A MILKWEED TUSSOCK MOTH - FOUND IN THE FRONT GARDEN BED OF WALNEY VISITOR CENTER

 We were at Walney yesterday afternoon (the 24th) around 3 o’clock. I was very happy when I saw this beautiful caterpillar on one of the milkweed leaves. I wasn't looking for it in particular, more for the milkweed bugs you can see in the second photo. It was a nice surprise. I positioned my cell phone low and directed it upwards to get this and was delighted but very surprised it turned out reasonably well.

As many of you already know, you don’t ever want to pick one of these up with bare hands. They have a great defense system against predators. That applies to many other caterpillars. And while we are on the subject, as beautiful as nature is, we need a good dose of common sense about it all don’t we, and a bit of knowledge helps? This is something I have learned myself over these many years. I feel like I am still learning every day just by stepping out the front door.

There is a very interesting article to read here.

I will say more in another post. It's late and time to put my laptop away. 

A CHANGE OF PACE - ZEBRA SWALLOWTAIL CATERPILLAR

 These were taken a while back, but I came across them again recently. 

The Zebra Swallowtail Caterpillar (Eurytides marcellus) is a specialized green or black larva that feeds exclusively on the leaves of native pawpaw trees (Asimina species). Found across the eastern United States and southeast Canada, this caterpillar takes about two to four weeks to develop before transforming into a black and white striped butterfly with long hindwing tails. The photo below comes from Wikipedia and this is a link with more photos and information.

They live mostly in moist, low woodlands, river valleys and swamps where pawpaw trees grow.

They eat only the leaves of native pawpaw trees (Asimina species).  Adult butterflies however, sip nectar from open flowers like milkweed, verbena and zinnias, and frequently gather on damp soil or mud puddles to drink water and minerals. 

Eating pawpaw leaves makes the caterpillars and adult butterflies unpalatable or poisonous to predators like birds and spiders. Caterpillars have a special orange, forked neck gland called an osmeterium that pops out to release a foul odor when frightened. Evolution has given it lots of protection.

Adults from later broods can live up to six months, which is unusually long for a butterfly.  

Butterflies and their ancestors have been on earth for at least 200 to 300 million years. The evolutionary timeline of the Lepidoptera order (which includes both moths and butterflies) reveals how these creatures adapted over millions of years:

300 Million Years Ago (Moth Ancestors): the earliest primitive ancestors of moths first emerged. They were tiny, nocturnal, and lived in ancient, humid forests.

200 to 236 Million Years Ago (First Wing Scales): fossilized wing scales found in the ancient rock and prehistoric dung place early moth and butterfly lineages firmly in the Triassic and Jurassic periods. They flew alongside early dinosaurs.

100 Million Years Ago (True Butterflies): modern day-flying butterflies officially split from nocturnal moths during the Cretaceous period. Recent genetics studies show they originated in North and Central America before spreading globally.

I found the above information online, thanks to Google's search engine.

Thanks for looking and 

I hope your day is a great one.

MONARCH CATERPILLAR AND BUTTERFLY

And in the end it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years."

~Abraham Lincoln~

Added note

I made a discovery just now, after I had already written my post and published it.  I learned that the caterpillars in my photos were actually ones that would turn into a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.  They are very similar but this site will show the difference.  To repeat myself, the caterpillar shown here will not turn into the Monarch Butterfly, as I had first thought, but will reveal itself as a Black Swallowtail.  All the information I have written, however, is still for the Monarch caterpillar and that is very interesting.   I decided not to rewrite my post but have added more to explain.  My signature logo at the end shows the Monarch Caterpillar, and the first clue is its tentacles.  Another realization was that at a glance they seem similar but if you keep looking, the differences show themselves quite clearly.   Here is another link.  Sorry about my confusion but I am actually happy I made the mistake as I learned another fascinating lesson in nature. 

The Monarch caterpillars are partial to the milkweed plant.  Milkweed contains a bitter chemical known as an alkaloid that keeps most insects from eating it, but which Monarch caterpillars just love.  Consequently, Monarch caterpillars and adult butterflies contain the same alkaloid, and this is great for them because other predictors, most of them anyway, will find them too bitter to eat.  This explains why Monarch caterpillars, instead of being camouflaged, are boldly marked.  Even with their brightly colored 'coat', it announces to all would-be diners you can't eat me, I'm dangerous and I taste horrible.

This is a Monarch Butterfly.

Unfortunately, and as you may know already, the Monarch is now on the endangered species list.  If you click on this link it tells us what we can do to help, like plant milkweed and other flowers that bloom in every season for instance.

Regarding the milkweed plant, Jenn Jilks of Cottage Country Reflections, made a very important point in her comment today.  "To be clear, monarch require milkweed on which to lay their eggs. It's not a preference. They feed off many plants, however, on their way home."  Thank you Jenn!  I found more about this here.

The Nature Conservancy website gives a lot of useful information and this site (with beautiful illustrations) will teach us how to create a pollinator paradise.  

HUNTLEY MEADOWS PARK ON MONDAY, 11-8-21 - PART 1

I usually wait until the end to say this, but if you would like to see other posts from Huntley Meadows Park, you can either type its name in the subject/search box at the top left of this page, or go to the label below this post.  Oodles and oodles of posts from here.  We have been visiting for years.  Lots of wildlife photos, as well as flowers, plants and trees.  We never know what we are going to see as there is always something different, which you have no doubt realized when visiting your favorite places.In the above photo you can see their visitor center.  On the left is a tree marked for cutting down.  

It is about half a mile to walk to the wetlands through the wood... 

and is a very pleasant trail that is nice and flat. Benches along the way too.

On one of the markers showing how far along on the trail we are, we spotted this, a Woolly Bear Caterpillar.  It becomes the Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella).  According to this link, it says, "The Isabella Tiger moth can be found in many cold regions, including the Arctic. The banded woolly bear larva emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its caterpillar form, when it literally freezes solid" and "It survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues.  In the spring it thaws."  If curious you can click on this link for the explanation of the word 'cryoprotectant'.  Can you imagine the scientists trying to unlock this phenomena?  Absolutely fascinating!

By observing the Woolly bear caterpillars, also called woolly worms, there are those who believe we can predict the winter weather by looking at them.  If their rusty band is wide, then it will be a mild winter. The more black there is, the more severe the winter. 

Whether there is any truth to this I have no clue but the info can be found in many places.  I remember reading about this years ago but I needed a refresher, and I found more at this website.  I will find my photo again at the onset of next Spring.  I wouldn't hazard a guess with this one what our winter will be like, but it will be fun to look later, just for curiosity's sake.  Cute little thing!

We have reached the walkway that takes us through the wetlands.  There are several signs along the way.  This one gives us the do's and don'ts, for the benefit of wildlife and preservation of the area.  

Another board with information on what we might see.  There are others at intervals.

The water level is higher than the last time we were here, but this all seems to fit in with the nature of things.

Advice from a Wetland

Make a splash,

Take time to reflect,

Listen to nature,

'Reed' more,

Be green,

Don't get bogged down,

What's the rush?

No rushing here, everyone seems to go at nature's pace.  For a Monday their were lots of cars in the parking lot, with plenty of spaces still available.  We passed several people but it wasn't crowded, and the weather was gorgeous!  I dressed in layers thinking it was going to be chilly like the day before.  I should have looked at the weather forecast.  It was 72 degrees Fahrenheit that day.  

There was a swarm of what I thought were ladybugs.  Both of us had several land on us.  I counted 10 on me, and about as many on Gregg.  I have never seen so many at one time, and later read that they were not ladybugs.  They have been found in other areas too.  You can read about them here.  In the next photo you can see one.  It landed on Gregg's jeans and it was the only photo that came out without being blurred.  The previous link has a photo that shows you the difference between these and ladybugs.  It's in how many spots they have, more than the ladybug.  There is also an “M” design on its head. The ladybug 🐞 doesn’t have one. 

We came across a line of geese on a log.  They were busy preening themselves.

One looked up but they were too busy to pay attention...

until some other geese landed just across the way.  I didn't get any photos of them.  Our crew gave them what-for!  They were very noisy for several minutes until the usurpers left and they went back to preening, and we left them smiling, having been fully entertained.

And then there were the frogs and other critters, but I will leave those until next time.

Thanks for going with us on another walk.  I hope your day is a great one.

2017 CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD TRIP - APRIL 27TH, 2017

APRIL 27TH, 2017 

12.29 p.m.  Lovely to be in one spot for a few day. I love our traveling but staying in my pj's later than usual has been restful. Gregg went out and dropped a couple of items off at a dry cleaner, and brought me oatmeal from McDonalds.  He had his usual and picked up a latte from Starbucks for me. There is obviously food here but the first day it was hard to break the cycle of traveling. He picked up milk for his sister at Safeway and showed me a photo he had taken of a very artistic and colorful display of veggies.  Hello California!  I do love your artistic spin on things.

 We are using his sister's washer and dryer to catch up on our laundry. 

She had been busy this week and as we were two days early, had not finished the week out.  We went off to a book store Gregg had heard about in San Jose.  

2.56 p.m. we had fun at Keplers. His sister had given him a book about the founder, the reason for his interest. A very nice place not that we need an excuse to go into any bookstore. 

Gregg bought a book on philosophy. I purchased three relatively smaller books by Mary Oliver, one of my favorite poets.  And of course there are always greeting cards to look through, ones that I don't see at home.  There was also a list of authors shown.

We ordered a drink at a place with seating outside. I can't remember its name now, but it was very pleasant sipping on a lemonade and looking through our purchases.  

Next on our list was the Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford University.  We learned about it on Yelp.  

3:59 PM.  It was lovely, very interesting. There were lots of lizards running around, and birds. I saw a cactus wren. We didn't have the camera with the zoom lens, so it was impossible to get decent photos of them.  But I got a pretty decent shot of this bug with my cell phone.  I saw several of them on the cacti, and then found this one crawling on my top.

It is a Tussock Moth Caterpillar.  I put him back on the nearest cactus and was very careful not to touch it.  Some species tend to feel like you have been stabbed with fiberglass and can give a nasty rash.  I don't know if this is one of them but I wasn't taking any chances.

Such a pleasant place, first to take photos and then to sit on a bench in the shade and admire the surroundings.

We had difficulty finding it at first, and asked several people if they knew where it was.  We were on the grounds but no one seemed to be able to point us in the right direction.  We muddled on and found it not too long after asking the last person.

We spent a very pleasant hour looking at all the plants.  It wasn't a big garden but very enjoyable.

When it was time to go GPS took us on the back roads.  It was rush hour and the freeway was a solid red on their map.  Staying off the freeway made it a pleasanter ride home.

5.57 p.m.   We are back at the house and waiting for both sister and brother-in-law to come home.

9.43 p.m. I am tucked up in bed for the night. Gregg's sister and her husband took us to a very nice restaurant with Mediterranean cuisine. Neither Gregg nor I can remember the name of it now but it was a very nice restaurant, and lovely to catch up with them both.  We came back and chatted a little more and then we all went to bed.