Category: Wildlife

Interesting caterpillar

On By CarynIn Wildlife
Possible Ilia Underwing caterpillar

I found two of these interesting caterpillars recently. One in the mulch under a post oak tree and one climbing up the side of the house.

Possible Ilia Underwing caterpillar crawling up the house

I put out a call for help for identification because my identification app doesn’t do well with caterpillars. Mark Barrett came to the rescue with this link. The caterpillar looks the same and is as lethargic as the one he found, but perks up when it thinks no one is watching.

Underside of caterpillar

But the underside of the caterpillar was the most interesting! Especially since the dorsal side has amazing camouflage.

On the chicken front, there are no chicks. The company I ordered from in JANUARY, had a computer “glitch” and didn’t send me chicks on Monday. The soonest they were willing to try to send again is the END of May. Grr. I get not having enough, but I would have taken fewer than I ordered, but blaming it on a glitch is ridiculous. So I cancelled the order and am looking closer to home. We are still determined to get Faverolles, so this could get interesting. Stay tuned.

Tent caterpillars

On By CarynIn Wildlife
Tent caterpillars

I saw this caterpillar-made tent on a recent walk. Texas A&M AgrilLife Extension has this to say about tent caterpillars. I find them both fascinating and slightly creepy. Maybe I watched too many horror flicks in my youth. I do like the arcs in this tent. And it is surrounded by wild plum flowers, which pleases me. At least I think they are wild plum flowers. I’m still struggling with the wild plum versus callery pear identification. I have marked my trees out back to see what kind of fruit they yield. Independent verification.

Ashy Gray Lady Beetle

On By CarynIn Wildlife

Olla v-nigrum

I found this one in the house on an Amazon gift bag. Not entirely sure if she hitched a ride, or was inside for the winter and likes the color blue. Either way, this is the first time I’ve seen an Ashy Gray Lady Beetle, although they are common in our area. How adorable are the little heart spots?

Authorized Personnel Only

On By CarynIn Wildlife
Deer on a restricted obstacle course

This is not the first time I have seen these deer breaking the law, but it cracks me up every time. I did have to do a little Photoshop magic to get the deer and the sign both in focus, but that was fun too.

Maybe they are card-carrying members?

Red-eared slider

On By CarynIn Wildlife

Spring also means that the turtles are on the move. This old lady (?) was crossing the road in our neighborhood. We only noticed her because Sophie, our outside cat, went over to investigate.

I can’t leave turtles in the road, I just can’t, so we helped her across so she didn’t get hit. I persist in calling her a “her” because of this article by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which says the females go on the move to look for a place to lay eggs. Since this is not a young turtle, I assume she is going to lay her eggs and not going to find new territory. She wasn’t overly concerned about us. Probably not her first assist.

And in doing my research I found a new app “HerpMapper”, which of course I had to download and add our observation. Must contribute to science.