northeast-flora-and-fauna

Though I see their Baltimore Oriole cousins more often, their smaller cousins the Orchard Orioles [1] also live and breed in New Jersey (at least during the warm-weather months). Besides being smaller, they can also be distinguished by: Baltimore Oriole males are bright orange and black, while Orchard Oriole males are a rich chestnut color and black. Baltimore Oriole females have a yellow/orange breast/belly, while Orchard Oriole females shouldn't show any orange. This particular Orchard Oriole has a slightly different look though. Note the black patch on the throat? This is an indicator that this isn't a female Orchard Oriole but instead an immature male Orchard Oriole [2]. I don't see these birds very often, probably partly because they don't typically stay in their breeding area very long. They generally arrive here late in the spring and leave in the middle of summer, so they're in New Jersey for less time than the average bird. May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo

This Red-tailed Hawk was looking around the area, presumably checking for both potential threats and potential meals. (I'm assuming it wasn't sure whether I was the former, and was more confident that I wasn't the latter.) This hawk had the size and shape of a Red-tailed Hawk, but didn't obviously display either of my favorite field marks for the species: Maybe you can interpret there to be a little burnt orange color on the tip of tail that's visible in the 1st picture, but it looks more brown in the 2nd picture. I'm not sure whether to attribute this to youth or lighting. While young Red-tailed Hawks do have brownish tails, the better look at the tail looked like it was shaded by the hawk's body, perhaps obscuring some orange coloring. Most of this area's Red-tailed Hawks have a brown-speckled "belly band". When I enlarge the picture I think I see a speckle or 2, but far less than usual for these hawks. My explanation for this is that some s

This Tree Swallow was looking out the "doorway" of its "domicile" [1]. Tree Swallows are 1 of the most likely birds to be peeking out of their nesting boxes, as seen here and here . I have 3 (not mutually exclusive) explanations for this: Tree Swallows are fairly abundant birds. These nesting boxes are numerous in many places, and are often within viewing distance of trails. Tree Swallows are 1 of the more aggressive birds in defending their territories, and they're probably looking out to see if someone is outside that they need to dive-bomb [2]. May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282306495, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] FWIW most of the time these domiciles were intended for our less common Eastern Bluebirds . [2] If you like tiny birds flying at your head and veering off at the last second, 1) intruding around their nests is for you, and 2) there's something wrong with you.

A tiny branch to you and me is a very functional platform for a Song Sparrow . In my area the Song Sparrow is the prototypical sparrow: Learn what they look like and you'll recognize (with the possible exception of the Dark-eyed Junco [1]) the most abundant species of one of our most abundant bird families: New World Sparrows . Use the differences between Song Sparrows and other sparrows as a way to learn to ID the other sparrows. (I'm still not great at this myself.) Though Song Sparrows know more than 1 song (up to 20 actually), they don't switch between their songs very often. You'll frequently hear 1 singing basically the same song over and over, but hours later might be singing a different tune. Like jazz musicians though, they'll frequently add some improvisation to their basic songs. May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282306455, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282306468, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC B

Before leaving shorebirds for a while, here's another of our Lesser Yellowlegs I saw among 5-6 spring migration shorebirds (most of whom were Solitary Sandpipers ). I'm a little surprised I got an ID on this 1 since it's in deep enough water that it's not possible to evaluate how "leggy" it is, an important differentiator between Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpipers. I suspect that the ID was due to: Solitary Sandpipers usually have duller yellow legs than the Lesser Yellowlegs. Solitary Sandpipers generally have a more prominent white eye ring than the Lesser Yellowlegs. In this case we had to rely on subtly subjective clues to get an identification. They are described by All About Birds as having a size between an American Robin and an American Crow . Considering I spot them pretty easily, I thought I'd find that they were much closer in size to crows than robins, but instead they're only slightly longer and heavier than our robins, and m

For Throwback Thursday, this is one of our biggest and most prominent orbweaver spiders, a Yellow Garden Spider I met back in 2020 [1]. I actually wanted to link to a post of these large spiders when I was talking about the much smaller Bold Jumping Spider a couple days back, only to realize I hadn't posted about them here [2]! Doing a Throwback Thursday post was the quickest way to remedy this deficiency in the blog. These are 1 of our biggest spiders and are also among our most prominent with their black-and-yellow coloring. While you can get eyestrain looking at a lot of our orbweavers (e.g. Basilica Orbweaver , Marbled Orbweaver , Orchard Orbweaver ), the Yellow Garden Spider is comparably a cinch to spot and ID. Although all spiders are somewhat venomous, the Yellow Garden Spider's venom isn't especially potent. It's generally considered about as bad and dangerous as a bee sting. It's been theorized their black-and-yellow color is an example of aposematism ,

Here's another couple of our Solitary Sandpiper buddies who stop by during their spring travels (AKA migration). These pictures were taken the same day and basically the same time as the Solitary Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs in yesterday's post ; as I was photographing 1 I began to notice more and more shorebirds foraging in the area. Despite the solitary in the name, they will forage in the same vicinity if the pickings are good. Having said that, the sandpiper below might not have been foraging, but might be taking a break. I generally expect a typical shorebird [1] to be foraging in shallow water, though I'm sure that if a tasty invertebrate were spotted on a log, the shorebird would have no ethical or culinary qualms about eating it. May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282305522, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) This next picture is "classic shorebird", standing in shallow water. The ripples centered under the bill suggest it had just poked it

Here are a couple pictures of 2 species of shorebirds who I usually see during spring migration, a Lesser Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper .  I wish I could tell you something that will easily distinguish these 2 related species of bird, but pictures like this demonstrate that - seen apart from 1 another - they look pretty similar [1]. Telling them apart on the ground [2] means making somewhat subjective judgments. Although the Solitary Sandpiper generally looks darker, I think the legs (if you can see them) are the better clue. The Lesser Yellowlegs have noticeably longer legs both in absolute length and also in length relative to the body. (Unfortunately both can have yellow legs.) This is 1 of those birds that good bird watchers can probably ID quickly in good lighting and with an unobstructed view, but I frequently find myself going back-and-forth before deciding which bird I'm looking at. Lesser Yellowlegs May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282305509, (c) jpviolette, some rig

This post shows 2 different snakes slithering around a drained pool at Bamboo Brook. This is the exact same drained pool I talked about in a recent post . It's possible the Northern Watersnake in that post is the same 1 in this post [1] [2], though the bands seem quite a bit more pronounced in this post's Northern Watersnake [3]. This is my 1st picture of this Eastern Garter Snake though; I didn't see 1 of those earlier in the day. I have to admit that I was a little concerned for the safety of the Eastern Garter Snake. Snakes will eat snakes, and the Eastern Garter Snake was clearly a smaller snake. But when they crossed paths, they really didn't pay much attention to 1 another, sort of like commuters in a subway. Garter snakes and watersnakes are relatives, and both are good swimmers, give birth to live young, and are common in New Jersey. May 8, 2023 at Bamboo Brook Photo 282305418, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 8, 2023 at Bamboo Brook Photo 2

This Bold Jumping Spider was patrolling the gate that separates Willowwood Arboretum and Bamboo Brook. Unlike this older picture , you can't see the iridescent green chelicerae (kih-LIH-sih-ree) on this Bold Jumping Spider, though I think you can see a little green around the mouth [1]. They also (usually) have a white-to-orange spot on the back of their abdomen [2], though I'd probably consider this more of a gold or dark yellow spot myself. Although the average person would probably classify these spiders as "small", it's probably 1 of our larger jumping spiders. Some of our fishing spiders , grass spiders , and orbweavers can be quite a bit bigger though. I suspect they're considered to be pretty common by jumping spider standards, though it's possible I just see them more because of their larger size. Despite having "bold" in their name, most of the time these spiders seem frightened by me and my camera. I'm sure that by jumping spider

There were a number of Greater Bee Flies poking around in the dirt last spring, though this was the 1st time I photographed them at Willowwood Arboretum and Bamboo Brook [1]. Though they look a little like tiny bees [2], they actually parasitize the nests of ground-dwelling bees. I'll usually see these flies in April/May and usually around loose dry soil. I suspect there are 2 reasons for that: Loose dry soil is probably the preferred habitat for the bee nests that they parasitize. They are relatively small flies, and if they were flying on non-open ground, I'm not sure I'd notice them at all. May 8, 2023 at Bamboo Brook Photo 282304937, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] My recollection is that I saw these guys basically on the Willowwood Arboretum and Bamboo Brook border. There is a deer fence separating the 2 places, and I saw several of these flies basically at the foot of the gate I went through to switch properties. [2] They get the "bee" p

The Mayapple has flowers, but you have to peek under their leaves to find them. When I help do talks on native plants, the question that frequently comes up is: Can I eat it? For the Mayapple, the answer is mostly no [1], but there are exceptions: Although most parts of the plant is always poisonous, that didn't stop Native Americans from using it. Whether they got away with this by keeping the dosage low or whether they had some process that destroyed some of the toxins is something I don't know. (One website said they used it to commit suicide, in which keeping the toxins would be main point.) Apparently the fruit is edible, even tasty, if eaten when fully ripe, but even then it's a little tricky. There's a theory that they taste better if they ripen on the plant than if they're picked unripe and allowed to ripen at home. And finding any while foraging in the wild is difficult [2], and the fruits are on the small side. If you do choose to eat the ripe fruits ,

Did this Chipping Sparrow try and hide from my by ducking behind a single blade of grass? Probably not. Though it's difficult to tell what animals are thinking [1], I suspect that when birds can see you (and this 1 certainly could see me) they figure they're in danger and take evasive maneuvers [2] or utilize cloaking devices [3], similar to Star Trek warships. I've also found that sometimes when I'm scanning a tree for a vocalizing bird, the vocalization will suddenly stop, and my suspicion is that the bird recognized that I was beginning to look in their direction. (I wish I could say that I frequently spot the bird after it stops singing/calling ... but that doesn't seem to happen very often.) Despite the slight obstruction, I more or less liked the picture I got. May 8, 2023 at Willowwood Arboretum Photo 282304696, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] This difficulty doesn't stop me from trying to figure them out, of course. [2] Evasive mane

Bamboo Brook was draining some small pools last spring, and this resident Northern Watersnake wasn't crazy about it. I'm sure the pool [1] needs to be cleaned periodically so dirt doesn't slowly fill it, and potentially to rid it of unwanted plants. While the watersnake probably didn't appreciate its favorite pool getting drained, it was a good opportunity for me. Many times when I'm trying to photograph them, the watersnakes are either partly obscured by vegetation or they simply jump/fall into the water and glide away from me. This watersnake simply had few options for hiding or fleeing from my camera. I did tell some of the people who were cleaning the pool - I assume they were simply taking a break - about the snake, and she managed to scoop the snake (and some mud) up in a shovel and deposited it in the grass surrounding the pool [2]. May 8, 2023 at Bamboo Brook Photo 282304330, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] This wasn't a swimming poo

Butterflies were still a little hard to find in early May; here's an Eastern Tailed-blue and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail I met back then. These are both fairly abundant butterflies in New Jersey. Even though we have more Eastern Tailed-blues in a typical summer, I suspect the average New Jerseyan thinks the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is more common. This is mostly due to their much more conspicuous size - they're among our largest butterflies - but the contrasting yellow-and-black coloring also gets attention. The Eastern Tailed-blues, on the other hand, are pretty small, and with their wings up they mostly look they appear off-white with some black specks. This might not constitute camouflage, but it's not as attention-getting. And while the male Eastern Tailed-blue below is a purplish-blue, the females are more of an earth-toned gray . Finally, habitat is also a factor. I usually see Eastern Tailed-blues close to the ground while Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are often fo

Perhaps knowing I'm a Boston Red Sox fan, this Baltimore Oriole was literally looking down at me [1]. Although I seem to recall multiple oriole activity, it's entirely possible this is the same bird I saw here and here . Unfortunately, this year I missed out on seeing the somewhat less-attention-getting female Baltimore Orioles , though there's a good chance those males were singing for someone's benefit. And orioles have nested near here before. As is also true of our local robins, sparrows, etc, Baltimore Orioles aren't really orioles, or at least not the original Old World orioles (though they do resemble them). Our local orioles are actually different types of New World blackbirds (which shouldn't be confused with Old World blackbirds like the Common Blackbird , which is [ARGH!] a thrush ) [2]. May 6, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282303809, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] The Baltimore Orioles finished 11 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox

This Common Snapping Turtle surfaced long enough for me to get a picture. As has happened in the past, I initially thought I was looking at a rock, and I only kept looking there because I didn't remember seeing a rock in this location before [1]. And sure enough, the "rock" rose up higher in the water and showed its head [2]. Because of the tendency of Common Snapping Turtles to bask in the sun while mostly submerged with only the top of their carapace protruding out of the water, they're easier to mistake for rocks than pretty much any other area turtle. And of course, if a smaller turtle were to do this, it would also be easier to overlook them completely.  But even though our snapping turtles can look quite a bit like rocks while basking in this fairly unique way, they still like to breathe, and after several minutes you'll notice that at least the tip of the nose will poke above the surface, demonstrating that they're no rock after all. May 6, 2023 at Duk

I met another Bald Eagle last spring along the Raritan River. Was this fella the reason the Osprey I saw the same day was in flight, possibly looking for another place to fish? It's impossible to say; though both birds were in the same general area, I saw them over an hour apart, and it's possible they weren't even aware of 1 another. I've seen Bald Eagles there before , sometimes with company . It's more than possible that the same adult eagle was in more than 1 of these pictures [1], and the Duke Farms Bald Eagles probably nest a short distance from these trees "as the crow flies" [2], so this might be their territory. But there are also a lot more eagle out and about than there used to be, and without much closer looks I doubt anyone could conclusively identify individuals. Though most North America [3] is home to Golden Eagles , Bald Eagles are not considered close relatives of the Goldens. They are considered very close relatives of the White-taile

Last spring I had an Osprey flying over me last spring. These birds are relatively large by raptor standards, only a little smaller than our vultures and bigger than any hawk in my area; eagles are the only eastern raptors that really dwarf them. My Hawk Watch book says that from below they look like a cross between a hawk and a gull; their wings can be as crooked as a gull's but wider and non-pointed like a hawk's. Note though that you don't get a sense of how crooked their wings can get in my pictures. Ospreys can be bullied into dropping a caught fish by an eagle (usually a Bald Eagle ), but my guess is that their size and feeding habits don't lend themselves to conflict with other raptors: They like eating fresh fish, which means our vultures probably ignore them. Hawks and falcons probably recognize that Ospreys are kind of big to be confronting. Ospreys and owls work different hours. May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282300736, (c) jpviolette, some rights r

A couple weeks ago I posted about 2 of New Jersey's 3 most common bird mimics that I saw back on May 3. Only 2 days later in May I encountered several of the 3rd mimic, the Gray Catbird . During warmer months [1], these guys are perhaps the easiest of our bird mimics to notice, though it's not usually because of their mimicry. I almost always notice them from their calls - sort of a squawky mewing sound [2] - than their songs - a long sequence of mimicked sounds [3].  Gray Catbirds do have a crisp-look about them, and are a soft gray except for a dark patch on the top of their heads. The 1st 2 pictures show the catbirds vocalizing, though it wouldn't shock me if the 3rd 1 had been vocalizing when I spotted it.  May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282300923, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282301086, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282301126, (c) jpviolette, some ri

Here's a Yellow-rumped Warbler from last spring. Unfortunately my best picture doesn't show any sign of the yellow rump for which it was named; I've added a 2nd picture where you can see a trace of the yellow rump feathers. As I've mentioned before , it's a little uncertain whether the various subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler should be spun off as separate species. Our local subspecies is the Myrtle Warbler , and has a white throat. The other main subspecies, the Audubon's Warbler , has a yellow throat instead. Both subspecies are considered versatile and creative foragers for food by bird standards. (Presumably this gives them a balanced and healthy diet.) May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282301417, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282301452, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Last spring I encountered what seemed to be a loud argument between a couple Double-crested Cormorants . As best I can determine, there seemed to be a dispute over the ownership of a log protruding out of the Raritan River. Or perhaps 1 cormorant was chatting up the other cormorant's girlfriend? Although I don't believe there was any physical contact, 1 of the cormorants sure seemed angry. Here's my recollection of the dispute. Originally these 2 cormorants were sharing a log. Cormorant #1 was on a submerged part of the log, Cormorant #2 was on the protruding part of the log, and AFAIK neither was particularly friendly or hostile towards the other. May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282299316, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Then Cormorant #3 swam around the log and approached Cormorant #2. Things still seemed calm and routine at this point. May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282300145, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) But the Cormorant

Is this male Mallard showing off his ability to stand on 1 leg? And is an unimpressed female Mallard ignoring him? Probably not. Many birds are way better at standing on 1 leg than most of us humans are, and can even sleep standing on 1 leg. (Don't try this at home!) During cold weather having only 1 leg fully exposed to the elements probably has some value, though this picture was taken in early May; most birds coming off of winter probably weren't too concerned about warmth. Certainly the female sitting next to him wasn't bothered by the cold. It sounds like bird muscles and ligaments work a bit differently than ours , and that when they stand on 1 leg, this leg "locks". This makes it unable to bend until the bird brings down its other leg, so standing on 1 leg is stable - even during sleep - and relatively efficient. So this duck probably isn't showing off but actually resting comfortably. May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282299069, (c) jpviolette, so

Here are a couple pictures both featuring a Red-eared Slider and a Painted Turtle . In both these pictures the slider is the larger turtle; although sliders are on average bigger, there are plenty of Painted Turtles bigger than the average slider. I'm told the sliders are more aggressive than painteds, though I haven't actually witnesses that for myself. I've never actually seen a turtle fight/dispute. Though turtles do have claws, it's unclear to me they've got the strength or quickness in their limbs to be slashing each other up very often. It does sound like males of both turtles will use their claws to impress females and intimidate rivals . I know people have studied pecking orders around bird feeders, carcasses, etc. AFAIK no one has documented a pecking order regarding basking spots. Still, good basking spots are a limited resource, so I wouldn't be shocked to learn that size/aggressiveness differences result in some turtles getting the best spots. May 5

Although I didn't get iNaturalist confirmation on this, it's quite likely that this was a Bald-faced Hornet nest. They certainly build large papery nests like this , and (if I remember correctly): Common Aerial Yellowjackets build smoother looking nests. European Hornets build similar nests but usually in more sheltered locations like hollow trees. The Bald-faced Hornet builds exposed nests more likely to get blown down over a winter, and seems to be more common than the other 2. As I've mentioned in the past, Bald-faced Hornets are really a type of yellowjacket, not a type of hornet. There are 0 hornets native to North America, though there are some living here. In partial defense of the misleading name, yellowjackets and hornets look fairly similar, and there probably weren't a lot of world-class entomologist European colonists around to give them their correct name.  These nests blowing down over the winter isn't a threat to these wasps. The residents of the

Here's a Blue Grosbeak I met last May, and it's yet another bird-that's-blue in my area. The males are nearly as blue as one of their local relatives  [1], the Indigo Bunting . I think you're supposed to distinguish between the 2 species due to: The proportionately large beak of the Blue Grosbeak. The rufus wingbars of the Blue Grosbeak. Seen together (which I've never done) the Blue Grosbeak is bigger. More distantly related to the Blue Grosbeak are the Rose-breasted Grosbeak and the Northern Cardinal; they're all in the cardinal family  (AKA cardinal-grosbeak family [2]). As I mentioned in my Rose-breasted Grosbeak post, the name "grosbeak" comes from the French "gros" meaning large, not the English "gross" meaning repulsive. Blue Grosbeak's breed in our area but they prefer to spend the winter in warmer climes. They're generally considered to be "uncommon but widespread". May 4, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 27856

Here's a Savannah Sparrow I met last spring. These sparrows look a bit like the very common Song Sparrow , though they've got some light yellow around the eyes. (Their breast striping doesn't converge in the middle either, though you can't see that very well in my picture.) Savannah Sparrows don't have any extremely close relatives, though perhaps that will change. It sounds like there is some evidence that 1 subspecies, the Large-billed Sparrow , really ought to be a separate species. Bird taxonomy marches on! While I'd like to tell you that I saw this sparrow in a savannah , I don't think we have true natural savannahs in New Jersey [1]. It is possible that I saw it in a meadow, which might be a little like a temporary savannah. In actuality though, the Savannah Sparrow was named after Savannah, Georgia , where the species was 1st recognized [2] back in 1811. May 4, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 278563451, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] My

For my 1st post during our spookiest month (peaking at the end of the month with Halloween), here's a picture of what has to be the spirit of a dead heron haunting this wetland. It was slowly, silently gliding along the shoreline, intent on wreaking vengeance upon the fish it failed to catch while alive. Unlike human ghosts, heron ghosts can be found in broad daylight, at least during the warmer months. Okay, just kidding, this of course is a picturesque but very much alive Great Egret . They do quietly and slowly walk along shorelines in a slightly ghost-like way though, so if I did see a heron apparition I would likely mistake it for a Great Egret. I hope my macabre post of horror didn't frighten you too much. May 4, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 278563357, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)