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The Unobtrusive Orchid
About thirty years ago, while conducting an environmental program for an elementary class, a strange plant caught my eye as I led the students on a trail through a freshwater wetland area in a state park preserve in New York. The plant was about eight inches tall, purplish brown with a spike of tiny blossoms […]
Who’s That Sleeping in My Feeder?
Anyone who has ever fed wild birds shares the same frustrations as I, when the entourage of neighborhood squirrels wreak havoc at the backyard bird feeding station. The squirrels spill seed, chew feeders, and scare birds away. They are clever creatures and it seems that no matter how well you try to discourage them, they […]
How Milkweed Helped the Tiger Swallowtail!
Monarch butterflies continue to find the milkweed plants in our garden to lay eggs. Soon, there are only green sticks left to our milkweed plants dotted with hungry caterpillars. Anne counts 15 monarch caterpillars of various sizes. We find a small one crawling on our hot concrete driveway looking for more milkweed plants to eat. […]
A Queen is Born!
The queen caterpillars we found on our milkweed plants have grown, pupated and are about to hatch. We see one of the chrysalids (butterfly pupa) turn from a spring green to a dark color signifying the impending birth of the adult butterfly. Soon the butterfly breaks free of the chrysalis, hangs on to the shell […]
Resurrection Fern – The Living Dead
One thing you do not see in the pine barrens of Long Island in New York is ferns growing on the trunks of trees. But here in Florida it is a common sight. And recently, these ferns caught my eye and I decided to photograph them growing on the bark of live oak trees and […]
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