Backyard Butterfly: Common Wood Nymph

You never know what you'll find when it comes to nature. Even just a 5 minute walk around my house can yield a species that I have not seen before. Today that species is the butterfly known as the Common Wood Nymph, the only species of Wood Nymph that occurs in Massachusetts. Common Wood Nymphs are closely related to three species that I have become very familiar with in the last 2 years: Little Wood Satyrs, and Appalachian and Eyed Browns. Enjoy the photos.

Common Wood Nymph

Common Wood Nymph

Common Wood Nymph

Common Wood Nymph, with wings open

What will I find in my yard next?

Highlights of the Night: July (and some from June)

Moth season seems to really take off in late June, and by July it is in full swing, with some nights having 100s of moths. Here are some of the highlights.

Rotund Idia Moth

Horned Spanworm Moth

One-Spotted Variant? (Not quite sure on this one, it looks unusual)

White-Blotched Balsa (boring moth, but not many pictures of it online)

Himmelman's Plume Moth

Glossy Black Idia (My new favorite species of moth)

Glossy Black Idia (came back the next night)

Glossy Black Idia

Blackberry Looper

Red-Fringed Emerald

Brown-Lined Owlet Moth (another boringish moth with few pictures)

Clover Looper

Another Red-Fringed Emerald

Northern Bush Katydid (identified by the tail, can't see it in this pic)

Soybean Looper

Red-Headed Inchworm Moth

Maple Looper Moth

Northern Bush Katydid on another night

Bent-Lined Gray

Lesser Maple Spanworm Moth (on June 30, I counted 165 of these flying around the porch light, and that was likely an underestimate)

Large Maple Spanworm

The Wedgeling

Blurry Chocolate Angle

Variable Antepione

August promises to be another great month for moths. I've already identified 41 new moths for me, and 74 moths in total so far this year.

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge

Due to one of my internships this summer, I have to go to Newport, RI for some shows, and have taken the opportunity to visit Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge and nearby Sachuest Beach before the shows. Since I have been ridiculously busy this summer, I will try to catch up with pictures from my recent adventures without much text. Here goes.

Sachuest Point NWR:

Sachuest Point is very rocky, especially on the south and east sides, which are the sides most exposed to the force of the ocean.

The rockiness is great for birds like these Double-Crested Cormorants. I counted 74 cormorants on the "Island Rocks" as the signs say, which are visible in the first picture.

I found this live Little Skate (I'm pretty sure it's a Little Skate, my rented Peterson Guide says that they are the most commonly found skate in summer in this area, and it has no eye-spots that are generally found on Winter Skates) stuck in some rocks as the tide went out. I tried to help him by moving the rocks but he unfortunately chose heavy rocks to get wedged under.

This Little Skate was right nearby and a Great Black-Backed Gull had been eating it. Not sure if the GBBG had killed it or just scavenged it.

Blue Mussels love the rocky habitat at Sachuest.

I think these things are shedded parts of barnacles. Barnacles are actually crustaceans like crabs and lobsters, and I'm guessing they molt like crabs do. Maybe these are a large amount of barnacle carapaces?

Common Buckeye butterfly, a first for me.

I counted 29 Forbes Sea Stars, Asterias forbesii on the rocks on the shelted northern side of Sachuest Point, somehow I had never found sea stars in the wild before and I was pretty excited. Again, I'm pretty sure this following one is Forbes Sea Star and not Boreal/Northern Sea Star Asterias vulgaris, but because information is rather limited on invertebrates, even in New England, I am IDing them based on range.

Forbes Sea Star

The rocks that the sea stars were on:

Sachuest Beach:

Sachuest Beach is a stone's throw from Sachuest Point, but it is a completely different type of habitat. It is an ocean beach that is littered with Atlantic Surf Clam shells.

There is also habitat for Piping Plovers and Least Terns, though I did not see either when I went due to it being too late in the season.

There are some great views from Sachuest Point and Sachuest Beach, including this one: