northeast-flora-and-fauna

The old bromide says "a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush" ... so I guess 1 bird in the bush is worth 1/2 a bird in the hand? Last January I met this Northern Mockingbird in what I believe to be (based on those thorns) a Multiflora Rose bush.  While most birds prefer to eat small invertebrates , many invertebrates are either dead or hunkered down somewhere for the winter, and things like berries and seeds become their primary food source. Though I don't like to say good things about the invasive Multiflora Rose, I can see the appeal for the mockingbird: The berries provide an easy meal. The thorns provide some protection against predators that might want to rush in. January 26, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 263363816, (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,...

Here's an Osage Orange fruit (sometimes described as "monkey brains") from last autumn. These are from smallish trees [1] native to parts of Texas but which have been introduced to other parts of the country. Having thorny branches/leaves, they were used similar to Multiflora Rose , as a "living fence". My guess is that the shrubby manifestations of Osage Orange made for a better fence than the tree manifestations. The Osage Orange is a large fruit that isn't eaten by a lot of animals today, and the main 2 that eat them around here (squirrels and deer) don't effectively spread their seeds [2]. This gives rise to speculation that seed dispersal used to be done by extinct megafauna. Other than making some logical sense, there's not really good evidence of an ecological connection between Osage Oranges and extinct megafauna. September 27, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 248785697, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] There's a bit of a fuz...

With iNaturalist down - they say "iNat will be back on its feet/wings/fins/tentacles/pseudopodia as soon as possible" - I'll dip into one of my other pictures for today's topic. Like many places, Duke Farms has invasive plants that they'd prefer to replace with native ones. One of my volunteer assignments - Trail Steward - is involved in cutting back some of these plants. Though plants like Japanese Honeysuckle , Japanese Barberry , Burning Bush , and Wineberry get a fair amount of attention, Multiflora Rose is frequently our main target. Although sometimes we've replanted other stuff after removing the invasive ones, many times we just cut the invasives down and hope it gives other species the opportunity to replace the invasive ones. Below is a picture of some of the invasives back in July. My impression is that these get hauled to a part of the property closed to the public, and after getting good and dried out they mulch it up. The mulch is then used to ...

Forget about Alien vs Predator , we have two aggressive invaders that battle it out throughout much of NJ: In one corner, from the wilds of China, Korea, and Japan, an especially thorny rose introduced as "the living fence", we have Multiflora Rose . In the other corner, also from Japan and eastern Asia originally introduced as an ornamental shrub and that provides a haven for ticks, we have Japanese Barberry . These are 2 of the most common and aggressive invasive shrubs [1] in this area. Some places may be dominated by one or the other, though a lot of times you'll see both plants crowding out our beneficial native plants.  At Washington Valley Park I saw the pair of shrubs both fighting for basically the same spot. At a glance you might not even recognize there are 2 separate plants here. Multiflora Rose and Japanese Barberry August 3, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 149026850, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) As you get closer, you can see the vici...

Here's a Red Admiral butterfly that looks like it could win a tattered wing contest. I'd like to think the butterfly has some harrowing and exciting stories to tell like in the scar comparisons in Jaws : This tear here, I got that shortly after pupating. A starling got the end of my right wing in its beak. I'd have been a goner, but when the starling was focused on me, that hawk came down on the starling. I lost part of my left rear wing when that praying mantis grabbed at me. If he'd have gotten my abdomen instead of my wing, I wouldn't be talking to you here today. The rest of that wing I lost in the web of a spider. If it hadn't been torn already, I'd never have been able to escape that web before that spider got to me. That one there, a robberfly had me for a second, but let go when that starling appeared and ate the robberfly. Funny how sometimes a starling saves you and sometimes tries to eat you. And this one got ripped when a dragonfly tried to eat ...