ANNOUNCING SOFO’S NEW BACKYARD WATCH CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT
We are calling on all of our young environmentalists to observe and document nature awakening in your own backyards. We ask you to send us pictures of your findings with the date you discovered them, and your name and any notes you would like to include. We are happy to feature observations sent in by our fellow environmentalists, with details about the nature sightings they shared with us. Please send your photographs and notes to info@sofo.org. Stay safe and be on the look out for Nature news in your backyard!
Check out some of our past newsletters that featured backyard watch pictures below!
Past Newsletters
INVERTEBRATES
The Black Swallowtail can be found across the lower 48 states from the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast. The caterpillars eat members of the carrot family including dill, fennel, carrots, parsley, and Queen Ann’s Lace (wild carrot), which the adults identify by taste-scent receptors on their feet. This caterpillar’s parents survived the winter as chrysalises and is the first of two generations born each year in our area. The bold coloration of the caterpillar (and, later, the adult) warns potential predators that they taste bad and may cause the predator to be ill.