Next Generation

This mother-doe  and her week-old fawn were out grazing in front of the house in the late afternoon. You will note the protection around the fruit trees.

Machines of Disturbance

The cardinal chirps

The leaves rustle in the wind

Waaaaaaah! roars the mower.

Ideal Cottontail Habitat

I see this eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) almost every day in the early evening at the edge of the woods on the southwest corner of the property.

 
I was able to observe it closely on this occasion and discovered why it likes this particular location. The combination of shade, "lawn"... rich in broadleaf plantain, and a nearby large brush pile (cover) make for an ideal homeland. If you look closely at the photo, you will see it chewing away on a leaf of plantain.

It is quite relaxing to sit in the evening and watch it meander and browse, always alert for any dangerous intruders.

brushpile

plantain

Tiger Beetle

I noticed this beautifully luminescent six-spotted green tiger beetle (Cicindela lepida) on the picnic table.

The Audobon guide says, "The adult flies along forest paths, alights, and turns to face any intruders, as though judging when to fly again.". I observed this one exhibiting this precise behavior.

Click Beetle

The eastern eyed click beetle (Alaus oculatus) is often found around rotting timber and that is exactly where I found this one….in a pile of old, rotting boards. It is named for the false eyes that appear on the back of the thorax.

 

The "click" refers to the sound that they make when they flip themselves upright. According to the Audobon Field Guide, “they accomplish this amazing feat by snapping a fingerlike spine on the underside of the thorax into a groove below the mesothorax.” Strangely, this particular one did not exhibit the phenomenon. He just lays on his back playing dead.

 

First Scarback Sighting

Yes, yes....almost back-to-back posts on box turtles. But this is Old Scarback (called "Scratchy" by the children), who has been mentioned on these pages on many occasions. This was the first sighting of the season. I wish that I had recorded the first year that I observed him but I would estimate that it has been close to 15 years.

May Stream Sampling

This is the 10th year that we have been stream sampling for the Four Rivers Watershed Watch. We started when my oldest son was 12 years old. This was the first year for my fourth and youngest son. The weather was perfect and no mosquitoes. The water level in the stream was lower than I expected as we have had above normal precipitation.

New Box Turtle

I spotted an eastern box turtle on our smallholding that I had never seen before. It was smaller than a full grown adult. He or she was very shy and would not take a peak and allow me to observe the eye color. The plastron showed no indentation, so perhaps it is a female.  

Egg Toting Wolf Spider

This female wolf spider was seen carrying her egg sac in one of my garden beds, where I often find them. They love the leaf litter and devour springtails to their heart's content.  She was quite small, so I am thinking she was of the genus Schizocosa.

Bluebird Update

The four fledglings are only a few days old.

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.