Alrightnowyoutellme12 (reveal) Cecropia Moth

This big guy is a Cecropia Moth, best as I can tell, I have been wrong before concerning various things. It is North Americas largest native moth. It is a member of the giant silk moth family. I found this one right here on my deck.

According to Wikipedia:
Like all members of the Giant Silk Moth family, the nocturnal adult cecropia moths are designed only to reproduce, lacking functional mouthparts or digestive system. Therefore, they survive a maximum of about two weeks"

For more info check out the links below:

Wormspit

Wikipedia

Alrightnowyoutellme12

This rather very large winged insect was found on our deck attached to our fire ring (whatever it is).

My only clues are that it was found in Central Wisconsin. It has wings and it flies. This one is pretty easy.

Why Oh Why Cant It Be Like That Here?

Almost four years ago now I took a trip to Martinique to see my brother in the French Caribbean and I enjoyed it immensely; I was able to totally forget about it being winter here. Now I am not typically an unhappy sort of guy, but I am sick of cold weather already and it is only the middle of December.

"Help me Jesus I am fading (freezing) fast"

This last year we have become Home Missionaries by helping out in a growing Home Missions church pastored by my very good friend Jeff Peckham. I am wondering if the Lord sent me someone else's mail; maybe I was supposed to go to Fiji or Barbados; at least that is what my cold fingers tell me when I go outside. (Please understand this is all in jest, I know I am in the middle of God's will for my life). Why can't it just be in the 60s I would love to mow the yard again.

The Bible says that godliness with contentment is great gain. I have been so blessed, especially in the last year with the birth of a brand new granddaughter Coralie; she is such a sweetie pie. I am content in spite of the cold. Let winter come and stay if it wants I am blessed.

I Think I Know Where Luke Might Be

It is obvious to me now that Luke had a hard landing in a field in east central Wisconsin in a small town called Auroraville. It appears that C3PO is in some type of dormant hibernation phase until Han and Chewy come to rescue him. I wonder if Luke is incognito as a humble citizen of Auroraville?

This photo was taken in Auroraville, Wisconsin while I was taking pictures for an e-zine article on the history of Pentecost in Wisconsin.

A totally unexpected find.

The Wisconsin Valley Fair...(fairly fun)

Kiss Kiss

I do not like big crowds so a trip to the fair has never been one of my favorite things; not like...well you know;

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings. Like you know, "The Sound of Music". Which is not one of my favorite things either.

 I really did enjoy the fair. My grandson Caleb entered a painting (blue ribbon), a bird house that I helped him with (blue ribbon), and a model boat (red ribbon); way to go Caleb you are awesome. I got to see some Franks; no not hot dogs real people. I am always curious what other Franks look like, really we are not a bad group of guys. I saw some animals, and other peoples exhibits. It was a fun day that Mary and I shared with my niece, my daughter and my three grandsons. I did eat an elephant ear pastry as well. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Bluebird House

Caleb's Model

Caleb's Painting

Sheep Show

Crook...I mean a carny

Frank

Frank

A handmade guitar

New Friends

Little Cow

Alrightnowyoutellme (11 reveal) "Chelydra serpentina" Snapping Turtle

The common snapping turtle is most common in the south and eastern U.S., they can be found in ponds, lakes, rivers and along walking trails in Central Wisconsin which is where I came across this little fella. The common snapping turtle is a very crabby turtle; however when they are in the water they are less aggressive. We have found them hatching along the side of a gravel road and as they emerged from the hole where they were left they were already mad at the world. I picked one up that day and instantly his beak-like mouth open and was ready to take a chunk off my finger.

Snapping turtles in the wild can live for up to 30 years, but please do not get the notion that they would make a good pet; they are hard wired to be mean. A snapping turtle is very flexible so if you attempt to pick one up you may be surprised at how far back his jaws can reach. If you ever see a snapper trying to get across the road please think twice before you simply push him or drag him because you could scratch his underside on the pavement and cause damage to the turtle.

Snappers like turkey vultures eat carrion or dead things (mostly dead fish)...yuck, but will also eat crayfish, frogs, plants and algae.  The knobby shell of a snapper is called a carapace which smooths out with age, and the only real predators that they have are men and boys (and some women but women are generally smart enough not to take on the snapper, most guys are not).

The famous snapping turtle that made it to Hollywood
Toka or Rahzar...???

We Saw This the Other Day

(Taken with my 200mm lens at max zoom)

We were out birding about two weeks ago and as we were driving through the George W. Mead wildlife area I spotted way off in the distance a "something" that I could not identify. So I took some pictures with my digital camera and zoomed in to see if I could figure it out and the "something" turned out to be  a small family of baby foxes.

I am sorry that the photos are not better than they are but a poor photo is better than no photo.

This is a previous post about foxes:
Crafty Beast.

(Cropped on the computer)

Whatsthis? (4reveal) Great Blue Heron

I have always thought that the "hairy"feathers on the back of a Great Blue Heron were sort of interesting. This photo was taken at Wildwood Park in Marshfield, WI. He was fishing at the edge of the pond and did not want to move so Mary took his picture. If you look close you can see long black hair feathers on the back of his head as well.

So check out this link to find out more; Great Blue Heron

Alrightnowyoutellme (10 reveal) Trillium grandiflorum; White Trillium

Yes I knew that this would be an easy one. Way to go if you said Trillium. The Trillium is unique in that it may take 17 years to mature, and the plant may live up to 70 years. If you pick a Trillium it will take approximately 7 years to bloom again. Because of the very long recovery time, if a plant is picked or disturbed, some states have declared it against the law to pick this plant.

The Trillium is an edible plant it's green leaves can be eaten raw or cooked much like spinach. This plant has some medicinal benefits as well. The Trilliums roots can be grated and cooked to reduce swelling, it can also be used as a diuretic, and even reduce abdominal cramping; (this blog post is in no way intended to be a resource for natural healing).

The Trilliums worst enemy is the White Tailed Deer; (also the enemy of the weary drivers across the state). Deer love Trilliums and can disturb large  percentages of Trillium beds every year. An interesting aspect of this plants life cycle is that ants distribute seeds by taking the seeds to be used as food for the larva. The seeds then grow where they are safe and away from the deer who are eating the blossoms of the mature plants, which could affect the plant for up to seven years. Young plants grow in the nutrient rich waste of ant colonies.Very Interesting! Who knew?

Birds Are Back In Town

House Wren

It seems like it has been a long and chilly spring. The Robins have been back for quite awhile but I was waiting for the House Wren to come back and sing his song every morning to wake me up. It seems like the House Wren never stops singing; all day long and almost all summer long they sing their little song, the song is a little annoying to some but I like it. House Wren Chatter

Indigo Bunting

Anyway, my wife had a birthday the other day and when she got up and looked out the window she saw an Indigo Bunting in the bird feeder. It was a real treat she loves Buntings but they never show up at our feeders. We had one stop by last year for about 10 minutes and we never saw him again, but this one stayed all day and into the next. We also have Orioles pass through but never stay. This morning I found one picking up nesting materials from around our deck. Nice, I hope they stay.

Here are some of the birds we have seen over the last few days.

Gold Finch

Hummingbird

Oriole

Purple Finch

Rose Breasted Grossbeak

Yellow Warbler

Alrightnowyoutellme (10)

I know that it has been a long time since my last post but I have been sort of busy remodeling the church. We have been destructing and constructing. It is really exciting to see the progress we have made so far. I will post pictures later.


Alrightnowyoutellme what this little flower is. This is way to easy by itself so maybe you could tell me something about the flower. I love seeing these in the spring, in the right areas they sort of blanket the ground with white patches of carpeting. When I was a kid my dad taught my brother and I the finer art of trout fishing, it was very exciting to get out early in the year (and fill up my waders with ice cold river water) and catch fish with my dad. These plants were almost always around in the early spring and then they would just go away until the next year.


So Alrightnowyoutellme.

Whatsthis? (3 reveal)

Good guesses everyone but the answer is Typha; remember the catail, bullrush thing? This is what it looks like just before it gets ready to be blown by the wind, which is how it's seeds get scattered.

Typha

Whatsthis? (3)

You have see this before, I know that you have. Maybe not quite like this, but you have.

No more clues for you!

Whatsthis? (2 reveal) Typha

It is a very common plant found along ponds and lakes called a cat tail, corn dog grass, bullrushes or punks. Parts of this plant are edible for humans and has had many uses; it has not always been simply a "weed" near the water.

Check this out, it really quite interesting.

Typha

Whatsthis? (2)

Alright you have very likely seen this before; no it is not the carpeting from our old house in Mosinee. What is it?

You can do it. After looking at this I think I would get it. Maybe this is too simple..again

The Vomiting Vulture

This vulture is natures ultimate garbage collector with a bill that can rip open the toughest cow hide, yet with feet like a chicken instead of mighty talons like an eagle. A Turkey Vulture can eat carrion (dead and decaying animals) that are rotted and diseased and not get sick or die, as a matter of fact the birds droppings are disease free. The turkey vulture in fact plays an important role in protecting other animals from getting sick. Turkey Vultures love warm sunny days when the air currents are active and they can soar very high in a flight pattern called a kettle. Vultures are very common in Wisconsin and can be identified by the formation of their wings, when they soar and glide they hold their wings in a gentle "V" formation. Turkey Vultures are about the size of an eagle without the white head, as a matter of fact the Turkey Vulture has a "bald" red head and the Bald eagle has a "hairy" head of white feathers. I wonder why they don't call it the bald vulture? Probably because all vultures are bald...maybe.

This bird has no song or call because it does not have a voice box (syrinx) so it hisses and grunts to make sounds; otherwise they are generally silent. Vultures  have an instinct that makes them want to return to it's summer feeding grounds the exact same time every year regardless of the weather, which is around the vernal equinox (the first day of Spring). In 1994 bird scientist (who knew such thing existed) determined that the Turkey vulture was actually a member of the stork family. Did you also know that some of these same bird scientists estimate that vultures will consume 111 ponds of rotted, spoiled, diseased, dead things in a year? If the carrion is scarce a vulture will eat pumpkins, leaves,seeds and grass.

Okay now for the vomiting part. If you ever visit a Vulture roosting area or a rookery; BEWARE. Vultures young and old, will swiftly vomit in the direction of any disturbance or danger, to scare it away. Think of it, regurgitating a dead animal, that is scary all by itself.

Check out more for yourself at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_Vulture

Alrightnowyoutellme (9)

Seriously, tell me. Knowing my lack of ability in the observing of details concerning butterflies, I need all of the help I can get. I have an idea of what this might be but I do not want to embarrass myself by being wrong again. This was found on the lilacs right off the edge our deck last summer. So jump in and see if you can tell me what these are.

C'mon get involved... we already know it is a butterfly...right?

March Madness

Alright already, where do I live; the north pole? I can hardly believe the snow, it is almost depressing. This sort of thing is very maddening in March. I even missed church last night because the road we live on had so much snow on it.

We have had Robins and Red Wings in our yard already this year and then the snow; oh well. We saw our first Robin on St. Patricks Day this year; which was before than my brother-in-law Bruce, I think he thinks it is a competition of who is going to see a Robin first. I won this year...maybe I am making it a contest all by myself.

I have no new Robin pictures for you but I did see this funny little deer on the sidewalk this morning shortly after 6 a.m. I purchased a trail cam for Mary this last Christmas (but this is a much nicer photo than the trail cam) and we have enjoyed having deer in our yard, right up until they begin chewing on the perennials, or tipping over something. I don't mind too much though it is a nice diversion from the routine.

We had a big winter storm move through yesterday, and this little deer was trying to get food that the birds had dropped from the feeder into the new snow.

Babes

 
Or was that babies? Baby Robins; I found them while looking for something else. The mother built a nest in a lilac bush right next to our deck. Ugly? Cute? You decide. Won't be long and they will be back in the area. Just remember when you see a Robin it does not mean that spring has arrived, the rule of thumb is: "It will snow three times on the Robins tail, then Spring."

I will call it spring when I see them in my yard. Might only be 4 or 5 weeks until we hear the "cheery, cheery, cheery up" call outside the window.

"Enough already of winter, curse you little wooly caterpillar"

Alrightnowyoutellme (6 partial reveal)

Well this has been a very popular post and Caleb was right, it is a bat. What you are looking at is the thumb of a bat. The bat is sort of a five fingered creature but the thumb is the only one that has a "nail". It does look a lot like a talon that might be on a birds foot, but alas it is not.

Any guesses on what type of bat you are looking at? It is a Wisconsin bat found along the Mississippi River. I shot the photo up into the nesting box with my flash, so I could get a good exposure. Keep guessing; this is fun...for me. Way to go Caleb, you guessed right.