Have you ever seen a Junebug, or green June beetle (Cotinis nitida)? These one inch long metallic green bugs are hard to miss! Junebugs mature in June and July and are attracted to overripe fruit. They do not bite people. I have only ever seen one Junebug at a time, but I have heard others… Continue reading Green June Beetles
Author: Jaclyn
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Green Leaves in the Winter Woods
Have you noticed some green leaves poking under the leaf litter in the woods? Maybe you have seen the leaves of the cranefly orchid. The bottom of the leaf is purple! Remember where you see these leaves! By the time the orchid blooms in the summer, the leaves are gone. The flowers are small and… Continue reading Green Leaves in the Winter Woods
Handsome Meadow Katydid
Katydids are pretty common in North Carolina, but have you ever seen a Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum)? We found this katydid on a fence over a creek. We noticed the rainbow of colors on her body and wondered if katydids changed color as the cold weather approaches, or if this was a different type… Continue reading Handsome Meadow Katydid
Happy Halloween!
Here’s a scary sight for your Halloween. A Florida predatory stink bug (Euthyrhynchus floridanus) feeding on a European hornet (Vespa crabro). The stink bug harpoons its prey with its beak. The prey is immobilized as the stink bug injects it with digestive enzymes. The stink bug then sucks up the digested insides of its helpless… Continue reading Happy Halloween!
Happy Spring!
I hope you are enjoying the first day of spring!
Honey Bees on Camellia Flowers in December
These sunny, seventy degree December days are bringing out the honey bees! My fall-blooming camellia is one of the few flowering plants in the area during this time of year. It was nice to see the bees enjoying it.
Hooded Mergansers
Have you seen the hooded merganser ducks that overwinter in North Carolina? Sometimes you can see them in the retention ponds. They seem to be very shy, though. As soon as they notice a person, they tend to go to the far side of the pond, if not fly away. The male’s head is black… Continue reading Hooded Mergansers
Ice and Snow!
We had our first winter weather event in almost 3 years last night! The news tells me it’s been 1077 days since the last measurable snow. As the sun came up this morning, I took some pictures before the ice and snow melted. These are some scenes from my yard.
Identifying Blue Eyed Grass
One of my favorite springtime flowers is blue eyed grass. The leaves of this plant look like grass, and it’s called a grass, but it isn’t grass. Blue eyed grass is actually a member of the Iris family. For the untrained eye, there are two different kinds of blue eyed grass. The first is annual… Continue reading Identifying Blue Eyed Grass
Identifying Fleabanes
Fleabanes are the small, white daisies that seem to be blooming everywhere right now. The plants are 1-4 feet tall, and the flowers are less than one inch wide. Take a closer look, and you’ll realize that there are several different kinds of fleabanes. I’ve found four types so far. The trick is to look… Continue reading Identifying Fleabanes