photos by Mary DeVaughn

15 August 2026

Seen this week were …

Butterflies:

On Friday morning, 14 August, I got a message from Mary DeVaughn: “Just caught some nice camouflage here! A “dead leaf” landed on my windowsill – but then it opened its wings!” It’s a question mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis).

Charity Kheshgi and I noticed the same thing at Frick Park last Sunday when a hackberry emperor (Asterocampa celtis) paused on the cobbled path. My cellphone photos are poor quality but you can see that it’s camouflaged when closed and visible when open.

On 9 August we also found a catalpa sphinx moth caterpillar (Ceratomia catalpae) — a catalpa worm — almost exactly a year since we saw them in Frick in August 2025. Click here to see a better photo of this caterpillar + its host plant + a look at the moth.

Catalpa sphinx moth caterpillar, Frick Park, 9 August 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Various fruits seen include …

Flowers and round seed capsules of Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata).

Indian tobacco flowers and “fruits,” Frick Park, 9 August 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Fruits of a native hawthorn tree (Crataegus species). The seeds inside these fruits are mildly toxic to humans.

Hawtorn fruits in Frick Park, 9 August 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Fruits of invasive common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). These are toxic to humans and pets but, like the hawthorn, are readily eaten by birds.