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| List: MassLep Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:37:39 -0400 From: Josh <opihi...> Subject: [MassLep] Amherst Giant! |
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Howdy folks, It seems to be that time of year again! The dog and I stepped out the front= door at the perfect moment, just before a Giant Swallowtail winged through= our front yard waist-high. The only sad part was that it didn=E2=80=99t st= ay in view long enough for me to even reach for my camera, much less actual= ly take a photo=E2=80=A6 This is, I think, my fifth Giant in our yard near Amethyst Brook. The other= s: August 11, 2025 August 7, 2022 September 3, 2019 August 31, 2017 So, there definitely seems to be a pattern, or a peak at least. FWIW, we mo= ved here in August 2009.=20 Other butterflies here today, in addition to the Giant:=20 Cabbage White 4+ GS Fritillary 1-2 Monarch 1 Peck=E2=80=99s Skipper 1 A particularly memorable moth came by yesterday: a Black-and-Yellow Lichen = Moth (Lycomorpha pholus). My photos from yesterday are still in the camera,= so here=E2=80=99s one from a few years ago, just so folks who don=E2=80=99= t know the species can see why it=E2=80=99s memorable:=20 https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64793276=20 The woods along the brook have been loaded with Calopteron sp. net-winged b= eetles for the past month or so; those beetles have a very similar color sc= heme to the moth=E2=80=99s, and are packed with nasty-tasting chemicals, ma= king them a nice model for the moth to mimic.=20 Our yard has been *loaded* with pollinators this summer, between my wife=E2= =80=99s fennel and lavender blooming, lots of Queen Anne=E2=80=99s Lace, th= e Monardas and Echinacea that are almost finished now, and the goldenrod ju= st getting started. My brain can=E2=80=99t even hold the number of differen= t species of bees, wasps, flies, beetles, moths, butterflies, and other ins= ects whirling around out there.=20 Cheers, Josh Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D. Amherst, MA https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/opihiman https://www.facebook.com/opihi Writer/compiler, Bird Observer https://www.birdobserver.org/ Columnist, =E2=80=9CEarth Matters=E2=80=9D https://www.gazettenet.com/search?bodysearch=3Dearth+matters https://www.hitchcockcenter.org/category/earth-matters/ Vice-president, Hampshire Bird Club https://hampshirebirdclub.org/ Northeast Chapter head, Dragonfly Society of the Americas https://www.dragonflysocietyamericas.org/northeastdsa --=20 You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "= MassLep" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an e= mail to masslep+<unsubscribe...> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/masslep/A9A= <94800-0CB2-4A5B-8E7F-F09D03BE725C...> |
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