Eyes

The eyes have it.

More of this lovely caterpillar over at Big Bend Birds & Nature!

Houston, we have a Pupa!

Edit: this has now been blogged (with more pics!) at Big Bend Birds & Nature - when inch worms grow up.

I should be blogging this over at the other blog, but I managed to forget to take a picture of an inch-worm that adopted us. I harvested some mesquite nibbles for the hubbardi bunch and the little critter caught a ride and found itself in with a bunch of non-geometers. So while I forgot to take its picture, it thrived. Then it started to look pretty bad and I felt terrible and was certain that, along with ~40 other caterpillars this season, it had died. It turned this bizarre shade of teal blue on one end and darkened and instead of being a long, juicy inch-and-a-smidge long... it was barely half an inch long.

But then it turned into a pupa. How ridiculously awesome!

August update

Last week we were asked to speak about the impact of drought on birds and other wildlife on Marfa Public Radio; the audio has been archived and can now be accessed anywhere, at any time, should you feel the urge.

Photo/permalink via Marfa Public Radio:


Handy links from previous posts on the Big Bend Birds & Nature blog:
the drying, the drought (a bit heavy, but eye-opening)
in the meantime, pictures
freezer catch-up
and an optimistic final note: drought?

...in the meantime, things are keeping a hectic pace that neither blog quite reflects. We'd promise more updates if we knew there would be any soonish, but that's a long shot! Perhaps photos of some furniture projects one of these days, though...

bugguide

Matt has gotten me distracted by bugguide.net on occasion - here's a snippet of what can happen when people contribute to citizen science.

When we were in Kerrville at the end of September, we found and photographed a large, green caterpillar on the house where we stayed. Unable to come up with an ID on our own, Matt submitted the image to bugguide, where some helpful folks narrowed the ID.

Drab Prominent Moth (Misogada unicolor) caterpillar

...check out the link above - it has fake antennae/eye stalks on its rear end! Pretty snazzy, eh? So if a bird/bug aims for what it thinks is the head, it's only a bit off the rump that goes missing. Kind of like the hairstreak butterflies and swallowtails as well - better to lose a showy wing extension than your head! If the critter is thought to be a slug, with the fake eye stalks, it's still doing pretty well... but a green slug mimic? Pretty crazy.

Here's an adult Drab Prominent Moth from bugguide:




Another of Matt's previous caterpillars, a Hemileuca is also in the bugguide archives, but it is a far fancier creature and looks like quite the formidable opponent!

It's interesting to see how the internet is making ID a rapid, paperless process. Photos and human opinions are now outweighing wordy descriptions and otherwise scarce (as well as incomplete) resources. Yet we still have so far to go.

Florida's summary of thumbnails

Our exhausted selves have finally adjusted from the funeral/honeymoon/interview sequence, and a few thank-you notes from the receptions have even been sent. Meanwhile we've managed to somewhat keep this blog updated - but now the effort is focused on trip lists and what actually happened.

The first honeymoon picture of the happy couple:



So here's the summary of Waco-to-Waco events, per my list of scribbles:

* thumbnails are not in chronological order, nor with geographic fidelity, apologies!

July
Th/23 - Waco to Abilene, for Laura's visitation
Fr/24 - Laura's funeral, then to Dallas

Sa/25 - DAL to Tampa, then to Boca Grande - Gray Kingbird (Fish Crow earlier for Matt)


Gray Kingbird, Fish Crow, conch


Su/26 - Oscar Scherer State Park - FL Scrub Jay
Mayakka River State Park - Limpkin


Florida Scrub Jay, Limpkin, brunette & redbeard


Mo/27 - Harns Marsh - Snail Kite, more Limpkin


juv. Snail Kite, adult Snail Kite, Apple Snail shell

and on to FL city (heard BWVI)


Neon Skimmer, creepy Florida Panther sculpture, the Skunk-Ape Research HQ


Tu/28 - FL City/Everglades National Park - Common Mynah (life bird for me), Western Spindalis, White-crowned Pigeon (life bird for Matt)

Edit: the Western Spindalis has its own post and so does the Bald Eagle with a transmitter that we saw in the afternoon


Palamedes Swallowtail, brunette & redbeard, Florida Panther x-ing


brunette & redbeard, grassy waters, Zebra Heliconian larvae


We/29 - Key Largo - Black-whiskered Vireo


Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park (DJKLHBSP) *whew*
...a condo development that got canned =)

Everglades NP, Shiny Cowbird
back to Boca Grande


starfruit, jackfruit, redbeard & brunette


Th/30 - Boca Grande


Osprey, Gopher Tortoise, Mangrove Skipper


Gasparilla SP's lighthouse, redbeard & brunette, flowers


White-tipped Black Moth, its larvae, orange pineapple & mango cheesecake ice cream!


Fr/31 - Boca Grade


Mangrove Buckeye, Snowy Egret, Brown Pelican


old Gasparilla railroad tracks, Matt & Gopher Tortoise, FL Scrub Jay x-ing


August

Sa/1 - Boca Grande to Harns Marsh to Lee County Manatee Park
to Tampa, back to Dallas


Snail Kite tail feather & midden, the marsh


gettin' kissy, manatee propaganda


White Peacock, the power plant, path markings


Su/2 - spent the day in Dallas with cousins and then drove back to Waco