Jumbo Jumping Spider just for Halloween

An uncharacteristically large and colorful jumping spider, that I will attempt to I.D... (Phidippus audax, Bold Jumping Spider, atypical?)...  But for now, just admire her colorful and seasonally-appropriate backside (abdomen) ~ The same applies to the native paper wasp below, which I think is a female Northern Paper Wasp, who seemingly would like to be inside the greenhouse for winter.

An Excellent Day for Insects

I believe this is a Sawfly (Macremphytus) larva, of the Dogwood variety, evidently trying to molt.  Looks like his siblings already molted and left.

And this is an awesome wasp-mimic in the Syrphid fly family, probably Spilomyia longicornis.

Eastern Comma butterfly, yes?

Berry True

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”  Frank Lloyd Wright

That quote, which I should confess I just saw in an email from ODNR, seems particularly appropriate to me recently.  I was experiencing some stubborn doldrums, and no amount of spicy food, espresso, nor even a hernia exam could lift my spirits… Then I got home and noticed berries on a young Red Chokeberry bush. (Aronia arbutifolia, below) We just planted the twigling chokeberry, from Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District, this past Spring. And it produced a cluster of fruit already! Seeing this, I instantly felt better than I’d felt all day.

I had a similar upturn last week just witnessing a tiny dark creature dash across the garden - A short-tailed shrew who I’d pined for all summer! That same afternoon I saw a White-breasted Nuthatch in the yard who I’d also missed. We used to have a White-breasted visit regularly but I hadn’t seen it for over a year. (I think maybe he had been confused and left in the spring of 2008 along with a pair of irregular wintering Red-breasted Nuthatches ; ~ )

Clematis virginiana - Virgin’s Bower seed plumes, which give it the occasional name ‘Old Man’s Beard‘:

Hermit Thrush and Winter Wren, Together Again

The following substandard photos are for species documentation only - Sorry, but I took these pics through window glass and screen. It was shady, cloudy, and the subjects were bouncing and darting all about!

The Thrush was making an odd shivering motion, I assume just to foil my attempts to focus… (I wonder if he was actually making a low call that I couldn’t hear.)

I’m fairly certain this is a Hermit Thrush, Catharus guttatus. Coming down from summering in Canada or northern Michigan, etc. Some winter in southern half of Ohio or as far as Florida and Mexico.


The diminutive bird below moves like a mouse under leaves and over logs: a Winter Wren - Not a common sight - Troglodytes troglodytes is the scientific name. (Groovy, I can remember that one.) The first time I saw a Winter Wren it was under our pergola and reminded me of a moth in flight ~ Its stubby little wings had to beat so fast to carry its comparatively stout body ~ Then it materialized almost perpendicular on a post, and I fell in love!
I usually see this one in the yard once or twice a year as it passes through. These winter in Midwest, Southeast and Atlantic States… But since Winter Wrens summer in Canada, they call them…?

In Preparation for a Fresh Start

On a brilliant native shrub ~ Wahoo, Euonymus atropurpureus ~ a fruit capsule offers forth a seed.

...Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca …already fluffing and sending off its own hopefuls.

....And I’m still taking photos of Augochlora pura sweat bees.


I need an upheaval. A fresh start ~

I wonder what the sweat bees are like on the northwest coast … ( ^ ;

Glacier Ridge Metro Park Wetlands

So this BlogSpot is supposed to be about my backyard wildlife... Not today!  Besides, Glacier Ridge wetland area is essentially surrounded by houses, and an unfortunate stone’s throw from Route 33. 

I’m posting these photos from a year ago…for several reasons. This migrating Marbled Godwit was a rare sight for central Ohio, so I've read.  I was lucky enough to be stumbling down the boardwalk that day, and had my camera for once!  So glad.  (This was August 26, 2008) 

Now this past September I visited Glacier Ridge a few times, and even after what seemed like a good deal of rain, the wetlands area was only just damp.  I was surprised to realize that we're still behind for rainfall this year... 
Finally, just last Saturday, October 3, there was a little standing water. (But I didn’t see any birds.) I did find a sad and adorable tiny Masked(?) Shrew, dead on the multi-use trail. I picked him up and moved him to tall grass. (Otherwise within a half-hour he would have been pureed in the wheel of a rollerblade.)

Saturday I also saw what appeared to be predaceous diving beetles in a very shallow puddle also on the asphalt multi-use trail!  I thought that was pretty interesting.  ~ No camera that day, of course. ~

(click photos to view large images)

Please click on photo to view.  You must see the large image of this one!  A Green Heron ripping from the mud what appears to be an already dead frog.  The frog reminds me of a sandbag/ragdoll I had as a child...

The Queen of Nothing

This is a Bald-faced Hornet queen, Dolichovespula maculata, I believe.  (That sounds like an Italian coffee drink, doesn't it?)  It's actually a type of paper wasp and not a true hornet.  Her kind are the builders of those familiar large oval lantern-like nests, constructed from chewed wood and plant fiber.    

A fertilized female, or queen, is the only member of the hive to overwinter.  The one pictured here on our deck may have been looking for soil or leaf litter in which to spend the winter.