northeast-flora-and-fauna

I found a trail near the intersection of South Bridge Street and Route 206 in Somerville. I think it's considered a part of the Raritan River Greenway that seemingly connects to the Peter's Brook Greenway [1]. I noticed some large turtles basking on the opposite side of the river, figured they were Northern Red-bellied Cooters , and followed a side trail to get a better look. As I approached (but still being across the river) most of the turtles scurried into the river. But a couple stayed on the riverbank, and they weren't cooters. They were a species I had only photographed once before at the Raritan Water Power Canal, Spiny Softshell Turtles . While my previous sighting gave me an impression of a smallish spotted turtle though, these turtles were large and (mostly) uniform in color [2]. Apparently young Spiny Softshells have spots, and some of the males retain those spots. This means my previous sighting was either young, male, or both. Interestingly, my Field Guide to ...

Though I think I've heard them recently, I haven't seen Dark-eyed Juncos recently. If they're still down here, they're no doubt planning their northward migration to their breeding grounds. Since we probably won't see these guys for a while, let's admire these little dudes through pictures. I think their manners are a little better when they forage in the wild than they do when I've fed them at my patio . On my patio there are lots of attempts to intimidate one another while feeding, but on a trail where food is far less plentiful they seem to all be pecking around the area without conflict. I suspect that when foraging in the wild any food they find just gets immediately eaten, leaving nothing to fight over. I called them a ubiquity of Dark-eyed Juncos. Though this webpage doesn't address a group of juncos directly, they do suggest "ubiquity", "host", "quarrel", and "tribe" as collective names for sparrows . Sin...

Here are some more winter ducks that you shouldn't expect to see when things warm up: Buffleheads . They're not around my area in big numbers, and most of my pictures were taken in the fall of 2020. They're small ducks [1] that are mostly black and white, so at a distance they probably blend in inconspicuously with Ring-necked Ducks and Hooded Mergansers , though their closest relatives in this area is the Common Goldeneye . The females have black heads and back with a white patch around their cheeks. A male without its breeding plumage looks similar, though the white patch is a bit larger. A male in breeding plumage though has that white patch expanding to cover pretty much all of the back of the head. These are considered one of our most monogamous ducks, so barring a death there's a pretty good chance these 2 were a couple. February 17, 2020 at Washington Valley Park Photo 66501906, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] The only native duck that's ...

Here's another American Kestrel  I encountered, this one in January. This one was closer than the one I saw in October , and both closer and with better lighting than the couple sightings in November . I'd expect to see a lot more blue (especially on the wings) if this was a male, so I'm pretty confident that this is a "she". We don't always appreciate just how light most birds are. This falcon is able to perch on the top of what's basically a twig because she only weighs about a quarter of a pound (117 grams). She was at Farm Barn Lane at Duke Farms. With a few kestrel boxes set up for them and surrounded by meadows with small prey, this is a fairly popular place for American Kestrels. In fact, when I was there yesterday a photographer said he had spotted a pair mating on one of the boxes. Unfortunately I failed to spot - let alone photograph - this kestrel romance. Still, this area does have its drawbacks. I've spotted a Northern Harrier and a few R...

Another invasive species of plant that thrives in much of my area is Wineberry (aka Japanese Wineberry aka Wine Raspberry), though this particular individual looks to be under attack by Japanese Honeysuckle , an invasive plant known to attack other plants . (My guess is that this won't end well for the Wineberry; Japanese Honeysuckle can kill hardier plants like young trees by squeezing them to death.) Wineberry is a type of raspberry related to blackberries and in the rose family  [1]. It was apparently brought here from Asia in hopes of creating hybrid raspberries for cultivation, but the tricky rapscallions gave their cultivators the slip and went wild, and now feral swaths of Wineberry can be found in many locations. (I'm thinking of 1 spot in particular at Washington Valley Park, not far from its Hawk Watch platform.) It's pretty easy to identify Wineberry. The red stems with sharp hairs and the way the underside of the leaves are much paler than the topside of the ...

Here's a pair of Hooded Mergansers , a duck I've talked about before but don't frequently see.  I suspect they got the "merganser" part of their name because the females have a frizzy look similar to the Common Merganser . Despite frizziness and the name, Common Mergansers and Red-Breasted Mergansers are not closely related to the Hooded Mergansers.  Technically "merganser" is derived from "mergus" (meaning waterfowl) and "anser" (meaning goose), making the term a little inappropriate for all 3 species (since they're all waterfowl, but they're ducks rather than geese). Like many (but not all) ducks, these ducks are sexually dimorphic, with males and females having much different plumage. Here's a pretty good look at the female. January 4, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 251773997, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And here's a better picture of the male. Perhaps because there's no male competition around, ...

I met this pair of Mallards last winter and went to get a picture of the couple. One difficulty is that you don't always catch the ducks in the most flattering light, such as this female doing a deep dabble in search of food [1]. Though this is a fairly common feeding technique ( even among geese ), they'll also feed closer to the surface . (At least I think she was feeding; I suppose it's possible she was just camera shy.) January 1, 2023 at the Raritan Water Power Canal Photo 251773581, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Dabbling (among ducks) is feeding in water without completely submerging, as opposed to diving completely underwater. Ducks are generally divided into divers who can disappear from the surface and dabblers who can't/won't do this.

Here are a couple of birds who stopped by my patio for Christmas dinner. Though I can't guarantee that any other birds showed up, by far the most common visitors were Dark-eyed Juncos and House Sparrows . Though both of these birds are sparrows, they're really not close relatives since the former are New World Sparrows and the latter are Old World Sparrows , and their ancestries diverged a long time ago. Although House Sparrows aren't big, they really do tower over the Dark-eyed Juncos. I didn't see a lot of interaction between the 2 species but suspect that the juncos like to keep a respectful distance from their distant cousins. I do see some feisty exchanges between juncos though as they establish a pecking order. (I tried to go out and explain that there was no reason to fight, that I'd just bring out more food when the current scatterings were gone, but unfortunately they flew away in terror before I could say anything.) December 25, 2022 in Bridgewater Photo...

Here's an American Beaver I met on New Year's Day. (Like most of you, I spent New Year's Day looking to get some nature pictures. 😉) With a name like American Beaver, you've probably guessed that there are non-American beavers out there, and you'd be right. Eurasia has its own beavers, the aptly named Eurasian Beaver . Together they comprise the true beavers . (The beavers don't like to talk about the Mountain Beavers , which are really more closely related to squirrels.) Relationship confusion isn't limited to Mountain Beavers either; despite being the 2 most well known aquatic rodents in North America, and despite some visual similarities, they also aren't particularly closely related to Muskrats .  I met this beaver at the tail end of a fairly uneventful walk at Duke Island Park. As I was approaching the pond near the parking lot I saw something brown that I couldn't identify. A bush shouldn't have been that dark. My 1st (very distant) look ...

Here's another fairly common bird that I haven't shown in this blog [1], the American Black Duck . I met this pair last December. Though they're supposed to be here all year round, I tend to see them much more in the colder months: 45 pictures between October and April, 0 pictures between May and September. When I see them during the winter I'll frequently see them either in pairs or amidst mixed flocks of waterfowl. (Squabbles over mates aside, most of our waterfowl seem to be on good terms with one another .) When I see them in pairs, I suspect they're frequently a pair that'll be breeding together the following spring; they'll start forming pair bonds as early as autumn. I suspect that's what's going on in my picture below. The males and females look pretty similar to one another, and they can also be mistaken for a female Mallard . If you've got good lighting and see something the size and shape of a Mallard but that looks grayish-black inste...

For Throwback Thursday, here's a good follow up to yesterday's Northern Cardinal ; it's a male Scarlet Tanager , our 2nd reddest bird [1]. Although our tanagers are related to our cardinals, grosbeaks, and buntings, don't expect all the family members to be red since most are not (and some are blue) [2]. I mentioned in my Northern Cardinal post that the males are bright red all year round; not so for the Scarlet Tanager. These birds only look shockingly colorful during breeding season, wearing a dull yellow plumage the rest of the year. Though my understanding is that there are quite a few Scarlet Tanagers around here, they're kind of hard to spot since they favor treetops for their foraging and socializing. That's why the below are my best pictures of this bird. May 15, 2016 at Washington Valley Park Photo 5330987, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 15, 2016 at Washington Valley Park Photo 5330990, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC...

Here's a Northern Cardinal picture from last December. Similar to yesterday's post of a Gray Catbird , the cardinal had food on his mind, and I suspect those are more Multiflora Rose berries in his mouth. (At least those look like Multiflora Rose thorns on some of those branches.) Note that I said his/he; only the adult males have the flamboyant red plumage, and while some birds (I'm looking at you, American Goldfinch ) only have bright plumage during breeding season, the Northern Cardinal males look this way all year round. This is an interesting evolutionary "choice" that the Northern Cardinal has made. I'm sure their bright coloring has attracted unwanted attention from Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks , it probably does ensure that only the strongest, wiliest males survive to breeding season to pass on their genes to the next generation [1]. Although Northern Cardinals are common enough that we may take them for granted, people who haven't seen ...

This is my most wintry Gray Catbird photo. One of our squawkiest birds much of the year, I rarely see or hear them in the winter despite them being described as winter residents of NJ . (Of course, migration "rules" are a lot looser than we typically portray them, and it's possible that relatively few choose to winter here.) This bird may have been eyeing those berries for its next meal. The berries and thorns make me think the berries were on a Multiflora Rose , though nearby leaves suggest the thicket contained Japanese Honeysuckle too. I've been told that berries from invasive plants tend to be less nutritious for our native animals [1], but I have to admit that the birds are probably grateful for any plentiful berries it can find in the winter. I suspect that getting enough calories is the most important thing for winter bird survival. December 13, 2022 at Washington Valley Park Photo 251087037, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] More precisely,...

Last December I met this Eastern Bluebird perched in a local high point in a meadow, giving him a pretty good view of the surrounding area. Many birds will sit in a treetop either to get a wide view or (during breeding season) to help their singing voice carry further. It does come with some risk though; if you can see a lot of the area, it usually means a lot of predators in the area can see you too. If a Cooper or Sharp-shinned Hawk makes the scene, he'll no doubt need to scurry for cover. As is frequently the case, there were other bluebirds (both male and female) in the area. Having more eyes out there looking for danger is no doubt helpful to them. December 5, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 251086118, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) My guess is that my camera and I were deemed too great a threat to stay perched, so he decided to vacate the area. December 5, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 251086128, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I met a group of vultures at Washington Valley Park last autumn when I noticed a bunch of them in a patch of trees between the Washington Valley Reservoir and Newman's Lane. As you can see from the 1st photo, even a casual glance in their direction made it clear there were large birds up there. A quick look through my binoculars confirmed what I pretty much knew, that these were vultures. November 29, 2022 at Washington Valley Park Photo 251085840, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Similar to when I saw a  rafter of Wild Turkeys , I wondered what you're supposed to call a group of vultures. This webpage provided me with 3 candidates: A colony of vultures. This certainly suggests a group, though I wonder if it implies more cooperation and cohesiveness than a group of mixed-species vultures really represents. Also, a colony sounds a little more geographically persistent than I'd like for birds that won't stay in these particular trees for more than a few h...

This was the 2nd picture I got this past season of Ring-necked Ducks . (The 1st picture wasn't a good but you can look at it if you want to.) You might be thinking "I don't see any rings on the necks - this must be a misidentification", buf  if you were close enough you would see a ring around the neck (even though it's difficult/impossible to see from a distance). This is certainly one of those instances where the bird got its common name from someone seeing the bird up close, and they almost certainly got that close look because the bird was dead. I was (mildly) victimized by these ducks being named after such a subtle physical trait. Years ago when I saw them, got some pictures, and attempted to identify them, I got to a webpage listing the names of all the ducks in my area. As I went down the list, I skipped right over the link for Ring-necked Ducks because I felt certain there was no ring around their neck. This led me to erroneously believe that the best fi...

This Black Vulture appears to be looking pretty intensely at something. Though they (and their Turkey Vulture cousins) are primarily scavengers, Black Vultures will sometimes attack small, weak animals. Since the vulture didn't seem to view me as a credible threat (an accurate observation on the vulture's part), I'm thinking the vulture considered the possibility that it saw a potential meal (dead or alive). Black Vultures generally scavenge by sight, so their eyesight is considered quite good. Though there is a little dispute as to whether most birds can smell, Turkey Vultures definitely find rotting carcasses through their sense of smell, and Black Vultures are smart enough to follow them to a carcass. There are no other extant (non-extinct) species in the Black Vulture's genus  though they're obviously related to the other New World vultures/condors .  November 26, 2022 at Duke Farms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_vulture

Here's a bird I see moderately often, hear more often than that, but of which rarely get an identifiable picture, a Common Raven . This is partly because they don't photograph particularly well; in some light I don't end up with much more than a silhouette. And it's partly because the differences between our ravens and our crows ( American or Fish ) are fairly subtle. Social media has a lot of pictures of crows where the photographer was hoping to have gotten a raven picture. (Sometimes these lead to heated crow-versus-raven debates, similar to those of other look-alike birds .) The overall size, relative beak size, and a hairier beak are the best clues in telling ravens from crows. If they were side-by-side, size alone would distinguish the 2 pretty easily, but usually crows perceive ravens as threats and will try and drive them away. When I've seen them together the crows are either driving a raven away in an aerial battle or they're scolding the raven vocif...

Here's the only other Autumn Meadowhawk (besides this (probable) female ) I got a picture of last autumn. The bright red indicates this one is a guy. Both were (unsurprisingly) seen in meadows. Though like any self-respecting dragonfly, the eggs are laid in water, but some prefer to live in water-adjacent areas. As is typically the case, the Autumn Meadowhawk was the last species of dragonfly or damselfly that I saw last year. I'm assuming that they've adapted to handling colder temperatures in order to avoid a lot of the dragonfly/damselfly competition that goes on in earlier months, and that some predators (robber flies, mantises, spiders) have left the scene too. (They still have to worry about those birds though.) Because they live so late into the season, they need to bask in the sun more than the average odonate. They'll probably survive until the first hard frost of the season (hopefully after having mated). November 16, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 251084818, (c) j...

Here's an insect I don't see a lot of [1], a Short-winged Meadow Katydid . You can tell this is a female katydid (perhaps named Katie?) because of her ovipositor , the long, thin appendage at the end that she uses for laying eggs [2]. Males will attempt to woo females with a love song ; the lyrics go something like this: tick ... bzzzz ... tick-tick bzzzz ...tick ... bzzzz ... tick-tick-tick ... bzzzz It might not sound impressive to you, but if any female katydids are reading this, they're swooning right now. The katydids got their name because a different species, the Common True Katydid , sings more of a "kay-tee-did" song. (Apparently you don't have to sing a "katydid" song to be a katydid.) Katydids are usually omnivores, mostly eating vegetation but they'll spice things up once in a while by snacking on little insects like aphids . October 23, 2019 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 55450643, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved ...

Here are a couple Dark-eyed Juncos from last autumn. They were the 1st ones I got pictures of last season, but they're typically around earlier than November; the previous year I got pictures of them in early October. Though they breed further north from NJ, they spend a lot of time down here to escape the harsher northern winters. I've gotten pictures of them between October and April, so despite them not breeding here they can be spotted here over half the year. (I don't know if individual juncos are here for 7 months; I suspect I'm seeing a mix of early and late migrators during these months.) Almost all our sparrows have "sparrow" in their common names; juncos, towhees, and buntings [1] are the main exceptions. November 16, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 251084869, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Buntings a slightly complicated. Some of them are classified as sparrows while others are classified as cardinals.

Here's another Cooper's Hawk . I met this one last autumn, though we can potentially see them year round here in NJ. Many birds have a smaller/larger "twin" that makes identifying them difficult: Downy Woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers American Crows and Common Ravens Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs For their part, Cooper's Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks are also a source of confusion. While these pairs of birds would be pretty easy to distinguish side-by-side due to size differences, all too often you're not going to find them together. (The 2 hawks and the 2 corvids generally have a hostile relationship; the woodpeckers and shorebirds generally tolerate one another.) November 1, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 250356045, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's another invasive plant species, the Japanese Honeysuckle . And it's engaged in invasive-on-invasive violence, beginning its classic climb-and-strangle strategy on yesterday's invasive plant, the Japanese Angelica Tree . My impression is that all those prickles on the Japanese Angelica Tree won't save it; the Japanese Honeysuckle will presumably maneuver between them as it climbs. I'm not sure what happens to mature trees when Japanese Honeysuckle moves in. I'm sure they'll climb the trees and that it's foliage will compete with the tree's foliage for sunlight. I know that Japanese Honeysuckle will kill young trees as they wind themselves tightly around the trunk, so I suspect it'll also damage newer tree branches even if thick bark protects the main trunk from the Japanese Honeysuckle. If there's nothing to climb, Japanese Honeysuckle will form thick clusters that catch almost all the sunlight, making it very difficult for any other pl...

Here's an invasive species that you'll sometimes see dominating an area, a Japanese Angelica Tree aka Chinese Angelica Tree aka Korean Angelica Tree. (Maybe it would be better to call them Asian Angelica Trees when they span countries like this ... but I'm not authorized to improve the naming convention.) This small tree is obviously crowding out some native plants. Near the Hawk Watch area of Washington Valley Park there's a patch of them where it looks like they're the only things growing there, so I don't dispute the "invasive species" tag they've acquired. Having said that, they are supposed to be very similar to and closely related to a species that's native to southern NJ, western Pennsylvania, and much of the southeastern US, the Devil's Walking Stick  aka Angelica Tree (video here ). AFAIK the Devil's Walking Stick doesn't take over an ecosystem the way Japanese Angelica Trees do, though it's unclear what prevents that ...

Here's another Osprey , this one partially obscured by tree branches. I suspect that even if the Osprey was slightly hidden from me, it probably had a pretty clear view of the water, and at any sign of fish the Osprey would have a shot at scoring a meal.  Although this Osprey seems to be looking intensely at something, many birds of prey give that impression. Trying to read their "expressions" probably isn't something we're particularly good at. November 12, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 251084576, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I met this Autumn Meadowhawk (surprise!) ... last autumn! I was starting to worry that I'd go the entire season without seeing 1 of these, then 1 Saturday 1 of the Duke Farms educators spotted this 1 on the lawn (and adjacent to a meadow). It obviously wasn't a mature male since they're a rich red color. With a side view I would be better able to tell you whether this is a female or an immature male . Unfortunately I couldn't/didn't get a picture from that angle, but I think I see a hint of a subgenital plate near the rear of the abdomen, so I'm leaning towards this being a female. November 12, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 251084548, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a Metric Paper Wasp I met last summer. Despite their name, these wasps are not a meter in size; they're about an inch in length. 😀 These wasps are umbrella wasps , and I've talked about other umbrella wasps before: Dark Paper Wasps Guinea Paper Wasps European Paper Wasps The European Paper Wasp is an invasive species that's known to replace our Dark Paper Wasp, but they're probably a bit of a threat to outcompete our Metric Paper Wasps too. Like most of their relatives, Metric Paper Wasps are eusocial : Females cooperatively raise their young. Multiple generations live together in a nest. Dividing labor between reproductive and non-reproductive members of a nest. It sounds like a colony starts each spring with 1 or more "foundresses" who were fertilized before winter. (Though there can be multiple foundresses, there's typically an alpha foundress that takes charge and who does most of the egg-laying.) They lay eggs that develop into female wor...

Grey Heron Here's a Grey Heron I met in the spring of 2022. Some people claim that this is a species that's a rare visitor from Europe, but they're all over central New Jersey. I think I saw 4-5 of them just this week!* April 20, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 191969839, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)