Festive!
White Compass Plant or White Rosinweed (Silphium albiflorum) was nibbled to a stub. The cows or maybe the deer must like it. We found multiple of the plants eaten.
I don’t know what caterpillar this is on the Chittamwood, but it will completely defoliate the new leaves. Don’t worry, the tree will quickly get new leaves.
Quite colorful with the yellow, green and white body sporting a black and white head! They were just shy of 2 millimeters in length.
This sure was pretty caterpillar. I’m guessing it is type of geometer caterpillar, AKA inchworm. This one was also on the Chittamwood.
Did you notice the bump on the caterpillar above? I could not tell what it was until I got home.
This mite was about 1/3 of a millimeter. This particular mite seems to like caterpillars. There are many different species of mites. “Some species live in water, many live in soil as decomposers, others live on plants, sometimes creating galls, while others again are predators or parasites” (source: Wikipedia).
A lilac bush!. There was an old homestead at this site. You can also find other evident of homesteads on many of the grasslands units.
The lilac was almost finished!
There was a lot of the podetia (the brown capped reproductive part of this squamulose lichen) on this Turban Lichen.
These ants have little castles.
Festive Tiger Beetle (Cicindela scutellaris) is a hard one to sneak up on. They are quick to fly away. Who can blame them, right!
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This sounds like good use of money…
Keep looking!
Fun stuff!
I love the tiger beetle