Category: Animals

First Large Butterfly Sighting in 2025

A male eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) was resting in the sun on the Shiloh Greenway this afternoon. This was the first large butterfly I’ve seen this season. Did you know that the eastern tiger swallowtail is the state butterfly of North Carolina?

Great Backyard Bird Count 2025

Do you like to participate in citizen science programs? There’s a great opportunity happening this weekend. Join the Great Backyard Bird Count on February 14-17, 2025. This is a global project! In 2024, over 600,000 people participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Your count will help scientists gather data about bird populations before they… Continue reading Great Backyard Bird Count 2025

Green June Beetles

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

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!

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

Joro Spider

We saw our first Joro spider (Trichonephila clavata) this weekend! The large web was what caught our attention. We didn’t realize what spider we were looking at until after doing some research at home. This yellow and gray spider is native to Asia. It was introduced to Georgia in 2014 and has been making its… Continue reading Joro Spider

Killdeer Crossing

I was watching a pair of killdeer in the retention pond at the corner of Town Hall Drive and Harris Mill Road. At some point, one bird flew away while the other stayed in the pond. I finished taking my pictures of the bird in the pond, and started to walk to the other side… Continue reading Killdeer Crossing