A night filled with moths

We’re back at Whitefish Point which means some serious mothing! Getting up in the morning to between two and three hundred moths resulted in hours of photographing and identifying moths. The moth above is a Wavy chestnut Y, which beside being a beautiful moth is an interesting name. The moth on the left is aContinue reading “A night filled with moths”

A day filled with insects

We went to Embury Road the other day searching for several birds that I hadn’t seen or heard this year – Blue-winged Warbler and Cerulean Warbler. We managed to find both species. But the high-lights for our time on there were the insects. Nothing like starting the morning with a Leconte’s Haploa, a nice mothContinue reading “A day filled with insects”

Moths in Ann Arbor

On Friday night we did a moth night for the Natural Areas Preservation people and volunteers at Oakwoods Nature Area. What a great evening at a place we had never been to. The meandering trails in the woods skirt a nice vernal pool and a large pond/lake. Setting up was simple and at about 9:30Continue reading “Moths in Ann Arbor”

A couple of interesting moths

At first look these two moths look alike, but they aren’t. The moth on the left is the spear-marked black. The moth on the right is the white-banded black. These were photographed on the same morning coming to our lights. But not only were they there on the same day, there were a lot ofContinue reading “A couple of interesting moths”

A night filled with moths

When the nights are warmer and without a threat of rain we set up the lights for attracting moths. In this part of May it’s still chancy regarding what we might get at Whitefish Point. The other night was better than we had recently experienced. Here are a few of our moths. We had severalContinue reading “A night filled with moths”

Lichens instead of birds

Today started still and foggy, but at least it’s not raining. The past week has been less than optimal for migrants. Odds and ends have been showing up, but not much. This morning I turned my attention to the great array of lichens here at Whitefish Point. The trees are literally dripping with moisture ladenContinue reading “Lichens instead of birds”

Day-31: Dauphin Island birds

Typically our days start at one of the many bird sanctuaries and preserves on the island. We’ve started at Audubon Sanctuary, Goart Tree Preserve and Shell Mound Preserve. Who knows where we’ll start next. Where ever it is there will be interesting things to see. Nothing like starting the day with a cotton mouth (waterContinue reading “Day-31: Dauphin Island birds”

Day-26: Audubon Sanctuary, Dauphin Island, Alabama

Yesterday we spent the morning at the Audubon Sanctuary Preserve on Dauphin Island. It was warm and still. It was so still that the reflections on the lake were perfect images of what they were reflecting. Periodically on the lake you could see a nose and the eyes of a turtle appear. The real treatContinue reading “Day-26: Audubon Sanctuary, Dauphin Island, Alabama”

Day-24: Pensacola Florida nature

We started the day with two Common Loons. There were Black-bellied Plovers along the beaches at the state park. As with all winter beaches in Florida Sanderlings were the most abundant shorebirds. Going from the beach to a trail through dune scrub we found an array of songbirds – Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warblers were common. TheContinue reading “Day-24: Pensacola Florida nature”

Day-22: Diverse plants and animals

Our day started with another luna moth as the sun was rising. Then we headed over towards Sopchoppy, Florida in search of plants and animals. An eastern fence lizard was a great start to a warm day in the field. While we were watching the lizard a Red-headed Woodpecker crossed an opening near by. WalkingContinue reading “Day-22: Diverse plants and animals”