Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Fall foliage, early edition -- UPDATED with IDs

No, we don't have too many fall leaves turning yet, but we do have a lot of nice fall flowers blooming. Gretchen, her gf, and AB and I went camping at Greenwood Furnace (they have a great pair of very isolated walk-up sites that we love) and got some great flower and mushroom photos. The best bird of the trip was a beautiful Ovenbird just above eye-level who gave us quite a show, including raised crest just like Crossley shows; unfortunately, he dashed out of sight before either of us could snap a photo. Flowers are infinitely easier to capture!

Meadow Closed Gentian

Calico Aster

the seed pods from Doll's Eyes, which are kinda creepy


some interesting orange-topped mushrooms

Magenta Coral mushroom?

a shimmery purple mushroom--it was like a cartoon mushroom from Barbie land

couldn't ID this one -- any ideas?

Is this a Striped Maple Tree? Here are the leaves:



Saw some nice moths; at least I think the second one is a moth:
there's nothing for scale, but he was at least two inches from tip to wing-end! He's a beauty! Perhaps some kind of underwing?

I don't know if this is some sort of clearwing moth or some gigantic mosquito hawk -- again, with nothing to show scale, it's hard to see that he's about 1-1/2 inches long with a 2-inch+ wingspan. Per Wren, my friend from Cape May, it's a Giant Eastern Crane Fly, Pedicia albivitta, and quite a beautiful little specimen. Harmless, per What's That Bug?

And some soon-to-be moths!
the closest I can come on this guy is a Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar
possible Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar

I leave you with this scary-big bee-wasp-possible-clearwing-moth thing:He was at least 1-1/2 inches long! I have gone through all the images of clearwings on the Bug Guide site, but I can't find one with this pattern of body -- many are close, but not exact matches. And if he's a bee or wasp... holy moly. His wings were constantly flapping, and he was very scary to someone who's allergic to bee and wasp stings -- like me. There's some discussion in the comments as to whether it's a Cicada Killer or a European Hornet -- not really sure. Either way, it's creepy and scary -- but it didn't display any aggressive behaviors, at least.

7 comments:

Dr. Monkey Hussein Monkerstein said...

Lovely shots.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Cool photos! I do agree that the doll's eyes are creepy!

dguzman said...

Thanks, Dr. Monkey.

Lynne, I was happy to have another life flower, though!

Wren nests in... said...

Okay, I can help with only one of these, your giant wasp: check "Cicada Killer". They seem to have been rather plentiful this year.

Nice shots! (Purple mushrooms? Seriously? Wow.)

Wren nests in... said...

I know more than I think I know...

Your harlequin beastie is a crane fly; I'm used to dull drab ones. This lovely is a Giant Eastern according to my NWF bug book.

(Wagner's Caterpillar book seems to agree with your tussock caterpillars.)

John B. said...

I think your giant wasp is a European Hornet rather than a Cicada Killer.

I agree on the cranefly and the tussock moths.

For the moth, I'd suggest looking through the Moth Photographers Group. It could be an underwing or it could be one of the larger noctuids, like a dagger moth.

I haven't found the blue flower yet.

dguzman said...

Thanks, Wren and John! I'll make the necessary updates!