An Exciting Find!

I was weeding the perimeter of our garden fence by hand today (I do this because I love to let Morning Glories grow up the fence, and the weed eater is an indescriminate killer), and lookie what I found!



The praying mantis is one of my most favorite insects. I found a very young mantis in my driveway earlier this year and very carefully transferred it to my garden.



I can't say if this is the same one, but I like to think that it is :)



So I called my Jaybird to tell him about my find, and he said, "Oh yeah! There's a mantis egg sac on one of our blueberry bushes!"



Well! How's that for Christmas in September? I'm not really sure if the egg sac, or "ootheca" has already hatched or is ready to overwinter for hatching next spring when the weather turns warm again, but either way, I'm thrilled! Mantids are voracious predators of harmful garden insects, and let's just face it; they're positively fascinating in every conceivable way!

The Life Cycle of the Praying Mantis

Aye Carumba!

I'm normally pretty appreciative of the insect life around me, and out here in the boondocks there is a plethora of it to appreciate. But this takes the cake! I went out to pick the last of my blueberries and caught a glimpse of this, um, caterpop, and almost did a back flip! Isn't it cool and yet horrible at the same time? Kinda makes you think of a creeped out appetizer-on-a-stick, doesn't it? :D

I did a little research, and I think these are "Yellownecked Caterpillars" (Datana ministra), destroyer of oak leaves and other United States hardwoods, not to mention shade and ornamental trees >:-(

And this, from the Forest Health Protection, Southern Region: Newly hatched larvae skeltonize the leaf; older larvae devour all except the leaf stalk. Individual trees, or even stands, may be defoliated during late summer and early fall. Since defoliation is confined to the late part of the growing season, little damage is caused to the tree.

See the way they've arched their backs, throwing their heads and tails up into the air? When disturbed, the creepy little larvae use this as a defensive measure to prevent parasitism by various wasps and flies. I think it looks pretty funny. Like bug yoga.

Moths appear during June and July and deposit white eggs in masses of 50 to 100 on the undersides of the leaves. Larvae feed in groups, reportedly maturing in August and September. Mature larvae are fuzzy and black with white stripes. I hate to thell them but they're running late. They're really gonna have to get on the stick to make it by October (pun intended! heh..) Mature larvae drop to the soil and pupate at depths of 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 mm), where they spend the winter. There is one generation per year, and since their natural enemies generally keep infestations in check and they apparently don't really cause much damage, I'm just going to leave the little suckers alone, and see if the freakshow returns next year! ;)

Mr. Monarch Butterfly

I wonder where you've been, and where you're going.



I hope you enjoyed your visit to my garden!



You're a bit tattered and torn, but beautiful still, and always welcome here. I hope I'll see you again soon.

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

I found this caterpillar in my dill earlier in the summer, and lucky for me it's still there! I hope it stays and gifts us with the opportunity to watch his/her transformation. It's going to be a gorgeous Black Swallowtail. Also called the Parsley Caterpillar, young Black Swallowtail caterpillars are black with a white saddle, later becoming smooth and green with black bands and yellow spots, growing to approximately 2 inches. It has an orange osmeterium, a fleshy organ found in the prothoracic segment of caterpillar larvae of Swallowtail butterflies including Birdwings. This organ emits smelly compounds believed to be pheromones. Normally hidden, this forked structure can be everted when the caterpillar is threatened, and used to emit a foul-smelling secretion containing terpenes. These chemicals are bad tasting to predators and vary from species to species.

The Black Swallowtail eats Queen Anne's lace, carrot, parsley and dill, of course. It overwinters as a chrysalis and is found in southern Canada and throughout the eastern United States, as well as the south-western states and Mexico.

Isn't it beautiful? :)

Stop! Thief!

Say, what's that there in your mouth, big fella?

I've been missing eggs now for over a week, and I've thought my hens were striking. So here we have two scenarios:

1. The snake was eating the eggs, and
2. The hens went to lay elsewhere or just said "Screw this," because there was a freakin' SNAKE in their nests. If I came into work every day to find a snake in my chair, I'd strike, too. Wouldn't you?

If you're worried about what happened to the snake, stop reading right now!

I really hate to say it, but I called my brother-in-law to come dispatch the intruder. He said it was a "chicken snake" (a pretty generic term for non-poisonous snakes - a.k.a. rat snakes - who loiter around farms killing mice and stealing eggs) but wasn't interested in the whole catch-and-release procedure. I'm sure the snake was doing a fine job keeping the mouse population under control (I would have gladly let him stay if he'd left my eggs alone), but I'm not keeping hens for reptile food production, and we have another setter just two nests down from where I found him. She should be hatching soon - maybe this weekend (I'll post pics!) - so I just couldn't take the chance. :(