CassieBash's Critters Summer 2019 edition

My previous thread is here. To start the new thread, let's start with the obligatory frog picture, this time a wood frog, rather than a green:





Sorry, fuzzi, but even our primrose have a finite bloom time. This is one of the last ones to bloom.



But there are other flowers in bloom:









These Carolina sphinx moths emerged Saturday. I know, I know...they're the bane of everyone who grows nightshades. But they're great night-time pollinators and the markings on their wings are so intricate, I can't help but love them.

Lovely photos as always.

I grow carrots just for the swallowtails, why not grow tomatoes just for the moths?

>2 fuzzi: No need, the Jimson weed running rampant in the horse paddock is also a nightshade they’ll eat. Last year, I even found several on the weeds rather than the tomatoes. :)

Today's pictures of choice are going to focus on a friend I made yesterday--a butterfly I'd never personally seen outside of pictures in ID guide books--the American snout. One quick glance, and you can tell why he's called that. He's in the same family as red admirals, and he seems to share the same passion for sweat that admirals have. Despite his not being hand-reared, it only took two tries for me to coax him onto my hand, where he immediately began licking me.













Also recently had a large maple spanworm moth emerge





I've come to the sad conclusion that I cannot post fast enough to keep up with my picture-taking, so for all of you who want to see the entire Flickr gallery and find out what you're missing (or see pictures I may post later), here's a link to my Flickr stuff.

I love the snout pics!

And I'll check out your Flickr page, thanks!

>5 fuzzi: The other nice thing about having the direct Flickr link is that you can see the past pictures after LT "retires" the old threads. :)

The bad thing about it is that I'm horrible about taking the time to create tags for these so that they're easily searchable. :(

More pictures:

My tiger swallowtail caterpillar has changed from green to the dark, purplish brown--the pre-chrysalis color:





Reference for drawing monster snapdragon plants:



Just look at that gaping "mouth":



Mystery moth emerges--a type of tolype?



Different individual found in the wild--not sure if it's the same species or just very similar.



Various flowers:









Even our garden statuary love to read:

Saw this beauty outside of the oncology center yesterday, after mom's 2nd radiation treatment session; it's a waved sphinx moth.





A type of tiger moth from the Apantesis genus, though I'm not entirely sure of the exact species:





Identification of species in the Apantesis genus takes time and a good eye, since their markings can be very, very similar. Case in point--here's a different species from that genus; can you see the slight differences in the patterns?



Of course, there's also the possibility, as happens in a few of the Lepidoptera order, that they're the same species and the female and male have slightly different colors and patters, as happens with the Io moth and the Prometheus moth. Some day, I may take a bit of time to properly ID these two, but that's not high on my "to do" list at the moment. I have uploaded them to the iNaturalist app, so someone may do the identification on my behalf. I'll let you know if I get an update on them.

>8 CassieBash: how well do you like iNaturalist? Is it compatible with Android phones?

I use bugguide.com for identifying "bugs" of all sorts.

>9 fuzzi: A Google search does indicate that it's available through Google for Android phones. I really like it in that you can choose projects to belong to, and add your identified sightings to the appropriate project(s). I do several: eButterfly, Indiana Species Record, Northwest Indiana Ecology Project, and Indiana Birding. Bugguide.com is nice, and I do still use it, but for those that you're not quite sure of, there are people who will both verify your ID or make a more specific ID. Some of the insects are too close to each other for me to ID with confidence, so it's nice that I can choose the family or genus for a general ID, and then wait to see if anyone can make a species-specific one.

It's nice that there's even a project specific to my region in Indiana; there are only 7 observers currently in the project, so I feel like I'm making a huge difference in this project whenever I add a species to it.

Having read the Android reviews, I did come across this one that you might want to take note of, if you do decide to install:

Walter Karpynka
July 1, 2019
Will not work unless you give them your Google email or Facebook id. Identified only one of the 6 plants. I made sure the photos were clear and obvious. Why do they want to see all my contacts? Goodbye, uninstalled.
iNaturalistJuly 2, 2019
You can create an account without linking to Google or Facebook, just enter your email address, a username, and a password on the Sign Up screen. - Tony

>10 CassieBash: thanks for the recommendation. I don't mind giving "them" my email address, but when the app is going to access my contact list, I also say "bye". I need a legitimate reason why any software NEEDS to access more than an email address.

On our recent trip we stopped at the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, and I added two birds to my life list: little blue heron and a tentative ID of cliff swallows (I have to sit down with my Peterson's and make the positive ID). We also saw turkeys.

>11 fuzzi: I'm the same way with apps; it's one reason I don't really use the Flickr app, since it seems to want to upload all pictures I've taken. There are some I don't want uploaded--blurry or accidental pictures, temporary things like ISBNs, that sort of thing. It just wastes space in my account, and no one would be interested in those. So I just don't use it anymore. The iNaturalist app never asked me for any of my contacts, nor did it ask for my Google ID--but then I'm using an Apple version.... :D

I know how much you love turkeys; I'm glad you got to see them on your trip. Our turkey moms have their chicks out and about with them:







If you've followed my 75 Challenge threads, you know I have a fondness for the weird and dark, so it probably wouldn't surprise you how excited I got when I found this:





It's an American burying beetle. The only thing that would have made it more exciting was if I'd found it actually burying something. I've seen the process once, which is probably more than most people can say.

Trying my hand at rearing some 8 spotted forester moths; they eat grape family members, so I've been feeding mine on the wild grapes. They're called foresters because the caterpillars, when they're ready to cocoon, chew into dead wood. Several of mine have already done so; they've left "sawdust" behind where they've gone in.



My older sister's faerie garden flower pot won grand champion at the open exhibit in our county fair; yay, Laura!



My morning glories have just started blooming:



I'm hoping the new varieties I planted produce some flowers soon.

Pretty sure this wasn't planted here, and that it came up from some lucky seed. We've had a couple of plants that did that this year, which is surprising, considering the polar vortex we had.

>12 CassieBash: what's the flower that volunteered?

Love the mommy and baby turkey pics, thanks.

>10 CassieBash:, >11 fuzzi: I use the android version of inaturalist, and did not have to use google or facebook id, or give them contacts. I think it is an option, but one I would never pick.

>13 fuzzi: Not sure. Mom and Laura have so many different kinds, I've sort of given up trying to learn them all. They have lots of different color varieties, not just red and yellow, so they're probably commonly grown annuals up this way.

Because of the bird feeders, we also have volunteer sunflowers every year.



Black swallowtail:



Minnie "the Moocher":



Great spangled fritillary:





Io moth, male, wings closed:



Io moth, male, wings slightly open. He actually let me use my finger to gently spread his wings a bit so that I could take a picture of the "eyes".

>15 CassieBash: we have volunteer sunflowers too.

Nice pics. :)

>16 fuzzi: I think anyone who has bird feeders stocked with sunflower seeds have volunteer sunflowers, lol!

And speaking of birds--the Rochester, Indiana Kroger and the other stores in the plaza have a small host of mosquito-eating birds--barn swallows:







Friday and Saturday, we had an Excessive Heat Warning, with heat indices reaching up to 110F. It was so hot, even the June beetles decided to cool off in the horse tank. Too bad they're not great swimmers. Of the 15 or so that I fished out on Friday, only 2 were still alive.

The living:



The dead:



But the strangest thing on Friday was the little American toad that somehow made it into the 2nd floor workroom sink in the library.



Toads aren't known for their powerful leaps like most frogs are, nor do they have the sticky toes that make tree frogs such good climbers. To get in the sink, he'd either have had to jump vertically over 3 feet, or climb up through the drain pipes, which I'm guessing is probably how he did it. There must be just enough rust to give his little clawed toes something to hold onto. Fortunately for him, I'd left the plug out, so he was able to climb to freedom and I was able to take him outside and re-home him in the courtyard.

Barn swallows are the easy ones to identify, with their deeply-forked tail!

I saw cliff swallows for the first time while on my trip, at Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. Love that place!

>18 fuzzi: I love swallows of all sorts, but I think the barn ones are my favorites--though that could be because they're the ones I'm most familiar with. Every year, they live in the bottom of the barn, while the brown bats live in the top.

They've replaced the eastern windows in the library with energy-efficient ones. (The west side is already energy efficient.) Because of this, we've had some insects come in while they've had the windows out. This morning, I came across this fellow:





This is a hanging robber fly, a larger cousin to the smaller type of robber fly I'm more accustomed to seeing. Even the smaller ones bite hard when provoked (more like a stab than a bite, but still....), so you can imagine that I was very careful moving this fellow outside. They're called hanging robbers because when they feed, they suspend themselves by two feet, like this.

While I was on my way back in, what should I see but a gorgeous imperial moth:





Yesterday, my tiger swallowtail emerged as a perfect, beautiful adult:



I'm not raising nearly as many monarchs, for a variety of reasons, but here are a few of the ones I am rearing:



These are all side of the road rescues; any caterpillar along the ditches run the risk now of meeting, unfavorably, the county mowers. I did relocate most of the larger caterpillars, but every year, I do bring them into the college for a day and do a presentation with one of our early childhood classes on learning environments.

Time to play "Spot the Animal":

Can you see the turkeys?



How about the wood frog?



How about the woodpecker?


(Hint: he's in motion.)

Dragonfly?



Now for some really tough ones--the butterflies:






(Hint: The top two are tiger swallowtails, the bottom one is a monarch.)

Our garden statuary need to get together to start a book club, I think:





This hardy hibiscus is particularly pretty this year:



Oddly, a part of me wishes I were in Las Vegas right now, where a huge swarm of grasshoppers are throwing off the radar (they apparently look like rain to Doppler). Oh, what pictures I would take!

>20 CassieBash: I'd love to witness a murmur of birds.

>21 fuzzi: We don't get huge ones, but we do get clouds of starlings and/or sparrows sometimes over here. They're fun to watch because you start looking for patterns in the swirls they make.

More pictures, morning glories:

I love morning glories, but we're about 3-4 weeks from bloom time. They usually color the fields in late August, just as school is starting.

>24 fuzzi: Huh. We usually are behind southern states with bloom time. Go figure.

Picture time, starting with turkeys, just for fuzzi:

The male turkeys let me get rather close to them the other day.





Yesterday's cool find was the Polyphemus moth caterpillars (2) that I found in the pasture.





Then there was the American dagger moth caterpillar, endlessly circling around in the cat food dish in the garage. Boy, was he lost.


He's making his cocoon in one of my terrariums, btw.



This week's "Spot the Animal" challenge, courtesy Maxinkuckee Lake:


(Hint: They're fish.)

A banded hairstreak at Ancilla College:



Lastly, a couple of different grasshopper species (not at adult stage yet):





Next time, I'll share flower photos.

>25 CassieBash: enjoyed as usual. That Polyphemus caterpillar is striking!

>26 fuzzi: And they keep getting a bit bigger every week. I'll have to take some more pictures. Until then, enjoy this summer flyfish I saw outside the college.








Maybe I went a liiitttllleee crazy with the photographs of him, but he was pretty neat. Love the veining on the wings and the feathery antennae....

I love those pics, especially #2.

First week of a new semester, and am I ever ready for this 3 day weekend! But first...pics of random animals from my Flickr account:

American Luna Moth:





Tree the cat:



American toad:



Tree frog:



Katydid (or didn't as the case may be):



Praying mantis:



Wild turkeys. 'Cause fuzzi can never get enough photos of wild turkeys.... :)







Some sort of wasp--probably parasitic to insects and/or spiders:





Northern mole cricket, unfortunately deceased:

Yes, love the turkeys, especially that chick.

If you're ever up my way and can swing by, you could probably see at least one of the flocks (hens and chicks or the bachelors) under the feeders; they show up throughout the day for easy pickings.

>31 CassieBash: we travel through your state every July...perhaps I can route us nearer next year?

>32 fuzzi: Sounds good; the turkeys are year-round visitors to the feeders.

More random-ish pictures:

Double toothed prominents, possibly the weirdest-looking caterpillars I've had this summer:





The beautiful yearly fall visitors (perhaps they don't like hot weather?), the buckeye:







Cicada:







Morning glory; we had a bit of a storm so it's seen better days, but it's still pretty:





Obligatory turkey pictures:

OK, this week's pics, posted just a little late.

One of the new morning glory varieties I have blooming right now:



Same flower, only backlit with sunlight showing through:



I also have a pink one:





I haven't been paying much attention to my garden; too much to do elsewhere right now. But mom felt well enough the other day to pay it a visit with me to see the new morning glories, and she pointed out my New England aster.



Large tolype moth; sadly, it was dead when I found it.



Io moth caterpillars; the spines are mildly poisonous and quite sharp, so no touching:





Sorry, no new turkey pictures. Fuzzi, will you accept frog pictures instead?

Gray tree frog:



Spring peeper: (in the fall) ;)

Ooh, frogs!!!

Today I saw the result of a window strike, and the bird was dead. Sad though that is, there's a plus: I'm fairly certain it was a Clapper rail, which would be one to add to my life list.

>36 fuzzi: *Note to self: frogs are an acceptable substitute for turkeys.* :D

Does it count on a "life" list if the animal is dead? (Sorry--morbid humor is a thing with me today, I guess....)

>37 CassieBash: ha! The same though occurred to me...but I was alive when I saw it. 😉

If I see a bird at a sanctuary I will add it to my list, but also note where.

I have pictures of flowers from my garden this week, but I did take pictures of the two prominent caterpillar cocoons and a big, bristly caterpillar I found crawling on me one night. Not sure how he got into the house but I was quite startled when my hand brushed across those bristles when I touched the kaftan I was wearing (and upon which he was crawling). He was removed to a safer location outside. I don't rear this species in the fall, since they winter over as caterpillars and require special conditions I'm not able to provide in captivity. The caterpillar was a giant leopard moth.





The prominent cocoons:



I did have a late-season question mark:



The Jerusalem artichokes (which are native to North America and are really sunflowers, so the entire name is a misnomer) are going to town:







They're in the aster family, along with the New England aster (which is native throughout North America and not just New England):



With mom's illness, I haven't done much gardening this year, but despite this, I still have some verbena braving the grass and weeds that have encroached:



And some of the flower pots are still doing OK, despite the haphazard and prolonged absence of rainfall:







No turkey or frog pictures, fuzzi--will you settle for fish instead?

Nice fish, Pentas, Lantanas, and the purple stuff!

>40 fuzzi: The purple stuff is heliotrope, which tends to attract smaller butterflies and skippers. :)