Bluebird Eggs

This is the first clutch of bluebird eggs this season. 

 

Year of the Cicada

This is the year for Brood XXIII periodical cicada which emerge every 13 years...genus Magicicada. Shown above are the empty nymph exoskeleton on a burr oak.

 I rather enjoy the sound of the annual cicadas...particularly in the morning. On the other hand....the periodical cicadas....their deafening and never ending buzz can be unnerving.

After slicing open a small tree twig with her ovipositor, the female cicada lays her eggs in the open wound. The shear quantity of egg deposit sites will result in some damage to the outer small, thin branches of the trees. Over the summer, I watched a rather large pin oak, drop a good number of twigs. Very young trees can receive significant damage as happened to an apple seedling that I had planted last year.

Shown below is the emergence range of Brood XXIII for 2015.

First Sign of Scarback

Just a place to document the first sighting of Old Scarback...our long-lived eastern box turtle.

Small Hornet's Nest

This is the start of a hornet's nest on the light fixture at our front door. It is likely a bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespata maculata)....also known as an "arial yellowjacket"...though I did not wait around to see exactly who showed up. This home was removed for the safety of those that dwell in the home to which it is attached.

Fence Lizard Part Deux

A month after seeing that early fence lizard, this one was seen sunning itself on the brick on the house. This one was closer to average size.

Early Fence Lizard

This was the earliest that I have ever observed a fence lizard. Also, one of the largest. A light coating of mud obscured its already subdued markings. It was lethargically warming its blood in the spring sunshine and not a bit interested in budging.

More Box Turtles

We certainly seem to get a lot of box turtle traffic. I like to document all sightings so as to distinguish those that live around my smallholding from those that are passing through.

This one was snuggling in some leaf litter in a vegetable garden bed.

A week later, this one was sighted out in the yard. This one has a similar pattern on the carapace but the plastron is clearly different.

Baby Mantis

This is the smallest praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) that I have been able to document...perhaps around 5/8" long.

 They are typically found in the boxwood shrubs on the north side of the house. They manifest themselves during the dog-days of late summer when the shrubs are in need of watering.  They don't seem to appreciate the shower as it forces them out of the dark inner recesses of the boxwood canopy where they hunt their prey. This baby found temporary refuge on the side of the house.

A Rain of Toads

I have noticed an explosion in the toad population this year. I did an informal survey of an area 25' x75' and within a few minutes had counted 5 baby fowler's toads (Bufo fowleri). This is undoubtedly due to the wet late-spring and summer. Last summer we had a severe drought. This year we are around 9" above our normal for the year and our rainfall at the end of June is more than last year's total for the entire year.

Mama Wolf Spider

All of my recent discoveries seem to have been in my vegetable garden beds and this is no exception. I was cutting down the fallow vines from this spring's sugar snap peas (Yum!) and I was busy chopping them up for composting when I saw this wolf spider (Lycosidae) with her spinneret-attached egg sac ambling amongst the stubble.