A Naturalist Learns …..

I always find it more fun to learn from observations than from a book. The information stays with me much longer when I have the memory and the direct observation.

 

Some caterpillars, like this red-spotted caterpillar, mimic bird droppings.

 I doubt if this would appear very appetizing to a bird.

 

The caterpillars of the red-spotted purple and viceroy butterflies closely resemble each other. I don’t understand why this one is red.

Red-spotted purples lay their eggs in wild cherry, apple, and willow trees.

Viceroys lay theirs in willow, wild cherry and poplar.

The adults of both species feed on flowers and also at sap flows, decaying fruit, carrion and animal droppings.

Both species overwinter as partially-grown caterpillars. The 4th instar caterpillar cuts off all of a leaf except near the base and spins silk back and forth across the top of it. As the silk dries, it curls the remaining leaf into this tube.

 

The half-inch caterpillar spends the winter in diapause (a pause in its development). It might come outside the tube on an overly-warm winter day.

(I wrote this blog  in the fall. Predators got the caterpillars, so, I didn’t get to see if any survived winter.)

 

This red-spotted purple emerged from its chrysalis (which I didn’t witness).

 

 Apparently, it couldn’t, or didn’t get in an upside-down position so its wings would fully open before they dried. It kept trying.

It must have flown off, because I didn’t see it again.

 

Viceroy butterflies mimic the monarch butterfly. They have an extra black band on their hindwing that the monarchs don’t. Monarch are bigger, and their wings are shaped differently.

Sumac Berries

I transplanted 2 sumac trees in the lower part of our yard several years ago. They were planted especially for feeding the birds in the winter.

The only reason I think they’re healthier looking than most plants is because it’s lower back there, and they’re down from the septic field. It didn’t look like the birds have started eating them yet.

Droopy leaves on this sumac show signs of stress from the extreme heat and drought. I also wonder about the overall tree drooping.

All the berries are gone on the wild cherry trees in the yard. Leaves on all the hackberry trees are yellowish and wilty looking. Their berries are a strange color and aren’t ripe yet. I wonder if they’ll even ripen.

A flock of cedar waxwings will move in an area in the winter and stay there until all the berries are gone. Robins and bluebirds eat berries in the winter too.