A new bug, it's a Rosy Maple Moth!

I made another discovery while I was out there over the weekend. I spied little white and pink moths that I have never seen before. I looked them up and found they are called Dryocampa rubicunda or, Rosy Maple Moth. It's funny how you can go all of your life and think you've about seen it all, at least locally, and yet still be finding new and unusual critters out there in the world. I saw several of these neat-looking moths as they sat on wildflowers in the park. They were always on bright yellow flowers, of which there were two types they seemed to like. I saw some other cool bugs out there that I'll look up and then post as soon as I can. Oh, by the way, I found a really neat web page with great photos of moth caterpillars.

A case of mistaken identity!

Uh - oh...!

My little purple bird may not be an Indigo Bunting after all! I saw more of the little purple birds this past weekend while I was out at Prairie Ridge, one of the Darke County Parks. It is right across the street from Tecumseh Point, also part of the Darke County Parks system, where I saw the original little purple bird. I got a real good look at them and thought they just may be Purple Martins instead of Indigo Buntings. So I looked them up. And, lo and behold, they're Purple Martins! I watched them for quite a while as they chased each other from the high treetops across the bright blue sky and sat up on the high power lines singing away. They have very beautiful songs and are quite acrobatic in flight. I understand they eat a great amount of mosquitoes, so I was glad that they are are there. There's quite a community out there devoted to attracting them.

Why "Little Purple Bird"?

You may wonder why I chose little.purple.bird for the name of my blog. I was out in fishing in the Greenville Creek one afternoon in Darke County, Ohio, and saw a little purple bird. Later that day, I excitedly told my friends about the little purple bird I saw. I could tell they were somewhat skeptical about my little purple bird. I told them it wasn't a blue jay, nor a bluebird. It was a "little purple bird"! Well, then each time I saw my friends, they would jokingly ask if I'd seen the little purple bird again. Then on another day out in the woods, I saw two of them! Well, I figured out what I was seeing. They were Indigo Buntings. Their plumage is actually a very deep blue in color, and is very striking when the sunlight hits it just right.

So now I've chosen to call my blog little.purple.bird as an homage to this experience. The purpose of my blog is to write down and share my outdoor experiences, whether it's fishing, exploring, sightseeing or just anything interesting that happened outdoors. I will start including photos in the near future. I will focus on the area around where I live here in Ohio. When I get the chance to venture farther away I'll include those experiences as well. I will also from time to time go into past experiences from my pre-blog days.