The Daily Bucket is the place where we record and share things we've seen in Nature. Sometimes it's something as simple as hearing the first cricket of the year or it could be something as unusual as a bear in your backyard. Doesn't matter how big or how small, if it's part of the natural world around you then we'd love to hear about it. So please join in and tell us what Nature's been up to in your neighborhood. And let us know the general area you are reporting from, such as Southern California or the middle of the Ozarks or a Florida beach. It's all good
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This summer a severe drought wiped out my garden early in the growing season. We tried to save as much as we could by hand watering but the heat got so intense that even the extra watering couldn't save it in the end. But the local weeds were better equipped to handle the extreme weather and by the end of summer I had a real nice crop of weeds growing where there should have been corn and beans and tomatoes. But a few weeks ago the drought finally broke and we've been getting some real nice rains pretty regularly since then. I noticed awhile back that a couple of "dead" tomato plants had come back to life and even had a couple very small green tomatoes on them, although I didn't have much hope of them growing or ripening before the first frosts came. But a couple days ago I went out to check on them just in case I'd been wrong about that. Well, unfortunately I wasn't and it didn't look like they had grown a bit and they definitely hadn't changed color.
But as I was wading through the weed patch I stumbled upon a very strange creature, so strange that I think I have probably discovered a brand new species, heretofore unknown to mankind. I kid you not, and when you see the pics of this thing you'll no doubt agree. I expect that this discovery will make me rich and famous and I imagine you'll be seeing me on all the news programs and science shows very soon, so I hope you all appreciate the fact that I'm giving all of you the very first public viewing of this marvelous critter.
Step over the squiggly to get the premier viewing of this amazing animal. But step carefully, it's not very big.
Here it is, don't be afraid , I held it in my hand and it doesn't bite,even though it looks a bit grumpy. Looks can be deceiving, I'm well acquainted with a grumpy looking old man and he doesn't bite either.
After awhile he began to relax a bit and as the wrinkled up old face smoothed out I thought I could detect the hint of a smile.
Pretty amazing isn't it? Well you can imagine how excited I was at finding such a strange and exotic creature in my own garden. I was taking pictures as fast as I could punch the button until I figured I was in danger of running down my batteries. So before that happened I thought I'd just look around a bit more and see if possibly there were more of these hiding in there. I didn't find any more just like him but as incredible as it sounds I found another, even stranger creature hiding nearby. It was amazing not only because it too was brand new and previously undiscovered but also because it was the exact same color as the first thing I found. Looked like they were cut from the same fabric, I'm sure they must share some of the same DNA.
I've always wanted to believe in Unicorns, ever since I was a kid, but I had never seen one so that made believing in them a challenge. But all that changed in a heartbeat when I saw this little fellow. I am now a firm believer and will never doubt their existence again. And it's now obvious why I've never seen one before, I had been lookng for something the size of a horse and with a snowy white coat. I never dreamed they'd be so small and I certainly never expected them to be green with pink horns. But nevertheless, here's proof that tiny green unicorns do indeed exist.
So anyway, by now I am about to have a stroke from all the excitement at having discovered not one but two brand new and amazing creatures. My senses were reeling and I felt light headed but in spite of that I was so highly motivated by then that I set right out again to search for more strange creatures. But alas, though I spent the next several hours searching, all I found after that was one funky old tobacco worm. Not hardly in the same class as grumpy green gremlins or pink horned unicorns but I took a couple pics of it anyway.
But then after thinking about it for a bit, I've decided they are kind of exotic too, in fact, downright fantastic. What do you think?
Besides their amazing color, that wicked looking horn, and that long row of eyes down each side, they also have these unique fan like structures on their feet.
They also have these strange looking, tooth/claw like structures on their front feet which they seem to use as hands to help them grip their food as they munch away.
Here you can see how they use these "hands" to help them eat their meal. Tomato leaves and stems are evidently finger lickin good.
I imagine many of you are familiar with these caterpillars since they are fairly common over most of the U.S. Their scientific name is Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm). They are often confused with Manduca quinquemaculata (tomato hornworm) because they are very similar looking and both can be found on tomato plants. But they are fairly easy to distinguish from one another. The tobacco hornworm in this diary has white diagonal stripes all along it's sides while the tomato hornworm has a series of white Vs down it's side. Also the horn on the tomato worm is usually straighter and a bluish black color.
Some of you may have seen these caterpillars with what appear to be white insect eggs hanging from their sides. I've seen this several times in the past and I always assumed they were wasp eggs which once hatched would feed off the caterpillar. But what I found out researching this diary was that those white "eggs" were actually pupal cases of larval parasitic wasps that have already emerged after feeding and developing inside the caterpillar’s body. So any caterpillar sporting those larval cases is already badly damaged. If you are concerned about controlling them, I'd leave any such infested caterpillars alone as they are about finished anyway and well into the process of producing more parasitic wasps. Along with those parasitic wasps they are also preyed upon by a few species of Polistes wasps, Big Eyed Bugs and Lace Wings. I found no mention of it, but I'd be very surprised if various birds, mammals, and reptiles didn't prey on them as well. Because of it's many natural predators, control of these caterpillars seldom becomes a big problem in most areas. And in small home gardens they aren't too difficult to find if they are present. Any plant which has been hosting one of these for a day or two will show obvious evidence of their heavy feeding. Once you spot the missing foliage, a closer inspection of the plant will reveal them clasping a stem and munching happily away. They are then easily removed. If the tomato plant is otherwise healthy it will survive just fine. At least all of ours always have.
The adult moth is a large beautiful creature known as the Carolina sphinx moth. It feeds nocturnally on flower nectars. Wish I had a picture of one but you can see one here if you'd like.
So, that's all I got from mid Missouri today. Hope you liked my newly discovered critters. Your turn now, got Unicorns?