Field Guides

Since I started the Virginia Master Naturalist class I have been reading/reviewing various field guides. Santa left Clay and I each a field guide one for Insects and one for Caterpillars. They are part of the "Peterson First Guides" series, very small and easy to use. I needed to clean out the leaves and other various trash items that had blown under our rhododendron plant near our porch. As I was raking I discovered this little jewel tying to overwinter beside our porch.


You can see how we rolled up into a ball for protection and reviewed the red stripes on his body. They are easier to see if you click on the picture.

So I got to use my new field guide and discovered I had a Giant Leopard Moth. My little guide discussed what to do if you want to "rear" the larva, and I couldn't resist, my students will be so fascinated by this guy. Wish me luck, I will feel terrible if he dies before emerging. This is a link about the moth that another curious naturalist wrote, notice the adult moth picture!

At the same time I took the picture of the caterpillar I discovered the little bugs in the background and got to use my other field guide.
These appear to be a scentless plant bug called Box Elder Bugs. They congregate in large numbers to hibernate during the winter, sometimes choosing human abodes to do so.

I also wanted to include a couple of sunset pictures that Clay recently took. I really like the pink reflection on the river.