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Pollinators In Action

June 9, 2024 Elizabeth

A photographic image of a dianthus plant which is a small flowering platn with pink and white roundish flowers. On the plant, is a large butterfly mostly black with white dots on the outer wing perimeter and a blue sheen on the tail end with severe swallow tail with one half of the swallowtail missing. The wings are slightly lifted.

We have not yet seen any monarch butterflies, but we have seen a lot of other pollinators! I ordered a poster for the wall that shows us the Common Butterflies of the Midwest so we are working on seeing as many as we can and improving our butterfly identification. Here's some of … [Read more...]

Insects

5 Weird Recent Sightings

May 27, 2024 Elizabeth

Sometimes we just have to document some of the weird and unusual things we see! This is a group of such items from the month of May. #1 - We saw chipmunks! Yikes! Chipmunks are destructive and luckily we haven't really had a problem with these guys. We actually were at a … [Read more...]

Furry Wildlife, Insects

Woolly Caterpillar in February?!

February 26, 2024 Elizabeth

It's been a bit warm but this was an unexpected sighting! I've never seen these out in February before. I read about it and what I found indicated that the best thing to do if you find them out in the winter is to leave them be. Woolly Bear Caterpillars form an Isabella Tiger … [Read more...]

Insects

Lightning in the Sky

August 19, 2023 Elizabeth

The sky had a pink-ish hue tonight and there was a wild lightning show in the sky! Check out the video. Bonus footage of a couple of our last caterpillars. We have several caterpillars that formed their chrysalis on the siding of our house and I'm not sure they are going to make … [Read more...]

Insects, Monarchs, Summer

Another Yellowjacket Hive

August 19, 2023 Elizabeth

It seems lately like we have yellowjackets build an underground hive somewhere on the property every year. Sometimes it's in an innocuous spot that doesn't bother us. But - when it's in the dog area we have to take care of it. Tilda got stung so many times once that she had to … [Read more...]

Insects

Backyard Updates!

August 15, 2023 Elizabeth

Some backyard updates - I think the hummingbirds are bringing juveniles to the feeder. We've had a ton of action at the feeder and so I put out the camera today to try to see what they are up to. We've seen 3 at one time for sure and maybe 4. That's a lot more than we've had … [Read more...]

BirdWatching, Insects, Summer, White Tail Deer

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April 2017 PupDate – Tilda

Parasitic wasp on a leaf

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Read all about the monarch butterfly population in our backyard

Read all about the monarch butterfly population in our backyard

Check out our monarch caterpillar posts

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