White Peacock Butterfly: ID, Range, and Host Plants
A chalky white butterfly of Florida and the tropics with scalloped edges and small eyespots. Why it is not a peacock butterfly, and the lawn plant that brings it in.
-
-
Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly: ID, Dark Females, and Hosts
A large yellow butterfly with four black stripes, but some females are entirely black. Why the dark form exists, what the caterpillars eat, and how to attract them.
-
Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly: ID and the Snake Caterpillar
A large black swallowtail with a blue-green sheen whose caterpillar mimics a snake. Host plants, why the adult is black, and how to tell it from similar species.
-
Should I Kill a Black Widow Spider?
Depends on location: remove it from active spaces, leave it in undisturbed corners. What the real bite risk is and how to handle an encounter safely.
-
Monarch Butterfly Life Span: Weeks or Months?
Summer monarchs live weeks, the migratory generation lives eight to nine months. Why diapause changes everything, how long each stage takes, and what shortens their lives.
-
Xerces Blue Butterfly: The First US Butterfly Lost to a City
The Xerces blue vanished from San Francisco’s dunes in the 1940s. What it looked like, why it died out, what its genome showed in 2021, and whether it could return.
-
Red Admiral Butterfly: ID, Nettles, and Why It Lands on You
The red admiral is black with bright orange-red bands and unusually bold with people. Host plants, why numbers swing so much between years, and how to attract them.
-
Cricket Poop: Identification and Cleanup
Cricket droppings are dark cylindrical pellets 1 to 2 mm long. How to tell them from mouse, roach and bed bug evidence, the allergy risk, and safe cleanup.
-
Buckeye Butterfly: ID, Eyespots, and Host Plants
The common buckeye is a brown butterfly with six large eyespots that deflect and startle bird attacks. ID, host plants, why autumn ones turn pink, and how to attract them.
-
Black Wasp: Identification, Behavior, and Safety
Usually the great black wasp, a large solitary hunter that targets grasshoppers and rarely stings people. What attracts it and why it’s not aggressive.
