Carrots

Jo figured she might as well go ahead and harvest our fall carrot crop. They'd grown all they were going to grow. Leaving them in the ground would only risk rodent damage.

Lettuce and carrots Jo harvested. We've never had any luck growing carrots. Because our soil is thin and contains a lot of clay and rocks, our carrots were always short and stubby. We "solved" this problem and achieved success at growing carrots by planting a short, stubby variety.

Not all the carrots fully developed. They're still tasty, but peeling is tricky.

Carrots

Asparagus

Our asparagus is finally starting to yellow and die back for the winter.

Asparagus

Linden Looper (Erannis tiliaria - 6665)

Linden Looper (Erannis tiliaria - 6665)

One of the few moth species I've been seeing on recent cool fall evenings.  Some evenings these fall and winter moths were abundant, with a dozen or more around our porch light.  All the Linden Loopers one normally sees are males.  Females are wingless.

From BugGuide: 

Range:  Alberta to Nova Scotia, south to Missouri, Georgia, Utah and Texas.

Food:  Hosts include basswood, apple, ash, beech, birch, elm, maple, oak, poplar, Prunus and Ribes.

Photo of female.

Photo of caterpillar.

Linden Looper (Erannis tiliaria - 6665)

Variegated Fritillary Caterpillar (Euptoieta claudia)

Variegated Fritillary Caterpillar (Euptoieta claudia)

Source:  BugGuide:

Range:  North America and southern South America.  Permanent resident in south. Annually spreads and colonizes northwards usaully to southern Canada. 

Habitat:  Any open sunny area particularly fields and grasslands with flowers present. Caterpillars can often be found on Pansies, Violets, Flax, and Passion Vines in flower gardens.  (This particular caterpillar was found on our basement door.  Moved to a nearby log for photographing.)

Life Cycle:  Multiple generations per year (up to two or three in north, and four or more overlapping broods in south).

Variegated Fritillary Caterpillar (Euptoieta claudia)

Lettuce From Fall Garden Bed

Jo is harvesting lettuce from under the plastic and wire tunnel covering our fall garden bed. Rusty is helping.

Lettuce From Fall Garden Bed

In The Garden

Out in our garden Jo and I are mostly focused on clean up and preparing for winter.

We've had temperatures slightly below freezing and several frosts, but all the volunteer dill weed is still looking good. I never realized dill was so hardy.

Almost finished mulching this bed. When finished; I'll cover with chicken wire which will help keep the leaves on and the armadillo out.

Garlic is still growing since our temperatures remain relatively warm. The garlic that got covered when I mulched the bed is growing up through the mulch.

Not everything has given up on blooming here in the late fall. This dandelion is doing just fine.

In The Garden

Black-barred Brown Moth (Plagiomimicus pityochromus - 9754)

Black-barred Brown (Plagiomimicus pityochromus - 9754)

From BugGuide:

Range: Eastern United States and southern Ontario.

Season: Adults fly from July to September.

Food: Larvae feed on Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida).


See also: Moth Photographers Group

Black-barred Brown Moth (Plagiomimicus pityochromus - 9754)

Bok Choy

Warm fall temperatures are causing our Bok Choy (Chinese cabbage) to bloom and go to seed.

Bok Choy

Goldenrod Flower Moth (Schinia nundina - 11177)

Goldenrod Flower Moth (Schinia nundina - 11177)

From BugGuide:

Range: Found east of a line from Arizona to Minnesota and Nova Scotia.

Season: Most records are July through October.


See also: Moth Photographers Group

Goldenrod Flower Moth (Schinia nundina - 11177)

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis)

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis)

Warm fall temperatures are bringing out many of these Asian invaders. 

For more details, please see BugGuide.

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis)

Longhorned Beetle (Purpuricenus humeralis)

Habitat: Forests in eastern North America.

Food: Larva bore into dead branches of various hardwoods.

Source: BugGuide.

Longhorned Beetle (Purpuricenus humeralis)

Sunset

Sunset on Table Rock Lake, MO.

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Sunset

Fawn Sallow (Psaphida styracis - 10016)

Fawn Sallow
(Psaphida styracis - 10016)

Range: Eastern North America.
Season: Adults fly from March to late May.
Food: Larva feed on oaks.
(Source: BugGuide)

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Fawn Sallow (Psaphida styracis - 10016)

Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea)

Common Blue Violet
(probably Viola papilionacea)

This particular Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea or Viola sororia) is ALWAYS our first spring wildflower. It grows in a microclimate, a crack in a large, south-facing rock. In the winter, leafless trees allow much sunshine to warm the rock, but it's shaded in the summer so the violet doesn't get too dry and die. I first found this little violet about ten years ago. It's bloomed every year since, though our unusually mild winter this year means it's blooming a lot earlier.

Viola papilionacea is a native perennial that grows throughout most of eastern and central North America. Both flowers and leaves are highly variable. Flowers can range from white, to blue, to deep purple. They can also be variegated. The taxonomy of the plant is also questionable and some authors place the plant as a variety of V. sororia. V. pranticola is another synonym. Finally, the Common Blue Violet can hybridize with at least four other species of Viola.

Bees and other insects do sometimes visit and pollinate violets, but they have no reliable pollinators. Hence, violets also produce cleistogamous flowers, flowers that never open and are automatically self-pollinating.

Nature Notes

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Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea)

Ice Storm Revisited

Jo put together a collage showing more or less the same areas on our place at the end of January, 2009, and end of January, 2012, when our temperatures are hitting the lower sixties. After the ice storm, we were without power for a little over three weeks and without phone service for almost a month. It took us three days to chainsaw our way out, and would have taken longer had we not met up with a county crew working from the other direction.

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Ice Storm Revisited

Common Oak Moth (Phoberia atomaris - 8591)

Common Oak Moth
(Phoberia atomaris - 8591)

Miacy:

This is a common and highly variable noctuid
that appears early every spring. They range from pale gray to deep gray. The pattern is always the same, though.

As the name suggests, the larvae feed on oak leaves.

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Common Oak Moth (Phoberia atomaris - 8591)

Titmice on Suet Feeder

Titmice on suet feeder.
(Photo by Jo.)

To participate in Nature Notes and/or find links to more nature photos, please click the logo above.

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Titmice on Suet Feeder

Filigreed Chimoptesis (Chimoptesis pennsylvaniana - 3273)

Filigreed Chimoptesis
(Chimoptesis pennsylvaniana - 3273)

Identification: Adult: forewing dark gray to blackish with white tri-lobed strip along inner margin, sometimes tinted with green; black V-shaped mark at anal angle; several small white spots along costa; hindwing gray with dark double terminal line and wide fringe.

Range: Pennsylvania and Massachusetts to Florida, west to Texas and at least Indiana.

Season: Adults fly in March and April in the northeast; perhaps earlier and later in the southeast.

Links:

BugGuide
MPG

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Filigreed Chimoptesis (Chimoptesis pennsylvaniana - 3273)

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor )

Tufted Titmouse 
(Baeolophus bicolor)

"Tufted Titmice eat mainly insects in the summer, including caterpillars, beetles, ants and wasps, stink bugs, and treehoppers, as well as spiders and snails. Tufted Titmice also eat seeds, nuts, and berries, including acorns and beech nuts. Experiments with Tufted Titmice indicate they always choose the largest seeds they can when foraging."

Please see Cornell Labs for more information.

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Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor )

Chosen Sallow Moth (Psaphida electilis - 10012)

Chosen Sallow Moth
(Psaphida electilis - 10012)

Identification: The coloration of this species shows geographical variation: northern specimens tend to have dark gray forewings with contrasting reddish-brown markings; southern specimens are usually paler gray and less contrasting overall, with little or no brown in the forewings. (Dean Edwards)

Range: Quebec and Ontario to Florida, west to Texas and Wisconsin.

Habitat: Deciduous woodlands; adults are nocturnal and come to light.

Season: Adults fly in April and May. Larvae present from mid to late spring.

Food: larvae feed on leaves of hickory and walnut.

Life Cycle: One generation per year; eggs are laid on buds of hostplant; overwinters as a pupa in soil, sometimes for more than a single year.


BugGuide
MPG

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Chosen Sallow Moth (Psaphida electilis - 10012)

Ipsilon Dart (Agrotis ipsilon - 10663)

Ipsilon Dart
(Agrotis ipsilon - 10663)

This moth -- like many, actually, -- is not a friend of gardeners. Dart moths are also known as cutworm moths. Likewise, the Ipsilon Dart's larva is also known as a Black or Greasy Cutworm.

Range: Throughout most of North America except the Arctic.

Habitat: Croplands, fields, gardens.

Food: Larvae feed on many cultivated plants (e.g. clover, corn, lettuce, potatoes, tobacco) plus grasses.

This is a female based upon her simple antennae. She is feeding on moth bait.

Links:
BugGuide
Moth Photographers Group
University of Florida Featured Creature

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Ipsilon Dart (Agrotis ipsilon - 10663)

Rainbow Tinted Clouds

Interesting cloud patterns and colors late Sunday afternoon. Ice crystals, I suppose.

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Rainbow Tinted Clouds

Female Northern Cardinal

Female Northern Cardinal
(Cardinalis cardinalis)

Because of the wide-angle lens on our camera, about the only way we can photograph birds is by luring them within 18" of the camera using a tray feeder right outside the window. I finally got around to re-installing the tray feeder yesterday.

More info on Northern Cardinals from Cornell.

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Female Northern Cardinal

Another Broadwater Hollow Pool

Another pool with reflections, and evidence there is sometimes a lot more water in this creek.
(Broadwater Hollow ... Buffalo National River ... New Year's Day hike)

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Another Broadwater Hollow Pool

Armyworm Moth (Mythimna unipuncta - 10438)

Armyworm Moth
(Mythimna unipuncta - 10438)

Identification: Forewing tan, often tinged with orange and lightly speckled with black. A couple of more orange spots on each wing is typical. Ditto for a couple of small white dots with a white line passing through them.

Habitat: Common to abundant throughout North American except for the Arctic. Also found in other locations throughout the world.

Food: Larvae are generalist feeders on many species of plants: alfalfa, corn and other grains, grasses, vegetables, many weeds and other wild plants, leaves of fruit trees and ornamentals.

Life Cycle: Two or three generations per year; overwinters as either a pupa or partially-grown larva which pupates in the spring.

Remarks: Moth was photographed on moth bait, a mixture that's mostly brown sugar with enough beer to liquify and a tablespoon of molasses. It supposedly mimics tree sap upon which many moths feed.

To see photos of this moth's complete life cycle including caterpillar, pupa and adult moth, please see Ilona Loser's excellent post on BugGuide.

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Armyworm Moth (Mythimna unipuncta - 10438)

Rippled Pool

Rippled reflections in one of the pools along the trail we hiked.
(Broadwater Hollow ... Buffalo National River ... New Year's Day Hike)

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Rippled Pool

Log Hoop

With an Arctic blast headed our way, I spent part of the afternoon splitting firewood and restocking our porch log hoop. This afternoon was sunny with a temperature pushing 70°F/21°C. The front started moving through around ten o'clock. Now it's 35°F/2°C and falling @ 1:00 AM. And it's snowing.

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Log Hoop

Creek in Broadwater Hollow

Creek dropping off a low rock shelf. (Photo by Jo)

(New Year's Day hike in Broadwater Hollow, Buffalo National River.)

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Creek in Broadwater Hollow

Falls in Broadwater Hollow

Falls near the trail head which is accessed by driving down (and I do mean DOWN) about two miles of dirt road. Most of that road is strictly one-lane. There's no way two vehicles could pass, especially if one of them is the cargo van I was driving. Fortunately, we met no traffic. (Photo by Jo.)


(New Year's Day hike in Broadwater Hollow, Buffalo National River.)

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Falls in Broadwater Hollow

Daffodils

I'm afraid these daffodils are too full of anticipation for spring. These are part of a group growing in the woods at the edge of our road. They were transplanted when our water line was laid -- dug up by a dragline and replanted by a bulldozer, and doing just fine. (1/9/12)

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Daffodils