Thinking Ahead to Winter

Later note, October 7, 2013: Mystery solved, thanks to a friend who loves research. This is apparently a bagworm, and you can read all about its life and habits here.

These little guys are all around our patio. The caterpillar is somehow making that case that you see hanging down. At this point, he is still able to crawl around, dragging his case behind him and looking for the best place to settle in for the upcoming colder weather. Eventually, he will seal up the end and think his caterpillar thoughts until he is ready to come back out for the big reveal. 

I have no idea what he will turn into. Do you?

The completed case could easily be mistaken for a piece of wood a couple of inches long. Some even have very convincing "twigs" sticking out of them. Pretty amazing. 

The Intrepid Naturalists Explore the Desert at Night, Part 2

As part of the Nighttime in the Desert program that we attended last weekend, we were privileged to meet several volunteers who knew a lot about the arthropods that are found in the desert where we live. Here are some photos (click to enlarge) of the specimens they had collected. I am especially fond of the arachnids in the third photo:

There was also a live scorpion in a cage, displayed along with some black lights. Because scorpions fluoresce or glow under black light, they are easy to see in the dark with the aid of one of these lights. My photo didn't turn out so well, but if you will check out this article on scorpions you can learn more about scorpions and see a photo of one under a black light.

The next learning station up the trail was attracting a lot of attention. Take a look at this close up photo and see if you can guess the subject of tomorrow's Intrepid Naturalists post: