NatureNotes

Rudy Mancke helps a listener in Myrtle Beach identify a metallic beetle they found.

On today's NatureNotes, Rudy Mancke helps a listener identify a juvenile black racer. While adult snakes of this species are known for their black coloring, young ones can often be multi-colored.

Rudy Mancke discusses pollen season and its effects on both plants and animals.

Rudy Mancke discusses the breakdown of a yellowjacket nest.

As the world marks All Souls Day and Día de Muertos, Rudy Mancke reflects on the important of death in the natural world and the circle of life.

As we mark All Saints Day, Rudy Mancke discusses the harvest season and South Carolina's species of crabapples.

Happy Halloween! Today on NatureNotes, Rudy Mancke looks at Araneus marmoreus, the marbled orbweaver, which is sometimes called the "Halloween spider" due to the female's orange coloring.

As we celebrate the Halloween season, Rudy Mancke discusses the somber-looking mournful sphinx moth.

Rudy Mancke helps a listener identify an adolescent summer tanager.

Rudy Mancke discusses the hag moth and its larva commonly known as "monkey slugs."

Gasteracantha cancriformis, the spiny-backed orb-weaver, is a species of spider whose females are known for their brightly colored, shell-like abdomens which have six prominent spines.

On today's NatureNotes, Rudy Mancke discusses common types of mushrooms.

Rudy Mancke reflects on a quote from Lucy Larcom's "Beckonings for Every Day."

Rudy Mancke discusses the female railroad worm, a type of glow-worm, that is known for it bioluminescence.

Rudy Mancke muses on the prevalence of the color yellow during autumn.

Listeners hear something that goes bump in the night, but Rudy Mancke says it's just a long-horned boring beetle.

On today's NatureNotes, Rudy Mancke reflects on a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The American Notebooks."

Rudy Mancke helps a listener who found a discarded eastern box turtle shell on their deck.

The caterpillar of Antheraea polyphemus, the polyhpemus moth, is known for its bright green coloration.

Hemidactylus turcicus, the Mediterranean house gecko, is a species of house gecko common to the Mediterranean area which has spread to many parts of the world.

Nursery web spiders are so named because females of the species build tent-like webs to house their egg sacs as their young are about to hatch.

Eumorpha pandorus, the Pandorus sphinx moth, is known for its dark markings and narrow wings.

Neoconocephalus bivocatus, the robust conehead katydid, is one of several katydid species found in South Carolina. It is known for its distinctive head shape and loud, harsh song.

Brunneria borealis, commonly known as Brunner's mantis, is a species of praying mantis native to the Southern US.

The eastern lubber is a species of colorful grasshopper widely found throughout the southeastern US.

Rudy Mancke shares a favorite quote from Isaac Newton about our place in the universe.

Rudy Mancke breaks down the difference in markings between question mark butterflies and comma butterflies.

Rudy Mancke helps a listener identify a bivalve that had squirted water on them at the beach.

Phanaeus vindex, the rainbow scarab, is a species of dung beetle known for its bright metallic shell.

The brown anole, Anolis sagrei, is a species of lizard in the family native to Cuba and the Bahamas.

Rudy Mancke helps a listener identify a bumpy, jelly-like fungus found after a recent hurricane.

Clematis terniflora, sweet autumn clematis, is a woody and fragrant vine known for its white flowers. It is considered an invasive plant.

Rudy Mancke discusses the colorful dryocampa rubicunda, commonly known as the rosy maple moth, and its caterpillar form called the greenstriped mapleworm.

In 2023, the autumn equinox falls on Saturday, September 23.

Chasmanthium latifolium, also commonly known as "fish on a line," inland sea oats, and river oats, is a species of grass native to the central and eastern United States.

Urbanus proteus, commonly called the long-tailed skipper, is a spread-winged skipper butterfly found throughout tropical and subtropical South America, south to Argentina and north into the southern part of the United States of America.

Rudy Mancke discusses the venomous eastern cottonmouth, sometimes known as water moccasin.

Rudy Mancke helps two listeners identify different life stages of the regal walnut moth.

Rudy Mancke reads a selection from James Thomson's poem "The Castle of Indolence."

Madtoms are a family of freshwater catfish that are generally only 2-5 inches in length.