Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)

My world is becoming repopulated with butterflies like this Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus). This is the spring form of this butterfly. The summer form is darker. (Photo here.)


Range: Primarily the southeastern United States. More uncommon in the northeast. Occasionally makes it as far north as southern Ontario.


Food: Adults take nectar from flowers and also take fluids from damp ground, as the butterfly in the photo above is doing. The larvae host plant is Pawpaw.

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Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)

Carolina Wren - Nesting

Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) are cavity nesters.  In the wild, they nest in places like a woodpecker hole, the open crotch of a tree or tangled roots of an uprooted tree.  Birdhouses 101 says the male begins nest construction with sticks and then follows with softer materials like grass, moss and bark strips.  The male may start several nests so the female can choose the one she prefers.  After the female makes her choice, she often tosses out some of the material collected by the male and finishes the nest with her own choices of interior decor.

Carolina Wrens are monogamous.  The male often brings food to the female while she incubates their eggs.  Both feed the young after the eggs hatch.  One hardcopy field guild we have said males will sometimes finish raising a brood while the female begins incubating another clutch of eggs on another nest.

Birdhouses  101 says, "Carolina wrens prefer natural nesting sites located in woodlands, thickets, brushy hollows, and swamps and along the banks of streams where there is plentiful cover."  The site continues, "Due to the growing density of human population Carolina wrens do not always have the option to build nests in wild spots like that. However, Carolina wrens do not have a really difficult time adapting to their environment and are fairly tolerant of human activities. In fact they often use man-made objects..."  Both of the statements are true, but I tend to disagree with the word "prefer" in the first sentence.  We live in a very rural area with abundant natural nesting locations for the wrens.  While I'm sure many wrens do choose natural nesting sites, others seem determined to use man-made locations.

The jar-style bird feeders Jo makes are one of the Carolina Wren's favorite nesting sites.  We only feed the birds during the winter.  There is often a time lag between the time we stop feeding and when we get around to taking down and cleaning the feeders.  Wrens often take advantages of the empty feeders.

We'd watch a wren building a nest in this feeder and thought the nest was nearing completion.  As it turned out, we'd been watching a male preparing a nest for his mate's inspection.  She accepted this bird feeder nest, but then immediately began remodeling it to her satisfaction.

Once the female wren got the materials of her choice arranged the way she wanted them, she laid her eggs and incubated them.

The eggs hatched and the young wrens were fed by their parents until they successfully fledged.


The bird feeders obviously mimic the woodpecker cavities wrens might choose for nesting in the wild, but wrens also nest on the ground in dense undergrowth.  As far as wrens are concerned, a fern growing in a hanging basket is a suitable substitute for "dense undergrowth".

In this case, we'd missed seeing the wrens' nest building and remodeling activities.  Jo became aware of the nest because of the female's indignant response when watered.  Subsequently, Jo carefully watered around the wrens and these young birds also fledged successfully.


While it's easy to understand that a bird feeder mimics a tree cavity and a fern in a hanging basket seems like dense undergrowth, it takes a bit more imagination to visualize pots sitting atop a stereo speaker resembling a tree crotch or tangle of roots.

The speaker, pots and nesting wren are over in Jo's pottery studio.  "Studio" is a glamorous sounding word for an Arky cabin that was in pretty bad shape when we bought this place.  Its condition hasn't improved in the past thirty years.  The wrens can easily get into and out of Jo's studio even when the door is closed.


In past years, wrens chose to nest inside the pots.  This pair decided to build a nest among the pots.  Wrens are very tolerant of a human presence.  They fuss a little and make you feel guilty for bothering them, but don't abandon their nest or neglect feeding their young.  Jo enjoys watching wrens come and go while throwing pots.


This previous post provides more species details about Carolina Wrens and photos of a wren feeding at our suet feeder this winter.

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Carolina Wren - Nesting

Downy Woodpecker - Female (Picoides pubescens)

At around 6 3/4" (17cm) long, the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) is the smallest of North America's classic-shaped woodpeckers.  It is found throughout almost all of North America in a variety of habitats.  The Downy is the woodpecker most likely to visit backyard feeders.  It is by far the most common woodpecker at our feeders here in the Arkansas Ozarks.


The Downy Woodpecker looks very similar to the Hairy Woodpecker, but the Hairy is larger -- around 9 1/4" (24cm) long.  The Hairy also has a proportionally larger bill, (usually almost equal to the depth of the head).  Finally, the outer tail feathers of the Downy usually have faint dark bars or spots while those on a Hairy are pure white.

 A male Downy Woodpecker has a red patch on the back of its head.  A juvenile has a red cap.

The Downy Woodpecker sharing our suet feeder with another "D" bird, a Dark-eyed Junco.

The Downy Woodpecker partaking of the pseudo-suet mixture of peanut butter, cornmeal and lard we provide.

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Downy Woodpecker - Female (Picoides pubescens)

"Frozen" Birdy

It was so cold last week the birds kept freezing up in mid-air.

White-throated Sparrow ( Zonotrichia albicollis)

(For more species details on the White-throated Sparrow, please see this previous post.)

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"Frozen" Birdy

White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Recovering from striking a window.  Flew away soon after this photo was taken.

The White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) is a common species.  At one time or another during the year, it is found throughout most of North America.  It over-winters here in the Arkansas Ozarks.  White-throateds are the only sparrow among our yard birds during the winter.

Habitat:  Cornell Labs says, Look for White-throated Sparrows in woods, at forest edges, in the regrowth that follows logging or forest fires, at pond and bog edges, and in copses near treeline. In winter you can find these birds in thickets, overgrown fields, parks, and woodsy suburbs. They readily come to backyards for birdseed.  We have several weedy, waste spaces at the edge of our yard.  During the fall and early winter, flocks of White-throateds forage in these dried weeds.  As winter wears on, we see more of these sparrows under our tube bird feeders and in our tray feeder.  While primarily ground feeders, these sparrows also partake of the pseudo-suet (cornmeal, peanut butter and lard) mixture we offer.

White-throated Sparrow scratching through the debris in our tray feeder.

According to the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center these common birds exhibit a characteristic that is rare in birds, they show genetically-based plumage polymorphism. In other words, these sparrows come in two different color forms, or morphs.

During the breeding season, the morphs are most easily distinguished by the colors of their crown stripes. The "white-stripe" morph typically has distinctly contrasting black and white crown stripes and bright yellow lores (the area between the eyes and the base of the bill), while the "tan-stripe" morph has duller black (or dark brown) and tan (or pale brown) stripes and less vivid lores.

...both male and female white-throated sparrows exhibit this polymorphism. Moreover, an individual almost always pairs with another of the opposite color morph for breeding. And despite the fact that images of the white-striped morph are more frequently presented to illustrate the species, the two color morphs actually occur in relatively equal numbers in the population. Most interesting is that behavior differs between color morphs, especially during the breeding season. Both male and female white-stripe birds are more aggressive than tan-stripe birds. In fact, white-striped females will even sing and contribute to territorial defense, whereas tan-striped females do not. In contrast, tan-striped birds of both sexes provide more care to their young than white-striped birds do.

Since the White-throated sparrows I've photographed are in their winter plumage when it's more difficult to distinguish morphs, I'm not really sure if they are white or tan stripe.  Perhaps my more experienced birder readers can make that determination.

White-throated Sparrow diving into our suet feeder.

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White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Although our winter is far from over, we've experience a couple of those unseasonably warm days. Friday the temperature made it up to 70°F. I saw several honey bees, especially in our compost. I suppose the bees (like humans) are drawn out of their hive by this warm weather, and are searching for flowers which they will not find. I don't know if our compost contains sugars the bees can actually use, but the bees are especially attracted to the citrus peels it contains.

(Editors Note:  A reader explained these bees are out of their hive on a cleansing flight.   When the weather is cold, bees "huddle together around the queen (and the honey.)  They slowly rotate from the outside to the center so that no one gets too cold.  At the core of this cluster of bees, workers shiver their bodies and raise the temperature of the cluster as high as 95 Fahrenheit, but just outside the cluster, the unheated portion of the hive may drop below freezing."  When the weather warms the bees "make a cleansing flight to eliminate their body wastes. Honey bees never defecate inside their hive. This is one of their behavioral traits that serve to help prevent disease from spreading through the colony. "  Bees also perform a variety of routine maintenance and housekeeping tasks on the hive on warmer days.  Please check out the two sites I've linked above for more information.  Thanks for cluing me in about cleansing flights , Sue!)

The photo above shows three of the characteristics that help identify this insect as a female (worker) honey bee. One of these is a pollen basket.  Female bees (queens and workers) in family Apidae (honey bees, carpenter bees, bumblebees and several lesser known groups) have specialized structures called pollen baskets (corbicula) used for temporarily storing collected pollen so it can be transported back to the nest/colony. The pollen basket is a smooth, concave structure surrounded by long, stiff hairs located on the tibia of the bee's two rear legs. As the bee visits flowers, she accumulates pollen all over her body. She uses her legs to aggregate the pollen and transfer it to her pollen basket. It may look as if a bee simply has hairy legs, but some of those hairs (setae) are actually combs and brushes used for transferring pollen. The pollen is combed, pressed, compacted, and transferred to her pollen basket. Honey and/or nectar is used to moisten the dry pollen so it will stay in place.  In this photo, her pollen baskets are empty because there are no blooming flowers for her to visit.  A photo of a honey bee with a full pollen basket is here.

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Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Female Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus)

Female Purple Finch on the window sill.

Purple Finches are one of our winter birds.  Most years we have them; some years we don't.  2011 is a good year for Purple Finches.  The brightly colored, reddish-purple males give this species its common name, but I haven't been able to get a male to pose for photos yet.  Besides, I think the striking brown and white patterns on the female are attractive too.  You can see photos of males on the Cornell Labs site.

Cornell says, "Purple Finches breed mainly in coniferous forests or mixed deciduous and coniferous woods. During winter you can find them in a wider variety of habitats, including shrublands, old fields, forest edges, and backyards."  At the feeder, they prefer sunflower seeds.

The best shot of a female Purple Finch's back  I've been able to get thus far.

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Female Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus)

Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)

The claws on the front feet of this critter leave little doubt it is 

well adapted for digging.

Nine-banded Armadillos live in my world -- or do I live in their world?  Neither of us is native to the Ozarks, though armadillos have inhabited the Earth much longer than humans.

The Nine-banded Armadillo's ancestors lived quite comfortably in South America until around three million years ago when the formation of the Isthmus of Panama allowed them to start moving north.  They've been heading north ever since.  Armadillos were first recorded in south Texas in the early nineteenth century.  Many researchers thought the dillers' northward migration would be severely limited by cold weather.  Armadillos have a slow metobolic rate, little fat and lack the ability to regulate their body temperatures as well as most mammals.  However, Nine-banded Armadillos proved to be much more adaptable than early researchers thought.  By 1995 the species had become well-established in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and had been sighted as far afield as Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. A decade later, the armadillo had become established in all of those areas and continued its migration, being sighted as far north as southern Nebraska, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana.  (There is also ample evidence humans introduced armadillos into several southern states where they thrived.) (Source:  Wikipedia)

That I was able to take these photos during the middle of the afternoon, illustrates one of the  Nine-banded Armadillos' adaptations to colder temperatures.  They are normally nocturnal, but when the weather is cold, dillers remain in their underground burrows all night and come out to forage during the warmer parts of the day.

The bands on the Nine-banded Armadillo's carapace

are the basis for its common name, but it can actually have between

7 and 11 bands.  I only count eight bands on this individual.

Armadillos are primarily insectivores.  They dig up and eat a wide variety of bugs, larvae, grubs, etc.  However, stomach content analysis has show dillers will eat pretty much any small critter that doesn't get out of their way, including small reptiles, amphibians and birds.  Their digging behavior often makes armadillos unpopular among gardeners and those dedicated to having beautiful lawns.  I have no interest in maintaining a convention lawn, but do find it exasperating when a diller "tills" a well-mulched vegetable garden bed.

A previous post shows an armadillo litter out foraging.  (Armadillo litters are always identical quadruplets.)  Other sources of more information than you ever really wanted to know about these unique critters include Mammals of Texas, Biogeography of  the Nine-Banded Armadillo and Armadillo Fact File.

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Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)

Camera Critters: Whitetail Deer Doe

The gate is open. That must mean it's okay to come on in.

What do you mean "What am I doing here?" I thought you invited me.


(Photos by Jo.)

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Camera Critters: Whitetail Deer Doe

Io Moth (Automeris io) Life Cycle

Female Io Moth: Tend to be a reddish brown color. White-filled, black and blue eyespots on hindwing are distinctive for this species.

Male Io Moth: Tend to be a more yellowish brown color. Were his wings open fully, you'd see the male also has the distinctive eyespots on his hindwings.

Io Moth eggs: Normally, the female would lay her eggs on a larval host plant -- and the list of host plants includes over 100 different species, but for some reason these eggs were laid on the framing of our porch.

Io Moth caterpillars emerging from eggs after approximately ten days. Early larvae (caterpillers) are gregarious (i. e. They stay together.). Early instar caterpillars are often seen moving around a host plant in a "train".

Final instar caterpillars vary from green to yellow. These caterpillars will leave the host plant and form a papery cocoon usually in leaf litter. They emerge from the cocoons as adult moths. In the south, up to four generations per year are possible, but only one generation is common in northern latitudes. (The above photo is by Sturgis McKeever via Forestry Images and is used in accordance with Creative Commons copyright protection.)

CAUTION: Io Moth caterpillars should not be handled. They have urticating setae (barbed hairs that break off and inject a poison). The degree of resulting irritation varies depending upon the amount of contact and the sensitivity of the individual.

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Io Moth (Automeris io) Life Cycle

Camera Critters: Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

The Tufted Titmouse is a common songbird in the forest and at feeders in the Eastern United States.  Since the 1940s Tufted Titmice have gradually expanded their range northward into the Great Lakes region and southeastern Canada.  Prior to that their range only extended as far north as Iowa, Ohio, southern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.  Researchers are not certain of the exact reason for this expansion, but global warming, the maturation of abandoned farmlands to forest, and increased number of winter bird feeders are suggested as possible explanations.

Summer Range:  Resident from southern Minnesota, northern Michigan, southern Ontario and southern Vermont, southward to northeastern Mexico and the Gulf Coast.

Habitat: Deciduous and mixed woods forests as well as gardens, parks and shrub land.

Feeding Behavior:  Forage actively on branches, sometimes on the ground, mainly eating insects, especially caterpillars, but also seeds, nuts and berries. They will store food for later use.  Titmice tend to hold food -- like the sunflower seed in the photos -- in their feet and peck at it to open.

Nesting: Titmice nest in a hole in a tree, either a natural cavity or sometimes an old woodpecker nest. They line the nest with soft materials, sometimes plucking hair from a live animal such as a dog. (Once while napping on a camping trip, I was the live animal whose hair a titmouse attempted to include in its nest.)

Sometimes, a bird born the year before remains to help its parents raise the next year's young. The pair may remain together and defend their territory year-round. These birds are permanent residents and often join small mixed flocks in winter.

Sources and additional information:
Wikipedia
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Camera Critters: Tufted Titmouse

Camera Critters: Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)

The winner of our Most Frequently at the Feeder award here in the Ozarks. The Carolina Chickadee is a year round resident, but we seem to have many more of them in the winter.

Many thanks to Nate for taking the time to correct my original identification of this bird as a Black-capped Chickadee. According to the Cornell site linked below the range of the Black-capped Chickadee is across southern two-thirds of Canada and northern two-thirds of the United States. The Carolina Chickadee pictured above is a southeastern counterpart to the more widespread Black-capped Chickadee. Based upon his birding experience in the Ozarks, Nate says Black-caps are generally found on the north side of the Missouri River, Carolinas to the south.

Physical characteristics distinguishing the two species are: 1.) Carolinas have more grayish flanks while those of the Black-Caps are brown. 2.) The black bib area on the Carolinas is more cleanly demarcated than the more rough transition found on the BCs. (Carolinas are also smaller, but that's often difficult to distinguish without side by side comparisons.)

Since the social behavior of the two species is quite similar, I'll leave the information about the Black-Capped Chickadee at the bottom of this post. Pages dedicated to the Carolina are: Cornell University and Wikipedia.

Thanks again to Nate for the correction. Be sure to visit his birding blog, The Drinking Bird.

(Edited by Marvin 1/20/2009.)


Cool facts from the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology:

► The Black-Capped Chickadee hides seeds and other food items for later recovery. Each item is placed in a different spot and a bird can remember thousands of hiding places.

► The chickadee's simple-sounding calls have been found to be extremely complex and language-like. They code information on identity and recognition of other flocks as well as predator alarms and contact calls.

► Breeding pairs and nonbreeders join up into flocks outside of the breeding season. Nonbreeders may be members of several flocks, with a different position in the dominance hierarchy of each flock.

More information is also available from Wikipedia.

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Camera Critters: Carolina Chickadee