Rudy Mancke

The rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) is a large, seed-eating grosbeak in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). It is primarily a foliage gleaner. Males have black heads, wings, backs, and tails, and a bright rose colored patch on their white breast. Males and females exhibit marked sexual dimorphism. These birds migrate through South Carolina.

The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. In South Carolina they are found in the mountains and Piedmonts.

Megalopyge opercularis is a moth of the family Megalopygidae. It has numerous common names, including southern flannel moth for its adult form, and puss caterpillar, asp, Italian asp, woolly slug, opossum bug,[3] puss moth, tree asp, or asp caterpillar. The "fur" of the larva contains venomous spines that cause extremely painful reactions in human skin upon contact.

Agkistrodon contortrix is a species of venomous snake, a pit viper, endemic to Eastern North America; it is a member of the subfamily Crotalinae in the family Viperidae. The common name for this species is the eastern copperhead.

Climaciella brunnea look like a mantid (mantis) cross with a wasp. It is found in Canada and the United States. As with most mantidflies, this species is parasitic to spiders as larva: the eggs of wolf spiders are their preferred host and larva will get themselves wrapped up with the eggs in the sac by the spider, since they cannot break into the sacs themselves. If the spider hasn't yet laid eggs, the larva will subsist on the spider's blood until then. Once inside the sac the larva will feast on the eggs until it pupates.

The beech blight aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator) is a small insect in the order Hemiptera that feeds on the sap of American beech trees. The aphids form dense colonies on small branches and the undersides of leaves. 

Rudy explains how a northern water snake - carefully -  eats a catfish...

Chlosyne nycteis, the silvery checkerspot, is a species of Nymphalinae butterfly that occurs in North America. It is listed as a species of special concern, believed to be locally extinct in the state of Connecticut.

Dolomedes tenebrosus or dark fishing spider is a fishing spider found in the USA and Canada. It is able to bite humans but will run from people. In most cases the bite is no more severe than a bee or wasp sting.

Rudy shares some lines from Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey: "Nature never did betray the heart that loved her..."

Trichonephila clavipes is a species of the genus Trichonephila indigenous to continental North and South America. In the United States, it is commonly known as the "banana spider" and "golden silk orb-weaver".

Eumorpha pandorus, the Pandora sphinx moth or Pandorus sphinx moth, is a North American moth in the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1821.

The Halloween pennant (Celithemis eponina) is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is native to eastern North America, including Ontario in Canada and the United States as far west as Colorado.

Gasteracantha (known as spiny-backed orb-weavers, spiny orb-weavers, or spiny spiders) is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first named by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. The females of most species are brightly colored with six prominent spines on their broad, hardened, shell-like abdomens. It's easy to identify this spider, even from a distance because of its web.

Two listeners noticed white masses in the trees overhanging a creek in Poinsette State Park. These are egg masses of the eastern Dobsonfly.