April 2-8
While perusing the dormant vegetable garden, I happened to notice an unusual clump of grayish hair. Upon further investigation, it was an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) nest that was full of baby bunnies.
Eastern Cottontails are the only rabbit species that are indigenous to Indiana. Strict herbivores, they do consume a fair amount of my vegetable garden annually. In the wild they are short lived and are the target of many predators such as coyotes and hawks, which possibly explains their ability to reproduce abundantly.
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| Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) Nest with Babies |
Flies are not something that I'm good with, and sawflies can be particularly mind boggling, but thanks to the folks at bugguide.net, the consensus is that this individual is of the genus Dolerus. Of the 11 North American species in the genus Dolerus, only one is pure black, and that is Dolerus nitens, which is actually an introduced species from Europe.
Dolerus nitens is said to be one of the earliest emerging flying insects, and since its larvae feed off of grasses and sedges, it is often found close to ground. The name "sawfly" comes from the saw-like resemblance of the female's ovipositor, which acts like a saw to create a hole in the blades of grasses where its eggs are laid. I don't claim with 100% certainty that this photograph is actually Dolerus nitens. It seems to fit the bill, but I'm certainly open to expert opinion.
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| Dolerus nitens? (No Common Name) |
Week 13 running totals:
Birds: 20
Mammals: 4
Insects: 3
Vascular Plants: 1
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