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Bird pages: Land Birds Shore Birds Red-shouldered Hawks Duke Gardens exotic ducks Audubon Swamp Garden Zoo Birds    Insect (by taxonomic order) pages: Archaeognatha (Jumping Bristletails) Coleoptera (Beetles) Dermaptera (Earwigs) Diptera (True Flies) Ephemeroptera (Mayflies) Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha (Cicadas and Hoppers) Hemiptera: Heteroptera (True Bugs) Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha (Aphids, Scale Insects, Whiteflies, and Jumping Plant Lice) Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, Sawflies and Ants) Isoptera (Termites) Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea (True Butterflies) and Skippers (Hesperoidea) Lepidoptera: Moths Mantodea (Mantids) Mecoptera (Scorpionflies) Mecoptera (Hangingflies) Megaloptera (Fishflies, Dobsonflies) Neuroptera (Lacewings and Antlions) Odonata: Anisoptera (Dragonflies) Odonata: Zygoptera (Damselflies) Orthoptera (Stick Insects, Grasshoppers, Katydids and Crickets) Psocoptera (Bark Lice) Plecoptera (Stoneflies) Raphidioptera (Snakeflies) Thysanoptera (Thrips) Tricoptera (Caddisflies) Zygentoma (Silverfish)    Reptile/Amphibian/Alligator pages: Snakes Lizards Alligators Audubon Swamp Garden (Alligators, turtles) Turtles Frogs and Toads Salamanders Zoo Reptiles    Spiders, other animal pages: Spiders Ticks and Mites Mammals Zoo Mammals Fish Crustaceans Springtails Centipedes Millipedes Pseudoscorpions Harvestmen Annelids (segmented worms) Mollusks Horsehair Worms    Plants: Wildflowers by Classification Wildflowers by Flower Color Non-flowering Plants    Natural areas: Habitats: Main Page Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula (NC) American Tobacco Trail (Durham, NC) Audubon Swamp Garden (Charleston, SC) Bay St. Louis and Waveland (MS) Bogue Banks (barrier island, NC) Boone and surrounding areas (northwest NC) Buccaneer State Park (Waveland, MS) Carolina Beach State Park (New Hanover County, NC) Carolina Beach: Carolina Lake (New Hanover County, NC) Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge (NC) Duke Forest (NC) Duke Gardens exotic ducks (Durham, NC) My Durham drainage ditch (NC) My Durham neighborhood swamp (NC) My Durham neighborhood power line cut (NC) Ebenezer Church Recreational Area (Chatham County, NC) Eno River State Park (NC) Flat River Impoundment (Durham County, NC) Fort Fisher (New Hanover County, NC) Francis Marion National Forest (SC) Greenville (NC) Goose Creek State Park (NC) Gulf Shores National Seashore (Ocean Springs, MS) Gulfport (MS) Hanging Rock State Park (Stokes County, NC) Haw River State Park (Rockingham/Guilford Counties, NC) Indian Creek Wildlife Observation Trail (Chatham County, NC) Johnston Mill Nature Preserve (Orange County, NC) B. Everett Jordan Lake Dam (Chatham County, NC) B. Everett Jordan Lake near 751 bridge (Chatham County, NC) Lake Crabtree County Park (Morrisville, NC) Marin County, CA and Nearby Areas Mason Farm Biological Preserve (Chapel Hill, NC) Montreat (NC) Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve (Dare County, NC) North Carolina Botanical Garden (Orange County, NC) Occoneechee Mountain Natural Area (Hillsborough, NC) Ocracoke Island (Hyde County, NC) Peaks of Otter (Bedford County, VA) Penny's Bend Nature Preserve (Durham, NC) Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC) Pitt County Arboretum (Greenville, NC) Prairie Ridge Ecostation (Raleigh, NC) Puerto Rico J.C. Raulston Arboretum (Raleigh, NC) Rio Grande Valley (Hidalgo County, TX) Riverbend Park (Catawba County, NC) San Antonio (TX) St. Augustine, FL Sandy Creek Park (Durham, NC) Sanibel and Captiva Islands (FL) Santee State Park (Santee, SC) Sarasota County (FL) South Texas (Mustang Island, Corpus Christi Southern Appalachians (NC) Third Fork Creek Trail(Durham County, NC) Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve (Moore County, NC) White Pines Nature Preserve (Chatham County, NC)

Archived-by-Date Pages

 

April 2014

We had an unusually cold winter and spring was rather late this year, but some things stayed the same: The Fall Cankerworm Moth (Alsophila pometaria) caterpillars, annoying green inchworms which began dropping out of trees, were quickly gobbled up by Caterpillar Hunter Beetles (Calosoma scrutata) waiting below on the neighborhood paved trails; action intensified in May.

In Montreat, in the North Carolina Blue Ridge mountains, wildflower season was getting underway, although there were very few insects.

Montreat, Buncombe County, NC  4/30/14 Little Sweet Betsy Mayfly Broadleaf Toothwort (Dentaria diphylla) Slender Toothwort (Dentaria heterophylla) Goldenwort leaf Montreat, Buncombe County, NC  4/29/14 Ajuga reptans Bellwort Bloodwort Clintonia genus Crane fly (Limnophila genus).  ID thanks to John F. Carr.   Halberd-leaved Violet Crested Iris bud Jack-in-the-pulpit Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)   Red eft Lichen Serviceberry (Amelanchier genus), Montreat, Buncombe County, NC, 4/29/14 Witch Alder (Fothergilla genus), Montreat, Buncombe County, NC, 4/29/14 Yellow Mandarin (Prosartes lanugininosa), Montreat, Buncombe County, NC, 4/29/14 Wake Robin (Trillium erectum), Montreat, Buncombe County, 4/29/14 Wood Violet Striped Maple Celandine Poppy Stunted Mayapple, from being tangled in fallen leaf Swannanoa Trail, Warren Wilson College, Buncombe County, NC  4/28/14 Cairn Golden Alexander Mayapple stunted by fallen leaf Mayapple blooms Blooming Mayapples Carolina Spring Beauty Mystery wildflower Squawroot Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) Wild geranium         Wild Strawberry         Montreat, Buncombe County, NC  4/28/14 Jack-in-the-pulpit Common Blue Violet, purple-and-white variation Northern Rough-winged Swallow Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia): both varieties Large-flowered Trillium Montreat, Buncombe County, NC  4/27/14 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Sweet White Violet (Viola blanda) Celandine Poppy Crested Iris (Iris cristata) Spring Azure Durham, NC  4/26/14         Five-lined Skink Jumping spider (Eris militaris) Buttercup         Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/24/14     Female Common Whitetail     Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/24/14 Alder Leaf Beetle, Chrysomela genus (interrupta the most likely species) Stink bug nymph Broad-bodied leaf beetle (Zygogramma suturalis) Aphids Pipevine Swallowtail     Dark Fishing Spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus) Hawkweed Spring Beauty     Durham, NC  4/23/14     Weevil, which flew to a bollard on Third Fork Creek Trail Japanese Mazus Tiny moth I caught flying     Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/22/14 Sawfly (Euura genus, oligospira most likely species), Durham, NC, 4/22/14. Genus ID thanks to Jonathan Hoskins. Caterpillar Hunter Beetle Tufted Titmouse singing Female Brown-headed Cowbird Male Brown-headed Cowbird         Spider         Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/21/14   Tachninid fly Mouseear chickweed Jumping spider Jumping spider   Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/20/14         Sycamore Seed Bug (Belonchilus numenius)         Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/18/14         Common Toadflax         Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/16/14   Jumping spider (female Hentzia palmarum) Same jumping spider, dorsal view Small jumping spider with fly prey Jumping spider   Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC  4/14/14 Juvenal's Duskywing Canadian Violet Giant Chickweed Jack-in-the-pulpit Spring Beauty Cutleaf Toothwort Trillium Orb weaver (Mangora genus)           Dayflying lightning bug beetle         Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/13/14         Two-lined Leatherwing Beetle, with pine pollen grains         Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/11/14         Ichneumon wasp         Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham, NC  4/10/14   Selys' Sundragon. ID thanks to Larry de March. Added to Project Noah page. Yellow Woodland Violet (Viola pubescens) Dutchman's Breeches Giant Chickweed     Large Bee Fly at a Rue Anemone flower A Common Blue Violet and a Yellow Woodland Violet Tiny crab spider Flower fly   Early Saxifrage Toothwort, probably a Cutleaf Velvet mite Juvenal's Duskywing         Early Saxifrage and some Trout Lily leaves         Third Fork Creek Trial, Durham, NC  4/10/14         Long-jawed orb weaver         Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  4/8/14 A thick-jawed orb weaver (Pachygnatha furcillata). Genus ID thanks to John and Jane Balaban.  Species ID thanks to Jeff Hollenbeck.  Same spider, but a frontal view.  Jeff thought the smaller spider might be in the Phrurotimpus genus. The little spider seen on the left Ichneumon wasp Rove beetle (Stenus genus). ID help provided by Craig Sondergaard. Occoneechee Mountain Natural Area, Orange County, NC  4/6/14   Brown Elfin Spring Azure Spring Azure in flight Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)   Durham, NC  4/5/14       Spined Soldier Bug Crab spider       Durham, NC  4/3/14   Field Pansy (Viola bicolor) Another Field Pansy Crab spider (Synema parvulum) The same crab spider (Synema parvulum) with prey, a winged insect   Carolina Beach State Park, New Hanover County, NC  4/2/14         Scoliid wasp (Campsomeris genus)         Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC  4/2/14   Male Boat-tailed Grackle White Ibis Ring-billed Gull American Coot taking off (part running)   Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, New Hanover County, NC  4/2/14 Dunlin Sand Fiddler Crab Northern Mockingbird A Royal Tern (right) and what might be a Forster's Tern Royal Tern in breeding plumage   Dunlin flying over the Cape Fear River Dunlin about to be splashed Diamondback Terrapin, about 2 inches long Dunlin avoiding a wave   Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC  4/1/14       Male Boat-tailed Grackle attempting to use a bird feeder At sunset       Fort Fisher State Recreation Area  4/1/14    American Oystercatchers and a few Marbled Godwits First-year White Ibis Dunlins Mourning Dove     Double-crested Cormorants, migrating Snowy Egret in flight Snowy Egret in marsh Wildflowers (planted by state)

Copyright © 2014-2021 by Dorothy E. Pugh.  All rights reserved.  Please contact for rights to use photos.

 

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