Life on Salem Road

Red-Spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly on Barn Floor  9/18/2020 We have lots of these Red-Spotted Purple Admiral Butterflies around the place, and most of them seem a bit worse for the wear.  I went searching to find out how butterflies get injured.  I wasn't really successful, but I did learn that you can replace a broken butterfly wing with a similar wing from a dead butterfly.  Who knew?  

  Hornworm on volunteer tomato 9/8/2020 Holy smokes! It seems that the hornworms in my garden, which I had always assumed were TOMATO hornworms, are actually TOBACCO hornworms!  Not that it makes a great deal of difference to gardener me, but I just assumed that hornworms that munch on tomato plants would be tomato hornworms.   As I set out to find that Latin name for the hornworm, I decided to check to make sure that my hornworms really are tomato hornworms.  I spotted an article comparing the two on Margaret Roach's A Way to Garden -- I love her blog, her podcast, and her New York Times column -- so I dove in.  And when she described the fellow above -- seven white stripes with black edges and a red horn on his tail -- she was describing the tobacco hornworm. Her picture matches my picture.  And when I followed her link to the Entomology Department at the University of Florida , I discovered the tomato hornworm looked quite different! So now I can ...

Dwarf American Toad in prepared garden bed (9-5-2020) I've been moving lots of compost this week, preparing new no-till garden beds for a winter crop of greens.  A piece of corrugated cardboard had blown onto one of the beds, and when I lifted it yesterday, I found this Dwarf American Toad huddled underneath, doing his level best to blend in with the soil around him.  He did a fine job!  I encountered a very similar fellow in the general area a couple of weeks ago -- I wonder if he is the same one or if we have a colony? I identified him using Herps of Arkansas .  According to HOA,  only two true toads live in Arkansas, the Dwarf American Toad and the Fowler's Toad.  Both occur all over Arkansas, and both hybridize with other true toads. If you want to hear the Dwarf American Toad's call, check it out at HOA.  My speaker was turned up all the way -- I would recommend making sure yours is not before you listen:) I was puzzled that HOA did not have a sep...