Out On the Wing #86: Munchies

Ever seen Ax Men? No, I'm not going to start singing the "Lumberjack Song". But there's a specific tool used in logging to grind stumps and trees down that I thought of when I saw these critters today.
 

These Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) caterpillars were rescued from the makeshift butterfly house and are now growing in the office. They're currently feeding on Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and do so with extreme efficiency. They're so cute, especially when you give them a little squeeze so that their little horn appears. This is used to startle predators and prevent them from being eaten. They also produce a smell with it as well, but these little ones seemed a bit small.

Later this weekend, I'll have a review of "The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists" by Peter Laufer, PhD. See you all soon!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nature Note #122: Adventures in Pennsylvania: (Non-Native) Space Invaders

Image
As the first week at the Outdoor School* ended and the weekend arrived, I thought about what to write about this week. I had made it a goal to learn some common night-singing insect calls by visiting the Songs of Insects website and while I haven't done that yet, Sunday isn't over either. After returning from Giant to get some milk, I went for a walk to find some subjects for this weeks post. I decided to settle on three invasive plants that have appeared on the property over the summer. We were introduced to the first during orientation while walking from the group challenge field over the Pennypack Creek that runs through the property. The plant's huge leaves were what surprised me the most, as well as seeming so tropically out of place with the mid-Atlantic environment they were now living in. Initially we were stumped as to their identity, but after one of my bosses did some research, he determined that they were Empress or Princess Trees. Their scientific name is Pa
Read more

Nature Note #187: Devil Down Head

Image
I love old nicknames for birds. Whether they are folk names, sportsmans colloquialisms, or even names from other languages, learning how other groups of people identify certain animals and plants is always an interesting journey through the history of human culture and wildlife identification. The title of this post refers to an old folk name for a common yard and feeder bird, the nuthatch. Here in the northeast, we have two species of nuthatches; the white-breasted ( Sitta carolinensis ) and the red-breasted ( S. canadensis ). White-breasted nuthatch Red-breasted nuthatch Both species are perhaps best known for their tree-scaling ability that would make any free climber jealous of their skills. Many ornithologists have been equally amazed by the skills of the nuthatch. The economic ornithologist, Edward Howe Forbush noted in his Birds of Massachusetts that: "They seem to have taken lessons of the squirrel which runs down the tree headfirst,  stretching out his hi
Read more

Nature Note #201: Blue Cranes and Long Whites

Image
There is a small pond on the Trinity Center property I walk past everyday and is exceptionally buggy. Even when you are covered head to toe with 25% DEET bug spray, it seems to have no effect. The other day, as I rounded a bend, something lifted off from the top of a gnarled cedar. A tall bird croaked with agitation, flying away on long wings and extending a snaking neck. The bird in question was a great blue heron ( Ardea herodias ), a charismatic and recognizable marsh bird that is familiar to most people. Despite their common presence around wetlands, ponds, and rivers, I have heard them mistaken for another tall marsh bird, and are sometimes called "blue cranes". Immature great blue seen near Bogue Sound in Pine Knoll Shores, NC. Photo by me. Bird misidentification isn't a new issue. Even as naturalists and budding ornithologists like John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson were traveling the country identifying the birds they could; even they used colloquial n
Read more