Nature Reporters

Costa Rica trip

2011-03-08T17:48:00.018-05:00

Kenny and I just returned from a 10-day (Feb. 22 - Mar. 3) photography tour of Costa Rica. It was a wonderful trip and we made lots of new friends. It was led by Tom and Pat Cory of Chattanooga through Strabo International Tours (out of NY) and Horizontes Tours of Costa Rica. Other participants were from Alabama, Pennsylvania and New York. Kenny is not in this photo because he took it. Willy, our Costa Rican guide / naturalist / photography expert (far right in the photo) was fabulous. I was thrilled that he knew a lot about the plants and animals! We were at the Selvatura Hanging Bridges of the Monteverde Cloud Forest in this photo. I had to laugh when I saw the funny Bougainvillea flower (upper left) at our hotel in Monteverde, it looked like a cartoon character!

We began our trip in San Jose where we stayed at the fabulous Bougainvillea hotel with beautiful gardens. I've never seen so many orchids, heliconias, passionflowers, bromeliads, hibiscus and many other tropical flowers in one location! I was in "Flower Heaven"! I was delighted to see the spectacular Crimson Passion Flower vine in bloom. In fact, I got to walk through a couple of tunnels made up of those vines! It was one of my "target plants". The fence surrounding the property was covered with brilliant pink Bougainvillea and orange-flowered Flame Vines.

On the drive north to Arenal we stopped at a few little towns, including Grecia, where we saw this beautiful, brick-red Catholic church. We stopped for a while to photograph it inside and out. We also stopped at a large souvenir shop in the town of Sarchi. It had some nice wooden ware and hand-stitched T-shirts made by the local Indians. The roads got pretty steep, curvy and narrow as we went farther up into the mountains. There are no shoulders and in some cases no lane lines. We learned a few days later that these are some of the really GOOD roads in the mountainous areas of the country! At least these were paved!!!

Our second and third nights were spent in the town of La Fortuna, at the eastern side of Arenal Volcano. We were thrilled to have a beautiful, clear view of the volcano the morning we left, the chances of seeing it are 1 out of 3. It is an active volcano that sometimes erupts, throwing glowing rocks from the vent at the peak. We only saw steam and gases spewing from the top, but we were excited about that. The room Kenny and I stayed in had a great view of the volcano. La Fortuna is also home of the Catarata La Fortuna, a thin 70-meter waterfall that plunges out of the cloud forests. The hike involves 660 steps down a very steep trail to get to the bottom, and of course, just as many exhausting steps back up!

There are several hot springs in the area that are heated by the volcano, one evening we visited one and enjoyed a nice warm soak. It felt very good to those of us who hiked to the bottom of La Fortuna Falls. We enjoyed listening to howler monkeys as we floated in the pools. It was getting too dark to get a good look at them.

We also enjoyed a visit to the Ecocentro Danaus, a wonderful little nature preserve run by an indigenous Indian tribe. They had reclaimed farm land and let it grow back to forest. The plants grow so quickly there, it had taken only about 10 years to revert back. One of the highlights of that visit was seeing the fabulous birds at the feeder! I never knew so many birds like bananas! This jaw-dropping male Green Honeycreeper had 10 photographers snapping their shutters like crazy! We also saw an agouti (a big rodent that looks like a long-legged guinea pig), a couple of Basilisk lizards, glimpsed a couple of sloths, and butterflies in a small enclosure. The people sold interesting painted masks and animals carved from gourds and balsa wood. One of the fellows taught me how to say "thank you" in his language - "Capi capi".

The road to Monteverde was quite an adventure! This is actually when it is at its best, we were there during the dry season! It was a 2-hour ride in a 4-wheel drive. Our drivers were nice enough to stop for photo ops a couple of times along the way. The landscape in the mountains is fabulous! I was excited to spot lots of these bright orange Crucifix Orchids growing along the roadsides. The driver of the vehicle I was in let me stop at a small village school to take a photo from the road. I said to the children, "Soy una maestra de America!" (I am a teacher from America). They ran inside and got their teacher, so I had to explain in my broken Spanish again. I figured I'd better tell her why I was taking photos of her school! :)

The Monteverde Cloud forest is quite a jewel in Costa Rica's ecological crown! We got to see many kinds of beautiful birds such as the (L-R) Blue-crowned Motmot, Purple-throated Mountain Gem Hummingbird, Magenta-throated Hummingbird, male Green Honeycreeper, and the Orange-throated Trogon. At Selvatura, we enjoyed photographing many species of hummingbirds and butterflies. We even got to catch a Blue Morpho butterfly with its wings open, they can be very difficult to photograph.
(to be continued...)

Spring is not far off now!

2011-02-20T18:41:00.014-05:00

Last week my flowers began to pop up and bloom! I enjoyed seeing the crocus, Lenten Rose, Winter Aconite, daffodills and pansies color the gardens. Here are a few shots I took, I decided to dress them up a bit with Photoshop. :)

Having flowers in my yard helps me survive the winter! However, I know not to get too excited, we nearly always have a few more cold snaps before spring offically arrives.

Kenny and I hiked at Haw Ridge last weekend, the weather was so nice, we had to get out and enjoy it. We decided to hike our usual route "backwards", starting up by the Dragonfly Pond. We took a different trail than we expected, and to our surprise we saw a ghost!!! :) The Friends of Haw Ridge often sponsor a "Haunted Trail" at Halloween, this ghoul was left over from one of those events. It gave us a good laugh! We stopped at the picnic tables to eat our lunch. I set the camera on the second table and snapped a photo of us with the self-timer.

Kenny and I had last Friday off from work. Our friend, Bob (in orange shirt), from the Southern Appalachian Nature Photographers (SANP) invited us to go hiking with him and some friends, George and Ann, in the Smokies. We went on the Middle Prong trail at the end of Tremont Road. The trail has some very lovely cascades and waterfalls. I love taking photos of running water.

Along the trail we also stopped to see the remains of an old Cadillac left behind from the logging days of the last century. The Middle Prong trail follows an old railroad bed, it is an easy trail to hike.

Farther up the trail we took a side hike to go see Indian Flats Falls. It was the first time Kenny and I had seen it. We were surprised to see remnants of snow and ice on the trail! It made getting to the falls a bit tricky! There is an upper part of the falls and a lower part. I slipped on the algae on the rocks above the lower falls and was glad I didn't take an unexpected "swim" in the creek! I'm looking forward to going back up there in a few weeks so I can get some springtime photos!

Yellow Crocus and warbler rump!

2011-01-30T20:35:00.004-05:00

I'd been waiting to see when my first crocus would bloom this winter. The cold weather really slowed them down. I finally saw a single yellow snow crocus in the front yard on Jan. 26. Today I found this nice clump blooming near the mailbox. I have planted crocus bulbs in the yard for nearly 30 years, they are always such a pleasure to see each winter.

This morning I enjoyed seeing a pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers visiting the suet feeder. They may be small, but they don't put up with other birds!

Snow in East Tennessee!

2011-01-10T16:49:00.007-05:00

We awoke to 3" of pretty, fluffy snow this morning! As soon as it got light enough I went out on the carport to take some snowflake photos. There were som HUGE dendrites (~5mm) but I noticed they looked thick and white. When I zoomed in on them with my macro lens I could see why. They had tiny balls of ice (frozen cloud droplets) encrusted on them. Notice how this snowflake (left) has 2 "arms" that are white, those are the ice balls. The snowflake on the right has even more of the rime ice, they look like microscopic peas.

The big thrill of the morning though was catching and photographing the double snowflake! It has 12 points. I just wish it had not had all the little ice balls on it! Picky, picky!

It was a good day to photograph the birds too. I got a kick out of this angry-looking little Song Sparrow sitting on the patio railing up to his chest in snow. I couldn't resist adding this caption! :) Other birds included this White-throated Sparrow I shot through the patio railing.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T21:05:00.007-05:00

Well, another Christmas has passed! Where does the time go!? I had some fun photographing the lights on the tree with some special effects. :)

We spent three days in Milton, FL visiting my parents. Unfortunately, we missed the first white Christmas that Oak Ridge has had since the early 1990's! Grrrr! :( It was wonderful to get to spend time with my folks though!

I have been excited to see a couple of uncommon birds (to me, at least). A little Brown Creeper came to the tree behind the house yesterday. I had seen one a few years ago, but couldn't get a good photo of it. Fortunately, this one stuck around long enough for me to put my telephoto lens on my camera and get a few shots.

The other bird was a pretty little Ruby-crowned Kinglet, it was the first time I had seen this bird. I managed to get only one shot before it took off, it is a pretty crazy photo!

Happy New Year to my blog readers! Have a wonderful, nature-filled 2011!

Piney Falls hike

2010-12-19T20:49:00.010-05:00

Oh boy, I am SO behind on my blogging! Although we have done some hikes lately, I just haven't posted them. Today we went to Spring City and hiked to Piney Falls. We were delighted that the Dept. of Conservation acted on my information about the off-road vehicle drivers that had cut trails through the woods. There were huge boulders and iron pipe gates placed across the trail entrances. So, I guess the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease! :) It was so nice to walk on a smooth trail that wasn't eroded with huge ruts. There wasn't any trash along the trail from redneck parties either!

The waterfall was partially frozen on the sides, it has been above freezing the past couple of days. We were unable to go very far down to the bank or behind the falls due to all the ice on the rocks. I took a pretty bad fall there last year and didn't want to repeat that! The ice at the bottom was very thick.

We saw some beautiful icicles on the rockwalls along the trail. Since the temperature was above 40 degrees and many areas were in the sun, we had to be careful to watch for icicles falling from the cliff above. I was excited to catch a drop that melted from one of them. One small branch had multiple icicles that looked like icy fingers! It reminded me of a creepy obituary I read once about the "Angel of Death slipping into mother's room and taking her away with her icy fingers"! Ewww! :-0

I had forgotten to take my starlight filter off my camera before the hike, so it made an interesting effect when I photographed this icicle in the sunlight.

Ice can form some fascinating patterns. I liked the designs in this piece. One moss and lichen-covered boulder had interesting patterns where the snow had partially melted then refroze into little clear pellets. When there aren't any wildflowers, birds or insects to photograph, I have to find something!

Our Halloween hike

2010-11-07T18:01:00.017-05:00

I'm a week behind on this! It has been a busy week! Last Sunday Kenny and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and go hiking. We drove south and went to the Laurel - Snow Pocket Wilderness, one of Tennessee's State Natural Areas near Dayton, TN. Since we had hiked up to Laurel Falls many times, we decided to go to Snow Falls. The beginning of the trail from the parking lot follows an old railroad bed that was used to remove coal dug from the small mines in the hillside. I'm surprised the mine entrance (right) has not been blocked by the state, old mines are very dangerous.

We saw some pretty fall colors along the way, including these Red Maple leaves. I liked this half-red, half-green leaf!
One thing I saw along the trail really irritated me, I HATE it when inconsiderate people spray paint graffitti on anything, but ESPECIALLY on the beautiful rocks along the trails! I wonder how the person who vandalized this cliff with religious graffitti would feel if someone came into his or her church and wrote environmental messages on the walls!? I hope it wasn't a student from nearby Bryan College in Dayton (from the Stokes Monkey Trial fame), they should know better!

Parts of the trail are very rocky. There are some of the biggest boulders in the creek that I have ever seen, some are the size of a small house! I turned on the camera as we walked over one rocky part of the trail. I didn't realize how much noise I make when I walk through the leaves and over the rocks, I sound like a pack horse!

The trail to Snow Falls eventually crosses the creek by way of a 150-ft. bridge over some of those huge boulders. The first boulder has posts with cables and grooves cut into the rock to make walking on it a bit safer. I'd love to know how the trail crews got those long pieces of railing back there!

From this point, the trail took a steep turn up the side of the gorge. It was approximately 1 mile of 8 switchbacks to gain 700 feet in elevation! As we hiked along the trail Kenny suddenly stopped and motioned for me to come up to him quietly. At first I couldn't see what he was pointing at, finally I saw a beautiful Mourning Cloak butterfly resting in the leaves. They are quite shy creatures, so I was surprised to be able to get so close to it.

After hiking up and up and up over several boulder fields such as the one on the right, we finally made it to the rim of the gorge. The trail has lots of white trail blazes painted on the trees, but at the top some were painted on the bare rock. Just past the powerlines, we were rewarded with a fabulous view of where we had hiked. I've drawn a rough sketch of the trail in red. From here, we still had about another 1/2-mile to go to reach Snow Falls.

This area was once owned by the Bowater Paper company. The upper parts had been logged, the more inaccessable sides of the gorge had not. It was obvious that we were walking in a younger, second-growth forest up on top. After crossing a dirt road that led to a clearcut area, the trail came to another creek. Fortunately, the water was low enough that we could easily walk across it. Finally, the trail started losing elevation and we could hear falling water, we knew we were getting close to Snow Falls! We could not find a trail to go to the bottom of the falls, so we had to stay at the top. I hung on to a tree to get out far enough to take this photo!

After a picnic lunch, we packed up and hiked the 3 miles back to the car. It was a strenuous hike, but we were glad we did it!

Glorious fall color!

2010-10-22T19:46:00.013-04:00

I'm not doing too well with my blogging lately, it seems. Too much going on! Kenny and I have been getting out when we can to enjoy the beautiful fall colors. Unfortunately, many of the trees are just drying up and dropping their leaves here in Oak Ridge. Last week I taught at a school in Gatlinburg, so we spent the night before at a motel. After my classes were over, we drove back to Oak Ridge through the Smokies. We saw some nice trees along Little River Road. Thanks to all the stimulus money the park received, there have been some badly-needed improvements done to the park roads and parking areas. The Sinks is a very popular roadside waterfall, it received a new parking area and a nice observation deck. Our last stop was to the Foothills Parkway, just outside the Smokies. I was amazed at the brilliant colors of the Smooth Sumac leaves, they reminded me a bit of psychadelic palm trees!

The smooth white bark of the Sycamore trees contrasted so beautifully with the russet leaves of a nearby Sweetgum tree. The Native Americans called sycamores the "Ghost Tree" because of the white bark. These trees shed their bark in long strips, there is little or no rough bark near the top of the crown. They often grow near streams and rivers, so this one seemed out of place near a ridge top!

On Thursday Kenny took another day of vacation and we drove south to the Cherokee National Forest in Tellico Plains, TN. I wanted to get some photos of the trees and reflections along the river. I was not disappointed! :) When we got to Bald River Falls, the parking lot was full. The light was lousy then anyway, so we drove 1/4th mile or so up the road to Baby Falls. Since the water was so low, I was able to walk out into the river on the moss-covered rocks (they weren't slick, it was like walking on carpet). On previous trips, we have seen people kayak over and jump off this little waterfall. The water and pebbles have made some interesting "carvings" in the soft shale rocks in the riverbed. I liked the submerged leaf that had caught on some moss (yes, it was moss, not algae).

A little farther upstream we came across another pretty little waterfall, I don't know if it has a name or not. The reflections of the colorful trees on the still water below were gorgeous!

We finally made it to Bald River Falls, but the direct overhead light made for not-quite-optimum conditions. It is a hard waterfall to photograph because it is either in shade or blown out by direct sun due to its east - west orientation. This is a very easy waterfall to get to, I was standing on a bridge when I took this photo! That is one reason it is so popular, it doesn't require a strenuous hike to go see it like many of the others in that area.

After a quick stop at Indian Boundary Lake, we headed on up the Cherohala Skyway. "Cherohala" is a combination of the two national forests where it is located; the Cherokee on the Tennessee side and the Nantahala on the North Carolina side. The leaves were breath-taking up at about 3000 feet in elevation. We were amazed at the variety of colors! Sights like this could give New England autumns a run for their money!

Our last part of the adventure was a drive down Hwy. 129, a.k.a "The Tail of the Dragon", an 11-mile stretch of highway with 318 curves! It borders the Smokies and is very popular with motorcycle drivers. It begins at Deals Gap in North Carolina and ends at Hwy. 411 near Maryville, Tennessee. When we stopped at the "motorcycle resort" (I question the word "resort", the place had bunkbeds!) at Deals Gap, we saw the "Tree of Shame". The trunk and lower branches were covered with pieces of motorcycles that had been involved in crashes, and memorials to riders who did not make it back. We met two riders from Toronto, Canada, one fellow laughed when he found his mirror on the tree that he lost in a 2003 crash.

I'll end with a couple of short videos of a rider zooming by and our car going through the corners. This is no road for anyone who gets carsick easily! :(

Here are a couple of the curves we encountered!

A backlog of photos!

2010-10-06T17:36:00.014-04:00

We finally got our PC back! :) Now, where to start with the photos!? I guess I'll begin with the 2 cool moths I photographed over the past couple of weeks. The first one looks surprisingly like a Yellowjacket wasp. Kenny spotted it on the sheet when he went outside one evening. I've trained him well! ;) This is a Raspberry Crown Borer moth, it may look like a wasp, but it doesn't sting.

The other moth is a Pandorus Sphinx moth. It was striking with its olive green and tan wings. I was thrilled to see it on the back side of the sheet. Kenny put a ruler below it and we were surprised to see it had a 3" wingspan.

Other recent moths include this Chickweed Geometer moth. I liked the pink lines and spots. Sometimes some really strange insects visit the blacklight. Planthoppers and leafhoppers can be very bizarre (right)!

One weekend I went to Conasauga Falls, near Tellico Plains, with my friends Charlie and Roseanne. The weather has been dry, so the falls didn't have as much water as we had hoped. But they were still pretty.

The next weekend Kenny and I went hiking at Frozen Head State Park with our friends Steve and Nancy (from southern California). We were dismayed to see such a tiny trickle of water at DeBord Falls.

We were even more dismayed when we hiked up to Emory Gap Falls. Kenny was the first to reach the base of the falls and he said, "Something looks different here. Do you remember these rocks being here?" It took a couple of minutes to register that the huge boulders we saw in the plunge pool had not been there the last time we had been up there in the spring! This freshly-broken piece of sandstone was at the base of the falls. It is a scary thought to realize these tons of rock had fallen so recently!

Last Friday we went to Cataloochee on the North Carolina side of the Smokies to see the elk. It was good to see that old #2 was doing better, he was quite sick this time last year. He has been pushed aside and lost his rank to a much younger bull. He is still interested in the ladies, but his mating days are over now, all he can do it "think about it"! The dominant bull is not tagged or collared, he is quite a handsome fellow! We had some excitement when this guy spotted a rival male trying to make a move on his harem, they had quite a sparring match!

PC problems!

2010-09-25T19:21:00.003-04:00

I'm so frustrated, our PC has been in the shop for a week and I can't download any photos from my camera or post any pictures here. :( I have photographed some interesting moths lately, but I can't get them off the camera. I'm getting quite a backlog of moths that I need to download. Kenny spotted one that looked just like a Yellowjacket wasp the other night. Fascinating mimicry!

Northern Arizona Vacation

2010-09-05T23:15:00.021-04:00

Well, Kenny and I are back from our 2-week trip to northern Arizona, Nevada and California. It was an exciting vacation, full of wildflowers, hiking (about 12 miles worth) and lots of adventures. We flew into Las Vegas, NV, simply because it was the closest airport to the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff. Kenny's brother, Gordon, was flying out of Vegas the next day, so we got to spend some time with him. He showed us around the Strip and we got our "obligatory" picture next to the welcome sign. Since it was a Friday night, there were lots of interesting people out on the streets. We even saw Elvis kissing a new bride! I couldn't resist snapping a picture!

On Saturday we went to Hoover Dam and did the short (and less expensive) tour. It was quite hot (110 degrees F) when we got outside on the observation deck, we teased that it was "dam hot"! :) The dam is very impressive. I was surprised at how clear the water in Lake Mead was, considering it had to go through the Grand Canyon. The new bridge in the background is supposed to be finished by the end of October. It will be very nice for travelers not to have to go through a security checkpoint, which has to be done when vehicles go over the dam now. It will also open the road to busses, large trucks and rental trucks that were banned after 9-11-01. After touring the dam we drove along Lake Mead and ended up at Valley of Fire State Park. One of the red sandstone formations in the park is called Elephant Rock.

The next day Kenny and I drove to Death Valley National Park in southeast California. It is very dry and barren, but beautiful in its own way. Our first stop was Dante's View, one mile above the valley. We had a spectacular view of the saltflats and the mountains on the opposite side. The colors of the rocks was incredible. Zabriski Point (left) was an amazing area, but at 114 degrees, we didn't stay long! The farther down we drove, the hotter it got. When we reached Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level, the temperature had soared to 119 degrees! Since it was quite windy, it felt as though we were being blown with hair dryers! I know what they say, it is a "dry" heat... but it is STILL HOT! I could feel the moisture being sucked out of me, I was never without a bottle of water. One of the interesting areas that we visited was the Devil's Golf Course (left), a jagged salt flat that would have been impossible to walk across much less play golf on! I was amazed when some German students stopped there and walked around on the sharp blocks with flipflops! I enjoyed looking at the delicate, hair-like salt crystals between the chunks (right).

On Monday we drove to the Grand Canyon. It was a pleasant change to get into the cooler pine forests and grasslands after being in the brown, dry deserts of Nevada and California. Since we got there late in the afternoon we got to enjoy the beautiful canyon views at sunset. The shadows made the rock formations even more spectacular! The next day Kenny and I hiked the Hermit Trail. Little did we know it is one of the most difficult trails in the park! We hiked down 3 miles to Santa Maria Spring. Going down was not a problem even though it entailed a 1700+ foot elevation change. We enjoyed seeing a large boulder balanced on the edge of a cliff. It looked like it could fall at any time! We both took nearly a gallon of water with us, I felt like a packhorse! The trip back up was grueling due to the heat, the lousy condition of the trail and the fact there was very little shade. It took almost twice as long to get up as it did to go down. But once we made it back to the top, we were glad we had done it. Hiking a trail in the Grand Canyon had been one of the things on my "bucket list"!

On Wednesday I checked off another bucket list activity. I took a helicopter flight over the canyon! It was my first time to fly in a helicopter. LuckilyI got placed in the front next to the window, otherwise I probably wouldn't have had such a good seat. We flew about 300 feet off the ground along the rim. It was so amazing to go over the edge of the South Rim and see the canyon open up below us! Here is a movie I took as we did just that:

We marveled at the gorgeous stands of sunflowers that blanketed the fields and roadsides around Flagstaff, I had to use them as the foreground in this shot of Sunset Crater. This was one of the days that we endured 25 - 30 mph sustained winds, so my wildflower photography suffered! At 1000 years old, Sunset Crater, is the newest of the 600+ volcanoes in the northern AZ area. Even though it had been that long since it erupted, the lava flows were still jagged and sharp and the ashfall looked like black snow.

Other places we visited included: Walnut Canyon National Monument, Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, Sunset Crater National Monument, Mt. Agassiz ("ag-uh-see") via the AZ Snowbowl ski lift (the 2nd highest peak in AZ at >11,500 ft.) and the Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered.

We didn't see many animals on the trip other than a few lizards, but one animal we did see was quite a thrill. Near Hoover Dam at Lake Mead, there is a herd of Desert Bighorn Sheep. These endangered animals have found a great food source in a nearby park where there is irrigated green grass. They have become quite a tourist attraction since they are so easy to see and photograph. Unlike deer (which have antlers, not horns), the female sheep have horns, they just don't get as large as the males'. It was 106 degrees when we were in the picnic shelter, the sheep spent a lot of time in the shade of the trees and sometimes would even walk through the shelter with us! We saw a couple of Jackrabbits and several Desert Cottontail rabbits there too.

On our last night we stayed at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. We are not casino or city people, so it was not our favorite part of the trip. But, I guess everone should see Vegas once for the experience. I hated having to go through the smoky casinos when we walked through the hotel. It is amazing what people will do to make money in that city, besides Elvis, we also saw Michael Jackson, the Avitar characters, showgirl "wannabees" and Edward Sissorhands! We did enjoy seeing the beautiful fountains at the Bellagio, which was right across LV Blvd. They were even more spectacular at night:

So, that's our trip in a nutshell! I'll get more on my website as soon as I can.

Cute and creepy caterpillars

2010-08-18T15:54:00.007-04:00

My friend Lori invited me to come to her native plant greenhouse, Tennessee Naturescapes, today to see some interesting butterfly and moth caterpillars. I had been wanting to get a photo of a Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillar for a long time. They are funny-looking little critters, they have large false eyes that make them look a bit like a reptile! These big black and yellow "eyes" are actually on its thorax, the true eyes are on its head which is tucked below. These are comical-looking caterpillars with their blue dots and fake eyes. As their name implies, they feed on Spicebush leaves.

Another, not so cute, caterpillar was feeding on leaves of a sumac bush. Lori said she had a run-in with one of these yesterday, it stung her when she accidently brushed against it, the pain lasted for over an hour. Saddleback caterpillars come with quite an arsenal of venom-filled spines. When I enlarged this photo (right) to sharpen it, I could see tiny drops of venom on the spines.

The moths that these caterpillars become are dark and evil-looking too!

A Friday the 13th visit from a "Sphinx", a carnivorous caterpillar and more

2010-08-17T17:13:00.008-04:00

Some nights at the moth sheet are really slow with not many interesting ones coming for a visit. On Friday the 13th I was about to quit for the night because I wasn't seeing much, when I went out one last time, and there it was... this gorgeous Tersa Sphinx moth that had perched on the shutter on the carport window. It looks like a sleek, wooden jet plane. It was so large, it looked like a small bat! What a lucky "bad luck day" the 13th turned out to be!

Sometimes it takes a lot of nerve to stand outside with a head lamp on and having HUGE insects flying around my head (or sometimes landing on me!). This large green katydid zoomed past my head a couple of times before it finally landed on the sheet. I was happy to get a photo of his "ear", the little hole on his front leg. Insects are made a lot differently than we are, some of them taste through their feet, hear through their antennae or front legs, and they breathe through holes on their abdomens!

While I'm on the subject of strange insects, Kenny and I went to Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville on Sunday afternoon. As we hiked on a trail in the woods I spotted a greenbriar vine that was heavily infested with aphids. One section on the vine was clear, however. When I looked at that area more closely, I noticed a caterpillar that had been munching on the aphids. What an appetite that creature had! It seems strange for a caterpillar to eat other insects, but everything has to eat something! *** Update: Thanks to the Bugguide.net folks, I found out this is a Harvester Butterfly larva (Feniseca tarquinius).

A few minutes later, we saw a bright red bird with black wings flitting around in the top of a tree. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good photo because it was in the shade of some leaves. Just as I got a good shot lined up, a man came walking down the trail with his dog. When the dog saw my husband it started barking and the bird flew away! :( That was my first sighting of a Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea)!

Cool critters!

2010-08-14T20:09:00.009-04:00

Just when I think I've seen every strange thing that Mother Nature has to offer, something else amazing comes along! The other night while I was looking at moths on the sheet on the carport, I spotted a brown lump. When I investigated more closely, I saw that it was some kind of weird beetle with long, hairy horns protruding from its head and a short, sharp horn near its mouth ! I looked it up in one of my insect guide books and found out it is a Forked Fungus Beetle (Bolitotherus cornutus). It is one of those beetles that plays dead if disturbed, when I picked it up to put it in a better position, it pulled its legs in and didn't move for over half an hour! The males have the horns so they can fight each other for the females.

I love having Common Milkweed in my yard, there is always something interesting coming to it or living on it. The main reason I planted it years ago was to attract Monarch butterflies to lay their eggs on it, but many other kinds of insects use it too. I spotted these newly-hatched bug nymphs and their empty eggshells on one of the leaves. I like the way they cluster close together for protection. I also saw 3 syrphid fly larvae (left)crawling around on one of the leaves and munching on yellow aphids. These larvae will turn into Hover Flies after pupating.

I gave a program on pollination today, called "The Birds and Bees of Pollination" at the University of Tennessee Arboretum. After the talk the participants and I went out into the garden to look for pollinators. We didn't see many butterflies or bees, but we did see some interesting caterpillars. One fellow spotted several Snowberry Clearwing caterpillars eating the leaves of Coral Honeysuckle. These green caterpillars have black spiracles (breathing holes) and a black "horn" on the end of their abdomen.

Last night a huge katydid landed on the sheet. Since he was close to the pole where I could prop the camera, I was able to get some good close-up shots. I was happy to get a photo of his "ear", called a tympanum, on his foreleg!

Even though yesterday was Friday the 13th, it was a lucky day for me. I got 3 new moths for my list, I'm now just about 12 shy of 200! Not too bad considering I just started "mothing" at the beginning of June! This large Sphinx Moth was very cooperative for me, I got some great face shots!

Pretty fungi, weird moths

2010-08-10T13:06:00.013-04:00

I've fallen behind on my posts again! Between working on an upcoming teacher workshop, ID'ing moths, weekend hikes and regular housework, I haven't had time to post.

A couple of weeks ago Kenny and I went up to the Obed to check out a trail we had not hiked before. We also wanted to try out our new Garmin 60CSx GPS. We hiked on the Cumberland Trail about 2.5 miles out to Alley Ford and down to the river. It was a very hot and humid day, even "wicking" material in our clothes didn't help much! We saw some pretty fungi, one pink and one blue! The pink ones were growing on a decayed tree stump and looked like little pompoms. As you can see, the blue one was growing next to a Lampshade Spider, she had pretty "bedroom walls"! At first I thought it was blue paint, but the trail blazes were a different color and this was under a rock overhang.

I'm up to 180 moths on my list now! Most of those have been seen at the sheet on my carport. They seem to go in spells of good nights and slow nights. I was very excited to see a Wood Nymph Moth, left, (it actually looks a lot like a bird dropping!) one night. It took a while to get it calmed down enough to get some good photos. This moth has the oddest looking front legs! Another night I saw something flying around erratically that looked like a small bat. It was a huge, gray Waved Sphinx Moth that finally decided to perch on the carport support beam. The Small-eyed Sphinx Moth was another interesting visitor, it was a little more cooperative! I was glad it opened its wings to show its "false eyes".

Last Friday I taught a class at Tremont, the field school in the Smokies. After the hike, I walked around the campus to see what was blooming or out hunting. I spotted this wasp crawling on a rolled leaf, she was trying her best to get to the caterpillar that was living inside the tube! I don't think she was successful though!

Last Sunday we went hiking at Piney River State Natural Area in Spring City with our friends, Terri and Rod. It was their first hike there. Despite being another 90+ degree day, we were in the shade most of the day, so it wasn't too bad. Fortunately, it was dry this time, so we didn't have any trouble getting across the boulders at McDonald Branch. When we got to our destination, the 100' bridge, we ate lunch and then cooled our feet in the river. Whoever is in charge of trail maintenance at that area needs to pack in some chainsaws and clear some dead trees. There are several fallen trees across the trail that make the hike a bit more challenging!

Moth-er's Night Out at the Arboretum

2010-08-02T15:52:00.010-04:00

On Sat. July 31, since my friends and I were not invited to Chelsea Clinton's wedding, we did the next best thing and had a "Moth-er's Night Out" at the University of Tennessee Arboretum! :) After I gave a presentation on moths and butterflies, we went out and looked for moths on the sheets. David, Audrey and I had strung up white bed sheets and shined black lights on them to attract moths and other critters. The insects were a bit slow getting started, especially since it didn't get really dark until about 9:15. (Note to self: the next time you plan something like this, do it earlier or later in the year when it gets dark earlier!!!) Finally, around 9:30 we started seeing some nice ones. My friend, Diana, was there on her birthday, as an added treat a gorgeous Tulip Tree Beauty (above left) landed on her husband's arm!

Audrey's light seemed to attract the prettiest moths. I spotted this Black-marked Inga moth (right) on her sheet. She caught this False Crocus Geometer (left) in a small specimen jar and carefully transferred it to the sheet so everyone could see it. The most exciting find of the night, though, had to be the Scarlet-winged Lichen Moth (right)! What a beauty it was! This moth had its own paparazzi section, the camera flashes were firing like lightning when this moth was spotted! None of us had ever seen one of these before, so it caused quite a stir!

My sheet was set up down by the creek, so I got a lot of aquatic insects like mayflies and caddisflies. However, I did attract one nice moth, a female Wedgeling (left).Her wings were a very dark maroon, she almost looked black until the light was shining on her.

We also saw some nice moths on the wall near the light by the office door. This Rustic Quaker Moth was a challenge to identify, there are SO MANY brown moths! I liked the interesting pattern on its wings. Some moths have unusual names, I don't know how this one got its name.

This little Unadorned Carpet Moth (another weird name!), was on David's sheet. This is a "geometer" moth, it started out life as an inchworm. I'm not sure what the small dark brown moth is, those micro moths are very hard to ID!

The really nice moths didn't start coming out until about 9:45 p.m. I was afraid we would wear out our welcome with the arboretum superintendent (who generously hung around waiting on us!), so we called it quits at 10:00. I ended up getting 8 new moths for my specimen list. This got me up to 165 species!

The baby cardinals "flew the coop"!

2010-07-28T23:13:00.004-04:00

I was getting ready to go to my friends' daughter's house to take photos of her new baby when I got sidetracked by the sound of Cardinals chirping outside. I opened the front door and saw this little guy sitting on the branch of one of the boxwoods near the front door. He (she?) sure grew fast! I'm not sure where the second baby is, I hope it is OK!

I enjoyed taking photos of my friend's 2-week old grandbaby. Today was the first time she had kept her eyes open for so long! She really cooperated for me! :) I loved this photo of her laying in her father's hand! So sweet!

The babies are growing, a weird moth and a strange planthopper

2010-07-27T17:38:00.005-04:00

Wow, the baby Cardinals have grown a lot since last week! Their eyes are now open and they are getting some little feathers on top of their heads. I just hope they don't get the mites from their father! I had to snap a couple of photos very quickly, mom and dad were not happy about me being so close to their babies. They will be leaving the nest before I know it! Right now, they are keeping their parents on the go constantly looking for insects to feed their hungry youngsters.

Last night while I was hunting moths I saw something on the porch light that looked like a dead leaf. I knew that couldn't be, so I got my jar and caught it and coaxed it onto the sheet. I'm getting better at this every night! :) The critter turned out to be a Trumpet Vine Moth, a very strange creature indeed. I also got a good photo of a Cottonwood Leafminer Moth (left), not an easy thing to do because they are only 3 mm long!

I also noticed a moth that had something attached to its eyes. It was light yellow and on a little stalk. When the moth flew from the window to the carport, I was able to get a better photo of the "parasite" thing. Of course, I had to lay on my stomach to get the picture! When I saw it from the front I could see that the thing had split open and 2 yellow spheres were visible. I don't know if they are eggs from a parasitic insect or what. If I find out, I'll post the information.

I also saw a funny looking planthopper on the wall. I'm always amazed when I zoom in on a little insect with my 105 mm macro lens, it opens up a whole new world. The wings are HUGE in comparison to its body size!

Mother Nature's Fireworks

2010-07-26T13:04:00.002-04:00

Last night as we were driving home from a trip to Bristol, we noticed lightning flashing inside a thunderhead cloud (a.k.a. cumulonimbus). It was hanging over the Cumberland Mountains north of Oak Ridge. We pulled off on a sideroad that was above the trees so I could get a movie of the flashes. At the end of this movie, you'll see a nice one and hear that it doesn't take much to get me excited! :) We were several miles away, so we could watch and enjoy it safely.

Baby birds, hummingbirds and a "bald Cardinal"

2010-07-24T17:03:00.012-04:00

I heard some faint chirping coming from the Cardinal's nest in the boxwood by the carport on Friday. I got the stepstool that I use for photographing moths and peered into the nest. There were 2 tiny, nearly featherless chicks huddled on the bottom. I had to hold the camera above the nest and shoot blindly to get this shot. They have very attentive parents, I enjoyed watching them bring food to the nest. I sure hope those are Japanese Beetles in her mouth! This photo of the mother feeding the chicks was shot over the top of the car about 10 feet from the nest and in the shade with my slow telephoto lens, so it isn't as sharp as I'd like. If you notice, the nest is very clean, there are no droppings from the chicks in the bottom. I saw the mother remove the droppings, which are contained in a casing. I don't know if she ate them (yuck!) or if she dropped them on the ground beneath the nest.

Lately, I've been seeing a scraggly-looking male Cardinal hanging around the front yard. He seemed to have a lot of the gray feathers showing. I just assumed he was molting and didn't think much more about it. I was stunned when I saw him again today, but much closer... he was BALD! The poor guy didn't have any feathers on his head or neck! His chest feathers were pretty bedraggled too. I don't know if he has an infestation of parasites (mites, lice, avian "mange"?), I just hope whatever it is isn't contagious because he is the father of the little chicks! It doesn't seem to keep him from doing his paternal duties though, he has been bringing mouthfuls of insects to the babies.

I guess love is blind because the female doesn't seem to notice! :) I just hope this is a temporary condition, I doubt he would survive the winter like this. It has been very hot, maybe he is just trying to keep cool! One interesting thing about this photo though, is that it is possible to see his ear. Notice the hole just below the eye?

***Update: I learned that he does have mites! I just hope he doesn't pass them on to his babies, but I don't see how he can avoid it.

I also enjoyed watching the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds as they visited the feeder; there was one male and one female. The Cardinals may have a good "marital" relationship, but not the hummers, they squabble and fight all the time! It seems like they spend more time chasing each other away from the feeder than they do actually eating! I shot this guy as he was coming in to the feeder. The shot is cropped very tightly.

Later, I was happy to see a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth land on a plant on the patio. I think they should be called "Bumblebee Moths", because they look more like them than a hummingbird. I guess it is because they hover in front of the flowers.

Speaking of moths, I was thrilled to see a Rosy Maple Moth on the porch last week. They are so pretty with their pink and yellow scales. Unfortunately, they can be absolutely insane flying around the black light, the porch light, fluttering all over the sheet and the carport! It is impossible to photograph something that is bouncing around like a Superball in a small room! I finally caught it in a net and gently put it on an Impatiens flower. It gave me enough time to get one shot, then it took off and started going crazy again! I have documented nearly 140 different moths since June 1, it has been amazing!

This morning I noticed my Surprise Lilies were blooming in the garden. They live up to their name because they always do catch me by surprise and bloom when I least expect it! They are so pretty with their pale pink flowers.

Blood-sucking Conenose, snakes and a hike with the "master of tracking"

2010-07-18T21:02:00.013-04:00

One of the interesting things about photographing moths is that I never know what ELSE will arrive at the sheet. Once I turn on the "bug drug" (the black light), many other kinds of critters soon arrive too. On Friday night I was surprised to see this large red and black bug crawling on the sheet. The warning colors (and the fact it is a true bug with a piercing mouth part) made it obvious that I should leave it alone and not touch it. Later, I looked it up in one of my insect field guides and learned it is called an Eastern Blood-sucking Conenose! I also learned it has a painful bite that can cause serious reactions in people and they can carry Chagas disease! Yikes!

On Saturday I went to the American Museum of Science and Energy to hear Noah Charney speak about the book Tracks and Sign of Invertebrates that he co-wrote with Charley Eiseman. These 2 friends took a 40 day, 15,000 mile road trip across the U.S. to photograph all kinds of eggs, cocoons, insect tracks, etc. They used 5 of my photos in the book (which I received as "payment"), so I definitely wanted to go meet him. After his talk, I took him to the UT Arboretum along with two of my friends who are going to help with the Moth-er's Night Out program there in 2 weeks. I figured Noah might enjoy going over there. I think of myself as being fairly observant when it comes to finding insects and other tiny creatures out in the woods, but Noah put me and my friends to shame! He turned over rocks in the stream and showed us micro-caddisfly tubes. An aquatic iris leaf in the pond was covered with tiny, football-shaped dragonfly eggs. I always thought all dragonflies laid their eggs singly as they dip their abdomens in the water, I didn't know some types lay them in gelatinous masses on leaves. We noticed an ornamental dogwood tree that had been nearly defoliated, of course, we had to check it out. We saw lots of funny looking fuzzy white "caterpillars" curled up under many of what leaves were left on the tree. We thought they might have a fungus that had killed them. That is the danger in making assumptions! I later looked them up on the internet and found out they were Dogwood Sawfly larvae, not caterpillars. I should have realized that, they have too many "prolegs." They shed the white fuzzy skin to become yellow and black larvae on their 3rd molt, which explained why we saw so many discarded skins on the tree! We also enjoyed watching a black rat snake hiding in the grass. After spending 3 hours and walking less than 1/2-mile, we said good bye. What an interesting afternoon that had been!

Today (Sunday) Kenny and I went to Spring City to hike on the Piney River trail. I was anxious to try out my new knowledge of invertebrate sign hunting! I found a few spider egg cases, molting spiders, rolled leaves with caterpillars inside, etc. Rhea County is notorious for bad weather, so we knew we were taking a chance to go hiking with a 30% chance of rain in the forecast. Sure enough, when we were about 1/2-way to our destination at the bridge 3 miles in, the wind picked up and we heard rain coming through the trees. Kenny had packed umbrellas because it was too hot and humid to wear our Gore-tex rain gear. Fortunately, we were close to a long, narrow sandstone rockhouse on the trail, so we went back there and had lunch in a dry place. I enjoyed seeing the lampshade spiders, hunting spiders, house spiders and a bristletail under the rocks while we ate and waited for the rain to pass. We seldom see anyone on this trail, so we were surprised when a group of about 2o people who said they had been camping (we didn't see they carrying any gear though!) came walking by. It was a bit unnerving when one guy stopped to talk, he was carrying a rifle and drinking a beer!!! He said the gun was not loaded. Ah, there's nothing like rednecks with guns and alcohol in the woods to add to the excitement of a hike!

We decided to turn around at that point because there was a tricky stream crossing ahead that involved picking our way across algae-covered boulders, it is hard enough when it is dry, we just didn't want to risk it with the rocks being wet. So we headed back, but not before taking a detour down to the river. It was a good decision! We saw a huge Dragonhunter dragonfly cruising the riverbank. I had my macro lens on my camera, so I wasn't able to get a good close-up, it was on a tree branch 15 or so feet away. These dragonflies live up to their name, although they don't actually hunt dragons, I have seen them eat butterflies! The little damselflies were in the "mood for love", many of them were in the "tandem" position where the male grasps the female behind her head after mating to keep other males away. I liked this little guy's pretty blue eyes!

But the greatest excitement of the day was seeing a little Brown-banded water snake hunting in the river. We enjoyed watching it crawl over the rocks, it was a challenge to figure out where it would come out next when it went under them. I shot a few short movie clips of it. The rifle-toting redneck told of killing a copperhead yesterday. I sure hope it wasn't one of these snakes instead, it can be difficult for some people to tell the difference. Especially if they have the attitude that "the only good snake is a dead snake!" That is why I try to educate people that I meet along the trail. :)

Even more babies!

2010-07-14T20:39:00.008-04:00

Last week I noticed a Yellow-striped Armyworm moth laying eggs on the blacklight sheet. I knew it would damage the eggs if I tried to remove them, so I decided to just watch and see what happened. About 5 or 6 days later I noticed that the tops of the eggs looked black, the caterpillars were just about ready to hatch. Within an hour or so I began to see tiny caterpillars wiggling around! The first thing caterpillars do after they hatch is to eat their eggshell, it is good protein that should not go to waste.

If you have ever watched a brown and black Wooly Bear caterpillar scurry across a road and wondered what it would turn into, here is the answer! It becomes an Isabella Tiger Moth! I finally got one to settle down long enough on the sheet that I could photograph it. I liked the bright orange legs!

The past couple of weeks I have also noticed a pair of Cardinals hanging around one of the big boxwood shrubs by the carport. Today I got up on my stepstool and peered into the nest. I was happy to see 2 bluish-green eggs with brown splotches in it! So the birds are starting on round 2 for babies! It will be fun to watch them hatch and grow. :)

Babies, weird "wildlife" in Nashville and ANOTHER Car Show!

2010-07-13T21:19:00.015-04:00

Gosh, I'm really behind in my posts! It isn't that I haven't been doing anything, it's because I've been doing TOO much! We enjoyed going to Bristol, TN to see Kenny's family over the July 4th weekend. We were delighted to welcome a new little Light into the family, our nephew's wife had a baby girl, Mikaya Jade Light, on July 1. I had fun trying out my Photoshop techniques on these photos.

Today I went to Maryville to teach at an elementary school. After the classes, I went to visit my niece, Kendra. It was fun seeing my 2 great-nephews, Cash and Riley. It was the first time I had seen them in a couple of months, so Riley had grown quite a bit. He was 2 weeks old the last time I was at their house, he will be 3 months in 2 weeks! Cash is 4-1/2 years old and is so much fun, there's never a dull moment with him around! Riley just had heart surgery a few weeks ago for a condition called "coarctation of the aorta". It was a scary time for the whole family. We hope it took care of the problem!

Last weekend we went to Nashville to see our daughter, Lydia. We could not believe our eyes when we drove to the hotel on Friday night... there was ANOTHER car show! I don't know what it is with us picking hotels that are having car shows, that was the second one in a month that we have come across! This one was 1955, '56, and '57 Classic Chevy cars and the owners were a in a bit different category than the Dodge Challenger / Charger folks in Gatlinburg last month! The cars were beautiful, but it was frustrating having such a hard time finding a parking place each night!

On Saturday we went to Cheekwood Gardens. I had not been there since I was a Girl Scout MANY years ago. There was a Dale Chihuly glass art show going on, we enjoyed it very much. The glass sculptures were located all over the gardens, including the ponds! I liked this photo of Lydia with the pink hibiscus and the orange glass sculpture.

Cheekwood was once owned by the Cheek family, the founders of the Maxwell House Coffee Company. They were fabulously rich and had some amazing collections of art and beautiful gardens. They obviously liked unusual art too, as this weird lady/lion sculpture will attest! :)

Happy 4th of July and a beautiful night visitor

2010-07-02T08:29:00.005-04:00

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday as you celebrate the independence of our great country! I photographed this handsome eagle at the Oak Ridge Secret City Festival a couple of weeks ago. It was fortunate to have the American flag in the background!

Last night while I was out on the carport photographing moths, I had an amazing insect fly in. It had long wings (2-1/2" each!) and looked like a dragonfly moving in slow-motion. I grabbed my net and caught it in a jar. Fortunately, it cooperated with me and it stayed on the sheet. That was probably where it was going in the first place, but I got too excited and didn't want to take a chance that it might fly away. It is an antlion (Glenurus gratus), the adult version of a "doodlebug" (the little larvae that make the pits in the soil and eat ants). What a treat it was to see this fantastic insect!

Moth #100!

2010-07-01T14:33:00.010-04:00

I had set a goal of photographing and identifying 100 moths by the end of June. The photographing part is easy, I have well over 100; the ID'ing part is not always so easy. There are over 11,000 species of moths in North America, so it takes a lot of time and patience to match up my photos with the on-line guides! The numbers by the moth names are called Hodges numbers, they are a catalog listing number that helps tremendously in verifying the moths.

Last night 2 of the slug moths came through for me to help me reach my goal! First I spotted the pretty green one, a Smaller Parasa #4698 Parasa chloris sitting on the ceiling of the carport. I moved it so I could get a better photo, it is really hard to take a picture of a moth straight over my head! The second one was a Shagreened Slug Moth #4669 Apoda biguttata, that one made my goal --- #100! The moths in this group often hold their abdomens up above their wings, it gives them a strange effect! They get the "slug" designation from their slug-like caterpillars.

This next one falls into the "truth is stranger than fiction" category! It is called a Boxwood Leaftier Moth. They are so weird looking! We do have several Boxwood shrubs in front of our house, I guess I need to look and see if there are any caterpillars tying the leaves! :)

As I was looking at this weird moth, I noticed a pair of fireflies mating on the wall. They were "tail to tail", I guess if he was ugly, she didn't have to look at him! ;) I wondered why they didn't have their "close encounter" in the grass instead of high on the wall of the house! The fireflies weren't the only beetles I saw, there was a large gold one and a longhorned one next to each other on the sheet. It can be pretty intimidating when these big things fly around near my head! :-0

Check out the cool antennae on this male mosquito! They use them to detect the hum of the wings of the females. If you want to know what that sounds like, just listen to a high C tuning fork that has been tapped, the frequency is the same, 512 times / sec.!

Every night brings something new to the carport! It is fun to go out each night and see who comes for a visit!