Sitting perfectly still, concentrating on what might be flying by. Waiting for an insect which might provide a quick snack. Autumn is here but there are still insects aplenty, but as winter approaches there won’t be so many. The Phoebes do quite well here through the winter supplementing their insect diet with seeds, berries, and small fruits.
I delight in seeing these birds, pumping their tales up and down, as if to say, “Hello!”
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Oh October! The month of COLOR! Here, Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is just beginning to celebrate. A fragrant tree, in all its parts, that grows to 30 – 60 feet tall with trunks that are 1 – 2 feet across, and sometimes larger. With gray-brown, deeply ridged and furrowed bark on older trees. If you cut into that bark it has a pronounced brown-orange color beneath the gray-brown surface, and of course, there is that fragrance. Lovely.
Autumn is just beginning to be evident up here. It is at the point of, “Oh, look at thattree.” — rather than, “Oh, look at all the color!” Sassafras leaves turn to yellow, orange, red, and even purple. This particular tree is showing its color early and will be developing even richer hues as the season develops.
I adore brilliant colors. This season is pure joy for me.
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The caterpillar, or larval stage, of a Spicebush Silkmoth (callosamia promethea). The host plants of these moths are Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), Sassafras (Sasssafras albidum), Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipfera), Sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), White Ash (Fraxinus americana), Lilac (Syringa vulgaris), Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), Birches (Betulaceae), Maples (Sapindaceae), and Lindens (Tilia).
As adults these Silkmoths live for 1 to 2 weeks, eating and drinking nothing. During that short time they depend on energy stored during their larval stage. Their purpose during this stage in their life is to mate and lay eggs, enabling another generation to live.
One hefty caterpillar.
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Another of the many creatures that are migrating through right now. A Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) making its way south. Going to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Jamaica, northern South America, with some choosing to stay in southern Texas or Florida. Here it’s captured heading to the birdbath for a drink.
During the breeding season they eat predominantly insects and spiders, with smooth-skinned caterpillars being their favorite. As they travel south to their winter homes they look for small berries and continue eating insects along the way.
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Recently during the course of a day, if I’m lucky, I’ll see one, or if I’m really lucky I’ll see twoMonarchs (Danaus plexippus) come flying through.
They’re looking for late blooming flowers to provide nectar which they need to fuel their long journey south and to build up fat reserves for the coming winter in the Oyamel Fir Forests of Mexico. Once they arrive at their winter home, they won’t eat anything, in a state of torpor, living off those fat reserves that they have built up during their migration.
I haven’t seen any today. Perhaps I won’t see any more this season. Really looking forward to seeing them next year.
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They make me think of shredded coconut. The late in the season flowers of Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) each have 4 petals and 4 sepals.
Those petals are tape-like, about .75 inches long, often distorted and twisted. Usually the blooms are soft or bright yellow, though occasionally you might come across this same species of Witch Hazel with varying shades of red or orange.
These late season flowers provide an important last source of nectar and pollen for flies, bees, and moths when other flowers have stopped blooming.
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The last of the migrating Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) came through a couple days ago, getting refills of energy at the Zinnias (Zinnia) that are in the garden.
I captured this one in pixels and was surprised to see that I actually got a picture of its tongue reaching into the flower for the nectar. Look closely and perhaps you’ll be able to see it. The tongue of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird is about 1.5 inches long and it is used in an incredible fashion.
The tongue is rather tubular and forked. As the tongue comes out the forked tips are held together, giving the tongue the look of a long needle. Reaching the nectar, it splits its hairlike structures along the tongue’s tips, unfurling in the nectar. As the hummingbird removes its tongue from the nectar those hairlike structures re-furl and trap nectar within each tongue tip. The nectar is released by the hummingbird, squeezing and compressing the tongue as it’s drawn into the bill. This process can occur up to twelve times a second. Amazing.
Several minutes later and another hummingbird came by for Zinnia nectar and another demonstration of the incredible action of its tongue.
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Here, a Sachem Skipper (Atalopedes campestris), on a Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). What is a Skipper? A Skipper is a type of Butterfly. And a Moth is another type of insect in the same order as the Butterflies and Skippers, Lepidoptera.
Butterflies, Skippers and Moths tend to be a bit confusing. Their differences include their time of activity. In general Moths are active at night, while Butterflies and Skippers are usually active during the day. Their antennae are another difference. The antennae of Moths are feathery, and fernlike, or long and pointed. Butterflies have antennae that are long and thin with clubbed tips. And the antennae of Skippers are also long and thin but have pointed hooks on the tips.
There is also a difference in their posture as they rest. Moths keep their wings flat when at rest or held together over their body. Butterflies will generally hold their wings together over their body but on occasion will keep their wings flat. Skippers hold their front wings in a V shape while their hind wings are kept flat, out to the sides.
Whether a Moth, a Butterfly or a Skipper, they’re all beautiful!
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I’m very dedicated to sowing natives in my gardens but there are some plants that tell me that there needs to be an exception where they are concerned. For the autumn I put in non-natives, Zinnias (Zinnia), Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia), and Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) seen here. I plant them for the benefit of pollinators, like this one, a Painted Lady (Salvia elegans), which need flowers that provide nectar and pollen for the many bees and butterflies of autumn.
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Goldenrod (Solidago) produces beautiful, prolific blooms in late summer and early autumn. Its pollen is heavy, sticky, and not airborne like the green flowers of Ragweed (Ambrosia). In order to have an allergic reaction to Goldenrod you would in all probability have physical contact with it, and not simply by breathing in the pollen.
Here a Paper Wasp (Polistinae) is dining on the nectar of Goldenrod. There are over 100 species of Goldenrod that are native to North America, and they play an important role in providing nectar and pollen to pollinators late in the season when there are few flowers blooming.
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