs
Something I never thought about writing about before. I encountered many of these critters this morning, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. They’re Leopard Slugs (Limax maximus). Its scientific name means, “biggest slug.” Though actually only the second largest in the genus Limax. The one in the image above stretched out to six or…
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Bloom Where You’re Planted
A glimpse of a very determined plant this morning, outside the Stanardsville, Va., Post Office brought back memories from long long ago. Back then my husband and I would go to our absolute favorite restaurant at least once a week, and often twice a week. The restaurant, run by Kip Laramie, The Sante Fe Cafe,…
