Birds, bugs, and shit I found on the ground

Ash, they/them. I'm afraid of Internet People but I really like the cool shit I find on the ground so maybe you will too. I make art also.

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Black Swallowtail caterpillars (Papilio polyxenes) on our parsley! Four different growth stages in order. It is really cool to see all the stages together on one plant!

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I found the most wonderful stump while hiking at Hanging Rock, NC the other day.

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This beautiful, fluffy fellow is (I believe) a Virginia Tiger Moth, Spilosoma virginica. He was very calm and sweet, sitting rather unexpectedly on the wall of my house in the morning. After identifying him, I realized that the Virginia Tiger Moth has some lovely black and yellow spots on its abdomen. I wish I had picked him up or tried to move one of wings to see that! It also would have confirmed his identity. There are several tiger moths in my area that look very similar to this, but using a combination of size and foreleg markings I believe I have correctly identified him.

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What do these two creatures have in common? They’re ... the same creature. The Tomato Hornworm, bane of every gardener, joy of every chicken, horror of everyone creeped out by the effects of parisitoid wasps. If it survives the barrage of angry gardeners, hungry chickens, and sticky wasp eggs long enough to pupate, it will hatch out into a Five-Spotted Hawk Moth, which is something really beautiful. The soft, cryptic gray fluff? The striking but tasteful row of orange blotches? The mysterious dark eyeline? The elegantly tapered wings? The perfect size, a whole handful of moth. It’s just so wonderful. I almost feel like it’s worth it to sacrifice a tomato plant just to see that glorious moth. Perhaps one could be captured and raised indoors, like I have done with Black Swallowtails... the thought is tempting.

On another note, I recently discovered the Latin name for this species: Manduca quinquemaculata. “quinquemaculata” means “five spots” and presumably refers to the five fine orange spots on the side of the adult, also referenced in the moth’s common name, “Five-Spotted Hawk Moth.” I am curious as to whether the number of these spots is distinct to the species; considering the focus its names places on the number, I would guess so. But is this a useful identifying characteristic? Are there other hawkmoths that look very similar except for having six spots, or four? What might their caterpillars look like? What do they eat?

This Latin name also reminds me how much I love the Latin word for five - Quinque, pronounced “kwin-kway.” It’s just such a cute word, and so different from most other number names, which are generally not nearly as cute. Even other Romance languages’ words for “five” pale in comparison. It also makes me think about Tokyo Ghoul (which I am reading right now - it is very good), and the “quinque” weapon that ghoul investigators use. There’s no way that they didn’t get that name from Latin, but I have to ask, why? It seems an odd choice of etymology. What does the quinque weapon have to do with the number five? I guess it could represent the number of types of kagune that they can be made of, but there are only four of those. Perhaps there is some hidden meaning that I have to read further to find out... foreshadowing a fifth type of kagune, or at least a fifth type of quinque? Who knows, I am ... definitely overthinking it.

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Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) caterpillars have taken up residence on our Coral Honeysuckle! There are two color morphs - green and brown - but they are the same species. The adult moth (I usually casually refer to them as “hummingbird moths” - look how hummingbird-like they are!) frequents my yard as well, but does not often sit still, so the pictures of adults are from a while ago. I included a Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) that we found on our pepper plant on the same day for comparison. We had already fed a few Clearwing caterpillars to our chickens before we realized they were something different...

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Various photos of the species Hypena scabra, the “green cloverworm” taken in my yard over the past couple weeks. The intraspecific diversity is really incredible in these guys! Some of the most variable and fun moths in my lawn, and they come to lights sometimes too! Always a joy to find one of these.

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This splendid fellow visited my house a few weeks ago. He sat on our doorframe, patiently endured a photoshoot, kindly stepped onto my finger when asked (so that we could close the door), tried unsuccessfully to fly, chilled in our driveway for a few hours, then was promptly eaten. Curiously, he seemed to be missing most of his fine feathered antennae. I am saving his wings for a friend.