Here is another predictor of winter weather:  the wooly bear caterpillar.  

 

Looks like more brown than black to me.  The pointy end is the head.  It was crossing the road traveling north. 

 

Here’s what I found in Wikipedia:  

 

 

 

 

On our walk the other day, we stopped to look for persimmons on the ground, and Jon noticed this turtle.  And if you look closely, you can see that it is eating a persimmon.

 

We knew that deer and turkeys eat them, and of course we do, but who knew that turtles eat them too?  I love it.

 

 

HAPPY FALL Y’ALL!!!

 

Yep.  They are back.  This is the time of year they always show up.  And they LOVE my marigolds.  

 

I love to see Monarchs.  They are so pretty as they “float” on the air.  

 

I know I’ve told you this story before, but maybe I have some new readers who haven’t heard it.  I have a friend in Virginia Beach who used to work inside the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  He told us that during Monarch migrations they would fly THROUGH the Bay Bridge Tunnel.  

 

That paints such a beautiful picture for me.  I think about it every time I see a Monarch butterfly.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I went out to cut some sage, and look who I found on a little fennel plant.  Five Black Swallowtail caterpillars.  

 

You can see a bunch of different stages.  The Stokes Butterfly book says that the little caterpillars resemble bird poop, so they don’t get eaten.  Actually, I think they use the word “droppings,” but you get the drift.  As they get bigger, they split and shed their skins.  You can see one that just did that all the way to the right.  See the black stuff behind it?  That one almost didn’t make it into my picture.  Anyway, they are getting bigger.

 

It looks like the butterfly laid eggs on the young fennel plants, not on the older ones.  Too bad, because the young plants are small and won’t be able to support that many caterpillars.  See the two on the right?  They have eaten all the leaves on their two stems.  So I cut those two stems and placed them on other young fennel plants.  

 

Good thing we have lots of fennel.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

I didn’t see any Virginia creeper that day showing fall color, but we did see this interesting thing.  

 

My SEEK app told me that it is Buffalo Nut.  Here’s what I found on Wikipedia, which is where SEEK got its information:

 

 

I think that’s pretty interesting.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I walked up the front steps just in time to see a bee land on this marigold.  Just in time to see this praying mantis reach out, grab the bee, and eat it.  

 

I was so happy to get this picture, because I wanted you to see the praying mantis up close, with its prey.  WOW!!! 

 

Who needs The Nature Channel?  We have it going on right here on the front porch.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We love seeing caterpillars.  Last time we walked the loop we were on Beaconhill, and Jon said, “What is that?”  It was a yellowish fat caterpillar about the size of his index finger.  And it was right in the middle of the road, traveling toward the edge.  We looked it up on the Seek app, and found out that it is a larva of an Imperial Moth.  I took its picture and Jon pushed it to the side, saving its life.

 

When we got home, I looked it up on Wikipedia, and this is what it will look like in its adult stage.

 

 

The description said that Imperial moths can be as large as 6 7/8 inches across!!!  WOW!!! 

 

I hope we get to see one of those.

 

 

HAPPY FALL, Y’ALL!!!

 

 

 

Look who I saw in the eggplants.  It wasn’t eating the leaves;  it was eating whoever was eating the leaves.

 

We like seeing Praying Mantids in the garden.  They are “ambush predators,” and they eat bugs, the bugs that eat my plants. This particular praying mantis couldn’t get away from me fast enough.  All I wanted was to take its picture, but it kept moving.

 

I hope you can see how pretty it is.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

We have seen this turkey a couple times in the last few days, always in the same place.  Usually, we notice it in the middle of the road as we are climbing the last stretch up to the top of the mountain.  Then it steps off the road for us to go by.

 

This particular day, it waited for me to get a good picture.  Oh, I guess I can call him:  “him.”  I can see his beard now.  

 

How fun!!!

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

 

I think this picture of the Eastern Bluebird is from Wikipedia.  Cute!!!

 

The bluebirds in Yorktown are building another nest.  Yoo-hoo!!!  Here is the link for that nest box.  Maybe we can watch this one from the beginning.  

 

 

HAPPY BIRDING!!!