“Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.” – Robert Frost, Nothing Gold Can Stay
We are in the home stretch of Garden for Wildlife Month! This week, we are featuring backyard flora and fauna that are yellow–a happy and joyful color. (Did you miss last week’s color? View the BLUE blog here.) Does your backyard play host to any of these golden gems?
These photos were donated by past participants in the National Wildlife® Photo Contest. To enter your photos in this year’s contest, visit the contest site.
The red pigment in the face of the Western Tanager is rhodoxanthin, a pigment rare in birds. It is not manufactured by the bird, as are the pigments used by the other red tanagers. Instead, it must be acquired from the diet, presumably from insects that themselves acquire the pigment from plants. (Photo: Jim Brown)
Aspen
Aspen has been traditionally reputed in many countries to drive off evil spirits, hence it was often planted near dwellings. (Photo: Chad Martens)
Cape May Warbler
The average clutch size of the Cape May Warbler (six) is greater than that of other warblers. This large clutch size may allow Cape May Warbler populations to expand rapidly during outbreaks of their preferred prey, spruce budworms. (Photo: Michael Henry)
Jumping Spider
The jumping spider family contains more than 500 described genera and about 5,000 described species,making it the largest family of spiderswith about 13% of all species. (Photo: Jeffery Waldorff)
American Goldfinch
Goldfinches are among the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, selecting an entirely vegetable diet and only inadvertently swallowing an occasional insect. (Photo: Christine Adachi)
Monarch Caterpillar
A Monarch caterpillar can eat enough milkweed in one day to equal its own body weight. Just 9 to 14 days after hatching from its eggs, a caterpillar will grow to about 2 inches long. (Photo: Andrew Halverson)
Yellow Warbler
Life can be dangerous for a small bird. Yellow Warblers have occasionally been found caught in the strands of an orb weaver spider’s web. (Photo: Steven Manly)
Tiger Swallowtail
There are more than 550 species of swallowtail butterflies around the word. Altough the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica. (Photo: Marty Bays)
Goldenrod
Goldenrod is often unfairly blamed for causing hay fever in humans. The pollen causing these allergies is mainly produced by ragweed which blooms at the same time as goldenrod but is wind-pollinated. Goldenrod pollen is too heavy and sticky to be blown far from the flowers, so is mainly pollinated by insects. (Photo: Weg Thomas)
Black-Eyed Susan
The Black-Eyed Susan has been the official flower of Maryland since 1918 when it was designated the "Floral Emblem" of Maryland by the General Assembly. (Photo: Marvin De Jong)
