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Re: Will's CH checklist



On Sun, 12 Sep 1999, Barbara Passmore wrote:
> 
> >I tried the URL that Josh provided, and got an error message.  Is it me?
> >
> 
> I got it okay by deleting the period at the end.

Sorry about that extra period. It's a constant struggle between proper 
English the way Mrs. Kinder taught me to write in ninth grade, ending 
sentences with appropriate punctuation no matter what, and typing web 
addresses, which depend on not having periods in the wrong place.

Oh, well. If anyone continues having trouble, try surfing to the 
checklist via Will's main page at http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/, (don't 
include that comma!) clicking on "Chapel Hill Bird Club", then on "CHBC 
Checklist". Note that you need Adobe Acrobat reader or some other 
software that can translate .pdf files, this may also cause some error 
messages...

Took a short walk today along the Will Suitt Railroad. Not enough time to 
reach the end, but the mud flats near Will Suitt Road are long, long 
gone! Chances are so are the rest of Falls Lake's mudflats, the water 
looked fairly high. Maybe the shortage of shorebirds at Sandhills Turf 
Farm was due to the abundance of shorebird habitat elsewhere, and the 
turf farm will start getting some action now that all the inland mud 
flats are covered by water again. No landbird action so far as I could 
tell, but I was more focused on herps and bugs today anyway. Leppers be 
warned: hundreds of skippers along the railroad bed! For the Oders, 
several Meadowhawks, I think Blue-faced (although their faces were all 
green as far as I could tell). And for the herpers, lots of Cricket 
Frogs, a Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) and a juvenile skink, 
plus a long-empty box turtle carapace. Also had a close encounter with a 
big Praying Mantis.

Highlight of the day was probably a spectacular caterpillar: bright 
orange, with big black eyespots behind the head, and a few pairs of small 
blue spots down the back. When disturbed, its front end swelled up to 
further resemble a snake's head, and - this is the best part - it had two 
little antennalike projections behind its head that poked out briefly and 
retracted back out of sight again, almost like the critter was mimicking 
a snake's forked tongue! Well, *I* was impressed, anyway... anyone know 
what lep this beastie plans to metamorphose into?

Good bugging,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/