northeast-flora-and-fauna

After my 1st persistent [1] snowfall of the season I figured I'd show something warm today. Perhaps the spirit of Muhammad Ali was out there, since some of the meadow denizens could float like a butterfly and others could sting like a bee. This little lady stings exactly like a bee, since she's a Western Honeybee , and was busy with a goldenrod. She does not sting much like Muhammad Ali in one way though, since she dies after stinging. October 6, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 249884608, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) This next denizen isn't a kamikaze stinger; it's a Dark Paper Wasp . Assuming this is a female, she can (like many bees/wasps) sting without dying herself. She's also foraging on a goldenrod. October 6, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 249884670, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And finally, who floats like a butterfly better than a Monarch butterfly? (I suppose other butterfly species might argue they float even better, but Monarch...

Here's another photogenic bird of prey, an Osprey . I've seen them before at Duke Farms and elsewhere , though AFAIK they don't breed in this exact area. My recollection is that this Osprey was up a tree overlooking one of the Duke Farms lakes. My guess is that the Osprey was in the process of migrating south for the winter - the picture is from last October - but stopped here to rest and do some fishing. Placing Ospreys within the taxonomy of birds is difficult. It's the only living species in its genus and family. Its closest relatives are believed to be hawks and eagles, but it seems unlikely it'll ever to reclassified as either. Are Ospreys seahawks? When people aren't talking about seahawks other than the Seattle Seahawks, Ospreys are a candidate for the bird they're talking about, but seahawk doesn't really refer to any particular species of bird. October 7, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 249884878, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a Great Blue Heron I saw at Duke's Brook last autumn. I had been seeing a heron there over a span of a couple of weeks, and I'm assuming this was a favored fishing spot for a particular heron, though I have to admit I could have been seeing 2 or more different herons. In any event, this particular Great Blue Heron got what it came for, fish for a meal. Though the fish is sideways in the heron's beak, the heron will need to toss or otherwise reposition the fish so that it can be swallowed headfirst. I suspect that occasionally they'll botch the toss and the fish escapes, but herons do this sort of thing for a living and no doubt get pretty good at it. October 7, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 249884838, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a native wildflower I don't see very often, a Blue Mistflower . Architecturally it looks a bit like a White Snakeroot ; they have clusters of small hairy flowerheads and similar leaves but with light purple flowers. The hairiness of the flowers gives it an unclear look that someone thought was like looking through mist, inspiring the mistflower name.  Similar to White Snakeroot and the Joe-Pye Weeds , Blue Mistflower has also been reclassified out of the boneset/thoroughwort genus . That genus used to have over 800 species but is now down to at most 60; that's a lot of reclassifications. October 6, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 249884740, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

For Throwback Thursday here's a Cooper's Hawk from July of 2019. The hawk was trying to enjoy breakfast (which almost certainly consisted of one of our songbirds) when my camera and I interrupted it. My recollection is that this was the season when I had a pair of Cooper's Hawks nesting near my apartment complex [1]. Cooper's Hawks were called "chicken hawks" in the past, but they only weigh about a pound and are probably too small to tackle adult chickens. Chicks are probably a different story. Cooper's Hawks are somewhat unpopular with people maintaining bird feeders since they (and their smaller Sharp-shinned Hawk cousins) specialize in preying on small birds. I've heard though that these hawks aren't especially successful hunting around bird feeders though since the bird feeders have so many birds looking out for predators. (Foraging alone is probably more dangerous for passerines, doves/pigeons, and woodpeckers, which is why you frequently s...

Here's a picture of a European Starling from last autumn. These are generally the birds of murmuration fame [1]. In the picture this starling is in its winter (non-breeding) plumage. This consists of dark but speckled feathering; in breeding plumage they lose the speckles but gain a shiny look like this pair . Although we're used to many birds having breeding and non-breeding plumage, some birds like our European Starlings also change their beak color durinng the year. In warmer weather their beaks are a light yellowish color but in winter it becomes essentially black. It's possible that the black beak, containing beak-strengthening melanin , may help them crunch hard seeds during the winter. (In the summer they preferentially eat softer invertebrates.) Depending on the angle, their beaks can look fairly long. If someone who's not very bird-knowledgeable tells you they have a "black woodpecker" in their yard, they might really be seeing a starling [2]. Octob...

Here's a White Snakeroot from last autumn. At least I'm pretty sure it's a White Snakeroot; it has a few similar-looking relatives in the area: The flowers are white, unlike the pink/purple Joe-Pye weeds  or the blue mistflowers . None of the leaves are lance-shaped like most of the bonesets/thoroughworts . I think if this was a Smaller White Snakeroot (AKA Lesser Snakeroot or Small-leaved White Snakeroot), the leaf stems would be shorter and the plant would look a bit sparser.  As I alluded to in this post , busy botanists have been reclassifying this plant and its relatives. Back in the naive 1970s the bonesets/thoroughworts, snakeroots, Joe-Pye weeds, and mistflowers were all one happy genus, but sometime over the last half century each has gotten its own genus (though there's no denying that all these plants are fairly closely related). White Snakeroot has a dark side. It's poisonous, and if cows or goats eat it, the poison gets into their milk, potentially ca...