Common Name: Yellow-shouldered slug
Scientific Name: Lithacodes fasciola
Season: One generation, with adults in early summer and caterpillars by July.
Food: Many deciduous trees, including apple, basswood, beech, birch, blueberry, cherry, chestnut, hickory, locust, maple, oak, and willow.
Ecology: Like many individuals in this family, caterpillars of the yellow-shouldered slug do not resemble caterpillars at all, but rather appear like slugs, with their heads projected down towards the ground and transparent bodies. This is one of the most common type of slug caterpillar encountered in the eastern US, feeding on the underside of leaves in woodlands and forest edges. Adults commonly come to lights at night, and have a strange habit of turning their abdomens up in the air like a tail when at rest. Caterpillars overwinter as pupae.
Doug Tallamy Photo
Oriental bittersweet
Invasive Plants(Celastrus orbiculatus)
Description: This deciduous vine has rounded or teardrop-shaped leaves with toothed edges that become glossy in summer and yellow in fall. The younger stems often appear to have spots or bumps. They produce green berries by July that turn yellow by August, orange-red by fall, and persist into winter.
Impact: Like porcelain berry, oriental bittersweet grows densely, preventing new plants from growing. It can girdle, strangle and eventually kill the trees they cover. Oriental bittersweet has replaced nearly all our native American bittersweet in New England.
Management: Killing the plant before it fruits is important. Younger vines can be removed by hand; look for the orange taproot to ensure you’ve removed the entire plant. Older vines need to be cut down or sawed to the base of the stem and painted with herbicide. Cutting back the vines before they fruit during the summer and applying herbicide in the fall or spring is also effective.
Black swallow-wort
Invasive Plants(Vincetoxicum nigrum)
Description: These vines have shiny dark green leaves that are oval-shaped when mature, with stems that tend to twine around one another. The plant has very small, purple flowers with five petals. Swallow-worts develop milkweed-like pods by August that turn brown and split open in the fall, releasing fluffy seeds that are dispersed by wind. Unlike milkweed, however, they do not produce milky sap.
Impact: Black swallow-worts grow rapidly in open fields and roadsides where there is sun, pushing out native plants. The plant secretes toxins that prevent other plants from growing near them, as well as being toxic to livestock and pets. Of chief concern is its effect on the monarch butterfly, which recognizes the plant as its primary plant host, milkweeds. When monarchs lay their eggs on swallow-worts, their caterpillars eat the plant and die. Swallow-worts grow in habitats shared by milkweeds, outcompete milkweeds and may lead to a decline in monarch butterfly populations.
Management: Control depends entirely on removing swallow-worts before they can reproduce seeds. Cutting down to the stem and painting with herbicide is effective, but cutting or mowing without applying herbicide afterwards will only encourage regrowth. With large infestations, foliar herbicides can be used in early June and again in August. Seed pods should be removed and either burned or bagged, not composted. Management of black swallow-wort may be necessary for multiple summers to deal with younger shoots, but it will be much easier to handle after the initial treatment.
Porcelain berry
Invasive Plants(Ampelopsis brevipedunculata)
Description: Public enemy number one! This woody vine resembles grape leaves early in summer, but mature leaves will develop deep lobes. The vines can be broken easily by hand, while grape vines are very difficult to snap without tools. As the name implies, porcelain berry produces brilliant berries in late summer and fall that resemble porcelain, and one of the reasons it was introduced into the horticulture trade until it became invasive.
Impact: Porcelain berry forms thick mats in open fields and forests, covering plants at such a rate that they can rapidly block out sunlight and kill the plants underneath. Birds will also eat the berries during their migration, but the fruits are not as nutritious as native plants and so birds have to make more frequent stops to refuel.
Management: A large, thick mat of porcelain berry can often be traced back to a single root, and killing the taproot is key. You can easily pull this year’s growth out of trees by hand, and cut down towards the base of the stem with trimmers or loppers. Either remove the taproot through digging or painting the cut stems with herbicide to kill the plant. Removing porcelain berry before it fruits will help reduce regrowth.
American Redstart
From the Field, Video SnippetsAmerican Redstart, New World warbler enjoys cooling off in My Neck of the Woods on Fishers Island.
– A Snippet from The Field by Justine Kibbe August 22, 2017.
Help Is On Its Way!
From the Field, Video SnippetsGrounded juvenile Osprey with injured wing watched over near Dock Beach. Fishers Island community lent a hand this past August weekend- getting the bird across the Sound, where rehabilitators from Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, Mystic will assess and keep us posted.
– A Snippet from The Field by Justine Kibbe August 22, 2017.
Queen Anne’s Meadow & Melody
From the Field, Video SnippetsTree swallows soar above a field of Queen Anne’ Lace (Wild carrot) near South beach on Fishers Island.
– A Snippet from The Field by Justine Kibbe August 17, 2017
Spring Eve At Hungry Point
From the Field, Video SnippetsIt’s early May off Hungry Point, Fishers Island. Male Eider ducks appearing “handsome” for their mates, while bell buoy lulls Harbor seals to sleep.
– A Snippet from The Field by Justine Kibbe August 17, 2017.
Young Ruddy
From the Field, Video SnippetsYoung Ruddy Turnstones rest on rocks off South beach where tidal wrack lines support healthy habitat here on Fishers Island.
– A Snippet from The Field by Justine Kibbe August 17, 2017.
Spotted Sandpiper
From the Field, Video SnippetsAlong the dune grasses south side of Elizabeth Field airport, a rarely sighted Spotted Sandpiper perches above its nesting grounds this quiet summer eve on Fishers Island.
– A Snippet from The Field by Justine Kibbe August 17, 2017.
Yellow-shouldered slug
FI MothsCommon Name: Yellow-shouldered slug
Scientific Name: Lithacodes fasciola
Season: One generation, with adults in early summer and caterpillars by July.
Food: Many deciduous trees, including apple, basswood, beech, birch, blueberry, cherry, chestnut, hickory, locust, maple, oak, and willow.
Ecology: Like many individuals in this family, caterpillars of the yellow-shouldered slug do not resemble caterpillars at all, but rather appear like slugs, with their heads projected down towards the ground and transparent bodies. This is one of the most common type of slug caterpillar encountered in the eastern US, feeding on the underside of leaves in woodlands and forest edges. Adults commonly come to lights at night, and have a strange habit of turning their abdomens up in the air like a tail when at rest. Caterpillars overwinter as pupae.
Doug Tallamy Photo