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Winter Visitor – Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
It was a good morning for birding, including spotting my first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) of the season. This is a male who was happy to model for me. These woodpeckers for the most part eat arthropods, along with fruits and berries, tree sap, nuts, bast (inner bark of trees), and tree buds. I’m always…
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American Lady Butterfly
During the summer while my volunteer White Wood Asters are blooming I can count on seeing bunches of American Lady Butterflies (Vanessa virginiensis) sipping the nectar. I see there are oodles of larvae host plants listed for American Lady Butterflies. Asters are one of the plants listed. Purple Coneflowers will also attract them and make…
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Hackberry Emperor
Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis). A butterfly that lives in a broad swath of North America. Most of the eastern United States, central Plains states, and the southwest mountains; northern Mexico. Its larvae survives exclusively on the many species of Hackberry trees, trees in the genus Celtis. Hackberry Emperors over winter as larvae curled up in a…