Native to all of New England and commonly found along the edges of ponds, streams and other wetland margins, white turtlehead (Chelone glabra) is one of my favorite wildflowers. One to two inch white flowers grow in spikes at the apex of the plant, and bloom in late summer and early fall. The name is derived from the fact that the upper lip of each flower arches over the lower lip, somewhat resembling the head of a turtle. In fact,…
The Libellulidae family, also known as skimmers, is the largest and most diverse family of dragonflies worldwide, with more than 1,000 species. Extremely diverse in both colors and patterns, skimmers can rival butterflies in terms of their bold coloration. Widely varying colors and patterns often allow for relatively easy identification of male skimmers in the field, based on a combination of body, eye and wing color and pattern. Immature males and females, however, often look very different and can lead…
I first heard about bot flies during a college semester abroad in Costa Rica. After having the life cycle of bot flies described to us, my classmates and I lived in semi-constant fear that we would wake up with a bot fly maggot burrowing under our skin (luckily this did not happen to any of the students that year). However, since Costa Rica was where I’d learned about them, I never considered that bot flies could live anywhere other than…
It was a very butterfly-filled weekend for me. I attended the Thornton Burgess Nature Club’s monthly adult natural history program on Saturday. This month’s topic was “Butterflies” with an up close and personal look at a variety of species within the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History’s Butterfly House. Within the Butterfly House, I was able to closely observe monarchs (Danaus plexippus), red admirals (Vanessa atalanta), and question marks (Polygonia interrogationis). A newly emerged monarch butterfly. A question mark butterfly. …
I have been noticing masses of white, wet, bubbly foam attached to the stems of many herbaceous plants on my recent walks. These blobs of foam are produced by the larvae of a type of Hemipteran insect in the family Cercopidae. The adults are called froghoppers because many are wider posteriorly and are shaped somewhat like a frog, and although they can fly and walk, their most obvious form of locomotion is to make large leaps (up to 200 times…
Galls are formed when a plant is stimulated to develop irregular growths, caused by growth regulating chemicals produced by some insects or mites, or in some cases a fungus. Examples of galls include cedar apple rust and oak apple gall. These growths can occur on any part of the plant, including the leaves, bark, flowers, buds, acorns, or roots, however leaf and twig galls are often the most noticeable. In the case of an insect induced gall, the irregular growth…
Saturday afternoon I came across a patch of flowering bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) in a sandy clearing that was absolutely abuzz with bumblebees. Its short, sprawling growth form seems vine-like, but bearberries are actually low growing, evergreen shrubs. The waxy leaves are 1/2 to 1 inch long and taper at the base. Bearberries are a member of the blueberry family (Ericaceae), and like blueberries have small, hanging bell-shaped flowers. The white flowers, which are often tipped with pink, are pollinated by bees…
Last night the temperature dropped below freezing for the first time this season – down to 18 degrees, in fact. Although there wasn’t as much frost as I would’ve imagined, there was ice. (Last year’s first frost happened ten days earlier – October 31.) While taking a walk this morning near Santuit Pond in Mashpee, with the temperatures still hovering around 32 degrees, I observed frozen ditches, puddles and ponds. The surface of this small pond had frozen. Interesting ice…
The distinctive wooly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) has reddish-brown hair in its mid-region and black hair at both its anterior and posterior ends, giving it a banded appearance. If disturbed or threatened, the caterpillar will defend itself either by “playing possum” (rolling up into a ball and remaining motionless) or by quickly crawling away. The one in the photograph below was actually running away so fast it was difficult to capture a clear picture. Unlike some moth and butterfly species,…
Last night I left the porch lights on longer than usual in hopes of attracting interesting moths. The light did attract a number of moths, but most were small, tan, and less exciting than I was hoping for. But it also attracted this charismatic northern bush katydid (Scudderia septentrionalis), a species native to the northeastern and north central United States. Because the northern bush katydid prefers to spend most of its time in the tops of trees and shrubs, they are…