northeast-flora-and-fauna

I talked about some of the conditions at a Chambers Brook tree planting ; today I thought I'd discuss the tactics. First there are the issues common to both trees and shrubs: Most of the time an auger had dug the holes so there was no question about where to plant the tree/shrub, and things like rocks and roots are essentially irrelevant. While I recognize that the pre-dug holes are a time-and-labor saver, there are a couple downsides. First, the auger was digging holes deeper and wider than needed for our trees/shrubs, necessitating some refilling of the hole before planting. Second, sometimes the soil was a clay that, after a day or two, would harden into something difficult to break up when refilling the hole. When we had to dig our own holes, sometimes you could easily dig a hole but in other situations rocks and/or roots made life quite a bit harder. And while I wore hard-soled boots/shoes that let me hop on the shovel, some others had softer shoes that could have made diggin...

Considering it's National Dragonfly Day , I wanted to share a dragonfly picture. And at Duke Farms today: There be dragons , though not in the Medieval sense of dangerous territory. Instead we staked out a bridge where we could show off a bunch of dragonflies to the visitors. Though no Calico Pennants showed up at this particular site, there were a few hanging out in the meadows. Instead though we got to see Blue Dashers , Eastern Pondhawks , Widow Skimmers , Slaty Skimmers , and Eastern Amberwings , plenty of dragonflies to entertain the passersby. We got to see a little dragonfly breeding, quite a bit of dragonfly egg-laying, and hundreds of aerial skirmishes as aggressive males attempted to acquire territory. July 11, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 301278114, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

You've heard of the Bluebird of Happiness  (presumably looking sort of like this guy )? Given all the noise they make, this must be the Graybird of Loquaciousness . It's actually a Gray Catbird , 1 of my area's most talkative birds. In the summer you can see these birds everywhere, and hear them more than that. July 6, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301263315, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Though plenty green enough on its own, this Green Frog also got covered in what looks like watermeal. Despite having "green" as part of their name, some Green Frogs are closer to brown in coloring. This particular frog seems determined to live up to the Green Frog moniker, going to far as to get covered up with the green watermeal [1] in its vernal pond. Other than camouflage, the watermeal probably isn't very helpful to frogs. Too much watermeal can throw to the local environment out of whack, which in the long term probably interferes with a frog's ability to find food.  July 6, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301261592, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] This could be duckweed, which is a type of watermeal. I'm using the more general watermeal though because I'm not sure what particular type of watermeal it is.

Butterfly Milkweed isn't just of butterflies, proven by both an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a bumblebee both stopped by for lunch. Butterfly Milkweed is like Cheers for thirsty pollinators, where lots of colorful, diverse characters drop by to wet their whistles. If anything, the "clientele" on these flowers is more diverse than the personalities at a bar; between butterflies, bees, moths, wasps, flies, beetles, etc. are far less closely related than the humans in a bar. July 6, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301262427, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's another Common Grackle . The North American grackles tend to have non-prestigious names: Our Common Grackles sound rather ... common. It sort of sounds like we're making fun of the size of the tails of the Boat-tailed Grackles . The same for the Great-tailed Grackles .  So what is a grackle  anyway? It sounds like grackle is Latin for jackdaw. So what's a jackdaw ? They are smaller relatives of crows/ravens . But while jackdaws are close relatives of crows, our grackles are not; our grackles are instead New World blackbirds . It's easy for me to think that, grackles being dark-feathered, they got their name because people thought they, like jackdaws, were basically little crows. (Note that the dark blue sheen of the head can look black in poor light, increasing their crow-like appearance.) July 4, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301260618, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I saw this Northern Cardinal last summer but can't figure out what he's got in his beak. This seems to be a common issue with cardinals for me. I suppose this is because our diets are quite different, with cardinals eating berries that would make me sick, vegetation lying around on the ground, and (of course) bugs [1]. Northern Cardinals do have a pretty strong bite, so they probably can break through some of the softer shells that you might not expect them to be able to crack. I remember at Duke Farms' bird banding programs they would remark about how easily disgruntled cardinals would bite them and break the skin.  July 4, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301260443, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] I probably relate better to the gull that steals your French fries.

This is an unusual Ebony Jewelwing . I usually see them with black eyes, not these orange/tan ones. Though I hadn't noticed them before, these eyes aren't without precedent . Apparently eyes of this color indicate an immature Ebony Jewelwing; as they age it'll look more like 1 of these . What's trickier is trying to figure out if this is a male or a female: I think I see a sheen that's more prominent with males, but females can also have some sheen. The wings should be darker in a male, though they should also have a small-but-noticeable white spot in a female. My impression is that there should be some sign of that white spot if this was a female. Male damselflies have "claspers" at the end of their abdomens used during breeding. If I had to guess, I'd say that I see claspers on this individual, but the picture doesn't provide a good look at the (admittedly small) end of the abdomen. MS Copilot and Google Gemini seem to suggest that the absence of...

Here's another Eastern Amberwing hovering over water. It made me wonder if, like some birds, dragonflies ever mistake their reflection for a rival and attack it: Birds have much larger brains than dragonflies and are generally considered more intelligent, yet they make this mistake often enough. Why wouldn't dragonflies, with even less gray matter, also make this mistake? Dragonflies will certainly attack rivals. And many species will even attack vaguely similar-looking dragonflies of other species, presumably because they're fooled into thinking that someone looking like themselves must be a rival. For good or ill, I was unable to find any articles claiming that dragonflies attack their own reflections. Perhaps this is because reflections in water generally don't provide a clear enough reflection to fool a dragonfly. Or maybe dragonfly combat doesn't typically entail colliding head-on with a rival. Most of the time it looks like dragonfly territory battles consist...

Here are 2 of the (many) Ebony Jewelwings I met last summer, the 1st a male and the 2nd a female. This mail is a shinier blue than I usually see in the Ebony Jewelwing males. The females generally aren't shiny though they still have a little white spot on the end of the wings. Both are fairly photogenic (if you like damselflies). These pictures were taken pretty close to the same time so it's entirely possible they met each other. Did they breed? That's less likely just because there were quite of few of these damselflies in this area both of them had plenty of other options available to them. July 3, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301258732, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) July 3, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301258760, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

 I saw a bunch of Variable Dancers 1 day last summer. Perhaps if you heard that someone saw variable dancers, you might think they saw several dancers of different abilities. But in the naturalist world it means damselflies, and in my area the Variable Dancers are likely to be Violet Dancers  [1]. Here are 2 of the male and (presumably) 1 of the female Violet Dancers. While some young adult odonate males look similar to females until pruinose builds up on their abdomen/thorax, it sounds like the violet color of the males does not come from pruinose. I believe this means that brown individuals like the 1 in the last picture are always going to be females rather than a mix of males without their mature coloring plus females. July 3, 2023 at Washington Valley Park Photo 301258933, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) July 3, 2023 at Washington Valley Park Photo 301259599, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) July 3, 2023 at Washington Valley Park Photo 3012...

This Six-spotted Tiger Beetle was out for a hike last summer. Being in the family of tiger beetles , they are considered to be ferocious predators of other small arthropods, which is presumably how they got the "tiger" part of their name. Tiger beetles are also considered to be fairly fast runners, aided by relatively long legs. While us humans are generally faster, we're also vastly larger. Though the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle's mouth is good at tearing into its prey, they're not really dangerous to us humans. Supposedly you'll feel a pinch if they bite you at all, which probably only happens if you're handling them. Despite the similar names, they're not known to be friendly with Six-spotted Fishing Spiders . June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252073, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I think this is a Carolina Grasshopper I met last summer, though I have to admit it doesn't look a lot different from the Sulphur-winged Grasshopper . At least it doesn't look like the Differential Grasshoppers .  Though it might surprise you to look at a stationary 1, these grasshoppers are frequently mistaken for butterflies when in flight. This is partly because they have a somewhat erratic flight like a fluttering butterfly and partly because their mostly-dark wings with light-colored edges reminds people of a Mourning Cloak butterfly. If you think you see a Mourning Cloak in flight but it completely disappears when it lands on the ground, you might be seeing a Carolina Grasshopper. As frequently happens, this species has a far wider range than the "Carolina" part of its name might lead you to believe. They can be found in most of the contiguous 48 US states and much of southern Canada. June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301251109, (c) jpviolette,...

Dogbanes, similar to milkweeds, are considered plentiful sources of nectar, and this Painted Lady was taking full advantage of this. I can distinguish it from its American Lady cousin (from this view) by looking at the 4 small eyespots along the rear of butterfly's wing; 2 large spots would imply an American Lady instead. In flight, I personally can't distinguish between the 2 butterflies at all. This is somewhat unfortunate since I've been seeing one/both of these butterflies a fair amount this spring, but without a lot of flowers they like in bloom they've mostly been flyby sightings. (Sometimes they'll tease me for a while fluttering in my vicinity or even circling me only to fly off either without landing or landing for just a second or 2 while I fumble to spot them with my binoculars.) I'm not sure what flower this butterfly is nectaring from, but it looks like a dogbane . Similar to their milkweed relatives, dogbane is popular with the pollinators for fa...

Let's do something a little different today; I'm going to talk about a tree-planting activity organized by Raritan Headwaters Association . The last 3 days I've been planting native trees and shrubs in a field adjacent to  Chambers Brook in Readington Township. My impression is that this land is owned by the township. (We needed to gain access through the cooperation of a Christmas tree farm though there are plans for public access in the future. You probably shouldn't rush out there to check on my work.) The field used to be grazed by cows, probably before Readington owned the property. Though you can't tell it from this picture, the field is quite muddy and frequently quite lumpy. Although humans can't currently access this field without either trespassing or bushwhacking, the central New Jersey deer population can easily get here. To prevent deer from devouring the plantings, each plant gets its individual protection. Trees, expected to grow straight up, get...

Just before leaving for home 1 day, I encountered this Killdeer that was clearly in distress, awkwardly lying on a tree stump in pain. June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252702, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Fortunately Killdeer have a remarkable ability to recover from crippling injuries, and this 1 made a miraculous recovery a couple minutes later. Or was something else going on? As people familiar with Killdeer know, these birds are famous for their acting skills, and will fake an injury to lure perceived predators (like me, apparently) away from a clutch of eggs by pretending to be an injured bird the predator could make an easy meal of. Once the luring away is successful, the Killdeer then makes an improbable recovery and flies away. June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252635, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a strikingly goodlooking Green Frog from last year [1]. This frog is likely a male; his tympanum (eardrum) appears to be larger than his eye, and he has a yellow rather than white throat, both being field marks for male Green Frogs. (FWIW the American Bullfrog males can also be identified by tympanums that are larger than their eyes.) June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252530, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] And this is saying something given how goodlooking the average Green Frog is.

Here are a couple of Orange Bluets who are propagating the species. Of course most of bluets are ... wait for it ... blue! Like these guys and these guys . You could call the Orange Bluets "the orange sheep of the family" ... except that the bluets are a genus, not a family. Their family is the narrow-winged damselflies , a diversely colored family where members can be red, green, yellow, or purple in addition to blue and orange. Somewhat oddly, my pictures of them are disproportionately related to breeding; besides this picture of a mating pair, my previous post appeared to show egg-laying . June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252443, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Who's the most dashing dragonfly at the pond? Maybe the Blue Dashers , at least if you're 1 of these Blue Dashers . Besides the light blue pruinose that goes almost to the end of the abdomen, these gentleman warriors will definitely fight for the honor of their ladies. They're even known to fight other blue dragonflies, though that's usually considered to be a case of mistaken identity; incompatible anatomy prevents maybe dragonflies from breeding outside their own species. June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301249878, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Why were there a bunch of male Common Whitetails around on this day (see this post )? It's because this is also where the female Common Whitetails were. These particular females probably weren't looking for companionship, at least when they were photographed. My understanding is that she'll usually find a territory she likes over water and mate with its corresponding male while hovering over the water. They'll probably head to water every couple of days for the purpose of breeding. I read she'll lay up to 1000 eggs each time she breeds. Certainly she needs to lay a lot of eggs; it's estimated that 99.9% of the eggs she lays won't reach adulthood. June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252225, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252261, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)