Insects & Arachnids

Focus Illustrated, June 2023

Focus Illustrated, June 2023

View the June 2023 Nature Friend Study Guide I took this HDR panorama just after sundown at a field with a beautiful mixture of Indian paintbrushes and Texas Bluebonnets. I used six individual HDRs...

Favorite Focus, June 2023

Favorite Focus, June 2023

View the June 2023 Nature Friend Study Guide Bald Eagle nest. Photo © Melody Burkholder. Scott's Oriole. Photo © Katherine Hawk. A clouded sulphur butterfly visits a prairie verbena. Photo © Matthew...

The Tachinid Fly Disaster

The Tachinid Fly Disaster

View the May 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Photo © JjGouin/Dreamstime.com. I guess it started when a lady said she had a monarch caterpillar for us along with some milkweed to feed it. Although we...

In Search of Monarchs

In Search of Monarchs

View the May 2023 Nature Friend Magazine They say ignorance is bliss. In some ways, I wish I had never taken that summer evening walk.“Mom, could I head out and look for monarchs again?”I’d waited...

Our Experience With Bee-z-z-z

Our Experience With Bee-z-z-z

View the April 2023 Nature Friend Magazine “Woof, woof, woof!” The gruff barking of our Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd announced the arrival of an unfamiliar vehicle.“Who came?” I asked my...

Sparks of Beetle Light

Sparks of Beetle Light

View the April 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Along the roadside in a mass of morning glory plants, specks of gold flitted among the leaves. They moved fast and were hard to focus on, but with the...

Mr. Spicebush

Mr. Spicebush

View the April 2023 Nature Friend Magazine A close up of a 5th instar spicebush swallowtail caterpillar. Photo © iStock.com. The orange caterpillar inched along the stick. Every so often he paused...

Stronger Than Steel

Stronger Than Steel

View the March 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Garden spider. Photo © Wayne Mckown/Dreamstime.com. We arrived home from a ten-day trip to an invasion of grasshoppers. With each step we took, a cloud of...