Pictures Of The Week 6

In all the years we've been at this house, and of the hundreds of toads we've seen, this is the first time I've seen one with its vocal sac inflated. It was at the edge of our fountain tonight, making its mating call, which can be really loud and last a very long time. I think it was trying to woo what I believe is a female toad in the photo on the right, who was taking a dip in the water. I think these are Fowler's Toads. I've read lots of different explanations on how to distinguish Fowler's Toads from American Toads, and one observation was that Fowler's Toads usually have a white stripe down the middle of their backs. The fountain has attracted toads and leopard frogs, and I think the sound of running water helps draw them to it.

The toads and frogs in our yard have been really loud this past month. Last weekend I was working in the yard when I heard someone "chirping" near the house, and I followed the sound until I found this green tree frog in the flexible downspout that directs water into one of our rain barrels. The picture on the right shows you where he was. I have a flip-out diverter attached to the gutter, but it doesn't extend out far enough to let the water fall into the barrel, so I had to attach the flexible downspout. I guess it turned out to be a safe place for this frog to hang out during the day.

If you've ever worked in a flowerbed you've probably found some of these. This is a moth cocoon, or pupa, similar to a butterfly's chrysalis. I think this is the cocoon of a type of Sphinx moth, but I've seen cocoons of other moths that look similar. This one is a little over an inch long. I have yet to see a moth caterpillar form its cocoon or see a moth emerge from its cocoon (eclose), but I'm hoping to capture that on video one day. Unfortunately the animal world doesn't work around my schedule.

When we get lots of rain these mushrooms pop up in the mulch, sometimes by the hundreds. They're very tiny, usually one to two inches tall. In this photo they remind me of jellyfish floating in the ocean. Mushrooms help break down organic material and return nutrients to the soil. I believe the mushrooms in this photo are Coprinus impatiens.

Our Pink Swamp Milkweed is in full bloom right now. I planted it so Monarch butterflies could lay eggs on it, but it's attracted lots of other animals too. Bumblebees, lady beetles, and honey bees like the one pictured above are constant visitors. Because it's a milkweed plant it regularly has aphids covering it, which in turn attracts aphid predators like lacewings and syrphid flies.

I found these Lady Beetles mating on one of our fennel plants. They were easy to spot because of their color. I believe this type is Coleomegilla maculata, which is known as the Spotted Lady Beetle or the Pink Spotted Lady Beetle. It's more elongated than most of the Lady Beetles I see in our yard and is a great insect to have in your garden because it (and its larvae) eat many common pests.

These are the flowers of the Button Bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), and they're supposed to attract butterflies. I planted it last year, and this is the first time it's bloomed, so we'll have to wait and see. The sphere of the fully-bloomed flower is about the diameter of a quarter. It's also a host plant for many types of moths, including Sphinx Moths. Button Bush (sometimes written as Buttonbush) is native to North America. It likes wet areas, so it's doing well in a small "wetland" flowerbed I created in an area on one side of our yard that used to have standing water for long periods after heavy rains. I dug up all the sod and clay, filled it with some topsoil and mulch, and planted water-loving native plants like this.

Caterpillars look like they have many pairs of legs, but because they're insects they really have only six legs. These are called true legs (top right photo), and they're the legs with claws close to the head. These will be the butterfly's legs after metamorphosis. The other pairs of legs are called prolegs (bottom right photo) and will disappear during metamorphosis. As you can see, they help the caterpillar hang on to plants and also help the caterpillar move from place to place. This is the caterpillar of an Eastern Black Swallowtail. It's eating fennel, one of its many host plants.

The photo on the left shows Small Milkweed Bugs, and the photo on the right shows Large Milkweed Bugs. They were both on a Pink Swamp Milkweed plant. Their markings are pretty similar, but you can see a difference. The color varies from orangish to red. I've seen lots of disagreement on the Internet over just how destructive these two insects are to milkweed plants. They feed on the seeds and "tissue", but I've never noticed any significant damage to the plants, especially compared to what aphids do to the milkweed. In areas where milkweed could grow out of control, insects like these help keep it in check. Just like Monarch caterpillars and butterflies, Milkweed Bugs are toxic to predators because they ingest toxin from the milkweed plants.

This is a "dark form" female of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail enjoying the flowers of a Buttonbush. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are more commonly seen in their yellow form (see small photo below), and reportedly the males are always yellow. The females can be either yellow or dark. It's easy to confuse this dark form with the Black Swallowtail. Each year when I first see one or the other I have to go back to my books or the Internet to re-educate myself on how to tell them apart. In the top left photo you can see the "tiger stripes" that are prominent on the yellow form. As always, you can click on the photos for larger images.

Two weeks ago my picture of the week was of mating Small Milkweed Bugs and Large Milkweed Bugs. It looks like they were successful. These are the nymphs, or immature insects. They're all over our Pink Swamp Milkweed plant. On the left and in the middle the nymphs are checking out the seed pods and seeds, which is what they eat. On the right you can see one of the nymphs shedding its exoskeleton. I'm not sure whether these are nymphs of the Small or Large Milkweed Bugs. The picture on the left probably includes both.

This is the flower of the Malviscus, a bush native to the Southeast United States. It is covered with these red blooms in the fall, just in time for the southward migration of Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds. Right now these hummingbirds are regularly visiting the flowers, but surprisingly they don't feed at the stamen protruding from the petals. Instead they stick their tongues into the lower part of the flower where the stamen originates. Some of the common names of this plant are Turk's Cap and Wax Mallow. The variety we have is Malvaviscus drummondii. It hasn't reached full maturity yet, but I estimate it will be about 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall. There's a picture of the fruit it produces in Photo Gallery 20. I just read that the fruit is edible -- I'll try the next one I come across.

I believe this is a Blinded Sphinx Moth. It sat in the same spot on the wall under our patio light for two days. I suspect it had reached the end of its very short lifespan. Its hindwings, which are hidden from view, have a large eyespot on them. I probably could have spread the wings out for a better photo, but I try to leave wildlife alone. They're not that interested in my website.

Our back door has lots of glass panes, so when Green Tree Frogs come to our back patio light (which you can see in the background) to catch insects, we sometimes get to see this view of them. When there's a strong light behind them, you can almost see straight through them.

Our dogs dug a big hole under the railroad ties in the back of a flowerbed. Late this afternoon I found what they were interested in. My first thought was that it was a Vole, a small rodent commonly called a Field Mouse. But Voles typically have very short tails. The Long-Tailed Vole doesn't live this far south (Memphis, TN). So I guess it could be a mouse, it's just a lot bigger than the house mice I found in our garage. Maybe this is a Golden Mouse. I would guess the tail was about four inches long and the body maybe five inches long. It wasn't particularly afraid of me, though it never took its eyes off me. Any rodent experts out there? Let me know what you think it is. Until then, I'm sure it will stay busy tormenting the dogs.

Our Passion Flower (Passionflower, Passionvine) just started blooming. It's the only host plant for Gulf Fritillary butterflies, which means it's the only plant the butterfly will lay its eggs on. Right now there are lots of caterpillars eating the leaves. Other animals like the plant too. As you can see from the top right photo, bumblebees get lots of pollen from the flower (that's what is covering the bee's back). You'll usually find ants on Passion Flower too because they get nectar from the plant. Because of this, ants tend to "defend" the plant from insects that could harm it -- including eating Gulf Fritillary eggs. I think I've seen them eating a newly hatched caterpillar as well, but they don't bother bigger caterpillars. You can see a video of Gulf Fritillaries HERE, and a video of the caterpillars HERE. It's one of the most interesting flowers to photograph because there are so many different parts to it.

This distinctive-looking moth was at our patio light one evening. The white wings were very translucent with a gold strip around the front edges. Based on photos on www.bugguide.net I think it's Palpita kimballi. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information about it, but it's a new species in our yard I'd never seen.

When I put a small fountain/pond in our backyard, I knew it would be beneficial to lots of different wildlife, but I never considered how helpful it would be to dragonflies. The dragonfly naiad (immature dragonfly) is aquatic, and looks nothing like the adult. It goes through several molts where it sheds its skin while it's living in the water. Eventually it climbs out of the water and onto a nearby branch or other object for its final molt, when the adult dragonfly will emerge from the exoskeleton. In the photos above (you can click on them for larger images) I stumbled across this dragonfly a little while after it emerged. I don't know what kind it is because dragonflies don't have their "true colors" at first. That's the exoskeleton it's hanging on to in the first two photos. The third photo is a different exoskeleton, one of several I've found on the plant that hangs over the water.

The picture on the far left shows a Gulf Fritillary caterpillar in its "J-curve", the position it takes before it pupates. It uses silk to attach its "rear" to a branch, leaf, fence, or in this case metal edging. Over 1 to 2 days it gradually changes to white (two segments at the bottom of the photo have already turned white). Then it goes through a rapid transformation where the chrysalis is formed. While every Gulf Fritillary chrysalis will have the same shape, the three middle pictures show the different colors I've found in my yard. The picture on the far right shows a chrysalis (formed by the caterpillar in the photo on the left) that's adjusted its position to almost horizontal, something I've seen with more than one chrysalis though I don't know why. One section of my yard is fenced with lattice, and for some reason that's been the favorite place for the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars to pupate. I've found 8 chrysalises on it so far.

This vine popped up in two flowerbeds at different ends of our yard this summer. I think it's some type of Morning Glory, but I'm not sure how it ended up in our yard. The flower gets its name because it opens in the morning and closes in the afternoon. Some varieties of Morning Glory are considered invasive in parts of the U.S. and will choke out surrounding plants. Unfortunately the rapid growth of invasive plants makes them appealing to many homeowners who want to quickly cover a fence, fill a bare area, etc. It's not until years later that they find out they've created a problem they don't know how to undo.

Some of you may find this disgusting, and some of you may be envious, especially if you find these caterpillars eating vegetables you're trying to grow. This caterpillar has been parasitized by a type of Braconid Wasp. These wasps reportedly don't sting people. They lay their eggs on the caterpillar, and when the larvae hatch they eat the tissue inside the caterpillar without killing it immediately. When they're ready to pupate, they burrow back through the skin and form cocoons. In the closeup photo you can see a larva that's in the process of making its cocoon. At this point the caterpillar is pretty much dead. Through this process, Braconid Wasps keep caterpillars like this from becoming pests, which happens when their population goes unchecked. This caterpillar is a hornworm, another name for sphinx caterpillars. The "horn" is on the tail end of the caterpillar, not the head. Tomato Hornworms are commonly targets of Braconid Wasps, but that's not what this one is. I'm having trouble identifying it because it has only 6 stripes, and most hornworms have 7. My best guess is a Pawpaw Hornworm, but the stripes don't look identical. This caterpillar was on a Red Chokeberry bush.