Category: wildlife

Long-eared Owls Finally!

birds, wildlife, wildlife photography

The Long-eared Owl has been on my top most wanted list for adding to my photographed species list for nearly 15 years. During this past New Years Eve, I finally found that opportunity.

Long-eared Owls are a bit different in that they hold and keep winter roosting sites, sometimes using the same trees or a single tree for these winter roosts year after year. This was the case here, where we found five birds roosting in a couple of exotic pine trees. Unfortunately, all but the one pictured here were too far in the mix of branches to be photographed. I am sure happy to have this one.

I had heard that this species is particularly weary, flushing with the least provocation. I did not find this to be the case at all with this group. Yes, this was a hard to find location and they do not likely see many visitors. When we stepped from the car they did become aware, moving their heads back and forth to get better looks at us from between branches. But, with keeping low voices, slow movements and respectful distances, they got used to our presence fairly quickly. I was even amused that they began ignoring us, turning their backs to us, going back to sleep and having what seemed to me normal behaviors and interactions. We stayed until dusk at which point they began stirring, moving from perch to perch and interacting with one another. This was too dark for still photographs but I did collect a little bit of video that I hope to process and share someday.

I know this is a sought after species in our region. This roost is on private property in which we were invited. I will not be able to share the location information for this site. Thanks for understanding.

Insect’s of Horn’s Prairie Grove LWR

location spotlight, macro, native plants, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography
Part of the Horn’s Prairie Grove LWR with obedient plant blooming in the foreground and joe pye weed behind.

The WGNSS Entomology and Nature Photography Groups had a splendid treat in July of 2022 when we jointly visited Horn’s Prairie Grove Land Water Reserve (LWR) near Ramsey IL. This 40 acre patch represents part of the less than 1% of the remaining southern till plain prairie ecosystem that was nearly wiped from the planet due to land conversion for farming. Even better, about 30 acres are original “virgin” prairie, (the largest intact remnant prairie in IL) meaning these spots were never touched by the plow. Even better still, at this location there lies five different types of prairie habitat: seep/wetland, dry hillside, mesic, black soil and savanna.

Keith Horn, owner and guide to Horn’s Prairie Grove LWR

The story of this land is interesting. The current owners, Keith and Patty Horn, purchased the land in 2001 as “junk land” from an old farmer who’s family had owned since the 1870s. They liked the fact that the majority of the land was in a “wild” state. The untouched 30 acres had been used as a wild hay field, being cut almost yearly. They had noticed some nice wildflowers in bloom but did not realize what they had until a few years into a wildlife habitat improvement plan that included periodic burning. Every year they noticed more and more species in bloom. They have sought help in identifying the plant species here and the current list is now at 619 species, including six native orchid species! Bravo to the Horns for identifying what they had and taking the steps to see their land improved. This remnant prairie could have been destroyed in the blink of an eye if it had fallen into the wrong hands.

Although most of us were simply thrilled to be in such high quality habitat, the primary purpose of the trip was to check out the arthropod life. Unfortunately, in late July, we were there on a truly miserable day of weather. The heat and humidity created a heat index that was well above the safety zone. This meant not many of us had the nerve to do a great deal of walking and searching, especially much after lunch time.

Efferia aestuans, the friendly robber (Family Asilidae)
Calopteryx maculata, an ebony jewelwing damselfly that was found on the forest and prairie edge.
Members of our group walking among the blooming Liatris.
A gorgeous Poanes zabulon, Zabulon skipper (Family Hesperiidae)
What I am calling Wallengrenia egeremet, the northern broken-dash (Family Hesperiidae)
Keith Horn (back) and Chris Brown (front)
We were lucky to find both Mydas fly species to be found in Illinois, but I was only able to photograph this Mydas tibialis.
The gnat ogre! (Holcocephala sp.)
Interested in making visits to interesting high-quality habitats like this? Then consider joining Webster Groves Nature Study Society! Visit http://www.wgnss.org to find out more.

2022 Kansas Trip – Long-billed Dowitcher

birds, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, wildlife, wildlife photography

We didn’t have a great deal of diversity in the shorebirds during this early season trip to the “central coast,” but, we had great numbers in the early migrating species like the Long-billed Dowitcher. There may have been some Short-billed Dowitchers mixed in here but none that we could confirm identity. The LBDO uses the central flyway predominantly while the SBDO primarily moves along the coasts during spring migration.

Sarah’s Birthday Caterpillar Hunt – 2022

macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Sarah and I traditionally conduct a caterpillar hunt on the weekend of her birthday in mid-September and 2022 was no different. This year we headed to Meramec State Park. I had recently heard of a short trail that covered the lush river bottom and contained hundreds of pawpaw trees. My hope was to find caterpillars of zebra longwing butterflies – a cat that has been elusive despite my many attempts at finding a late instar to photograph. We wound up short of this goal again, but we did find quite a few interesting species. I know Sarah will want me to mention that she did indeed win the day by finding more cats than I did. 🙂

Ceratomia undulosa (waved sphinx) in the family Sphingidae. This impressive cat was found feeding on an ash (Fraxinus sp.).
Although we strike out on the zebra longwings, searching through pawpaws still yield results with other specialist feeders, such as this lovely Dolba hyloeus (pawpaw sphinx).
Perhaps because they are so conspicuous, we often have luck finding the cats of the beautiful Apatelodes torrefacta (spotted apatelodes moth) in the Apatelodidae family. These come in two flavors – vanilla white and the more pleasing lemon chiffon pictured here.
Perhaps my favorite find of the day was this husk of an unknown caterpillar species having been preyed upon by larvae of an Eulophid wasp, likely an Euplectrus species. These wasps are ectoparasitoids that ride on the backs of their caterpillar hosts. When reaching their final stages in development, they spin webs and pupate within, using the remains of the caterpillar and their webs as cover.
Getting the lighting just right on these was challenging. Here, I tried my best to position the flash to illuminate the number of pupae residing beneath the remains of this poor deceased caterpillar.
Of course we are always on the lookout for larval members of the Limacodidae, or “slug moth” caterpillars. We found lots of saddlebacks (Acharia stimulea), including the two seen here. I’ve come to see how widely generalist this species is, having found them not only on numerous woody plant species, but in completely different environments, from dry upland woods to corn fields to humid bottomland forests like the one we were in on this day.
The monkey slug (Phobetron pithecium), purposed to be a mimic of tarantula exuvia, never ceases to fascinate me. Like the saddlebacks pictured above, the monkey slug also contains spines that deliver a toxic punch upon contact.
Here you can see the monkey slug’s appendages rising above the leaf it is feeding upon. The problem with being a generalist caterpillar is that these species need to be able to deal with a variety different toxins that reside in the mature leaves of their many host species. This is believed to be the reason it takes the larvae of the Limacodids so much longer to develop compared to similarly-sized caterpillars of other taxa. This comparatively longer development time may also be the selective force that helped drive the development of the stinging spines that are used to defend against parasitoids and other predators.

NABA Fieldtrips with Yvonne Homeyer

macro, wildlife

Late last summer I had the great pleasure of attending my first couple of field trips with the St. Louis chapter of the North American Butterfly Association. Both of these walks were led by my friend, Yvonne Homeyer, the St. Louis chapter President. Yvonne is not only skilled and knowledgeable with butterflies but is an expert birder as well. These walks were held at Marais Temps Clair Conservation Area in St. Charles County, MO. I was thrilled to be able to get a number of first photographs of some fantastic species and was happy to do so while on a walk in good weather among friends. Thanks to all the participants who patiently helped me locate these insects and get the photos!

The common checkered skipper (Burnsius communis), a simply dazzling member of the Hesperiidae family. These guys seem to love the white clover growing in the turf along the trails.
The southern dogface (Zerene cesonia) in the sulfur family (Pieridae). This isn’t the greatest butterfly photo but I was happy to catch this with nice backlighting to showcase its namesake in the forewing. That bright face is said to look like that of a dog’s, specifically a poodle, as Yvonne informed me. Personally, I think it’s a dead ringer for Fred Flinstone!
Arguably the most striking butterfly in the state, we found a few bronze coppers (Lycaena hyllus) F. Lycaenidae at Marais Temps Clair C.A. during these walks. I was very excited to find these and even more excited when we found a few cooperative enough to pose for some photos!
The dorsal view of the striking bronze copper (Lycaena hyllus) F. Lycaenidae.
Another skipper for my collection! The least skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor) F. Hesperidae, seemed to be relatively abundant during our walks but rarely stood still while I was around. With the help from the others on the walk, I finally found one that stayed still.
We found more than just butterflies on these walks. I love the blister beetles (Meloidae family) and I seem compelled to take their photos whenever I come across them even though I have shot these species time and again. Here is a pair of striped blister beetles (Epicauta vittata) we found clinging to the vegetation.
I should have mentioned earlier that Yvonne is an expert on the dragonflies of Missouri as well. Here is a male blue-faced meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum) in the family Libellulidae.
This has to be one of my favorite finds on these walks, simply because it’s such a fantastic caterpillar and something that was completely unexpected. This is the smartweed caterpillar (Acronicta oblinita), named for its preferred host plant on which we found a couple. This species will also use other plants as hosts. The adult moth that his guy transforms into is given the name of smeared dagger and is in the family Noctuidae.

It became obvious to me that this species must have had a lot of selective pressure from parasitic wasps and tachinid flies. See those urticating protective hairs? The pale oblong ovals in the trough of the yellow on each segment? These are both adaptations to protect themselves from having eggs of these parasitoids laid on them as well as to deter predators like birds from having an easy meal. However, these protective adaptations don’t always work. If you look closely, you can see two real tachinid fly eggs on the second segment just behind its head. This looked to me to be a final instar of this caterpillar. Depending on whether or not the fly larvae had emerged, this cat may not be doomed.