What can be mistaken for a dandelion on the spring lawn, vanish into the gray branches in winter, and always bring a smile to a bird-lover’s face? The American Goldfinch. This familiar little bird is one of North America’s smallest species of finch. It is well-known and well-loved throughout the United States, including Pickaway County, […]
The Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilla Glaucus) is one of the most, if not the most, common butterfly species you can find in Ohio. Males are easily identifiable by their bright yellow wing color and four black bands located on the upper-center portions of their inner wings, occasionally having a few spots/flecks of blue alongside the […]
Beautiful red-tailed hawks can frequently be seen in Central Ohio but on this occasion this juvenile was seen searching for food at the former RCA facility here in Circleville, Ohio. While its nest or home is probably in the wooded area behind the facility you can usually find this particular raptor hanging around the warehouse […]
You’ve seen these little chunky beetles flying around when the sun starts to go down? The ones that fly about, clonking into walls, doors, windows and… everything else that gets in their way? Those are known as June Bugs, June Beetles or May Bugs. The name “June Bug” is a common term used to describe […]
They are visitors who show up uninvited every 17 years to make a lot of noise. The good part is they don’t bite, and they usually quiet down at night. And wow, can that will be a relief. Scientists have named them Brood X (10), one of 15 different broods of 17-year cicadas. Periodical cicadas […]
The (brown) Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha Halys) is an interesting creature overall… Durable little insects, able to walk along after smacking into a window or door at full speed or being swatted away multiple times, as if nothing ever happened. The downside is they are a laid-back creature, so calm and carefree that they don’t […]
One of the most common species of snake found in America, the Black Rat Snake (otherwise known as the Central Rat Snake, Gray Rat Snake, Chicken Snake or the Pilot Black Snake), is a medium/large-sized snake that commonly reaches 4-6 feet in length by adulthood, yet there’s a chance that you could find one that […]
The Greater Bee-Fly (Bombylius Major), otherwise know as Dark-Edged Bee-Fly or the Large Bee-Fly, while being a type of pollinator, is a parasitic species of fly that gets its name from the bee-like appearance, and occasionally gets mistaken for a bumblebee. It’s fairly common to find B. Major, being one of the easiest species of […]
The Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope Aurantia) is a species of circular web-building arachnid known as the Orb Weaver (Araneidae family). The females of the species can be identified by their bright yellow bodies with yellow, black and/or gray bands along the body and legs and large, oval-shaped abdomen. The male can be identified by their […]