Nature Notes from Sue

 Greetings, Well, look at the beautiful spider I found in the kale patch today!  This one belongs to the family of Crab Spiders.  After I picked my kale today, I carefully checked every leave for caterpillars and spiders and was delighted to find this one tucked inside the folds of one of the leaves.  I carefully removed the spider and returned it to the kale patch so it will feed on garden pests.  Well, tomorrow is 8/31 and I believe the method you receive my blog posts will change after this.  From now on, you should receive an email directly from me with the link to the newest post.  My home email is sonicsusiee@gmail.com.  If you do not receive an email from me after this by the weekend, email me directly as I may not have your email address.

 Greetings, Most of you are probably noticing more spiders around as we head towards fall and young ones are maturing.  I found this beautiful Yellow Garden Spider this week.  It is a member of the Orbweaver family.  These are the spiders that build the large round webs that many people say look like a bicycle wheel with spokes.  The one in the photo below is a female, the males don't have the bright yellow colors.  The white zig zag pattern in the web is referred to as stabilimenta.  It is thought that this gives added support in the center of the web, making it more difficult for larger insects to escape.   Hope you will love this idea.  I have a vegetable garden in my backyard and I have a problem with the non-native cabbage worms on my kale plants.  I have been picking them off my plants and then throwing them in the webs of the many Orbweavers in my yard!  It is fun to watch the spiders attack instantly and then wrap their dinner in silk.

 I was reminded today of these beautiful pollinators, when a neighbor found a nest in a tree next to where she puts out the garbage each week.  Her immediate reaction was to notify the HOA and demand that it be removed.  I assured her that the insects really were not interested in her, they just wanted to maintain and protect the nest.  I suggested she just put her trash out on the other side of the tree each week until winter and she would not be near them.  The last thing in the world anyone should do is grab a broom and swat the nest out of the tree.  This would likely cause maximum stinging as the insects try to protect their nest.  So if you encounter these nests in your yard or neighborhood, try to appreciate their role in the environment as pollinators.  I see them in my vegetable garden from time to time and welcome them.  I just don't pick my vegetables when I see one in my garden.  We live in harmony, I provide plants for them to gather nectar and in turn, they pollinate

 Greetings, It is that time of year for those unsightly Fall Webworms .  You are probably already noticing them as you drive down the highways.  This insect especially loves Black Walnut trees.  Inside those webs are tasty caterpillars.  Especially tasty if you are a Yellow-billed Cuckoo .  This bird had a feast in the spring with all those Cicadas.  Now they will be feeding on the Fall Webworms.  Please don't spray them, they won't kill your trees.  You will notice a couple branches die back.  Remember, the birds love to eat them.  If you spray them, you could kill the birds that eat them. Here is the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Finally, I am still working on the changes with the delivery system of this blog.  I will make decisions by next week as to how you will receive this.  Stay tuned!

 Greetings, I came across this Coyote over the weekend.  It may surprise some of you to know that Coyote are present all around the County.  Humans have caused the perfect scenario for the Eastward expansion of the Coyote's range.  First, we removed their main predator, the Gray Wolf.  Then we created suburbia where there is a plentiful food supply of feral and domestic cats, geese, rabbits, fawns, etc.  Coyotes actually are omnivores and will eat insects, berries and other fruits too. If you raise chickens, you should secure them at night as these are easy pray for Coyote.  Please keep your cats indoors for their safety as well as the safety of baby birds that are everywhere now. Finally, the rules here at my blog are changing in August.  If you subscribed to have the posts sent directly to your email box, this will be ending.  I am working on a solution where it will come to your email box, but it will come directly from me.  Stay tuned as I test this out. Sue

 Greetings, Wild turkey are probably more common than you think!  It is hard to believe this bird was heading toward extinction 100 years ago.  Their habitat is oak/beech/hickory forests.   Check out this photo of a female Wild Turkey with 5 poults in a backyard in Ellicott City.  This photo was taken yesterday by Dave Savin.  The photo was sent to me to confirm breeding of this species in the Savage NW block in the MD Breeding Bird Atlas. As a reminder, this project is mapping the distribution of breeding birds every 10-square miles across the State and DC.  If you see turkey with young, please snap a photo and send it to me with the date, time and location.  This is a hard bird to confirm and it usually is just being in the right place at the right time when you just happen to see them.  I don't need a National Geographic cover photo!