Yard Critter - Variegated Cutworm

Peridroma saucia.

Patty spotted this one as were were putting our kayaks away (it was on the green one, in case you were wondering.)

A few snaps with my phone, a bit of clean up processing on my computer, and uploading to the internet for an ID, as I was not able to figure it out.

Less than an hour later a suggested ID. Isn't crowdsourcing amazing?

And thus endeth what started as caterpillar week and became caterpillar month. I still have a bunch of caterpillars I'm trying to ID (crowdsourcing isn't perfect!) so you'll still have to put up with more such critters in the future, albeit not daily.

It was fun wandering about the yard each morning and discovering something new each day. I hope you enjoyed it too.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Sun, Trees, Screen ...

... Light Show.

I was sitting at my desk when I noticed the scene out the window below.

The sun was setting behind the trees and the leaves were acting like pinhole 'lenses' projecting the sunlight. And the screen then acted as a 2D diffraction grating, making the starburst pattern (bigafy to see).

Still sitting at my desk I zoomed in to take this, and the first, images. You can read about the physics behind it here and here. Or you can just enjoy the pictures.

Monarchs

It is migration time for Monarchs. And we are clearly on the flight path. Add the ones that are emerging from chrysalises and you've got a yard full of butterflies.

Our yard is a flowery oasis in the middle of the woods.

I wonder how they find it?

This was the view from inside our living room. I count nine Monarchs. And there were others flitting about and alit on flowers just out of view. And more elsewhere in the back and side gardens.

They seem to especially like the Tithonia rotundifolia, commonly known as 'Mexican Sunflower', which Patty grew from seed. She already has planting plans for next year.

Fueling up for the next leg of their journey to Mexico they put on quite a show.

Farewell.

Yard Critter - Arge Moth Caterpillar

Apantesis arge.

Formerly Grammia arge, which is the name it can be found under in Wagner's excellent field guide.*

The 'Speedy Gonzalez' of the caterpillar world, this critter can zip along at 1.4 km/h for short bursts. And is was zooming across my driveway.

I took these pictures on August 24th, but it took me awhile to figure out what this is. At least well enough to call it for the blog. And the name change was part of the story. I had, with help from folks on the interwebs, ID'd it to genus Apantesis, but looking up that led nowhere in field guides and even on the web. I finally took the time to brute force the ID by looking through BugGuide, at lots of pictures until I found a match. A bit of work, but it is actually fun to figure it out.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

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* Caterpillars of the Eastern North America, David L. Wagner. But you knew that already, right?

Yard Critter - Red Humped Caterpillar

Schizura concinna.

A repeat yard critter, and a quite common about the yard this year.

From single adults and young.

To groups of over twenty individuals chomping away.

This critter is one I see annually, perhaps because of its bright psychedelic color pattern.

As with most such colored insects, it no doubt serves as a warning to potential predators, as these critters have glands that can emit a foul brew of formic acid and acetones. Yucky for sure.

But cool to look at.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Fish [as] Food

Every morning as part of my daily routine I feed this fish in the pond off our deck.

This morning I found a critter looking at the fish as food.

Here's the view as I came around the corner of the house. A Great Blue Heron. I managed to snap three shots with my phone before it flew off.

Not the first time we've had a Heron in the yard, but the first time I've seen one inside the pond fence. I have no idea if it enjoyed any of the fish. And as there are over 80 (!) fish in the pond I've no way to tell if any are missing (and they've been making more each year).

I counted 94 fish in the image above.

Which is a good thing, as the Heron is not the only threat ...

Yard Critter - Yellow-haired Dagger Moth Caterpillar

Acronicta impleta.

I spotted this one Friday morning as I was walking about the yard. Another day, another new caterpillar. Amazing. How long can it continue?

The individual I saw doesn't look anything like the picture in my field guide*, a scan of which is shown below.

Image courtesy David L. Wagner, used without permission

Fortunately there are online groups for caterpillar identification, otherwise this would have gone into the "caterpillar sp." collection of images on my hard drive.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

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* Caterpillars of Eastern North America, by David L. Wagner. Highly recommended.

Yard Critter - Green-striped Mapleworm

Dryocampa rubicunda.

A caterpillar that will turn into the Rosy Maple Moth.

So why is it eating Willow Oak leaves?

I must say though, Willow Oak does seem to be very popular with the caterpillars in our yard. I guess it is very yummy to them. Even one with "Maple" in its name.

Go figure.

The moth, one of my favorites, is common at our moth sheet. So it is cool to find the caterpillar in our yard.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

M49

This past weekend, Patty, myself, and four friends, went to Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County, Pennsylvania. For a bit of stargazing.

One of the participants was our friend Marie, who, as noted before on this very blog, is working on her N for N list.* And one of the items on the list was to go observing at Cherry Springs.

The plan had been to go last summer and, as I'm the astronomy geek in our circle of friends, I was to provide the telescopes and serve as celestial tour guide. But my back issues put the kibosh on that plan.

I'm better now (yay!) and we had earlier in the year tried to go observing on Assateague Island. But rain spoiled those plans (boo!).

So if at first, (and second), try, try again. And, continuing the cliche theme, the third time's the charm.

As these pictures of the Milky Way show, charm it was. We had two very good nights of observing.

And Marie was able to checkoff the 49th item from her list.

🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂

* Marie had a milestone birthday last year, the 'Big N'. And the "N for N" list is N things to do in her Nth year. As this is #49 on that list it kinda gives away N. But Marie says that's ok.

Yard Critter - Smartweed Caterpillar

Acronicta oblinita, aka "Smeared Dagger Moth".

I found this one on the underside of a small table on our deck. Another spikey critter, brightly colored and rather formidable looking. And it's #11 on the list of the world's top fifteen poisonous caterpillars, although I cannot vouch for the veracity of that list.*

It is also on this somewhat more believable list, and thus it is not something to be trifled with. And I certainly wasn't going to touch it. So after taking a few photos let it go about its business.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

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* Especially when you read things like this there: "The puss caterpillar is widespread in the Southern states, including New Jersey, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas." Notwithstanding the geographical inaccuracy, Wagner, in Caterpillars of Eastern North America, has the range of this species ending in Maryland. And that's not the only questionable bit. Hmmm ...

Yard Critter - Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Halysidota tessellaris.

I spotted this critter while planting some spring ephemeral bulbs Patty had ordered (now that we have the deer fence our plan is to fill out the empty spaces in the yard with native flowers - which will in turn mean more yard critters!).

The moths are common at our mothing sheet.

Yet this is the only image in my photo library.

I don't know what plant the caterpillar was on, as all the leaves where gone.

Here is a worn individual on worn oak. At least I think it is the same species. But I'm not entirely sure. I'm glad I found a more canonical example to confirm its presence in the yard. And I keep finding new cats out there almost every day. Very encouraging.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

All Those Caterpillars ...

... have to come from somewhere ...

A pair of Pearl Crescent butterflies going at it in front of our garage.

You can just make out [pun?] the eponymous crescent in the above image.

And while this is not the first time they've gone at it in the yard, ...

... here's their great-great grandparents in September 2015, I've yet to find the caterpillars.

I don't feel bad though. The aforementioned Wagner, in his Caterpillars of Eastern North America, writes, "Even though the Pearl Crescent is among the most common butterflies in Connecticut, I have never encountered its caterpillar."

I'll keep looking though. They're out there somewhere.

🦋  🦋  🦋  🦋  🦋

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Yard Critter - Duskywing Sp.

Erynnis horatius or Erynnis juvenalis.

Horrace's or Juvenal's Duskywing respectively.

I spotted this one by accident. I was watching a Chionodes thoraceochrella stitching some leaves together when it, and I, noticed this much larger critter was already occupying one of the leaves. I started taking pictures. The C. thoraceochrella high tailed it outta there (hmmm ... even though it has no tail?).

You can see what I saw by clicking here for a video.

The Duskywings are leaf rollers, as compared to C. thoraceochrella, a leaf stitcher. Leaf rollers roll one leaf around them, using webbing to hold it shut. Duskywings will drop with the leaf to the ground and overwinter in the leaf litter on the forest floor.

Which one is this? Only time will tell. And I won't be there to hear what time says, as it has moved on from where I found it.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Yard Critter - Black-waved Flannel Caterpillar

Megalopyge crispata.

Another of the "do not touch" caterpillars.*

I found this one crawling across my driveway. Having only my phone I snapped these shots.

By the time I returned with my 'real' camera it had moved on.

Cool that I was in the right place at the right time.

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

🐛  ☠️  🐛  ☠️  🐛

* Wagner, in Caterpillars of Eastern North America, in his notes about this critter, tells the story of his encounter and the resulting emergency room visit. Spoiler: he came out alive. But it was not a pleasant experience.

My Calendar Must Be Broken ...

... I thought it was still summer?

For a few more days at least. Right?

I went to Lowes today. And saw this. An employee putting up a Christmas display.

The mailbox is blocking out the Halloween stuff.

🎅🏻  🎄  🎅🏻  🎄  🎅🏻

Merry Christmas!

Yard Critter - Lochmaeus Sp.

Lochmaeus manteo or Lochmaeus bilineata.

In a living language, Variable Oakleaf Caterpillar or Double-lined Prominent, respectfully.

Wagner, in his excellent Caterpillars of Eastern North America, after giving a number of field marks for L. manteo, notes that these caterpillars are often indistinguishable.

But I'm gonna distinguish it, based on the criteria in Wagner, and say that this is the Variable Oakleaf Caterpillar.

It is another small one. And another found initially out in the back pond area.

I actually found several of these critters, mostly by the back pond but in other areas of the yard.

And true to its name there were significant variations in appearance.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.