I'm brand new to the blogging world, but I've spent the last year wandering my property with my camera taking pictures of whatever presents itself. I've been inflicting single pictures on my Facebook friends, but I've discovered there's a story behind every one. My vision for this blog is for it to be like a field notebook, with photos instead of sketches and some description of each. I'm working on my photography skills, but my intent here is to show what the day is like as opposed to posting only the best photos.
Here's a Virginia Ctenuchid moth on Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). I had thought this plant was a milkweed because of it's white sap, but it's in the dogbane family. Apparently it's a troublesome weed in soybean fields, but I find it especially photogenic. It seems much less attractive to insects than the common milkweed that seems to host whole communities.
It's mating season for red milkweed beetles (Tetraopes tetraophthalmus). Like Monarch butterfly caterpillars, the larvae of these beetles feed on milkweed and are poisonous to birds.
The common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) are blooming and attracting a host of insects. The honeybees seem especially attracted.
Watched an itchy rabbit have a good scratch.
