It's amazing what you can find along a little stretch of forest trail!
Whether you're a curious newbie or a seasoned bug enthusiast, sign up at the link for an enjoyable community-building walk led by yours truly as part of #CityNatureChallenge2026.
Saturday, April 25, 1:00–4:30pm. #iNaturalist
Still space in our Caterpillars Count! webinar tomorrow, April 21 @ 11 am ET
Learn how to survey foliage arthropods 🐛🐜🦋🐞🕷️🪲 and contribute to a continental (and beyond!) scale monitoring project!
#insects #phenology #CitizenScience
caterpillarscount.unc.edu/getStarted
Happy Hatch Day to these Carolina Chickadee chicks!
🐣 🐣
2 out and 3 to go!
#birds #phenology #CaterpillarEaters
NA monarchs in 🇲🇽Mexico🇲🇽, they travel thousands of miles to this breeding ground.
Next week!!!
Please share widely with your bug-loving friends!
#insect #phenology #citizenscience
These chickadee eggs are set to hatch any day now. Parents will need 6,000-9,000 🐛🐛 in the next 2 weeks in order to raise them!
#CaterpillarsCount
photo of a green caterpillar with antlers with its mouth against a metal tube
lol apparently those cute little japanese emperor butterfly (sasakia) caterpillars that have antlers and a :3 face have such bad breath that they scare away predatory wasps. look they're making them take breathalyzer tests. the results are in: stinky!!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This paper is making the rounds again!
Exciting update is we just got some funding to study caterpillar performance on local and nonlocal ecotypes! (Plant genotypes adapted to other ecoregions).
Stay tuned for more caterpillar pictures this summer! 🐛
It's finally hear, it's Citizen Science Month!!! This April, join a global movement and help create 2.5 Million Acts of Science with @scistarter.bsky.social!
#SciStarter #America250 #Semiquincentennial #nisenet #nisenetwork #museums #planetarium #InformalScience #sciencecenters #childrensmuseum
Very cool study! We also documented tremendous within-genus variation in how many caterpillars different tree species support (incl P. serotina and P. caroliniana)
Non-native = fewer 🐛🐛
Coming out soon, ALSO in Ecosphere!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here is the Cornell Chronicle article about our PNAS paper on the evolution of milkweed toxins (N,S-cardenolides), to which the monarch butterfly is sensitive, despite being co-evolved with milkweeds!
@cornellentomology.bsky.social
news.cornell.edu/stories/2026...
…and
The things that can be found during a child’s 1hr soccer practice ….
Takes a minute to establish which end is the head of this copper underwing (Amphipyra pyramidoides) caterpillar
On sourwood
#insect #phenology #birdfood #bugsky
April 7th, leaves are relatively fresh, and yet many trees already have substantial herbivore damage.
#VeryHungryCaterpillars
Can you imagine hatching out in the spring and having unlimited acres of fresh, undefended (as of yet) hickory leaves to eat?
#phenology #insects #bugsky
April is #CitSciMonth!
Learn how to participate in foliage arthropod monitoring 🐛🐜🐞🕷️🦋 thru the Caterpillars Count!
Register for one of 2 free webinars at caterpillarscount.unc.edu/getStarted/
Apr 21st, Tue, @ 11 am ET
Apr 29th, Wed, @ 12 pm ET
Help understand #insectdeclines & #birdfood!
A male Luna Moth, green with broad wings, hind wings with long tails, hanging from a small branch. Selfie view with two people, sparse tree canopy, and blue sky in background.
Luna Moth selfie! This male was hanging from a branch of invasive honeysuckle close to the forest floor. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, April 6, 2026. #bugsky #moths #mothing
Third caterpillar of the year, dangling from a recently leafed out red maple.
Can’t wait to start some branch surveys!
Join us!
#CaterpillarsCount
caterpillars.unc.edu
April is #CitSciMonth!
Learn how to participate in foliage arthropod monitoring 🐛🐜🐞🕷️🦋 thru the Caterpillars Count!
Register for one of 2 free webinars at caterpillarscount.unc.edu/getStarted/
Apr 21st, Tue, @ 11 am ET
Apr 29th, Wed, @ 12 pm ET
Help understand #insectdeclines & #birdfood!
Really nice article and visuals in @washingtonpost.com this morning showing how spring has arrived early - very early - in much of the lower 48 states
www.washingtonpost.com/weather/inte...
@usa-npn.bsky.social #phenology @bennollweather.bsky.social
Eastern tent caterpillars are the first caterpillars of 2026!
And boy are they moving on this warm day yesterday
🐛🐛🐛
We're celebrating #PhenologyWeek! Today, we challenge you to find a plant showing flowers and observe it in Nature's Notebook. Please share any images of your plant with us @usa-npn.bsky.social!
Image credits: flowers or flower buds and open flowers by Dulcey Lima Photography.
I think I found another one 😮🐛
(from a few days ago, back in MD)
#insects 🌱 #nativeplants
A Liatris flower, rather faded and pale pink. A wavy-lined emerald moth caterpillar has donned some flower bits and appears to be nibbling on part of what remains.
The prettiest camouflage you've ever seen
🦋🌱 #invert #moths #nativeplants
The best time to start a long-term biodiversity monitoring project was 50 years ago. The next best time is now!
#citizenscience #bugsky #insects #phenology
Among other things we have a bunch of new help videos explaining the how-tos of the project on our FAQ page caterpillarscount.unc.edu/faq
Spring is springing (unless you’ve got a blizzard right now), which means getting ready for the new foliage arthropod monitoring season!
🐞🐛🐜🪲🕷️🦋
Check out our first newsletter of 2026!
mailchi.mp/bbd9b2066279...
Macro photograph of a pearly white to rose colored leaf beetle with a metallic green head, pronotum, and various lines and blobs on its back, standing on a grean leaf with a number of flower buds at upper left.
A Calligrapha beetle- named of course for the beautiful inscriptions on its elytra- sits on its dogwood host plant. Texas.
A blacklight suspended in front of a white sheet clamped to a wooden fence, with a dim white light shining on the sheet as well, at night, outdoors. This setup is meant to attract moths and other nocturnal insects.
Decided to put out the blacklight for the first time this year, in our back yard in Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. Several kinds of moths, plus midges and other flies, lacewings, a few beetles. I will get a blog post up soon and post the link. #bugsky
