Peevish Pen

Ruminations on reading, writing, genealogy and family history, rural living, retirement, aging—and sometimes cats.

© 2006-2023 All rights reserved

My Photo
Name:
Location: Rural Virginia, United States

I'm an elderly retired teacher who writes. Among my books are Ferradiddledumday (Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin story), Stuck (middle grade paranormal novel), Patches on the Same Quilt (novel set in Franklin County, VA), Them That Go (an Appalachian novel), Miracle of the Concrete Jesus & Other Stories, and several Kindle ebooks.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Unidentified Critters

Mr. Tree, the pin oak in our side yard nearly died during last year's drought. The leaves on the ends of his branches fell early last year and the branch ends remained bare this year.


However, he's bounced back a bit this year. A lot of new limbs have sprouted all over him, so there's hope.


Now, however, a bunch of caterpillars have taken up residence on him, and they can't be up to any good. We're not sure what they are, so if any readers could provide insight as to what these critters are, we'd be grateful.


Here's a closer look:

Am I the only one who thinks this critter's face looks like Little Lulu?

The caterpillars aren't the only strange critters hanging around. We've also acquired a fuzzy bird who sleeps on the porch—well, close to the porch ceiling. I noticed him (her?) last night:


Here's a closer look (the bird didn't mind the porch light or the flash):


And here's what's even weirder—not long ago on another blogger's blog, I saw a picture of a bird just like this. But I can't remember which blog! And that blogger didn't know what it was either. (Edited to add: The bird is on RnR's blog. It looks like the same bird!)

Must be a lot of strange critters out there in the blogosphere. If you can identify them, let me know.
~

Labels:

9 Comments:

Blogger Clementine said...

Hmmm. Can't say that I've ever seen the bird. I have a bird book showing Virginia birds, I'll look it up. Now the catepillars I've seen all over our place too. They killed several of my shrubs last year.

3:09 PM  
Blogger Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Somethin's goin' on that ain't right in your neck a the woods Becky.

www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com

3:52 PM  
Blogger Amy Hanek said...

Wish I knew... but am glad I don't. Ewwwwwww... (straight from the city girl)

4:59 PM  
Blogger Claudia Condiff said...

That bird is definitely a.... spotted-fuzzy- night-ledge-setter if I ever saw one!!!!!
And the caterpiller is surely a two-horned-red-ribbed-glob-cheeked-oak-tree-climber!!!!!!
For sure, thats my expert opinion!(and we all know about opinions!)

10:07 PM  
Blogger Roanoke RnR said...

Hiya, that bird was the one on my blog...I never figured out what it was either. It almost looks like the same one sitting on the same ledge...strange!

7:46 PM  
Blogger Becky Mushko said...

Ah, that solves the mystery of which blog I saw the bird on.

It stayed here for a couple of nights, but I haven't seen it lately. Hard to believe there's some species of bird who prefers to sleep by clinging to an aluminum ledge. And which isn't awakened by a nearby porch light turning on.

8:01 PM  
Blogger Roanoke RnR said...

Same here, it stayed a couple of nights and wasn't awakened by a flashlight shining, the carport light on, or the flash of a camera!

8:06 PM  
Blogger Becky Mushko said...

It can't be the same bird. Can it? If so, it must be travelling east and resting on the porches of bloggers. If this is the case, it should be sleeping on Debi's front porch now.

10:09 PM  
Blogger Roanoke RnR said...

You know there's got to be a short story in there somewhere ;)

9:13 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home