History, Natural History & the Arts
My first sighting of a cecropia moth was from a boat. It was a sunny morning and I was paddling along the lakeshore, expecting to see familiar birds. Instead, my eye was drawn to a large brown spot covering an alder leaf.
My first thought was that it was a discoloration, perhaps from a fungus. Paddling closer, I saw it was a moth – a very, very big one. [Read more…] about Cecropia: A Big Moth On A Mission
The spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) is a non-native insect from Europe. In New York, spongy moth caterpillars feed on a variety of trees, with oak as their preferred species.
Spongy moths have naturalized in our forested communities, which means they are always present in New York in some capacity. In recent years, spongy moth populations have experienced a boom throughout the Northeastern U.S. [Read more…] about 2026 Spongy Moth Outbreak Outlook for New York State
Late fall and early winter are the best times of year to spot giant silk moth cocoons. Perhaps you’ve seen these creatures in the summer, fluttering by your porch light in the evening or resting on your garage wall in the early morning after spending the night at its light.
These large, showy moths in the family Saturniidae live only briefly as winged adults, are strikingly colored, and, as moths go, are huge. [Read more…] about Cocoon Spotting: Giant Silk Moths in Winter
When I imagine scientists discovering new animals, I picture them traveling to far-off jungles or remote mountaintops – not investigating local roadsides, utility cuts, or other edge spaces of human habitation.
Yet late last summer, naturalists with The Caterpillar Lab in Swanzey, New Hampshire, found an unknown caterpillar on an unlikely host plant in an unassuming location. [Read more…] about Finding the Pink Star Caterpillar
In New York, Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) begin their annual fall migration in mid-August. These butterflies are the great-great-grandchildren of the monarchs that migrated to Mexico last fall.
Here are some ways you can help monarchs: [Read more…] about Help Monarchs on their Long Migration South
A few summers ago, I was walking my dog in a pasture near my house when a butterfly landed on my bare leg. It was a medium-sized black butterfly with orange crescents along the margins of its wings and rows of white dots adjacent to the border. Its antennae were tipped with orange clubs. On the underside, the butterfly displayed a striking checkerboard pattern of orange, black, and white.
It was a Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton) – the first time I’d ever seen one. [Read more…] about Baltimore Checkerspot Butterflies: Audacity on the Wing
On a warm summer morning, you’re sitting in your yard enjoying a slow moment, when a flash of color catches your eye. Bright orange and black wings dance through the air before alighting on a purple coneflower.
There’s a good chance your first thought is “monarch butterfly.” After looking at the butterfly more closely, however, you realize it’s not quite right for a monarch. It’s a bit too small, and there’s a black line bisecting the black veins on both hind wings. This is no monarch: this is a viceroy butterfly. [Read more…] about The Real Story of the Viceroy & the Monarch
Walking on a woods road beside a stream in early July, I spotted several tight clusters of butterflies perched on scat piles and on wet sand near the brook. When one of the butterflies spread its wings, I saw that its topside was black with blue shading, and had a broad white band running through the center of its fore and hindwings, creating a U-shape. [Read more…] about White Admiral Butterflies: Winging Through the Woods
In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Alice stumbles upon a large mushroom. She peeps over the edge and encounters a caterpillar “smoking a long hookah, and taking not the slightest notice of her or anything else.” If Alice had touched the creature, she might have been in for an even bigger shock – forked horns, nasty smells, and other repellent tricks. [Read more…] about Caterpillar Defenses: The Varied Ways Caterpillars Avoid Predation
At first, I suspected it was the deer that had almost completely defoliated the northern spicebush sapling I had planted just weeks earlier. Only days prior, it had been brimming with new growth, and now all that remained were two leaves wrapped into cigarlike cylinders. Curious, I inspected this pair of surviving leaves. At the opening of each, snug between the leaf edges, was a bulbous green head adorned with a set of black, cartoonish eye spots. I had found my perpetrator, and it wasn’t the deer; it was the caterpillars of the spicebush swallowtail. [Read more…] about Spicebush Swallowtails: Beauty and Defense
In some places across New York State, this year’s unpredictable weather has affected Karner blue butterflies (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) food, the wild blue lupine. [Read more…] about The Karner Blue Butterfly
When our lilacs bloom in late May, pale yellow butterflies with black stripes arrive to feed on their nectar. These are tiger swallowtails. These exquisite butterflies have a broad black band along the edge of their forewings bordered with yellow dots. They also have small red spots and“tails” at the base of their hindwings. [Read more…] about Flying Tigers: Eastern Swallowtails
Forest clearings are especially attractive settings for many forms of wildlife. The warmth of the ground when the sun is shining is particularly inviting to cold-blooded creatures, and the stands of trees that surround these openings in the canopy serve as a source of food and shelter. [Read more…] about The White Admiral Butterfly
On a winter day, I drove down to a nearby wetland bisected by a town road and walked carefully onto the ice. I was looking for cattail heads to dissect so I could meet the caterpillars who overwinter inside the seed fluff. Many of the cattails I found that day had blown over during the previous week’s windstorm, but there were enough still standing for me to collect two from each side of the road. [Read more…] about Cozy Cattails: A Caterpillar Haven
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) begin their annual fall migration in mid-August. These butterflies are the great-great-grandchildren of the monarchs that migrated to Mexico last fall. [Read more…] about Help Monarch Butterflies on their Long Migration South
Do you have trees in your yard that were defoliated during the caterpillar outbreak this year? Most healthy trees can withstand a couple years of leaf loss from caterpillar damage. Long-term damage depends on the type of tree as well as how much defoliation took place. [Read more…] about Caring For Your Trees After A Caterpillar Outbreak
As August progresses, numerous subtle signs in nature arise, indicating that the change in seasons is approaching. Yet, of all of the sights, sounds, and smells that characterize the latter part of summer, few elicits as unappealing a response as the appearance of the communal shelters used by the fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea). [Read more…] about New York Insects: Fall Webworms
This spring, there has been larger-than-usual gypsy moth populations and leaf damage in several parts of New York State. Gypsy moths are non-native but are naturalized, meaning they will always be around in our forests.
Their populations spike in numbers roughly every 10 to 15 years, but these outbreaks are usually ended by natural causes such as disease and predators. Because of this, the State typically does not manage them and does not provide funding for treating gypsy moths on private property. [Read more…] about Science Behind Our Gypsy Moth Caterpillar Outbreak
Janet Hayward Burnham, of Bethel, Vermont, was driving to the bank one day when she saw a tree on the side of the road that looked like it was covered in decorative webbing, “cans and cans” of it, as if for Halloween. However, it was June. [Read more…] about Web of Mystery: Euonymus Caterpillars
Last October, a young student in one of my nature journaling workshops pointed out a fuzzy yellow caterpillar with long black tufts.
“Those kind sting!” he declared. He was the third student that month to point out the same kind of caterpillar as stinging. I remembered being warned away from hairy caterpillars as a kid, but I’ve since picked up many – of various types – with no ill effect. I wondered, could the hairy-caterpillars-sting story be a myth? [Read more…] about Urticating Hairs: The Defense Hairy Caterpillars
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