Yard Critter - Northern Gray Treefrog

Hyla versicolor.

This is a repeat yard critter, although the previous post featured a young frog, not unlike the one below.

I've been surveying the yard each morning of late as regular readers know from the caterpillar posts. And I've spotted several of these critters, multiple young and adults. And I've heard even more.

This one was seen and heard, the acoustics of the rainspout making him appear more attractive to lady frogs no doubt.

I got to watch this one on the gate, hopping from bar to bar (click here for video).

This one was easily the most cooperative of the bunch.

It even let me reach in and pull the piece of grass off its face.

🐸  🐸  🐸  🐸  🐸

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

The Only Good ...

... Spotted Lanternfly ...

... is a dead Spotted Lanternfly.

I had the sad task of killing eight of these invasive insects today, in Paoli and Coatsville Pennsylvania. I visited my parents in Paoli and then took my dad to the VA hospital in Coatsville for his regular eye-exam (tomorrow he goes to the Paoli hospital to get Spock ears!).

I noticed one lanternfly when I arrived at their place for lunch. It was already dead. After lunch, when I went to get the car, I noticed a number of dead lanternflies. And then I noticed a soon to be dead one. And another. And another. I killed all five of the live ones I saw. But I saw living lanternflies as I was driving down Route 30 to the VA hospital. And at the VA Hospital I killed three more.

Not good.

Yard Critter - Yellow Bear

The caterpillar stage of the Virginian Tiger Moth, Spilosoma virginica.

I found this critter on a plastic trashcan in our garage. Not sure what it was looking for in there.

Maybe a place to pupate and overwinter? I hope it found what it was looking for.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

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

Garden Killer

"There's a praying mantis eating a bee on the Sneezeweed", Patty called out as we were both out doing yard work (sorta) this past Saturday.

And so there was. A Chinese Mantid, a non-native species introduced as a biological insect control agent.

You'll often see them sitting still on plants, waiting for prey to wander close. Then it's curtains for the hapless victim.

An indiscriminate killing machine, it preys on good and bad insects alike. And in that respect it's a failure as a pest control agent. Yet one can still purchase them for this task. And they are probably too entrenched to remove them from the environment.

I know not what it was eating. But it didn't seem to like me watching.

Or perhaps it sizing me up? I wonder how yummy I looked.

Yard Critter - Unicorn

Unicorn Caterpillar, Schizura unicornis, that is.

Distinctive and cryptic in appearance, Wagner, in Caterpillars of Eastern North America,  notes:

"Surely a predator would require a special search image 

to successfully locate Unicorn Caterpillars in a forest 

with its sea of leaves."

It was only because I was looking in the tree with the Polyphemus Caterpillar that I spotted this critter.

It looks like something you'd expect to see in a scifi movie, like Dune or the original Star Wars, cruising across a desert landscape.

Every morning I wander the yard and every morning I find another interesting caterpillar. I hope you like them too.

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

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

Yard Critter - Mole

Likely an Eastern Mole, Scalopus aquaticus, but as I didn't actually see the critter I cannot be sure.*

I was looking out my kitchen window one Saturday morning when I saw plants shaking in the garden. As this is usually a good indicator of wildlife activity I grabbed my binoculars for a closer look. I didn't see anything but as it was in a densely planted area I wasn't surprised.

So I grabbed a camera and headed outside to investigate further.

What I saw looked like this: click here for video.

Eventually it tunneled over to the cedar posts that edge the garden.

I watched it tunnel for a while along the edge. Click here for another video. Watch as an earthworm, a prime mole prey item, emerges and wiggles away.

I kept hoping it would poke through the surface, but it was not to be. Eventually it turned around and followed the tunnel back into the garden. A very cool encounter.

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

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* There are three species of mole in New Jersey, the Eastern Mole, the Star-nosed Mole, and the Hairy-tailed Mole. Eastern is the most widespread, but it could have been any of the three.

The closest I've come to seeing one was one that was dead in the road in front of our house. Alas, it was too mutilated to identify further than 'mole'.

Yard Critter - Contracted Datana

Datana contacta.

In the typical Datana defensive pose. I'm not really sure how this wards off threats, but they all seem to do it. So it must be somehow helpful.

Another critter that I found out by the back pond. Every time I wander about there I find something new. I wonder what I'll find tomorrow?

🐛  🐛  🐛 🐛  🐛

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