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This message does not really have to do with backyard wildlife management. However, it is an interesting note about a species you may run into in your backyard one day.
About a week ago an Office Assistant (basically a secretary) where I work asked me to come to the back door to see something. What I saw surprised and, to some extent, frightened me. I had never seen this creature in the past. It was a Hickory Horned Devil!
The Hickory Horned Devil is the caterpillar of the Regal Moth. The scientific name is Citheronia regalis. It is the largest caterpillar in the United States.
Why did it frighten me? I had been stung by the hairs of other caterpillars and the stings can be quite painful. Especially when one gets down into hip boots and stings you a number of times before you can get the boot off! I speak from experience. I was not sure if the hairs on this one were of the stinging variety. When I pushed it into a container the caterpillar quickly wiggled. I didn't want to get stung. Later I found out that it does not have stinging hairs.
The part you see with the black spots is not the head. The caterpillar tucks its much smaller head under the front of the body when frightened. These large, black eyes and horny projections look like the head of a fearsome creature and are designed to frighten potential predators. If a predator does bite it at this false head, the real head remains protected and the animal may live to see another day. Other caterpillars, such as that of the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly, try to fool predators in much the same way.
Apparently, it is OK for some animals to fool part of Mother Nature. Just don't try to fool all of her.
Left click here to see a web page that provides information about it.
Honey bees provide an invaluable service to nature and, of course, their honey is wonderful. Bees in general provide this service (as well as flies that visit flowers and other creatures, such as bats). What is it? Pollination of plants. You likely know that the structures like hairs on bees pick up pollen when they visit flowers and transfer it to other individuals of the same plant species, thus fertilizing the female reproductive parts of these plants. Results are fruits and seeds. This relationship has developed over time. Without this service, many plants without wind blown pollen or that are not self-pollinated would not survive. The honeybee, and perhaps other native bee species, have been declining in numbers. This should not be of concern only to the beekeeper. It should concern all of us. Thus, consider placing plants whose flowers attract honeybees in your yard.
Of course, some precautions are in order. If your child walks around the yard in bare feet, you may not wish to plant low lying flowers that attract bees in a likely location where those little feet may step. Likewise, this may not be a smart thing to do if you or a family member is allergic to bee stings. However, many of us do not share these concerns. For those that may be afraid of bees, just be careful when you are around them. How many times have you actually been stung by a bee?
I mentioned in an earlier post that butterflies are attracted more to asters that have more disk flowers (that is, the center portion of the flower is relatively large). This is because these disk flowers produce the nectar attractive to the butterflies. Likewise, for the same reason, these flowers also attract the bees and flies that will end up pollinating plants. Plants like clovers have an infloresence (this is the biological term for the group of flowers on a plant) that is all disk flowers. Many people prefer the taste of honey bees make from feeding on clovers. These plants attract pollinators. Clovers are also good for your soil because they fix nitrogen and add it to the soil- natural fertilizer. There are native clovers in most areas and you can easily collect seed by removing the mature flower head of a small portion of the plants in an area and planting the entire head.
If you watch you can learn which plants attract these pollinators. Achillea is one that I quickly learned attracts a number of them. Some of the herbs are very attractive also. Lavender and verbenas are good choices.
In the next post I discuss an important aspect of the choice of plants to attract butterflies and bees to your yard- providing species with different flowering times.
