Great Spangled Fritillary
The Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) is one member of over 6000 species divided into twelve families of Fritillary butterflies. The Great Fritillary is common over most of North America and can be found in a variety of habitats including fields, valleys, pastures, meadows, open woodland, prairies and even city gardens.
Males patrol open areas looking for females. After mating the females lay up to 2000 eggs on or near Violets and violet species, in late summer. When the caterpillars hatch they do not eat. Instead they over winter and feed heavily on young violet leaves, including Johnny Jump Ups, in the spring. Many do not survive the winter. That's the reason for the females laying so many eggs.
Adult butterflies feed on nectar from many plants including milkweeds, thistles, ironweed, dogbane, mountain laurel, verbena, vetch, bergamot, red clover, joe-pye weed, purple coneflower, and Zinnia's. They are a fairly large butterfly with a wing span from 2 1/2 - 4 inches. The female is tawny and darker than males.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) by Ernie Hunter
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)
Used in Europe for many years as a medicinal herb then brought to North America, Motherwort got it's name from it's use as a tea to treat mothers during childbirth. A wildflower, often relegated to the “noxious weed†category simply because the flowers are small and not showy. Look closer, but be careful of the spines on the Calyxes that surround each leaf axil, you will see beautiful white and purple, orchid like flowers, that are no more than a quarter inch high. Use your imagination and you might even see "Aliens" sitting on their thrones.
The stalks are square and hollow and have a rib on each corner, making them very strong. Try cutting them with a weed eater, especially if they are old plants. Mammalian herbivores avoid the foliage as it has a bitter taste, but bees do a great job pollinating the flowers of these plants. The lower leaves some what resemble a maple leaf in the beginning rosette. The upper leaves on the stems are different in shape. The Motherwort is a member of the mint family.
Used in Europe for many years as a medicinal herb then brought to North America, Motherwort got it's name from it's use as a tea to treat mothers during childbirth. A wildflower, often relegated to the “noxious weed†category simply because the flowers are small and not showy. Look closer, but be careful of the spines on the Calyxes that surround each leaf axil, you will see beautiful white and purple, orchid like flowers, that are no more than a quarter inch high. Use your imagination and you might even see "Aliens" sitting on their thrones.
The stalks are square and hollow and have a rib on each corner, making them very strong. Try cutting them with a weed eater, especially if they are old plants. Mammalian herbivores avoid the foliage as it has a bitter taste, but bees do a great job pollinating the flowers of these plants. The lower leaves some what resemble a maple leaf in the beginning rosette. The upper leaves on the stems are different in shape. The Motherwort is a member of the mint family.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare).
The Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare), introduced from Europe and Asia, is a tall plant with exceptional fortification. Unlike other thistle, the Bull Thistle is covered from top to bottom with defensively sharp spines. Most other thistles only have spines on their leaves. The Bull Thistle starts it's first year as a rosette, while it establishes a deep tap root to supply nutrients and stabilize it in the second year, when it can grow to five or six feet tall. It's in this second year that it flowers and produces the hundreds of air born seeds to start the cycle all over. The seeds are carried on silky parachutes if not eaten first by the American Goldfinch and other birds. The goldfinches will gather in groups, if the thistle are abundant, and sit on the flower heads plucking the parachutes out and shaping off the seeds. They also use the thistle down for lining in their nests as do other small birds and rodents.
While the Bull Thistle is a noxious weed, it is easily controlled by cutting or digging. It is, however, a delight to let some grow in a place where you can watch the Goldfinches (wild Canary's) work them. Picking out seed after seed and letting the parachutes blow in the breezes. For all their spiny defenses these small birds seem impervious to them, or they just ignore them.
The Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare), introduced from Europe and Asia, is a tall plant with exceptional fortification. Unlike other thistle, the Bull Thistle is covered from top to bottom with defensively sharp spines. Most other thistles only have spines on their leaves. The Bull Thistle starts it's first year as a rosette, while it establishes a deep tap root to supply nutrients and stabilize it in the second year, when it can grow to five or six feet tall. It's in this second year that it flowers and produces the hundreds of air born seeds to start the cycle all over. The seeds are carried on silky parachutes if not eaten first by the American Goldfinch and other birds. The goldfinches will gather in groups, if the thistle are abundant, and sit on the flower heads plucking the parachutes out and shaping off the seeds. They also use the thistle down for lining in their nests as do other small birds and rodents.
While the Bull Thistle is a noxious weed, it is easily controlled by cutting or digging. It is, however, a delight to let some grow in a place where you can watch the Goldfinches (wild Canary's) work them. Picking out seed after seed and letting the parachutes blow in the breezes. For all their spiny defenses these small birds seem impervious to them, or they just ignore them.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia)
Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia)
The Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is North America's largest native moth and a member of the Saturniidae family of Giant Silk Moths. I found the cocoon of this moth attached to a very thorny blackberry cane. I'm wondering if this might have been partly for protection as mice and squirrels will eat the pupae. I didn't have a lot of time so I took a couple of photos of it in place and then brought it into the house to photograph later. Instead of putting it into a rearing box I left it on a shelf next to the TV with some other things that needed photos taken.
Monday morning, Victoria Day in Canada, I remembered the cocoon and went to place it in a box - too late! Something caught my eye and there, hanging on a birch twig, was a beautiful female Cecropia Moth, slowly fanning her wings. When a moth, or butterfly, emerges their wings are small, wet and folded tightly around their body with more precision than a parachute in it's case. The insect must immediately start slowly beating them to pump fluids into them, expanding the wings for flight. This also helps dry the wings and strengthen their flight muscles for their next journey in life. This process takes several hours and when completed left this moth with a wing span of almost eight inches. She seemed to like having photos taken and we even did a little video.
That evening Chris and I took Victoria, named after the day, outside to release her. She wasn't excited and clung to Chris's finger like she knew what was happening. After several minutes she fluttered her wings, as if trying them out. Then she made an attempt! A short flight of about ten inches, landing on Chris's lip. Neither one seemed scared and Chris got her back on her finger after several minutes. Moments passed and finally another flutter of her wings and she let go of Chris, landing a few feet away on a post. We left her there and, after ten minutes or so, she flew off into the night in search of a mate, her life cycle nearly complete. Once she mates, she will lay up to a hundred eggs and die. Her job on Earth complete.
The Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is North America's largest native moth and a member of the Saturniidae family of Giant Silk Moths. I found the cocoon of this moth attached to a very thorny blackberry cane. I'm wondering if this might have been partly for protection as mice and squirrels will eat the pupae. I didn't have a lot of time so I took a couple of photos of it in place and then brought it into the house to photograph later. Instead of putting it into a rearing box I left it on a shelf next to the TV with some other things that needed photos taken.
Monday morning, Victoria Day in Canada, I remembered the cocoon and went to place it in a box - too late! Something caught my eye and there, hanging on a birch twig, was a beautiful female Cecropia Moth, slowly fanning her wings. When a moth, or butterfly, emerges their wings are small, wet and folded tightly around their body with more precision than a parachute in it's case. The insect must immediately start slowly beating them to pump fluids into them, expanding the wings for flight. This also helps dry the wings and strengthen their flight muscles for their next journey in life. This process takes several hours and when completed left this moth with a wing span of almost eight inches. She seemed to like having photos taken and we even did a little video.
That evening Chris and I took Victoria, named after the day, outside to release her. She wasn't excited and clung to Chris's finger like she knew what was happening. After several minutes she fluttered her wings, as if trying them out. Then she made an attempt! A short flight of about ten inches, landing on Chris's lip. Neither one seemed scared and Chris got her back on her finger after several minutes. Moments passed and finally another flutter of her wings and she let go of Chris, landing a few feet away on a post. We left her there and, after ten minutes or so, she flew off into the night in search of a mate, her life cycle nearly complete. Once she mates, she will lay up to a hundred eggs and die. Her job on Earth complete.
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