northeast-flora-and-fauna

We're pretty close to the middle of winter, so maybe you're craving warmer weather; here's another American Lady I met last spring. Normally I'd talk about the difference between them and their slightly more common cousins, the Painted Ladies , but since I did that a couple weeks ago I'll skip it this time. American Lady adults cannot survive New Jersey winters. They can survive the winters in some areas as larvae (caterpillars), though it sounds like it's unclear whether they can survive the New Jersey ones [1]. That means when you see American Ladies in New Jersey: Either they were able to hibernate up here when they were caterpillars, Or they recolonized New Jersey from a warmer southern area. Given I saw this 1 in May, I doubt they would have had a long migration; presumably the wintered as caterpillars fairly close to New Jersey. If they couldn't survive historic New Jersey winters, perhaps they soon will be able to as our winters seem to be getting m...

Here are a few Eastern Bluebirds hanging out in trees. I was fortunate enough to see them all on the same day last May. I believe they're all the more vibrantly colored males, though the middle picture might be a little questionable.  I was happy to see these guys, fitting given the expression the bluebird of happiness . It sounds like many cultures have positive feelings about birds that are blue [1], though Asian and European traditions associating birds with blue plumage with happiness certainly predate their knowledge of Eastern Bluebirds like these guys. And some Native American myths about "blue birds" are believed to be about Blue Grosbeaks . You should be able to find these birds in New Jersey all year round. May 18, 2023 at Fairview Farm Photo 292810452, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 18, 2023 at Fairview Farm Photo 292810825, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 18, 2023 at Willowwood Arboretum Photo 292812808, (c) jpviolett...

Do you want to go for a nature walk or attend a concert? Sometimes you can do both! The male Song Sparrow may be trying to serenade an available female but there's no reason you can't enjoy his tunes too. As both 1 of our most common sparrows and dedicated singers - I also heard them singing here and here - these birds are spotted more than many of their peers. I suspect if these guys were a little colorful they'd be 1 of our most popular and recognized birds, but their coloring is straight out of the standard sparrow playbook: mostly brown, some white with brown speckles. (They're definitely more David Crosby than Elton John.) May 18, 2023 at Willowwood Arboretum Photo 292812758, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

For Throwback Thursday, here's a mantis I've talked about but haven't shown before. Here's what is believed to be a Narrow-winged Mantis , a fairly close relative of the Chinese Mantis . And yes, it looks like a Monarch butterfly was on the menu this day. While Monarch butterflies absorb some of the toxins in the milkweed plants they ate as caterpillars, making them toxic to most predators, but some mantises will prey upon them. There are lots of ideas about this: When they feed on young caterpillars, the caterpillars may not have eaten enough milkweed to be poisonous enough to bother the mantis. Mantises generally avoid eating the guts of the butterflies. Though the Monarch's entire body is generally considered poisonous, some poisons are most prevalent in the gut. It's possible that the mantises avoid the poisons they're most sensitive to by throwing the guts away. I'm not sure that all species of mantis will eat Monarchs. Most sources indicate the Ch...

It looks like this Eastern Phoebe has caught a meal. Could it be a wasp? Although phoebes are tyrant flycatchers , I'm pretty sure they'll eat most insects including the hymenopterans . I think I see: A little bit of striping on the thorax, suggesting 1 of many bees/wasps or their mimics. An insect a little longer than a honeybee or bumblebee. This was the 2nd year in a row that I got a picture of a phoebe with food in its mouth . While we (correctly) think of phoebes as birds posing no threat to us, to many insects they are giant, ferocious predators. The Eastern Phoebe is almost certainly the tyrant flycatcher species I encounter the most, though Eastern Kingbirds and Great Crested Flycatchers aren't too hard to find either. May 18, 2023 at Willowwood Arboretum Photo 292812711, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

This is our area's most common native dove/pigeon [1], the Mourning Dove , though it has a tenuous claim to the Turtle Dove (famous from The Twelve Days of Christmas song) name. While the true Turtle Dove is a somewhat distant relative that lives in Britain, the Mourning Dove has sometimes been referred to as either a Turtle Dove or a Carolina Turtledove. This suggests that it wouldn't be all that difficult to see some of the birds of song on a carefully planned walk: Swans aren't common around here, though they're easier to find in other areas of the country. Geese are all over the place. Calling birds is pretty vague; if you awoke to birds singing, you could probably check them off your list. French hens aren't really a species or breed, so I'd argue any live chickens you run across are good enough to cross them off your list. (Of course, we don't have wild chickens in New Jersey so you'd probably need to find someone who raises them.) If you conside...

Here are 2 different looks at Turkey Vultures . When you see them without their wings spread , Turkey Vultures can fool you into thinking their plumage is all black, but when they open them up (or you see them soaring overhead) you can see that's not really true. Seeing them from below you can easily see the feathers at the end of their wings (flight feathers) are much lighter than the near-black plumage we see when the wings are closed. Although many times those light-colored flight feathers look more like a light gray rather than the near-white color in this picture, I'm not sure how much this is due to individual variance and how much is due to the lighting. But this pattern where the flight feathers are much lighter than the rest of the wings is an excellent indicator of a Turkey Vulture (not a Bald Eagle ). May 18, 2023 at Fairview Farm Photo 292810623, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)     Here's another Turkey Vulture where the flight feathers look dark...