Dreary

The dreary drumming drops dripping on the skylight in this last faded day of the weeks end cascade from one rooftop to the next at first like a torrent later calming to a trickle. Breezes turn into gusts ripping and tearing the colors of autumn from their perches only to let the weight of their last drink pull them to the ground. It does not mark their demise, yet it delivers itself to its creator with a promise of replenishment and new life. Several long months pass giving way to the spring. The creator’s slumber through the trials of winter’s kiss gives way to the long awaited warmth of the spring. At last it is time to create again.

(Photograph by Sarah)

 

Time for a Break

I thought that it was time for a short break from Physics homework so that I could look through some of the photos from our recent camping trip. I liked these two and thought that I would post them so you could see. For the first photograph I was playing around with the camera at night with my 50mm lens and took a picture with a slightly long exposure and moved the camera around and the second was taken while on a short walk with Sarah and Jen.

 

Sunflower Macro

I took this picture in June 2008 and just stumbled across it this weekend. I know what it is but do you? — I posted this as a question to give myself an excuse to have to post again by at least the end of the week.

 

Black Swallowtail Emergence

Well after 7+ hours of sitting in the same spot, staring at the same chrysalis, I finally lucked out and the butterfly emerged from the chrysalis and I was able to take somewhere around 450 photographs. I chose a series of 20 photographs that show the progress as the butterfly emerged and posted them on Flickr. You can view the photostream by clicking here or by clicking the image above.

I watched the chrysalis patiently most of the evening on Friday but there was not much activity other than a few twitches here and there. I figured, or more accurately, hoped, that the butterfly would not emerge at night when it was cool outside and my parents called to see if Sarah and I wanted to join them for dinner. While at dinner I was telling my parents that I wanted to get up early to try to catch it in the morning. I asked my mom if she would be able to give me a call when she woke up in the morning assuming that I would have a bit of difficulty waking up in the morning. I have never really been a morning person. Evidently I am able to wake up with much less difficulty when there is something that I really want to do–waking up to go fishing, taking pictures of sunrise, taking pictures of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, etc.

I woke up at 6:11 a.m. and the butterfly emerged at around 8:00 a.m. so I was only outside this morning for about two hours before it emerged. I think the time sitting there was worth every second. One of the things you read about in science class is metamorphosis and you don’t get the opportunity to see it happen. I think watching something change from a caterpillar (through all of its stages) to a chrysalis to a butterfly is very cool to actually be able to witness.

 

Yes, Grasshopper!

For some reason I just wanted to title this post “Yes, Grasshopper!” No idea why… maybe because I took some pictures of a grasshopper. It could have been because I… lost my thought. Anyway, here are some pictures I took this afternoon while I was waiting for a butterfly to emerge from its chrysalis.

Just in case you were wondering, the butterfly did not emerge as of 10:20 P.M. EST and I will be waking up at the crack of dawn (hopefully) tomorrow morning to try to wake up before it does. We will see if I succeed or not. Maybe I should get the coffee pot ready.

 

The Strange Eggs Hatched

The eggs that I posted about hatched today. At first I thought the eggs were covered in mold because it has rained a fair amount since they were laid and it has been a bit humid but upon closer inspection I saw something I didn’t quite expect–little fuzzy bugs with nasty looking jaws. The jaws reminded me a bit of those on an antlion larva but antlion larva are not fuzzy. Since I have never seen little bugs quite like this before I decided to post the picture below on BugGuide to see if someone would be able to identify them for me. Very shortly after posting the image someone identified them as owlflies. Again, something I don’t think that I have ever seen but all of the other pictures looked like the one I took.

Both of the eggs that I originally thought were laid by different bugs appear to have come from the same insect. The white/tan/grey eggs on the left are the fertile eggs and the ones to the right that are brown with a translucent column attaching them to the stem are aborted eggs.

The person that identified the little fuzzy monsters said that the aborted eggs are to deter ants from getting to the eggs and another person that posted on a different image suggests that they may be used for a deterrent and as the first food source for the newly hatched larva. I personally have no clue but there it is.

If you would like to take a look at some pictures taken and shared by others visit the following BugGyide links:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/61238/bgimage

http://bugguide.net/node/view/4129/bgimage

 

Chrysalises (or Chrysalides)

As of yesterday (Aug. 24) morning I have four black swallow butterflies in the chrysalis (pupal) stage of development. I am a nerd so I recorded the date and time (AM or PM) when I first noticed that each individual chrysalis was formed. From the size of one of the caterpillars I think that I will have another in chrysalis stage within the next 48 hours.

I find it very intriguing that the color of the chrysalis is determined by the color of the object on which it is formed. Two of the chrysalises are brown (one formed on a 2×4 and the other on a dead stick) and two are green (one formed on dill and the other on parsley). How the hell does it know!? I have not yet attempted to research this phenomenon but it is pretty cool genetic programming.

Out of this whole butterfly raising experience I hope to take some (excellent) photographs of the butterflies emerging from the chrysalis. I think that process would make for some very interesting picture. I’m sure that I said that in one of my previous entries but I can’t remember and I’m too tired to go and check. Anyway, here is a picture of a caterpillar preparing itself to become a chrysalis and pictures of three of the four chrysalises:

Preparation

Chrysalis on 2x4

Chrysalis on Parsley

Chrysalis on Stick

The first picture (Preparation) shows what the caterpillar looks like just before forming the chrysalis. It attaches is abdomen to the stick and attaches itself to the same thing it glued its butt to with two threads. It kind of looks like those people that wrap a belt around a tree and have the little spikes on their shoes to climb trees in competition. Anyway, moving along. The last picture (Chrysalis on Stick) are pictures of the same caterpillar that was pictured in ‘Preparation.’

The picture-in-picture above is to show the initial stage (green/brown chrysalis) and the final form (brown/black). This little bugger made me pretty angry. I was outside and it looked like the ‘Preparation’ photograph and within 10-20 minutes, while I was taking pictures of who knows what, the transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis was complete! I missed the whole thing!!! Oh well, just means I have to try again.

 

Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Last Friday I went to check on my black swallowtail caterpillars and was a bit worried when I saw only one of the six that were there earlier that morning. I figured that I only have one left so I’ll build a screened enclosure that will still allow airflow but hopefully keep predators out (which is what I thought happened to the rest of the caterpillars). That night I started to get materials together from around the house. I had a few spare 2×4 boards and some leftover screen from a couple of previous projects. I made a bunch of quick cuts and started building. I didn’t finish that night because the mosquitoes were very bad on the patio. I spent the morning (Saturday) fishing with my dad and checked on the remaining caterpillar that afternoon. To my surprise there were two more caterpillars on the dill. Not brand new little ones but the larger ones that I thought had been eaten by birds or something.

Since I started building the enclosure I continued the build and finished building the frame that afternoon. The next step was to put screen around the whole frame but unfortunately the amount of screen on the roll of screen was a bit deceptive and although it looked like I had plenty to cover the enclosure, I only had enough screen to cover the top. I went to the hardware store and bought more screen and finished the screened enclosure on Sunday morning. It is rough and is not my most well made project but it does the job. I really can make things much nicer (see my other blog) and I will probably make a nicer one in preparation for next year after the mosquitoes are all either dead or dormant.

One one side of the enclosure I put all of the dill that I have left (I’ll need to buy more) and on the other I put a bunch of dead sticks in a pot of dirt so the caterpillars have somewhere to form their chrysalis. I probably need to provide an easier way for the caterpillars to get from the dill pots to the ground and will do that in the morning tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the story. On Monday when I went to water the dill I found another large caterpillar that wasn’t there a few days earlier. Since the dill was in short supply before my mom picked up these two pots for me I think the caterpillars moved on to the parsley. Now I have six caterpillars back. I really hope to photograph the chrysalis and the emergence. We’ll see if I manage soon enough. For now I have some more interesting pictures to share.

This caterpillar was very touchy. I didn’t have to touch it at all for it to expose its osmeterium. All I did was move the parsley pot and it reared up and told me to get away from its dinner! I rather like this picture but this one was a rather potent smelling one!

I found this one changing his suit. The half a little to the left of the middle seems to be a bit translucent and one of its feet is missing. I am not sure what happened to it but it seems to be okay since it is still alive and has almost eaten an entire dill plant by itself. I made him a prosthetic foot for the next picture using the clone stamp tool in Photoshop Elements.

 

Blue Passion Flower

Earlier this spring I was paging through the many nursery catalogs that we receive and found a few things that I thought were pretty cool. One of the items that I chose to purchase is a blue passion flower. This week it started to bloom and I thought that I would share some of the pictures.

I have no idea if the fruit is edible so I have no intention of eating it. Maybe next year I will try to buy this plant again since it seems to be thriving in my back yard and make sure that the variety that I buy produces edible fruit. Edible or not, it is pretty cool!

 

Eggs of Unknown Insects

I went outside to check on my black swallowtail caterpillars this morning since we had a relatively heavy rain last night. Of the six I was only able to find four of them. While I was trying to find them I found something else that I didn’t expect to find. Two different types of insect eggs on the same stalk of dill. I didn’t get very good photographs of them but I will try again tomorrow if they have not already hatched. I am quite curious about what they may become. I am assuming caterpillars but I have no idea. If anyone knows what they may be I would like to know so feel free to add a comment telling me what you think they are.

Unknown Eggs #1

Unknown Eggs #2

Unknown Eggs #2 Closeup

The eggs in the first image are approximately two millimeters in length, a little less than one millimeter in diameter and are a light grayish tan color. The eggs in the second and third image are quite a bit smaller in comparison. They are about two millimeters in length but maybe a half of a millimeter in diameter and are an amber brown color with a translucent base connecting them to the stalk of dill.

If I manage to get a few better pictures of these eggs tomorrow I will post them and any other information that I may be able to dig up.