Meanwhile, the garden and its blooming flowers provided a bouquet of textures and surprises. Sunflowers, black-eyed Susans and bee balm all appeared to have hairlike structures on their petals. 

Not to be outdone by the moth wing motifs, a magnified photo of a turkey feather displayed a fairly uniform design. 

While the microscopic views of wings and petals were fascinating, they failed to compare to the sights I saw in just a couple drops of pond water.

There were so many creatures.

Trying to identify them was quite a challenge for me.

​I managed to track down a cyclops.  "Cyclops is one of the most common genera of freshwater copepods, comprising over 400 species," www.inaturalist.org said on an identification page.  
Other underwater critters' identities still eluded me after several hours of internet searching. 

Meanwhile, I've been logging some specimens for some homegrown crime scene investigations. Gathering hair samples from all the pets, I planned to track down the culprit behind future vandalism and destruction of my property.

However, their hair was pretty much everywhere. So, locating the exact perpetrator will be tough.

​That's just the nature of things 'round here. 

​I inadvertently ended up in a bit of a "jam" this past week.

I posted a photo of a female hummingbird on a Facebook page for Pennsylvania birdwatchers. The hummingbird had perched on an oriole feeder that was filled with grape jelly.

Amid the comments of “cute photo” was a warning about hummingbirds and grape jelly from a group based in Antigo, Wisconsin.
 
“Earlier this week Raptor Education Group Inc. (REGI) admitted three adult ruby-throated hummingbirds from different areas, within a two-hour period.

"They were covered in grape jelly.

"One patient was deceased on arrival; the others are alive but struggling,” the post claimed.
​
The post went on to take to task the practice of providing grape jelly to orioles instead of orange slices.

“Grape jelly was a convenient energy food as it is a ‘semi solid’ substance even in colder temperatures and easy to keep contained in a bowl. It provides a quick source of energy during migration. But then…for whatever reason, the use of jelly … morphed into a multi-species, year-round jelly feeding frenzied fad. A problem in hot weather is jelly ‘melts i.e. liquifies’ somewhat and therefore more available to adhere to the birds body, feet and feathers,” the post continued.
​
REGI debated the feeding of high sugar jelly verses the healthier orange slices. ​

​“It would be good if we could stop feeding jelly to birds year-round,” REGI posted.
However, the group also mentioned that “Bird safer jelly is available at specialty stores such as Wild Birds Unlimited. These stores work hard to assure safe food and safe feeders as well and will evaluate their safety”.

The group went on to write that they “are in the process of figuring out why this is happening to hummers in particular, but do not have all the answers.”
​
The post had many, many shares and was even picked up by some news outlets. However, my search of the internet didn’t turn up any more jelly-related incidents other than the three hummingbirds mentioned in the post. 

​So, I reached out to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, and received a response from Project Feeder Watch Assistant Anne Marie Johnson.

“We saw the same story you did, and like you, we aren’t aware of other examples of this sort of thing happening,” Johnson wrote in an email.
​
“Nevertheless, we generally recommend only feeding birds foods found in nature or foods manufactured by reputable suppliers specifically for feeding wild birds. We recommend feeding orioles nectar or fresh fruit like oranges or cut up grapes,” Johnson penned.

​“Any processed food produced for human consumption can have ingredients that are dangerous for birds or that have not been tested for safety in wild birds. One exception is table sugar for making nectar, which has been tested and found to be safe for hummingbirds and orioles,” she added.
​
She additionally pointed out that the REGI post mentioned that “some wild bird food manufacturers are producing jelly for feeding to wild birds, including Wild Birds Unlimited, and those products should be safe.”

​So, for some backyard birders the jury may still out on feeding grape jelly to orioles. However, there are some options to a potentially harmful substance to both hummingbirds and orioles. I switched out some of the jelly for some cut up grapes and they quickly disappeared from the feeder.

​That’s just the nature of things round here.  

Everyone has heard the saying "Life is short." For some insects, this means that their time is up in mere days not years. While researching identities of some of the region's silk moths, their brief time as adult moths came to light. 

While on one of our daily walks, I came across a torn and tattered Luna moth and wondered if it was at the end of its life cycle?

"As with many other silk moths, Luna moths do not feed as adults. The food (energy) for the adult stage is stored during the caterpillar stage," said a post on the Clemson Cooperative Extension's Home and Garden Information Center's site. 

"Luna moths live approximately one week after emerging from the cocoon," the post continued. "Once females lay eggs, they die."
​
After some more research, they are not the only moths that live only to breed.

At the end of June I came upon an imperial moth. A few days later there were two imperial moths. 

A post on mothidentification.com, provided some additional information on the colorful creatures.
​
The post said the adult lifespan is about seven days and the moths like the Luna moths, don't feed as adults.
​
"When the wings are opened, they appear yellow with brown, purple, and red blotches. 

When the wings are closed, the color remains the same, the spots partially visible. The male and female imperial moths are a little different from one another regarding color patterns.

While the males are heavily marked with patches and spots, the female moths appear more yellow," the post continued. 

The average wingspan is from eight to 17.5 cm. 

The piece listed the moth's season in the north as from June to August. 

​Meanwhile, hummingbird moths unlike silk moths do feed. Mostly on nectar. 
​
A post on www.hummingbirdsplus.org said, "... the lifespan of hummingbird moths is much shorter. The longest living moths live up to seven months whereas some of the species live as little as three to five  weeks."

"Butterflies have a very similar life cycle to the moth. They hatch from their eggs, go through multiple instars as they outgrow their caterpillar form, and eventually form cocoons.

After they emerge from their cocoon, they must dry out their wings for a few hours.

This makes them identical to moths in just about every way," said different post on ​a-z-animals.com.

The post explained, "However, depending on the species of butterfly, most butterflies only live an average of a week to a month. Moths seem to have a longer life span in some respects, but it all comes down to the species and what they go through." 

I additionally looked up the lifespan of dragonflies. Many sources said their lifespan is about six months. 

"This however is not true as when you investigate how long do dragonflies live, the shortest the life cycle of a dragonfly from egg to the death of the adult is about six months," said a post on www.learnaboutnature.com. 

"There are even dragonflies that live for several years as aquatic larvae before they emerge and live for a few months as adults. Most dragonflies don’t die of old age but are caught by predators.  Even if they do survive, they still don’t live much longer than a few months," the post continued.
​
The post added that dragonflies "... will spend only a very short part of their life span as actual adult dragonflies. They will live as nymphs for up to four years, molting their skin between eight to 17 times depending on the species, and finally when they mature into adults, they can only live for a few months."

​Meanwhile in the plant world, lifespan are possibly a little longer.

While the lady slipper blooms may be done for this year, the actual plant can live for years. 

​"Pink lady’s slipper takes many years to go from seed to mature plants. 

Seed-bearing harvest of wild lady's slipper root is not considered sustainable.
Pink lady's slippers can live to be twenty years old or more," according to a post on www.fs.usda.gov.

Short or long, life is what you make of it. That's just the nature of things 'round here.