Animal Costumes - Dressmaking & Design by Sandy Durso

06/17/2024

2024 - The Xerces Society recently launched Firefly Atlas. www.fireflyatlas.org

Firefly Atlas will garner more detailed and more specific data, allowing for even greater learning about the diversity of firefly species in the United States.

Xerces, a science-based nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates - collects species-level data on the distribution and seasonal timing of fireflies.

* This citizen science site replaces: https://www.massaudubon.org/programs-events/community-science/firefly-watch which has shut down.

12/01/2023

Long Branch Nature Center in
Arlington, Virginia. ....

MUCH more to come!!!

11/01/2023

11/01/2023

11/01/2023

Video: https://www.facebook.com/reel/648271514098539/

10/19/2023

October 2023 - Mantis in The NY Times Crossword!
I know! I know!

10/17/2023

October 17, 2023 - National Possum Day 💛

The town of Wausau, in the panhandle of Florida, is a quiet pocket of the state with a full-time population of fewer than 400 people.

But every year, thousands of visitors pour into the “Possum Capital of the World" - home to more possums than humans - to celebrate a local hero: the possum!

Their annual Possum Festival (started in 1970) celebrates with a possum parade, live music, costumes, and even a contest to crown a Possum King and Queen!

https://www.wjhg.com/2023/08/03/wausaus-54th-possum-festival-fun-day-returns/

The proceeds raised during the festival help fund scholarships for graduating high school seniors.

This past year, three lucky students were awarded $4,000 scholarships from the money raised by the Possum Festival.

https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/possum-festival-attracts-large-crowds-for-53rd-year/

10/17/2023

October 17, 2023 - National Possum Day 💛

This 12 foot tall Possum Monument was built in 1982 as a permanent tribute to the possum .
~Wausau, Florida

It is engraved with the words, “Erected in grateful recognition of the role the North American possum - a magnificent survivor of the marsupial family pre-dating the ages of the mastodon and the dinosaur - has played in furnishing both food and fur for the early settlers and their successors. Their presence here has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food in normal times and has been important aid to human survival in times of distress and critical need.”

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/possum-monument #:~:text=Wausau%20is%20home%20to%20more,Possum%20Capital%E2%80%9D%20of%20the%20world.

04/13/2023

April 2023 - Share from Monarch Watch
🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
FREE MILKWEED for large-scale (two acres or more, ¼ acre or more in California) native habitat restoration only.

🦋 Habitat restoration is defined as the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats.
🦋 Gardens or landscaped areas do not qualify as restoration and are not included in this grant. 🦋 The portion of property where milkweed will be planted must meet the minimum acreage requirement, and have a management plan in place.
🦋 Roadsides and Trails are acceptable areas.

Map here: (scroll down on this link) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1huxKakdZBUv7pe9UOjAfSbzLfTlozx8CU48XK2Y8JVY/viewform

Those awarded free milkweeds need only pay shipping/handling, which is modest compared to the value of the plants. For most shipments, four flats cost $40-$80 to ship via UPS or FedEx Ground, (20-40 cents per plant).

Details here: https://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/free-milkweeds-for-restoration-projects/

02/28/2023

Possum humor 🙃🎶

11/29/2022

November 2022 - 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
THIS is why you should Leave the Leaves!
They are full of life!
Share from Pollinator Friendly Yards

AMAZING Video: www.facebook.com/reel/673140584318298?s=group_other

11/29/2022

November 27, 2022 - An aggregation of ladybugs!!
Share from The Naturalist's Notebook

Ever seen this many ladybugs? Ian Adrian shared with us his story of coming upon this remarkable sight in Southern Arizona last July.

“On a day of adventuring ... my beloved companion and I summited the highest peak in the Santa Rita mountains. ... Halfway up the rocky precipice, we encountered a stunning cluster of fly agaric mushrooms, but the real magic awaited us at the very top. There were ladybugs everywhere! We had not met a single one anywhere else on the 13-mile round trip adventure, but up here, completely exposed to the elements, there must have been millions! Overwhelmed, we gasped in awe and tip-toed around trying not to crush any."

🐞 More photos by Ian Adrian : www.facebook.com/Naturalistsnotebook/posts/pfbid0BdDnCvJaXtsos82JmoDKHXSw34CeGa7fRmDh1ANn1biYepgqNvvEnrpueV5Pz9eEl

🐞 www.treehugger.com/why-do-ladybugs-gather-massive-swarms-4864379 #:~:text=It's%20called%20an%20aggregation%2C%20and,their%20defense%2C%20and%20share%20resources

🐞 https://tucson.com/lifestyles/fly-away-home/article_b0f439ce-9783-586f-aebb-de76f55bdc8d.html

🐞 Ladybugs gather together in large groups to "diapause" (the insect term for hibernation). This helps them conserve resources and brings males and females together for reproductive purposes. Some ladybugs gather in logs, buildings, ground cover, beneath snow drifts, and even in houses!

09/19/2022

September 2022 - Did you know the Monarch Butterflies we are seeing this time of year are known as the 'super generation' or the Methalusah generation? These are the butterflies that will be migrating to Mexico!

Breeding monarchs live for 2-6 weeks, but these special monarchs will live up to 8 months!

The butterflies that emerge now are in 'diapause', meaning their breeding instincts are on pause. Instead they are intent on feeding and storing fat to make the journey south, where they will overwinter in the oyamel fir trees located in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Having a supply of nectar is of great importance to the butterflies right now, so late blooming pollinator friendly plants such as asters, sedum, echinacea and meadow blazing star are a wonderful source to have in your garden!

Photography by Deb Halbot Through My Eyes - Photography by Deb Halbot

Share from The Monarch Butterfly Crusader

09/11/2022

Monarch season always reminds me of this favorite book "The Paper Princess Finds Her Way"

This a part of a series by Elisa Kleven - all with enchanting illustrations.

A few reviews:
🦋 We love the author's ability to blend imaginary elements -- talking paper dolls, toys and animals -- with real and inspiring facts from nature, namely the migration of Monarch butterflies.

🦋 I wish I could live in her books, they are so beautifully done with such love and attention to small detail, not to mention the heartwarming characters and story lines.

🦋 unique, beautiful, colorful, thought-provoking, and uplifting ... the princess is quirky, imperfect, goes on adventures, and is made from paper, love, and the earth.

08/13/2022

August 12, 2022 - Prairie Ridge Ecostation (NC Museum of Natural Sciences field station) was a part of something exciting!

They were chosen to be a part of an important insect conservation effort: The Lost Ladybug Project

The Project leaders hope to save the Nine-spotted Ladybug from extinction by captive rearing and releasing as many ladybugs as they can throughout their native range. They are currently sending lab-reared Nine-spotted Ladybugs to select locations for release in the hopes that the ladybugs will begin to repopulate areas where they used to be common.

Prairie Ridge is happy to report that they were chosen as one of the sites and 20 Nine-spotted Ladybugs were released! They are the ONLY site in North Carolina so far!!

The habitat available at Prairie Ridge will hopefully give the small number of Nine-spotted Ladybugs a high chance of survival. With all the competing, non-native ladybugs in the area, the Nine-spots need an abundance of food and shelter to thrive. The PR site offers that to these incredibly rare insects and they will be closely monitoring over the next few months to see how they are doing. They would love for the Prairie Ridge Nine-spotted Ladybugs to be so successful that they spread and help bring this stunning, formerly common ladybug species back to North Carolina!

Next time you’re at Prairie Ridge and see a ladybug, look to see if it has nine spots on its back! If it does, snap a few photos and watch it. Leave it where you find it so it has the very best chance of survival. Please share photos of ANY ladybugs you find with the Lost Ladybug Project so they can see whether the Nine-spotted Ladybug is successfully repopulating in our state!

🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞🐞

The Nine-spotted Ladybug used to be one of the most common ladybug species in the US, but now it has mostly disappeared. It’s not entirely certain what happened to them or whether it was one issue or a combination of several. Regardless of the reason, this species is not doing well and is a good candidate for extinction.

The Lost Ladybug Project based at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY is a favorite citizen science projects. The namesake “lost ladybug” is the Nine-spotted Ladybug, and the project began by enlisting the help of New Yorkers statewide to find their very rare state insect. They weren’t even sure it still existed in NY, but they eventually found a few small populations with the help of citizen scientists. They then expanded their project to look at all ladybug species across the US and Canada. Their goal is to determine the current distribution of ladybugs and learn more about the threats ladybugs such as the Nine-spotted Ladybug face, threats that are causing declines in many of our native species.

www.facebook.com/prairieridge
https://naturalsciences.org/prairie-ridge
www.lostladybug.org

08/09/2022

August 4, 2022 - The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center

Intern Holly Hubing has put the finishing touches on her wall mural of the four species of sea turtles found along the North Carolina coast.

Accurately portraying sea turtles with all their unique characteristics is a challenge. For example, there’s not one scute pattern for every sea turtle. They all have different numbers and placements on their carapace and head. And their heads are shaped differently to accommodate their particular diets. And they are distinctly different in body size, shape and color.

Holly started by researching various sources for the dimensions of a typical adult in each species. Then she sketched each turtle, making sure that the body proportions and characteristics were correct.

I love that someone else is putting in as much creative learning into environmental education.

Article: www.jdnews.com/story/news/2022/08/04/sea-turtle-hospital-intern-s-visual-aid-types-turtles-found-n-c-coast-north-topsail-beach-onslow/10201572002

www.facebook.com/groups/338323111165

07/22/2022

July 21, 2022 - Monarch Butterflies Added To Endangered List
🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

The migratory monarch butterfly is the newest member of the endangered species list, as dwindling numbers accelerated by climate change, wildfires, drought, overdevelopment and pesticide use bring the iconic insect closer to extinction.

Migratory monarch butterflies, a subspecies of the monarch butterfly known for their ... twice-annual 4,000-mile migration across the North American continent, were considered threatened for decades, but had never before come under The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list.

IUCN is the world’s most comprehensive scientific authority on the status of species.

Nonmigratory monarch butterflies in Central and South America were not designated as endangered.

The IUCN red list is NOT related to the United States Endangered Species Act, and currently the US Fish and Wildlife Service has NOT listed the monarch butterfly as endangered.

WATCH FOR whether the Fish and Wildlife Service considers monarchs protected under the Endangered Species Act, which opens the door for federal grants aimed at helping the species recover.

www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/07/21/monarch-butterflies-added-to-endangered-list/?sh=4a0a8b69284d

www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/climate/monarch-butterflies-endangered-iucn.html

www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/world/monarch-butterfly-endangered-scn/index.html

07/05/2022

July 4, 2022 - Take the time to sit and enjoy “nature’s fireworks” in your own backyard.

In a time when energy conservation, and reducing carbon gas emissions, is crucial, celebrating July Fourth – or the joy of any other midsummer evening — is possible by seeking out lightning bug displays.

www.politico.com/story/2012/07/of-fireworks-and-fireflies-078111

Fireflies are an important contributor to the health of your lawn and garden. Fireflies do more than light up the sky. They produce luciferin and luciferase, which are rare chemicals that scientists have not been able to make synthetically. Injection of the firefly’s chemicals can quickly detect energy problems. This is used in the detection and treatment of cancer, heart disease, and even waste water treatment. Your backyard has fascinating creatures.

www.weingartz.com/expert-advice/tag/light/

06/17/2022

June 2022 - North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

🐝 Have you seen our bee-utiful mural outside of the Nature Research Center at our downtown Raleigh location?

Artist Matt Willey painted this mural as part of “The Good of the Hive,” a global art project based on his commitment to hand paint 50,000 individual honeybees (the average number for a healthy, thriving hive).

Willey is our guest on this week’s “Love Nature” podcast and gives an update on this initiative and what inspires him to keep painting honeybees around the world.

Listen now: https://bit.ly/LoveNature0305

Photo by Karen Swain / NCMNS
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

06/14/2022

Virtual "The Secret Lives of Possums"
Tuesday, June 28, 2022 / 6:30-7:30 pm EST
Jerry Reynolds, Head of Outreach for the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, will share some funny and fascinating possum tales through the lens of a trail camera.

Here is a taste of what he captures on his Critter Cam!
The Possum Trot 🎶🎶
https://www.facebook.com/jerry.reynolds.986/videos/791996028094902

FREE registration: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx

The Virginia Opossum, North America's only marsupial, is common throughout North Carolina. Even though possums probably live near you, many people do not know how amazing they really are!

Share from Wildlife Welfare Inc and
Wildlife Rehabilitators of North Carolina (WRNC)

Photo of Margaret, all nestled in her leaf litter.
She grew into a healthy and strong adult while overwintering with rehabber Sandy Durso.
Margaret was injured by a dog in the fall of 2021, and released in the spring of 2022.

04/29/2022

2020 City Nature Challenge Stats

The Triangle Area of NC finished in 8th place out of 244 cities that participated! The 3rd percentile in 2020, our highest ranking yet!

We ended up with 18,234 observations, 2419 species ( #10), and 984 participants ( #9) this year.

www.facebook.com/groups/404146950310079/posts/681050219286416

One potential use for iNaturalist projects like this one is an improved understanding of species diversity and richness. In order for these photos to be deemed sufficient for scientific research, the species identified in the photo must be agreed upon by at least one other user. In the dataset, each photo has a designated quality grade (e.g. “Research Grade”) that indicates its validity.

04/29/2022

April-May 2022 - City Nature Challenge
14 US areas are competing with the rest of the world!!

More than 400 cities are expected to participate, including the returning champ, Capetown, South Africa, which posted 71,000 observations in 2021. The D.C. metro area was tops in the U.S., with 43,000 observations. Chicago will be looking to best its 12,000 observations, recorded by more than 1,000 participants.

This massive community science project, sponsored by iNaturalist,.org , raises awareness of urban biodiversity and contributes to a large pool of data relied on by scientists, policymakers, educators and urban planners.

It’s also become a friendly competition among cities to see which can notch the most species and rally the most participants.