Greensboro Birds

I promised a sphinx moth, and I’m a blogger of my word. I found this Nessus sphinx moth clutching onto the grass in the morning dew. Audubon’s Field Guide to the Southeastern States (very useful for local insects and plants) says that the Nessus sphinx “feeds on flowers, hovering like a hummingbird.” Sounds like another [...]

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A monarch butterfly wafted its way up the hill and out of the yard this afternoon. Of course, it appeared shortly after I thought, Wonder when the monarchs will arrive? Not saying I’m the blogging Patricia Arquette or anything; it’s just weird how that happens. Anyone else seeing monarchs yet?
*FOTY = First of the year; [...]

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Hummingbird moths practically live on the May Night salvia. Last fall they were all over the hyssop, but that isn’t in bloom yet. These are members of the sphinx moth family (which reminds me that I have some nice sphinx moth photos to show you one of these days). They look a lot like bumble [...]

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House wrens are dueling outside the window this morning. I can hear their trilly, buzzy song from all sides of the house. I can also hear the first wood thrush of the year working out its double syrinx in the woods right now. Last night, the woods on either side of the house were noisy [...]

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Big problems sometimes call for big solutions. The dry creek was completed on Friday afternoon, a mere five days after the men of Chilton’s started the project. It’s pretty spectacular, don’t you think? The straw mats are seeded with grass, and the pine-needle areas will be planted thickly (or “junked up,” as Forrest says), so [...]

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We’ve had a few inches of rain in the past week, and now our wet footlong grass is attracting dragonflies. This female common green darner was grabbing onto a cluster of long blades, and refused to budge no matter how close I or the dogs got to it. It just kept clutching the grass tighter [...]

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Our Yoshino cherry tree is in bloom, and the honey bees are making the most of it. Since moving into this house last fall, we’ve planted four trees in front and seven in back—and inherited another mess of ‘em in the adjacent wooded section. Everything is in bloom rotation, with the red maples and pears [...]

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Big thanks go out to commenter Dan for solving this mystery from last fall! This fabulously striped caterpillar that Josh, Happy, and I spotted in Farris Park is a brown-hooded owlet moth—a fitting name for a moth caterpillar on a bird blog. You can find more info about them, including photos of the more subdued [...]

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