northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a partially hidden Red-bellied Woodpecker . (Just because it has red on the head and difficult-to-see red on the belly, it doesn't make this a Red-headed Woodpecker .) Although woodpeckers are built for pecking on trees in search of invertebrates to eat, this picture probably shows one taking advantage of the berries in this tree. Though most birds love eating insects and spiders, even ones considered to be insectivores will eat nuts, acorns, seeds, and even fruits. And of course, if there happens to be an insect on that fruit too, so much the better. November 5, 2021 at the Delaware Raritan Canal Photo 169043446, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's an Eastern Chipmunk I met last autumn. The little guy was near a hollow log though it's unlikely the chipmunk lives there. Despite being skilled tree climbers, chipmunks like to live in burrows in the ground consisting of several tunnels. (It's possible there's a tunnel entrance under the log, I suppose.) Chipmunks are omnivores that primarily eat vegetation but will eat some invertebrates and even bird eggs and small bird hatchlings. It's a little difficult to describe how they spend the winter. Some sources have said they're too small to store enough body fat to hibernate through a winter, while others say they are hibernators. Maybe the key is that sometimes the term hibernation means essentially sleeping through the winter and sometimes means hunkering down in a den with food and periodically eating a meal. My guess is that Eastern Chipmunks hibernate in the sense that they mostly sleep but occasionally snack during the winter. November 4, 2021 at t

In colder months finding Eastern Bluebirds seems to be feast or famine; either I won't see them at all, or I'll see 3-6 of them hanging out together. Given they look more gray than blue in my picture, I'm assuming these are females (though even the males can look gray in certain light). A century ago, the Eastern Bluebird was considered to be in danger of extinction due to loss of nesting and loss of foraging habitat. That dire consequence is past us, though Eastern Bluebird populations are still suppressed due to competition for nesting locations for these cavity nesting (bird houses or hollow trees) birds.  Apparently Eastern Bluebirds are one of the few bird species known to have had twins . Twins in birds implies that 2 birds hatch from the same egg. My suspicion is that twinning happens much more often than we know; in most cases the only way to tell is if we see N number of eggs but see N+1 number of hatchlings, and we just don't monitor every bird nest well eno

Here's a fairly well-known bird that I don't often get a picture of: the Yellow-rumped Warbler . You can actually see their famous yellow rump in the second picture. These birds mostly visit us in the winter, taking advantage of our (relatively) balmy winters (compared to their breeding range that can go pretty far north into Canada). The Yellow-rumped Warbler may not be a species soon , and this gets to the heart of what we consider a species to be. Prior to 1973 our eastern population of Yellow-rumped Warblers was called Myrtle Warblers [1], and another western population was called Audubon Warblers [2]. But then it was discovered that these 2 populations were interbreeding very readily in one range overlapping area, and so in 1973 they were grouped together into 1 species, the Yellow-rumped Warbler. But ornithologists have continued to study these birds, and have concluded that while the birds in the overlapping range have a mix of DNA between the eastern/western populations

I know I showed a Dark-eyed Junco fairly recently, but this picture came out pretty good so you're getting another one. Since I did discuss them recently , I'll talk about the picture instead. In most pictures male Dark-eyed Juncos will look more like a pure gray, but this one has almost a slightly bluish look to it. I'm not sure why this is. It's possible that when I processed the photo - I take pictures in "raw" mode and then use software to create JPGs or PNGs - I accidentally changed the color, but I think it's more likely that this is a case when you can get somewhat nonstandard coloring in certain lighting. When you're trying to ID birds, flowers, insects, you probably shouldn't fixate on finding a color match since sometimes the color can look a little off. Paying attention to the shape and patterns is probably more important for many identifications. Location and season are often very important too. October 21, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168

Let's show another commonly seen turtle around here: the Red-eared Slider . Most of the time this "species" can be reliably identified by ... (wait for it) ... their red "ear". Why the quotes? First, the Red-eared Slider isn't a species in its own right but is a subspecies of the Pond Slider . Second, the Pond Sliders don't have external ears, red or any other color, though the red mark is about where you'd expect an ear to be if they had external ears. There is another Pond Slider subspecies, the Yellow-bellied Slider , that I'm told is in NJ too, though I can't authoritatively say I've seen one. These turtles are popular as pets, and pets that have escaped or been released are the main reason the Red-eared Slider is an invasive animal in many parts of the US and other parts of the world. Their popularity peaked when it was revealed that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were Red-eared Sliders. As an invasive species they potentially imp

Here's someone that, according to my Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of New Jersey, doesn't exist here: a River Cooter . For years I didn't realize these turtles were in NJ, though iNaturalist would frequently offer this as an ID for some of my pictures. Apparently this generally southern species has been in my state for decades (though perhaps in small numbers and a few localities). Their existence does complicate the turtle identification process here, especially between the cooters and the sliders. It's not entirely clear how they got here, though some form of human introduction seems most likely. Their original range was considered to be as far north as Maryland though, so a gradual natural range expansion could also be plausible. FWIW, iNaturalist does not list them as an introduced species. I have certainly encountered their relative, the Northern Red-bellied Cooter , which is listed in my field guide as NJ's largest "basking turtle" (turtles

I'm surprised I haven't shown one of these Dekay's Brownsnakes  (aka Northern Brown Snake) before; let's remedy that today. These are small non-venomous snakes that are generally light brown or grayish-brown. They tend to have lighter coloring along the top of the back bordered by darker spots. They're usually about a foot long but slender enough that you won't think of it as big. Because of their small size they are frequently misidentified as a young version of our larger snakes. Though they have a southern relative called the Florida Brown Snake , they also have a fairly close relative here in NJ: the Northern Redbelly Snake . Unfortunately I have yet to meet a Northern Redbelly Snake (though I routinely meet Northern Red-bellied Cooters .) The Northern Redbelly Snake has a red/orange belly and is otherwise darker than the Dekay's Brownsnake, but otherwise these are pretty similar snakes. Though they're said to be secretive, on cool spring or autumn d

Let me introduce you to the Bold Jumping Spider . This little spider was at one of the Duke Farms Outdoor Education events last October. (You never know who you're going to meet at the Outdoor Education events.) Despite the boldness of the name, I do recall the spider disliking the attention of my camera, and it took a few tries before I got a reasonable picture. Like with a lot of spiders, the females are generally larger than the males, though neither will be mistaken for a tarantula. (Despite both being hairy spiders, the tarantulas and the jumping spiders are distinct spider families.) I suspect that the prominent pair of iridescent green chelicerae (kih-LIH-sih-ree) helped greatly in getting this spider identified. They are the mouthparts of spiders, and in some spiders resemble fangs. The reddish spot on the abdomen (I didn't get a good view of that in my picture) also helped. Jumping spiders get their name from their style of hunting; basically they hope to get close

While occasionally you'll run across a bird singing its heart out in plain sight, seemingly putting on a concert for you. (The concert is actually for another bird of the same species and opposite sex, but it can appear the song is for us.) But most of the time birds actually try and avoid our attention, and flee the scene like this Great Blue Heron .  All too often when I'm lurking about a shoreline, a Great Blue Heron will hear/see me before I even know it's there, like in this picture. Manually focusing on a moving target with the distance continuously changing is beyond my capabilities, so I need to rely on my camera's autofocus. In this case the heron came out a little blurry-but-recognizable; the lighting looked pretty good though. October 15, 2021 at Duke Island Park Photo 168430020, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's another picture of an Eastern Phoebe , this one from last autumn. They are in the tyrant flycatcher family, so it won't surprise you that small invertebrates are on their menu. Ornithologists generally consider this to be the largest family of birds, though it's possible that the family might get split into smaller families as we learn more. Here in New Jersey we're basically at the southern edge of the Eastern Phoebe's breeding range; some of them breed well into Canada. And we theoretically don't see them in the winter, probably because of the challenges of finding invertebrates to eat in winter.  The Eastern Phoebe gets its name from its "fee-bee" call, but not all fee-bees are from phoebes; the Black-capped Chickadee makes a similar sound, though with phoebes the call is shorter than the chickadee one. These birds are generally loners, coming together to breed but then generally parting ways. Though they'll certainly catch flies, why a

Last autumn at Duke Island Park I was seeing quite a few Blue Jays . Though they're pretty common, they move around quite a bit so I don't get pictures of them as often as I'd like. On this day I got pictures of them with their mouths full. The 1st one is pretty easily understood; this Blue Jay has found an acorn to eat . They use their beaks to break into the relatively soft acorn shell, break the edible part up into pieces, and enjoy their acorn feast. But given that this picture is from autumn, it's perhaps more likely that the Blue Jay will hide this acorn for a wintertime meal. Us humans can technically eat acorns ourselves, though acorns from the red oak group of oak trees is generally too bitter for us to enjoy. When humans have eaten acorns, we'll usually get them from the white oak group . I'm not sure that Blue Jays have the same preference. October 15, 2021 at Duke Island Park Photo 168430305, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Here'

Here's a Variegated Fritillary from last autumn, probably near the end of the season when you've got a reasonable chance of finding them. This is a species that used to be an uncommon visitor from the south, but these days it's far from jaw-dropping to spot one. Similar to the Monarch (who admittedly migrates further), this species is a migrator, fleeing south for the winter and returning again the next summer. It's possible that climate change lets them migrate south to higher latitudes than in previous decades and making their return trip the next summer both shorter and more likely to occur. Like its more commonly seen relative the Great Spangled Fritillary (who I've shown before ), violets are the host plants for the Variegated Fritillary. October 15, 2021 at Duke Island Park Photo 168430239, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Though it's not difficult to confuse this fritillary with the Great Spangled Fritillary, I usually get suspicious if

Here's a Blue Jay foraging along a roadway last autumn. It's a bird I've talked about before , though I'm sure entire books have been written about these colorful, loud, and clever birds.  While the size differences of the birdfeeder birds may not seem important to us, they frequently make a big difference to the birds themselves. Cardinals are around twice the size of many of our sparrows, and the Blue Jay is nearly twice the size of a cardinal. This is why Blue Jays are among the most dominant/prominent birds at a birdfeeder, at least among the frequent visitors. (Occasional visits by someone like a Pileated Woodpecker or crow - let alone a Wild Turkey - would upset the hierarchy.) At least until the Gray Catbirds return, the Blue Jays probably reign supreme around here in the loud squawking department. Even when you can't see these attractive birds, you can still hear them. October 11, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168359172, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (

Here's a sparrow that I didn't see much of this winter but is in New Jersey all year round: the Song Sparrow . (This picture was from last autumn.) Though this little fella was probably between songs, it's not unusual to hear them out there singing . Similar to yesterday's Dark-eyed Junco , these are very numerous and very widespread sparrows. They don't go quite as far into Canada/Alaska as the juncos, but they can be found in all lower 48 states and approximately the southern half of Canada. They're also known for their regional variations, though I wouldn't consider the variations to be as evident as with the Dark-eyed Juncos. Similar to the Dark-eyed Junco, the Song Sparrow is a pretty small bird. Both of them are under an ounce in weight; you need to describe them in grams if you want to avoid fractions. (The Song Sparrow is listed in my field guide as 20 grams, just slightly bigger than the Dark-eyed Junco at 19 grams. I'm sure this means that alth

While people have long considered the American Robin a harbinger of spring, there's some justification in considering the Dark-eyed Junco as a harbinger of winter (though perhaps identifying them as such would adversely affect their popularity). This was almost certainly one of the 1st juncos I saw last autumn. (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology implies that juncos are here all year round, though I've never actually seen one in the summer.) This species is a little like the Red-tailed Hawk in that different subspecies across the continent have quite different plumage, probably making early ornithologists think they were different species. In our area, we generally have the "slate-colored junco", the subspecies that's got a whitish belly and is gray (males) or grayish-brown (females) above. Another thing they have in common with Red-tailed Hawks is that red-tails are among our most common raptors, and the Dark-eyed Junco is one of our most common birds overall. The

Last autumn I got this picture of a Great Blue Lobelia . This is one of the good guys, a native wildflower popular with our little pollinator friends. It is considered slightly poisonous, which provides one advantage: it's less likely to be eaten down to nothing by deer or rabbits. Though I haven't shown this wildflower before, I have shown a relative (same genus) of it. A clue as to who that relative is can be surmised from an alternative name of the Great Blue Lobelia: Blue Cardinal Flower. Yes, it's related to the (regular) Cardinal Flower , another poisonous-to-eat, good-for-pollinators wildflower that can sometimes be spotted in my area. October 9, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168358753, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) October 9, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168358768, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Last autumn I spotted this little flock of Wood Ducks swimming by. For reasons I discuss more here , I suspect there are 3 female and 2 eclipse plumage male ducks here. You can tell it's late summer or early autumn by the dense green covering the water, which gets pretty common around here. I suspect there's too much fertilizer runoff that feeds the growth. Though much of it dies off in the winter, it'll be back next summer. I know many ducks will pair off well before breeding season, but since this was even before winter it's possible the ducks were just being social. Lots of birds like to hang out; there are more eyes to spot predators that way. The brambly/bushy vegetation near or in the water also makes Wood Ducks feel more comfortable; they figure they can hide in it if something threatening (like a guy with a camera) comes along. October 7, 2021 at Duke Farms https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/overview

Though fairly common, Red-tailed Hawks are cool-looking birds. I got this picture last autumn; perhaps the hawk regretted the autumnal leaf-dropping since the sparse foliage left it more exposed than earlier in the summer. There's an obscured view of the belly band that my area's Red-tailed Hawks are known for. There's not a great view of the tail, though it looks to have more of a light brown color. I suspect this hawk may be young and hasn't yet acquired the burnt orange tail for which they're named. It's worth mentioning that while the tail and the belly band are very reliable field marks here in NJ, in other parts of the continent there are subspecies too dark to have a noticeable belly band and/or may have dark brown or white tails. October 2, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168357965, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Last autumn's trip to Great Swamp also turned up another berry-producing plant besides yesterday's Autumn Olive and the previous day's Southern Arrowwood . It's a Winterberry Holly . Environmentally the Winterberry Holly is closer to the Southern Arrowwood in that they're both native plants and are considered excellent winter food for our bird friends. While a springtime robin might feast on a juicy worm, a wintertime robin needs berries like these to get by when insects and other invertebrates are rare. There is a downside to them; apparently they're poisonous to people, dogs, and cats. I'm not sure if dogs and cats tend to eat them; at least most of the cats I've known were uninterested in eating most vegetation. (Some dogs admittedly seem to consider anything that fits in their mouths to be food.) Winterberry Holly is - like most hollies - a dioecious  (pronounced something like DIE-ee-shus) plant; there are separate male and female plants. Only the

My impression is that people like Friends of Great Swamp have done a pretty good job at removing invasive species there, when I saw this plant in the ecosystem, I had hoped it was a native plant. Unfortunately it turned out to be the invasive Autumn Olive .  Autumn Olive was intentionally brought here from eastern Asia, mostly to be an ornamental plant. It readily escapes from lawns/gardens though when birds eat their fruit and poop it out someplace distant. While you might think "at least it's helping the birds", that's not as true as you might think. The berries are considered to be of relatively low nutritional value to our birds, and although if you're hungry enough I suppose empty calories can have some value, when you factor in that the Autumn Olive is occupying land that might otherwise have Southern Arrowwood or other native plant, it's really not a winning situation for the ecosystem. The worst thing about invasive plants isn't what they do, it&

Last summer at Duke Farms we planted some Southern Arrowwood (AKA Arrowwood Viburnum ), though those were young plants that don't give you a good sense of what they look like when they mature. I'm pretty sure I found full grown Southern Arrowwood at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (albeit not the swampiest part of the refuge). This picture was taken in early autumn, and you can see the abundant berries this plant produces. Though I believe the berries are edible, they weren't listed among one of the viburnums typically eaten. I assume this means you probably wouldn't enjoy eating them yourself, though I'd sure birds and maybe some mammals are happy to eat them. September 30, 2021 at Great Swamp Photo 168357792, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) These plants were probably on the small side of mature plants, closer to 6' than the 10' they can get up to. Although you can see the relatively straight woody "trunks" that Native Ameri

Here's some Carolina Horsenettle from last autumn. I'm a little surprised I haven't shown Carolina Horsenettle before. It's not an all-over-the-place plant, but with its small, tomato-like fruit it's fairly eye-catching. The fruit of this plant is a fairly close relative to the tomato; they're in the same genus . But they're also in the nightshade family of plants. This family of plants contains many familiar food plants, including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and some peppers. But other plants in this family are very poisonous, and unfortunately for would-be wildlife foragers, the Carolina Horsenettle is one of the poisonous plants. The fruits in particular are perhaps the most poisonous part of the plant, though all parts of it are somewhat poisonous, at least to us and livestock. Apparently though some wild birds like turkey and quail can eat the fruit . What this plant is not is a nettle . It probably got the "nettle" part of it's name

Early last autumn I met this Differential Grasshopper . With pretty good size and vivid green coloring, these guys are fairly photogenic. Because they eat grains and other plants, they can be damaging to agriculture, but in our meadows they're a good food source for many of our birds. While many insects (most famously butterflies) undergo complete metamorphosis to transition from larvae to adults, grasshoppers are insects that have a different strategy. They hatch looking like tiny wingless adults, and then go through 5 molts, each time getting closer to the size/functionality of adults. They share this incomplete metamorphosis strategy with close relatives like katydids and crickets along with several other more distantly related insects like mantises, dragonflies, and damselflies. September 25, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168288306, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Though this picture was from last autumn, you can see Downy Woodpeckers pretty much any time of the year around here. They're probably a little easier to find in the winter since the trees they forage in don't have a lot of foliage cover. Though they don't migrate seasonally, woodpeckers will sometimes immigrate to a new location if their current location isn't favorable. Individuals won't return to that location if conditions improve, though future generations might recolonize it. This is our smallest woodpecker and is frequently distinguished from the also-fairly-small Hairy Woodpecker by the Downy's proportionately short bill. While we usually focus on woodpecker's long/hard/durable beaks, their tongues are also specialized for their unique lifestyles. I think this is a picture of a male Downy Woodpecker; I think I see a hint of red on the top of the head, though the positioning isn't ideal for judging gender. September 24, 2021 in Bridgewater, NJ

Where there are flowers, these Transverse-banded Flower Flies can sometimes be seen. Like all syrphid flies (aka flower flies and hover flies), these are true flies (unlike fireflies, who are secretly beetles, or butterflies or dragonflies, that are completely different insects).  If you have a garden and hate being stung, these flies are right up your alley. As adults they're all about nectar, pollen, and honeydew, are incapable of stinging, and apparently don't bite. And while butterflies also meet those criteria, these flies have an additional benefit. As kids (aka larvae) they'll eat some garden pests like aphids. They are also a classic example of Batesian mimicry since they look dangerous but aren't. I'm not exactly sure who they're trying to mimic though: Their color and shape could fool a predator into thinking they're bumblebees . Their color and lack of fuzziness could fool a predator into thinking they're yellowjackets . Perhaps they're

Here's a fairly common bird that I hear a lot, sometimes spot, but rarely get pictures of, the Belted Kingfisher . It appears to be a male since the female should have a visible chestnut colored band showing up underneath the blue band that both sexes have. That extra chestnut band makes the Belted Kingfisher one of the few birds where the females are slightly more colorful than the males. These guys are a bit larger than Blue Jays and share the Blue Jay tendency to raise an alarm call when they see a perceived threat like, but not limited to, photographers. Many times, a kingfisher will spot me and as it flies away it'll warn the herons and ducks that I'm there. Admittedly they aren't as loud/squawky as Blue Jays, but they don't make it easy to get pictures of waterfowl. From perches like this one, the Belted Kingfisher will try and spot a smallish fish, then dive into the water to catch it in its bill. Though their size and style of fishing are different, they a

Last September I saw this fella flying around, a Red-tailed Hawk . They are one of our most commonly seen raptors, behind only the Turkey Vulture and (probably) Black Vulture . Both our vultures give a much darker look up in the sky. I'm not sure how many owls (especially Screech Owls ) we have, but they're much less likely to be seen during the day. You shouldn't be looking for a truly red tail; adults have tails that are more like a burnt orange, juveniles are a light brown. The ones in our area usually have a fairly distinctive "belly band", basically speckles that go across the belly. No other raptor in my area should have this band of speckles. You can see the belly band well in the 1st picture while I think you've got a hint of the burnt orange tail in the 2nd picture. September 19, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168281295, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) September 19, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 168281320, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (C

Bees aren't our only pollinators, as this Dark Paper Wasp demonstrates. The paper wasps are generally considered less aggressive than yellowjackets and hornets  but will sting if they get the impression they or their nests are threatened. Though named the Dark Paper Wasp, its darkness varies geographically. Generally speaking, well north of me (southern Canada or northern New York/New England) the yellow stripes will be on a black abdomen, while south of me (southern US) they tend to look more reddish. These wasps are considered eusocial : they cooperate in raising young, multiple generations live together, and there's some specialization of duties. They're not as eusocial as some insects where soldiers, foragers, and tending to their young are distinctive jobs. Their lifecycle is basically like this: At the end of summer, males and reproductive females grow to adulthood. This generation of males/females breed. The males then die while the new females congregate someplac

Here's a Western Honeybee harvesting nectar and pollen from late last summer. She drinks nectar in 2 ways: When drinking something with relatively little sugary nectar, she'll drink by sucking. When drinking something sugary and more viscous, she'll lap it up. She's also bringing pollen back to the hive for food. You can see the orangish globe on the abdomen; that's her pollen basket . While nectar mostly provides the carbohydrates that bees need, pollen provides them with protein. Fortunately for plants, while honeybees take as much pollen as they can for their own needs, they still end up spilling some of it, pollinating many plants while doing so. Though there is no doubt that honeybees are important to agriculture, they can contribute to the decline of native pollinators and the spread of non-native plants . It would probably be better if honeybees could be restricted to pollinating crops rather than mixing with nature, though that goal falls somewhere between

Last summer I saw this stately looking bird strutting around the shoreline; it's a Great Egret . This is their preferred way of foraging for food, to walk along shallow water and gobble up fish. Similar to its Great Blue Heron cousin, they'll generally eat pretty much any animal small enough to swallow whole. (They don't have the tools to tear something up.) I'm not sure how well it tolerates poisonous species though, so it's possible it leaves some of our butterflies and toads alone. While wading in shallow water for food is their specialty, a hungry egret might swim after fish or even try and hover over the water and dive after one. Though the latter attempts might be done a bit awkwardly, they're better than going hungry. Did you know that there's really not a biological distinction between herons and egrets? The closest relative of the Great Egret in my area is the Great Blue Heron, and vice versa. They're both in the Ardea genus. September 18, 202