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This month
I visited the mountains and the beach, all within North Carolina, but
everywhere I saw some new species. Montreat and the Asheville area
were notable for their wildflowers, including flowering Putty Root
orchids, and the officially "threatened" Red Knot (subspecies
rufa) sandpiper made its
appearance at both Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach and at the
beach outside town on Ocracoke Island. I had my first opportunity
to see bee flies attempting predation by landing and hovering just
outside solitary bee nests; I also saw my second Eastern Beach Tiger
Beetle ever. Back at home, I continued to see very young insects
and spiders on the bollards of the Third Fork Creek Trail, many of which
defied identification. A large patch of Coreopsis flowers
attracted many American Lady butterflies. Clearly this odd urban
habitat is a special one, and which professional naturalists would
benefit from studying.
Third Fork Creek Trail,
Durham, NC 5/31/12
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| Large jumping spider (15
mm long) |
Katydid nymph on Coreopsis
flower |
Pearl Crescent on Daisy
Fleabane? |
Purple False Foxglove |
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| Hopper nymph (Oncometopia
genus) |
Spiderling |
Long-horned beetle
(actually, seen at home at night) |
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Durham, NC (around the house) 5/30/12
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| Spider web with raindrops
on it |
Striped Wintergreen
flower, with Spined Assassin Bug nymph on top |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/28/12
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| Spiderling |
Cocklebur Weevil |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/27/12
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| Bug nymph. Ken
Wolgemuth thinks it might be a Podisus genus member (maybe a
Spined Soldier Bug) based on
BugGuide entries. The three-segment antennae do match. |
Adult bug |
Tarnished Plant Bug |
Pearl Crescent on dog
droppings. There is no mistaking dog droppings (as opposed
to deer scat, for instance): they are the only large carnivores in this area! |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/27/12
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| Chalcid wasp |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/26/12
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| American Lady on a
Coreopsis flower |
Ebony Bug |
Pearl Crescent |
Green Six-spotted Tiger
Beetle |
Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC
5/24/12
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| Red Knot flying |
Two Red Knots |
Black-bellied Plover |
Sanderling |
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| Eurasian Collared Dove |
Black-bellied Plover |
Firewheels |
Bee fly at solitary bee nest |
White-topped Sedge |
Ocracoke Island, north end 5/23/12
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_small.JPG) |
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| Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle
(Cicindela dorsalis). The genus name may have recently
been changed. |
Marbled Godwit |
Marbled Godwit and
Sanderling |
Same Marbled Godwit and
Sanderling |
Firewheels, in a small
patch on a dune |
Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 5/23/12
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| A feral dog barking at me |
The same dog barking at my
husband |
Bird's-foot Trefoil |
Mallard bathing in a large
puddle left by a big storm |
Bear Grass |
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| The south end |
Violet Wood Sorrel (perhaps
a member of the same species as Pink Wood Sorrel: maybe
lighting accounts for the slight difference in color) |
White-topped Sedge |
Brown-headed Cowbirds |
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Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 5/22/12
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| Hybrid goose, part Canada Goose |
Mallard family, headed by two females |
Western extreme of Ocracoke, seen from the
ferry |
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| Pink Wood Sorrel |
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Pamlico Sound, Carteret and Hyde Counties, NC 5/22/12
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| Bottlenose Dolphins |
Royal Tern preparing to
dive |
Brown Pelicans, gulls and Canada Geese on an
island near Ocracoke, seen from the ferry |
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Cedar Island, Carteret County, NC 5/22/12
Cedar Island is a varied natural environment.
On the immediate north side of the ferry landing is a large shallow cove,
which traps dozens of jellyfish at a time near the shore. Because
of the great expanse of this cove, the warm water contributes to an
unusually warm environment with little wind in the summer (and probably
colder air in the winter). Swallows cluster a little distance inland, on
the other side of grassy dunes, while House Sparrows are found
everywhere except the shore and squabble over territory.
Mosquitoes abound but few other insects are found.
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| House Sparrow |
Chairmaker's Rush and
Beach Pennywort |
A grassy dune |
A robber fly |
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| Red jellyfish |
White jellyfish |
Many small jellyfish |
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Atlantic Beach, Carteret County, NC 5/21/12
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| Ruddy Turnstone in
breeding plumage |
Same Ruddy Turnstone |
Royal Tern diving |
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| Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus
palustris) |
Sand Fiddler Crabs at Hoop
Pole Creek Trail |
Swamp with prominent Live
Oak |
Sanderling |
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| Sanderling on shells |
The magnificent sky that
evening |
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Fort Macon State Park, Carteret County, NC 5/21/12
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| White Ibises |
Red Knot |
Old Ring-billed Gull |
Grass |
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| Ambush Bug |
Tachinid fly |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/19/12
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| Big wolf spider (almost 2
inches long) with spiderlings |
A better close-up of the
spiderlings on the big wolf spider |
Stink bug (Menecletes
insertus) |
Chloropid fly |
Common Buckeye |
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| Common Buckeye |
Another view of that
Common Buckeye |
Soldier beetle (Trypherus
latipennis). Genus ID thanks to
Brad Barnd, species ID thanks to
Kelly Fiegle. |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/18/12
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| Variable Dancers, maybe,
male on the left. The male prevents the female from mating
with other males this way, remaining while she oviposits. |
Crab spider (Misumessus
oblongus). ID confirmed by
Joe Lapp. |
Little Wood Satyr |
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| Daring Jumping Spider
(Phidippus audax) |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/17/12
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| American Lady |
Pearl Crescent |
Megachilid bee on
Coreopsis |
Jumping spider. The large abdomen is unusual. |
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| Spotted Cucumber Beetle |
Maybe a very young wolf
spider |
A very young katydid nymph |
Paper wasp with an egg sac? |
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| Shield-backed katydid |
Spotted Cucumber Beetle on
a Horse Nettle flower |
Mating flies |
Flatfaced longhorn beetle
(Cyrtinus pygmaeus), body about 2 mm long |
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| A long-jawed orb weaver, no more than an inch
long |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/16/12
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| Squash Bug |
White Blue-eyed Grass |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/14/12
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| Flower fly |
Red-spotted Purple |
Dusky lady beetle (Diomus terminatus), Durham, NC, 5/14/12. Tribe ID
thanks to Vassili Belov. Species ID thanks to James Bailey, confirmed by Mike Quinn. |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/12/12
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| Ladybug beetle larva |
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Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC 5/11/12
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| Mock Strawberry or Indian
Strawberry (Duchesnea indica) |
Penstemon multiflora |
Silvery Checkerspot on
White Clover |
Venus' Looking Glass |
Mourning Cloak |
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| Orchard Spider |
Little Wood Satyr |
Male Zabulon Skipper |
Sundrops |
Eastern Gray Beardtongue
(Penstemon canescens) |
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| Adult female Common
Whitetail |
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Durham, NC 5/11/12
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| Three-spotted Horse Fly |
Antmimic spider
(Castaneira longipalpa) |
Appalachian Brown (dorsal
view) |
Appalachian Brown (ventral
view) |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/10/12
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| Flatfaced longhorn
beetle (Cyrtinus pygmaeus). ID thanks to
Brad Barnd. |
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Flat River Waterfowl Impoundment, Durham County, NC 5/10/12
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| Black Swallowtail |
Viceroy |
Pearl Crescent |
Variegated Fritillary |
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_small.JPG) |
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| Great Fritillary |
Moth and billbug on Oxeye
Daisy |
Recent metamorph Eastern
Pondhawk |
Everlasting Pea |
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| Cabbage White |
Wild Onion |
Grass |
Clover? |
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| Katydid on a large moth
caterpillar |
Venus' Looking Glass |
Jumping spider (Phidippus
clarus) |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 5/8/12
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| Golden-backed Snipe Flies |
Banded Hairstreak |
Harvester |
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Durham, NC 5/7/12
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| Female march fly |
Rove beetle |
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Durham, NC 5/5/12
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| Ground beetle, possibly
Scarites genus |
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Graybeard Trail, Montreat, Buncombe County 5/3/12
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| Cuckoo bee (Nomada genus) |
Aphid |
Indian Tobacco |
Scorpionfly (Panorpa acuta) |
Scorpionfly, not Panorpa
genus |
Swannanoa River Road, Warren Wilson College,
Asheville, NC 5/3/12
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| Putty Root orchid flowers.
The winter leaf was still here, all brown. |
The winter leaf of another
Putty Root orchid which had not bloomed. |
Tiny scarab beetle |
Mayapple with small fruit |
Unidentified wildflower |
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| Dog Hobble |
Solomon's Seal |
Summer Azure? |
Graybeard Penstemon |
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| Common Yellow Wood Sorrel |
Toxomerus genus flower fly
on Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass |
Field Pansy |
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Montreat, Buncombe County, NC 5/3/12
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| Rough-winged Swallow |
Juvenile Rough-winged Swallow |
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Montreat, NC 5/2/12
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| Preening Mandarin Duck |
Another view of the
Mandarin Duck |
American Carrion Beetle
(Necrophila americana) |
Spotted Sandpiper at Lake
Susan |
Pink Wood Sorrel |
Montreat, Buncombe County, NC 5/1/12
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| Carolina Hemlock |
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Private garden, Asheville, NC 5/1/12
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| Yellow Lady's Slipper |
Putty Root Orchid |
Geraniums |
Primrose |
Citrine Forktail |
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| A view of the garden |
Mystery flower |
Green Dragon |
Iris |
Fire Pink |
North Carolina Arboretum, Bumcombe County, NC 5/1/12
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White-spotted Sawyer
(Monochamus scutellatus), a flat-faced longhorn beetle. ID
thanks to
Vassily Belov.
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Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria majalis) |
Bowl-and-doily Spider |
Red Admiral |
Red-hot Pokers |
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| A Yellowwood (Cladrastis
kentukea, a legume family member) tree, the only species in this genus in the US. |
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