What can be more fun than tramping around the pucker brush, slopping through a marshy area, dodging tree limbs and swatting mosquitos? Why, doing all that while chasing butterflies and moths, of course. Hobomok Skipper (Lon Hobomok) I was out for a few hours in the heat of the day yesterday, at times on my … Continue reading The Joy of the Hunt
Category: wildlife
Spring Fertility
We're having babies left and right! First the Rosy Maple Moth now not one or two but 5 Cecropia Moths. They hatched from eggs given to me by a caterpillar friend (everyone needs one). Caterpillars start life as tiny things and literally eat themselves out of their skin. They grow too large for their body … Continue reading Spring Fertility
We Had a Baby!
We adopted (kidnapped) this butterfly as a caterpillar I found on a random walk last August. I posted the picture to inaturalist to be identified, then fed the caterpillar until it pupated. Pupa is on the left with caterpillar inside, working hard to shed the old form and create a new one. The dead looking … Continue reading We Had a Baby!
Promise
I went out for a walk the other day along the dirt roads of Vermont. Mud season is fading and spring is so close I could feel it making promises. The roadsides were patchy with snow, but the sun was warm and robins were scratching among the leaves where the ground was bare. I saw … Continue reading Promise
Spring
Its a time of contradiction. Thanks for looking,Stay well, be curious, learn things. KateApril 2023
It’s Coming (spring that is)
Mudseason is a tough time for Vermonters, at least for this Vermonter. I usually have cabin fever and want to get out, but the trails look like this: and the roads look like this: and I just want to be outside in this But I know spring is coming and when I get myself outside … Continue reading It’s Coming (spring that is)
Waiting for Spring
In mid-February Spring seems impossible. But it isn't.
Winter Birds
I was out walking along a dirt road and I heard a high pitched, trilling / whistling sound. I immediately stopped to find the source. Overhead was a flock of 20 or so Bohemian Waxwings flying around eating berries. I stopped to watch enjoying the color that flashed as they flew. They didn't seem to … Continue reading Winter Birds
Without a Word
Starlings Flocking
Have you ever seen a flock of birds swirling and diving in unison? It's mesmerizing, the way they flash in the sun in one direction, then go dark in another. They are like schooling fish, only a dark cloud, rather than a silver one. I was coming home from a walk the other day when … Continue reading Starlings Flocking
The Nature of Things 