It's A Big World Out There

Especially if you're a baby Northern Gray Tree Frog.

Good luck little guy.

The Future Is Now

Monarch Madness Continued

After being in their chrysalis for almost two weeks, the butterflies have started emerging.

I can tell when this is about to happen because the chrysalis will begin to change color. One day it will be light green.

Then it will begin to get darker.

And then a little translucent.

Finally, when it looks like this the butterfly's metamorphosis is complete and it is ready to break out of its now thin shell.

The chrysalis above looked like this a 8:00 am.

By 9:00 am the butterfly had emerged and was unfolding, drying and pumping up its wings. At noon I released it into our garden.

Coincidentally, moth chrysalises that Steve and I have raised emerged in the late afternoon in order to be ready to fly at night.

You can determine whether a Monarch is a boy or a girl.

Look at the two above photos. Each is a different sex. Can you see the difference and guess the boy and girl?

The dots on the wings are diagnostic that this is male.

So far 15 butterflies have emerged. Twelve males and three females. Fifteen more chrysalises are left. Four have started to turn darker.

I wonder what their future will be?

 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Thanks to guest blogger Patty Rehn. The words and images are hers.

A Bog Post

Once upon a time there was nothing but lawn in the side yard.

So Steve dug a hole.

This post is about what we filled it with.

The Bog, all filled up with bog plants.

Arrow-Head, Sagittarius engelmanniana, leaf ...

... and flower.

Pipewort.

Marsh St. John's-Wort, Hypericum virginicum.

Spatulate-Leaf Sundew, Drosera intermedia.

Meadow Beauty, Rhexia virginica.

Pitcher Plant, Sarraenia purpurea.

Carolina Yellow-Eyed Grass, Xyris caroliniana.

Threadleaf Sundew, Drosera filiformis.

Sphagnum moss.

Orange Milkwort, Polygaia lutea.

Rhynchrospora sp.

Coppery St. John's-Wort, Hypericum denticulatum.

This is just a sampling of the plants in the bog. And both we, and mother nature, will be adding more. It really is a nice addition to our gardens.

🌾🥀🌱🌿🌺

Thanks to guest blogger Patty Rehn. The words and images are hers.

Yard Critter of the Week - Mason Wasp

Euodynerus megaera, the Mason Wasp.

Several Months ago, Steve put up this bee house for the native bees and wasps in our yard. Many of these critters are solitary and nest in dead plant stalks or in cavities created by woodpeckers. This bee house has both nesting type cavities for the discerning bee or wasp.

Mason bees and wasps will lay an egg with food and make a wall to create a chamber. They will fill the hollow cavity with larval chambers.

The Mason Bees will put pollen cakes in the chamber for the larvae to eat. You can see the yellow pollen on the hairs of this bee.

This is not a bee. There are two easy ways to determine if you are looking at a bee or a wasp. Wasps, unlike bees, have thin waists and little to no hair.

Unlike Mason Bees, Mason Wasps larvae consume living but paralyzed caterpillars. The female Mason Wasp lays her egg in the chamber. She then hunts for caterpillars and uses a potent venom to paralyze her prey. When the larvae hatch they feed on the living albeit paralyzed caterpillar. Due to the shorter developmental time of the male larvae, male eggs are usually placed near the opening of the cavity and female eggs are placed deeper within; therefore the female wasp is able control the gender of her offspring. Mason Wasps are considered beneficial because the caterpillars they collect are often pest species.

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

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

Thanks to guest blogger Patty Rehn. The words and images are hers.

Future Butterflies

Monarch Madness, continued ...

It's been over a week and the kids are growing fast! Currently I have 27 chrysalises and a handful of caterpillars.

Many of the caterpillars have already climb to the top of the aquarium or are preparing to.

When the caterpillar decides it is ready, it climbs to the top of the aquarium and uses its silk to hang upside down like a letter "J". It will rest as a "J" for six to ten hours. Then it wakes up and starts to move.

It will begin to slough off its outside skin while replacing it with a new covering.

It wiggles while it does this moving the old skin up and off.

The old skin moves up to where the caterpillar attached itself to hang and will drop off.

The process takes about five minutes, click here to see a short video.

In another five minutes the bejeweled chrysalis is created. It is all so fast! I suppose the caterpillars want some privacy as they change from earthbound eating machines to Kings and Queens of the garden. They are Monarchs after all.

The previous Monarch Madness post can be found here.

🐛 🦋 🐛

Thanks to guest blogger Patty Rehn. The words and images are hers.

Monarch Madness

The first weeks of July welcome the arrival of Monarch Butterflies to our gardens.

Butterfly Weed

Milkweeds are the only plants upon which Monarchs will lay eggs. We have three different kinds of native milkweed: Swamp Milkweed, Common Milkweed, and Butterfly Weed.

Females lay one egg per leaf, one egg at a time, up to 500 eggs. I watched a Monarch ova-positing on the milkweed in my garden, but after a week I couldn't find any caterpillars. Therefore, I decided to become a Monarch Mama and the Monarch Madness began!

I collected about thirty eggs and put them in plastic containers. I cut the eggs off the milkweed so they would fit more easily in the containers, and I spritzed them twice a day.

The eggs are white and about the size of a pinhead.

After about four to six days, the eggs became darker. They were ready to hatch.

The first thing they eat upon hatching are their eggshells.

Caterpillars are eating and pooping machines. They eat, poop, rest, and eat some more.

About twenty of the eggs hatched and are at different stages of development, aka "instars".

Today I had to set up the large aquarium to accommodate their numbers and growth.

Stay tuned for future updates on their progress toward butterflfyhood.

🐛🐛🐛🦋🐛🐛🐛

Thanks to guest blogger Patty Rehn. The words and images are hers.

Yard Critter of the Week - Common Walkingstick

What's green and sticky?

A Common Walkingstick!

The Common Walkingstick is a slender, elongated insect which camouflages itself by resembling a twig (although not very helpful when on the siding). There are three pairs of legs, but at rest, the front pair is extended forward beside the antennae, forming an extension of the twig-like effect. It is native to North America.

The Stick is herbivorous and feeds mainly on the leaves of trees. They are leaf skeletonisers, eating the tissues between the leaf veins, pausing for a while, and then walking on to new leaves. They are most active at night.

Walkingsticks overwinter as eggs in leaf litter. In May the hatch and climb up trees to feed and grow. And then to mate and start the cycle all over again.

🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞

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

Thanks to guest blogger Patty Rehn. The words and images are hers.