30 Oct
Jumping spiders have eight eyes and eight legs like other spiders do. The two center eyes are particularly large.
Their size ranges from 1 to 22 millimeters long. And they can move! This one didn’t want its picture taken.
They inject their victims with venom.
… I think they’re so cute! This one looks like royalty with the way it’s “dressed.”
28 Oct
The pair of groundhogs raised a family of four under our barn. I’m not seeing all of them now, so I’m wondering if the young ones have dispersed?
This was the first time I’ve seen a groundhog on the
“platform” the red foxes used regularly when they lived under the barn late last winter.
The groundhogs raised four this summer.
The vixen and four kits usually stayed outside and near the barn; the male hunted for food.
Buffy took a dim view of any others living in her territory!
It will be interesting to see who lives where next year.
23 Oct
I planted saffron crocus bulbs in my butterfly garden years ago. The patch grew thicker and thicker. The number of flowers varied every year.
The long red stigmas are the saffron part of the flower. I used tweezers to harvest them.
My daughter-in-law really likes to cook so I gave her bulbs one year for Christmas.
I now have three in bloom and several that aren’t.
22 Oct
Recent weather patterns created dramatic clouds …
deciding which way to blow.
leaving a trail to follow.
a bird taking flight.
framing a waxing moon.
modified flying carpets.
following the sun.
the cloud’s spreading tail.
21 Oct
Identification of this find was over my head. I couldn’t find it online or in any of my resource books.
What I know for sure:
I took these pictures in early October last year.
The plant was a goldenrod.
The “spot” was insect related and measured roughly 3/8-inch in diameter.
Of course, the goldenrod plant dried … maybe the insect emerged before the cold arrived.
I’ve called it a blotch mine and have seen similar pictures.
I don’t need a name to enjoy the find … it didn’t know its name either.
18 Oct
This caterpillar wouldn’t stop and rest so I could take its picture.
It knew where it was going and was determined to go there.
With it under a hackberry tree, I knew it was a caterpillar for either a hackberry or tawny emperor butterfly.
After a considerable time of research, I’m almost certain it was a tawny emperor caterpillar.
A tawny emperor butterfly
nectaring on a white coneflower.
