Naturenotes With Rudy Mancke

A listener finds a luna moth that has not metamorphisized perfectly.

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2023 is Invest In Our Planet.

Steatoda grossa, commonly known as the cupboard spider, the dark comb-footed spider, the brown house spider (in Australia), or the false widow or false black widow (though several other species are known by these names), is a common species of spider in the genus Steatoda.

Mining bees belong to the genus Andrena. This is a genus of bees in the family Andrenidae. With over 1,500 species, it is one of the largest genera of animals.

Dryophytes gratiosus, commonly known as the barking tree frog, is a species of tree frog endemic to the south-eastern United States.

A listener finds what he thinks is a animal's skull. Turns out, it's not a skull at all.

Rudy shares a poetic rememberence of a friend and fellow naturalist.

Terrestrial mole salamanders are identified by having wide, protruding eyes, prominent costal grooves, and thick arms. Most have vivid patterning on dark backgrounds, with marks ranging from deep blue spots to large yellow bars depending on the species.

A listener reports some skeletal remains he found on Dreher Island State Park...

Tinea pellionella, the case-bearing clothes moth, is a species of tineoid moth in the family Tineidae, the fungus moths. This species has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring nearly worldwide.

Often confused with an albino, a piebald deer is slightly more common and is also a genetic mutation. Piebald deer can have varying amounts of white hair.

The red crossbill or common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Crossbills have distinctive mandibles, crossed at the tips, which enable them to extract seeds from conifer cones and other fruits.

Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus Thamnophis in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus Thamnophis can be found from the subarctic plains of Canada to Costa Rica.

Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) is a small wader. This bird, the largest of the phalaropes, breeds in the prairies of North America in western Canada and the western United States. It is migratory, wintering in inland salt lakes near the Andes in Argentina.

A listener reports on a Cub Scout field trip, during which some skeletal remains were found.

A listener from James Island shares some of the recent visitors to his backyard, captured by his wildlife camera.

Clathrus columnatus, commonly known as the column stinkhorn, is a saprobic species of basidiomycete fungus in the family Phallaceae. It has a widespread distribution, and has been found in Africa, Australasia, and the Americas. It may have been introduced to North America with exotic plants.

Native blueberries are blooming now.

Many of the early blooming flowers in South Carolina are non-native species.

Rudy recalls some of the many birds he sighted in his backyard during the Great Backyard Bird Count.