northeast-flora-and-fauna

Let the Canada Goose I met at Duke Island Park segue into a talk about the name of this bird. Many people call these birds Canadian Geese, though virtually all authoritative sources use the Canada Goose term. I've heard people correct others during birdwatching programs; I'm sure there are a variety of motivations for making those corrections. Some people justify this noting the definition of " Canadian ", suggesting that unless the bird resides in Canada, the term Canadian Goose is a grammar sin. If you subscribe to that theory though, I'm assuming you would want to rename the American Robin, American Crow, European Starling, and Eurasian Collared Dove as America Robin, America Crow, Europe Starling, and Eurasia Collared Dove - but I've never heard of such an effort. Generally speaking, although I think Canada Goose is a slightly better grammatical term, there isn't a lot of consistency in the common names of birds, and you'll probably need to memo

Here's a pair of Wood Ducks I met earlier in the month. I hiked from the Raritan River Greenway into Duke Island Park and was surprised to see this drake and duck hanging out pretty close to me/others. Generally I consider the Wood Duck to be fairly leery of people, and with more secluded places near the Raritan River and the Raritan Power Canal I wouldn't have expected to see them in such a small body of water in the middle of the park. My guess is they were there either because there's more food here than elsewhere, or maybe the female has found a tree cavity (or nesting box) that she's got an eye on for when she lays eggs. April 5, 2021 at Duke Island Park Photo 120291482, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's some Skunk Cabbage I saw earlier this month. This is an interesting plant.  Since I have almost no sense of smell, I can't personally appreciate the smell though that's probably what it's best know for. Apparently the flower (see the non-green part in the picture below) emits the smell to attract pollinators; while you might not like the smell, pollinators know there's a feast waiting for them. If the leaves are damaged, they can also emit this odor. This might deter some animals that would like to eat their leaves, or just stomp on them to get to other food. They're a bit of a misnomer; they're neither skunks (obviously) nor cabbages (less obvious). They're in the araceae family . They are thermogenic plants ; they're able to raise their temperature higher than the surrounding environment. While most plants have to wait for the ground to thaw before appearing, the Skunk Cabbage can get the jump on most other plants by generating its own heat

Let's try and identify more turtles. The side-to-side scute alignment clearly identifies the 2 turtles in the front and on the left as Eastern Painted Turtles . I can't see the 3rd turtle from the left as well, but I think it's also an Eastern Painted. But what about that turtle on the right? The scutes don't align, so we can rule out the Eastern Painted Turtle. I think I see a slight keel going down the carapace, and I can see a fairly prominent red mark on the head. These probably mean that this is a Red-eared Slider . Those red marks are where we'd expect ears to be, though turtles have internal ears so these aren't technically ears. These turtles are native to the US but not to NJ. They're native to an area centered around Arkansas and stretching from most of TX to western WV. They reproduce faster than most turtles, tend to be aggressive (by turtle standards), and out-compete some of our native species for food and basking spots. April 5, 2021 at Rarit

At Great Swamp , there is a bird viewing area that gives you a good view of an area of swampland (which didn't have much going on), and has a Bald Eagle nest in a tree on the opposite side of the shore. It's quite a distance, even with binoculars. (I'm sure a good spotting scope would handle the distance though.) When I went there a couple weeks ago, a couple people were listening to and (to some degree) watching a Bald Eagle confrontation. We could easily hear an eagle vocalizing. The narrative I was told was that the vocalizing was from an eagle on its nest. And there was a juvenile eagle in a nearby tree. It's unclear what the motivation of the juvenile eagle was, but the parent was obviously concerned that the juvenile could be a threat to her eaglets. You probably can't tell that that's a Bald Eagle, though the large nest probably infers one. April 14, 2021: Bald Eagle nest at Great Swamp And here's the juvenile Bald Eagle perched nearby. You can make

Here are pictures of Northern Watersnakes mating. (They are a subspecies of the Common Watersnake .) Generally speaking the females will grow larger than the males. I'm assuming these snake tangles all have 1 female and 1+ males. Ultimately all this romance should lead to the females giving birth to little snakelets ; Northern Watersnake females don't lay eggs but practice ovoviviparity . Though these snake babies get to meet their mother, that's generally the end of the relationship; the mother doesn't actively raise her young. In this first picture I was initially wondering if this was just one (long) snake, but eventually noticed two heads in there. April 14, 2021 at Great Swamp Photo 121032715, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) This seemed to be the most populated coil, with 4 different snakes tangled together. April 14, 2021 at Great Swamp Photo 121033742, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Here's another pair, much less spread out. A

After introducing some of the key things to look for in turtle identification, I want to mention the limitations of the identifications I'm doing. Most of these pictures are taken using all the magnification my camera can provide, and they still don't always provide the detail I'd like. Depending on the position of the turtle, I rarely get a view of the plastron, and if I do it's usually at the expense of a view of the carapace. If I could examine the turtle in my hands, I'd be able to do turtle identification a lot better. Having said that, the 3 middle turtles below provide a very good clue as to what they are. My field guide tells me that the Eastern Painted Turtle is the only species in NJ where "the large scutes are lined up in even rows across the carapace". From left to right, the 3rd and 4th turtles give you a good view of the scutes on the carapace lining up. These are Eastern Painted Turtles. If you look at the 2nd turtle, the scutes near the f

Being able to identify the types of turtles we have is something I don't consider myself to be especially good at. My primary reference is something I think I bought at a NJ Audubon branch: Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of New Jersey . (Since this only documents herptiles of NJ, it theoretically prevents me from seeing a picture of a turtle, thinking it's a very good match for my turtle, only to read that the turtle only lives in Madagascar.) The other resource that I use kicks in when I'm submitting my sightings to iNaturalist . They let you type the name of the species, but clicking in the field prompts iNaturalist to give suggestions, frequently of various species though sometimes the best they can do is suggest a genus, family, order, etc. I'm not sure what percentage of the time iNaturalist is correct, though clearly distinctive plants/animals with no similar ones living in the area greatly improves their success. Poor photo quality can also hurt its effe

Last week I went to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of getting some frog and turtle pictures, but neither was around that day in any numbers. A couple people told me about "snakes" along a part of the boardwalk, so I went along the boardwalk fairly slowly to see if I could spot them. The snakes made the trip worthwhile. Ultimately I would see approximately 20 Northern Watersnakes out attempting to sun themselves (and maybe do some fraternizing). (It was overcast, and even rained lightly this day.) One thing that a clumsy photographer like me can appreciate is that the snakes were fairly willing to let me take pictures; I think only one snake dived into the water to avoid me. Here are pictures of the first 2 snakes I saw. April 14, 2021 at Great Swamp Photo 121032491, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) April 14, 2021 at Great Swamp Photo 121032520, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

This is the time of year when our turtle neighbors emerge from their winter brumation . (Though hibernation is officially dormancy in mammals, sometimes it'll be used for reptiles, insects, or even plants. Brumation is the term that applies specifically to reptiles and (probably) amphibians.) I suspect that logs/rocks sticking out of the water are a favorite of turtles for various reasons: These places are less likely to be shady, so the turtles get more benefit from the sun. Some predators won't even try to swim out to attack them. On the shore, if a predator shows up they have to amble into the water to escape. On logs all they have to do is fall in the water to be safe. As ectotherms , turtles need the sun to properly regulate their body temperatures. Many of them will do like these guys and climb out of the water to bask , but some prefer to be slightly underwater. April 13, 2021 at the Delaware/Raritan Canal

Here's a Cabbage White Butterfly I met. I'm not exactly sure what they're eating this time of the year (I doubt if farmers have their cabbage crop coming up yet), but they do eat a lot of plants in the cabbage/mustard family of plants. Right now they're dominating the butterfly scene around me. I've seen dozens of them, and maybe 3-4 of everything else. Despite having a fairly plain look, these are considered butterflies as opposed to moths. Still, these two insects are obviously related, and some people that appear knowledgeable consider all butterflies to be moths rather than a distinct group of insects. (Admittedly butterflies and moths have a common ancestor.) April 3, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 120284772, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's an Eastern Phoebe I recently met. This is another "harbinger of spring" bird; I'm a little too far north to see these birds year round (barring the occasional rebel bird that doesn't go along with the rest of its species). It's in the tyrant flycatcher family of birds, the largest bird family. As you'd expect for a flycatcher, the Eastern Phoebe specializes in eating little arthropods. (They may look cute to you, but to a mosquito this is like having Jaws bearing down on them.) They are considered hardier than most flycatchers, returning north sooner than most of their (extended) family. They get their name from their vocalization, which sounds sorta like "phoebe". April 3, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 120284207, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's another wildflower I ran across this spring, the  Ground-ivy . I wish I could tell you that these guys were an important part of our ecosystem ... but unfortunately this is another invasive wildflower. It's considered a pretty aggressive invader at that, where only chemical warfare (herbicides) can usually get rid of it. Ground-ivy uses  negative allelopathy  (basically chemicals in the soil) to hinder the growth of other plants, and uses it's runners to create a  monoculture  (low biological diversity). On a brighter note, it at least provides nectar and pollen for our pollinators, though it uses a "lucky hit" technique whereby some of its flowers provide lots of nectar but most of them provide far less nectar. Pollinators need to visit a bunch of their flowers getting no reward, but if they visit enough of them they're probably going to hit a "nectar jackpot". Despite the "ivy" name, these plants are in the mint family; they're

Here's a Canada Goose I met. This is an extremely common bird found in water or in grassy areas, but there's plenty about them that many of us don't know. Originally this was a primarily migratory species, and some of them are still migratory today, spending their summers in the northern US and in Canada (hence the name). But in the early 20th century habitat loss and overhunting threatened the Canada Goose with extinction in the Atlantic coast states. Since then a few things have happened: We imported subspecies of Canada Geese from other parts of the US (I've heard the came from "plains states" and Michigan). Though very closely related to our original Canada Geese, this subspecies doesn't believe in migration, and took up permanent residence where we used to only have seasonal visitor geese. Some habitat protection and tighter hunting laws allowed the migratory Canada Geese to make a comeback, so we now have Canada Geese that are permanent residents an

Around the end of March I spotted this Red-tailed Hawk . There's no obvious red tail here (the tree obstructs the view, though the lighting may not have showed red anyway), but this is a sturdy-looking raptor with an impressive belly band, making the identification fairly easy. Most of the Red-tailed Hawks around me have the belly band, though on some of them it's pale enough that you might miss it under sub-optimal viewing conditions. As they are our most common non-vulture, non-owl raptor, most of the hawk/falcon/eagle-like birds that you see probably turn out to be Red-tails. Look for a burnt-orange tail and/or the belly band, and if either is present you've probably got your identification. March 31, 2021 at Duke Farms

Staying with Wood Ducks , today I'm going to show a pair. Given the time of year, I'm suspicious that breeding is on their minds. They are another example of sexual dimorphism , where the males and females have basically the same size/shape but the plumage of the males is much different from that of the females. A novice could no doubt mistake them for different species. Seeing a prominent white eye ring is very suggestive that you're looking at a female Wood Duck. Apparently the males do have a more subdued plumage that kicks in as summer wanes. I don't think I've gotten a picture of one with that plumage though. March 31, 2021 at Duke Farms Same ducks, different view

Here's probably New Jersey's most flamboyant waterfowl, the Wood Duck . Perhaps the only more flamboyant waterfowl are the Mandarin Ducks , who aren't found in North America and are actually related to the Wood Ducks. Apparently there were fears in the 20th century that these ducks might be driven extinct primarily due to loss of habitat and hunting, though hunting limits and conservation efforts have helped them rebound. Though not as abundant as Mallards, spotting Wood Ducks isn't uncommon. Although maps suggest I'm very close to the line where Wood Ducks are around the entire year, I don't typically see them in winter. This time of the year though they can be spotted fairly frequently, and often in pairs since it's basically their breeding season. March 31, 2021 at Duke Farms

Here are some daffodils . These are among the earliest flowers to bloom out in the wild around me, giving those Lesser Celandine a run for their money. And like Lesser Celandine, daffodils are invasive wildflowers; nothing in their family is native to North America. They're considered poisonous to us and probably other mammals. I've read that deer won't eat them, and they usually seem pretty intact when I see them so I'm pretty confident rabbits, woodchucks, and other mammals won't touch them. It does sound like at least some slugs, snails, and insects could eat them, though I'm not sure if that was referring to invertebrates in North America or back in their native land. But one thing daffodils have over Lesser Celandine is that they do seem to be useful to pollinators. This may seem like a small thing, but if you're a bee, wasp, flower fly, moth, or butterfly looking for an early spring meal, daffodils may provide you with the sustenance to survive. I wa

Here's a House Finch that stopped by the Duke Farms bird feeder for a snack and to socialize with the other birds. This is a male, recognizable by the red coloring. They're usually pretty easy to identify; in my area only the less commonly seen Purple Finch is likely to be confused with the Houses. House Finches have been dealing with a pandemic of their own: House Finch eye disease  aka Avian Conjunctivitis. This is a bacterial disease that causes swollen eyes, sometimes to the point of blindness. Even less severe cases can impact their ability to see, and sight is very important to these birds. Some related birds (Purple Finch, American Goldfinch, Evening Grosbeak) can also catch it, though I don't think it goes through their populations with such bad consequences. This disease is one of the biggest threats to our House Finch neighbors. March 31, 2021 at Duke Farms

Though the American Robin is considered a harbinger of spring despite frequently being spotted in the middle of winter, here's someone who's probably a more accurate harbinger of spring (at least around me): the Red-winged Blackbird . This is a male on a high perch singing to help establish a territory. If he's lucky, a small number of females will be interested in him and his territory, and will breed with him. Despite having a territory of his own, males are still usually part of a loose colony, and multiple males will help drive out threats real (Great Blue Heron) or imagined (me and my camera). They don't have a really close relative around here, though the west coast has a Tricolored Blackbird that's clearly a close relative. Spring 2021 at Duke Farms

Here's a wildflower that wasn't quite in bloom in the picture (from about a week and a half ago) but has mostly exploded with last week's warm weather. It's a small flower, but its prevalence and bright yellow flowerheads contrasting with their green leaves makes this one of the most noticeable early wildflowers. This is Lesser Celandine , an attractive but invasive spring wildflower. In many ways they have an unfair advantage over our native wildflowers. None of our main herbivores (deer, rabbits, woodchucks) will eat it, nor will any of our insects. They don't require pollination so they can emerge before most pollinators are around and they've got a lot of the sunlight resources to themselves. So this is there a wildflower that uses resources without contributing anything to the local environment, and crowds out a lot of local wildflowers that actually would provide benefits for our native herbivores and pollinators. Of course, we could probably unleash chemi

Here's someone who's potentially around all winter, but I have to admit I didn't see a lot this particular winter: an American Robin . Though renowned as a harbinger of spring, and even having migration in its scientific name (Turdus migratorius), people are sometimes surprised to see them on a cold winter day. Since we know some of them migrate down south, there are 2 main thoughts on what the wintertime robins are: They could be a subset of the robins we see in the summer that has decided the perils/strains of migration outweigh the perils/strains of our winters. It's possible that the robins that winter here spend their winters even further north (northern NE, and Canada), and they're escaping the winters of their summer homes for the more moderate NJ winters. It's certainly possible that our winter robins are a mix of these two theories too. We still don't fully understand how even very common birds like robins operate, or whether climate change is affec

Here's a female House Sparrow . Yesterday's male House Sparrows have more of contrast of colors; like with many passerines and ducks, the females have more subdued coloring (a form of sexual dimorphism ). In many cases the best way for me to figure out what female bird is out there is to see what species the males that are with them. This strategy isn't perfect: Sometimes there are "strays" that have none of their own species around, so they'll try and hang out with whoever has similar feeding habits. More rarely you'll correctly identify a pair of birds who end up breeding together ... but they're not the same species. (Mallards and American Black Ducks are just one example.) And of course sometimes you'll see no males around at all. Still, the old saying that "birds of a feather flock together" really does work most of the time. March 2021 at Finderne

While yesterday's Mourning Dove are rare beneficiaries of the bird food I've left out for the Dark-eyed Juncos , much more frequent beneficiaries are the House Sparrows . As one of the most successful invasive bird species in North America (the European Starling is the other one), House Sparrows are less popular with birders, naturalists, and ecologists than almost any bird we see. This actually extends to the law; while harming most birds is illegal (with some regulated exceptions for game birds), these guys aren't protected by federal law. (Local animal cruelty laws could still apply though.) These guys are Old World sparrows , and are thus not particularly closely related to virtually all the other sparrows you see; almost all the other sparrows you see are New World sparrows . (New World sparrows are actually more closely related to Old World Buntings than Old World Sparrows. Such is the confusing world of taxonomy.) March 2021 at Finderne

For the past couple (few?) winters I've been scattering food on the ground to feed the Dark-eyed Juncos that winter near me. This year a couple other birds have taken notice; here's a Mourning Dove that dropped by for a bite to eat. I'm a little surprised 1) That I haven't seen these birds come by before, and 2) That even now that they've discovered the food source, they still don't come by all that often. Certainly Mourning Doves are plentiful in the area, and they are happy to feed off the ground. One thing you will notice if they're out there with the Dark-eyed Juncos is that while we think of both of these as "little birds", the Mourning Dove is a much larger bird. While most of the birds we see around are passerines (e.g. crows/jays, robins, sparrows, warblers), the doves/pigeons are not. They are columbids , and are more distantly related to most of the bird feeder birds. March 2021 at Finderne

Here's one of our skipper butterflies, the Sachem . The males have a fairly distinctive dark square mark on the wing when seen from above. This is a female though, so that clear field mark isn't present here. My Eastern Butterflies field guide suggests looking for the white mark on the forewing that's closest to the head, while my Field Guide to Butterflies of North America seems to say that the dark patch a little in front of the white spot is what we should look for. (I wonder if the latter dark patch is the female's equivalent of the male's more distinctive dark mark.) The skippers are going to be an identification challenge; there are a lot of them, many look similar, and the distinguishing features can be fairly subtle. The Sachem is considered a grass skipper , but apparently it's mistaken for some of the branded skippers , so apparently they look a little more like their more distant relatives than some of their closer relatives. August 19, 2020 at Finder

Meet a Great Golden Digger Wasp . The picture is over 3 years old, but I wanted to do my area's 3 related wasps in a little series. They are related to both the Great Black Digger Wasp and the Katydid Wasp . These guys seem to have very similar lifestyles to their 2 relatives; all three paralyze insects to use as food for their eggs, and all three sustain themselves on nectar/pollen when adults. And all three eat orthoptera (grasshopper/cricket/katydid) insects. Another thing all three of these species have in common is that they're known to be victims of interspecific   kleptoparasitism , where after paralyzing their prey and attempting to bring it back to a nest, they're harassed by birds until they drop their prey and allow the bird to take it. (More noticeable versions of kleptoparasites are Bald Eagles that steal fish from Ospreys, or lions that take over a hyena kill.) It is a little interesting that 3 related species are filling such similar environmental niches, t

Here's a Katydid Wasp I met. This wasp is in the same genus as (and is thus a fairly close relative to) the Great Black Digger Wasp I showed yesterday . The orange on the legs guarantee that this is not a Great Black Digger Wasp. Despite the common name of Katydid Wasp, it sounds like their favorite prey is the Carolina Leaf-roller , a cricket. I'm not saying they wouldn't use katydids, and katydids/grasshoppers/crickets are all related, but the name might be suboptimal. Some documentation suggests this is (or was) a more southern species, though I don't think they're uncommon around here. I think they've got very similar lifestyles to the Great Black Digger Wasp. After breeding, the female will go looking for probably anything small enough in the orthoptera order (basically those grasshoppers/crickets/katydids mentioned earlier), paralyzes it with its stinger, carries the paralyzed insect to a nest, and lays an egg on it. She repeats this process for each egg

Here's a Great Black Digger Wasp I met. I don't see a lot of these guys, though they're apparently widespread and can be found across most of the contiguous US states. They're relatively large, and mostly black though with iridescent blue on the wings. The females can sting, though this is primarily used on other insects. They are one of a genus of wasps that start life eating paralyzed insects like katydids that their mom left for them. After growing into an adult, they leave this cuisine and live off of pollen and nectar for the rest of their lives. They are probably helpful to gardeners in that they not only eliminate some plant-eating insects but also function as pollinators. They are in the thread-waisted wasp family. August 18, 2020 at Duke Farms

Here's one of the rarest critters I've come across, a Jersey Devil . Sorry for the poor quality, but these guys are extremely reclusive, and many NJ naturalists go their lives without getting a good look at them. Taxonomically, we're unsure where to place Jersey Devils. No known tetrapod evolved with 6 limbs: 2 wings, 2 arms, and 2 legs. This seems to rule out placing them in with mammals (including bats), birds, reptiles, or amphibians. Even a huge insect seems unlikely since when they have wings they have 6 legs. Until more research is done, the classification is unclear. Little is known about their diet. Though there have been claims of them killing livestock, no such attacks have been verified, and the claims are generally deemed apocryphal.  Normally one needs to go to the Pine Barrens to have a (still slim) chance of finding these critters, though I spotted this one at Washington Valley Park here in Bridgewater. And yes, I was fortunate to hear their signature "b