northeast-flora-and-fauna

At Duke Farms they decorated their outdoor Christmas tree with House Finches ! House Finches can make for interesting and festive decorations for an outdoor tree, though the Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits their use on indoor trees. On outdoor trees, the main drawbacks are: The ornaments don't necessarily face in the direction you want. The ornaments sometimes fly off for food, or if a hawk flies overhead, or even for no apparent reason. On the other hand, they'll automatically rearrange themselves periodically, and if you're lucky they may even sing to you. I would encourage you to encourage bird decorations in your outdoor trees. December 22, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 174171758, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here are a couple true bugs I've shown you before, though in this picture they're mating. This seems to be the most common position for insects to mate, facing away from each other with the tips of their abdomens touching. At least this is what I've observed with true bugs, flies, and butterflies. (In contrast, beetles and mantises do more of a mounting, while dragonflies/damselflies do more of a mounting that includes contorting their long abdomens.) These bugs may not be flagship species or keystone species , but they do fill a role in our ecosystem, and so it's important that they're out there reproducing. The first is a pair of Small Milkweed Bugs . July 31, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 149014375, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And next are their cousins, a pair of False Milkweed Bugs . July 31, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 149014241, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's another dampness-loving native wildflower: Common Jewelweed . Or at least I think it is; the Pale Jewelweed is pretty similar: Common Jewelweed is supposed to have orange, clearly spotted flowers while the Pale Jewelweed is supposed to be a pale yellow with more subtle spots. My interpretation of my wildflower is that it's vibrant yellow with a hint of orange, so I think this is supportive of it being a Common Jewelweed. The leaves of the Pale Jewelweed are supposed to be nearly as wide as they are long (though some pictures seem to suggest otherwise), so I think the leaves are more supportive of the Common Jewelweed too. It sounds like the Pale Jewelweed is a somewhat larger plant with somewhat smaller flowers. It's hard to judge size by this picture, so I'd consider this to be inconclusive. I read afterwards that they both have a little "spur" underneath the flowerhead, and that in the Common Jewelweed the spur is bent more so that the end of it is p...

Every year I have the intention to learn more about the plants growing in my area, but then get distracted by the birds, herps, and insects moving around out there. But here's a wildflower that's distinctive enough and named appropriately enough that I can usually pick them out even from a distance: the Cardinal Flower . Though they're supposed to be fairly common, I can't say that I see them a lot. That might be because they do best in damp areas with moist, rich soil, while I'm more likely to be found in drier fields and woods. I traditionally see a few of them at Duke Farms' Great Meadow, which can be damp after rain. They (similar to the Northern Cardinal bird) are believed to have gotten their name from their red color that resembles the wardrobe of church cardinals . They are in the bellflower (aka bluebell) family of flowers. It's considered toxic, though like many potentially dangerous plants it has been used medicinally by Native Americans (presum...

Sometimes I almost get an identifiable picture. This frequently happens when the subject doesn't disappear entirely (like frogs/turtles diving into water), but when wings of a fleeing animal obscure details. In this first instance, I can tell this is one of our commas just from shape/color and visible patterns. But I can't distinguish between our 2 most common commas: The small pattern of the top view of the wing seems closer to the spots I'd see on an Eastern Comma . There seem to be 2 blurred pale lines on the moving underwing, which suggest the 2 marks (dot and curved line) that I'd see on a Question Mark . In this case I'm stuck with being able to tell the genus (Polygonia) but not the species. July 30, 2021 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Photo 149012466, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) The next one shows a bird trying to avoid getting its picture taken, though not in time. Though there's not much detail of the face, the yellow bo...

Here's an American Goldfinch I saw last summer. Though the picture is obstructed, the rich yellow-and-black coloring means this is the more flamboyantly colored male of the species. He appears to be in a spot with a number of thistles (we've got both invasive and native species around here), which would make a certain amount of sense since thistle seeds are one of the American Goldfinch's (and other seed-eating birds') favorite foods. One popular thistle seed substitute commonly used in bird feeders is Nyjer  seed; I think it's sometimes referred to as "thistle seed" although Nyjer isn't considered a thistle. AFAIK Nyjer seed is a healthy substitute for our seed-eating birds. July 30, 2021 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Photo 149013242, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

This summer I spotted some Guinea Paper Wasps . Based on the name, I thought the might be an invasive species from Guinea , or a namesake lik e  Equitorial Guinea ,  Guinea-Bissau ,  Papua New Guinea , or  Western New Guinea . But it turns out they are a native species, and it's surmised that the name came from this locality in Virginia or this other locality in Virginia . (They're more American than any Europeans, or any other humans.) These wasps are considered paper wasps  since they make nests by chewing up wood and other tough plant fibers to make their papery nests. (Paper wasp isn't a great taxonomic term though, since some of their close relatives make mud nests while some distantly related wasps make paper nests.) They are eusocial insects, meaning they collectively share in the raising of young, a nest supports multiple generations, and the nest has a hierarchy of roles. Unlike some eusocial insects though, there's no apparent anatomic difference be...