Fieldnotes
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Frog and toad
Out of town recently, I ran into a couple of amphibians I don’t see often. This is the northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens, seen amidst its bullish and greeny brethren along the side of a road in Haverhill, MA. UPDATE 6/14: see the comments for discussion of this frog, which is probably a green frog…
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In Prospect Park
A walk in Prospect Park never fails to turn up something exciting in the animal/vegetable/mineral kingdoms, even if I’m paying more attention to the conversation. When the conversation is with NYC Wildflower Week’s Mariellé Anzelone, there’s plenty to learn. For instance, I think I can now actually name the two flowers pictured here. That’s one…
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Insects, spider
Ragweed leaf beetle. The woods at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary were dripping with caterpillars, and caterpillar droppings, which rained down invisibly but created a little pitter patter on the leaf-litter.At Ipswich, I got my first mosquito bites of the year. This one was taken down back in Haverhill, MA. Note how its harpoon is longer…
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In the woods
Maundsley State Park, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, is a former private estate. Many of its trees, therefore, escaped the usual rounds of woodland clear-cutting that characterized most of the northeast. The towering white pines, in particular, are a marvel to look at. There were plenty of mast-worthy trees there; I mean those straight, thick-boled beasts that…
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Tiger Swallowtail
One of our biggest butterflies, the eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus. Seen all over the East Coast and Midwest; this one was photographed yesterday in Hudson River Park. Note that the upper “swallowtail” is abbreviated, broken or bitten off. This may be a female, because of the extensive blue on the hindwing. Her tongue is…
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Painted Turtles
This is why they’re called painted turtles: We found this one on the road right outside the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary last week. I hopped out of the car to get it off the road. The turtle immediately pulled in all its extremities, tucking its tail along the side, which was nice since the claws…
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Cedar-Apple Rust
It’s been a good spring for cedar-apple rust. Two weeks ago during the great rain, I noticed several searches for the fungus, Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae, leading to my post of last year on the subject. This year I was on Nantucket to see the fungus in its blooming glory, all over the eastern red cedars in…
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Yard Snapper
Glancing up from a book I was reading while on Nantucket two weeks ago, I noticed something dark in the grass. A snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina. And not the first time, either. Snappers can go some distance to lay their eggs. They are on the lookout for sandy soil to dig out for a nest.…
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City Kestrels
Or: The Importance of Falling Apart. An intriguing passage in Bernd Heinrich’s The Nesting Season about German architects incorporating nesting spaces for such cavity nesters as Eurasian kestrels, jackdaws, and swifts, in new buildings got me thinking about Bob DeCandido’s project of tracking American kestrel nest sites in old buildings in New York City. In…
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Natural Object: Moon Snail
Detail of the spire of a shell of an Atlantic moon snail, also known as a shark’s eye. Polinices duplicatus is found from Cape Cod to Texas. This one was found on the beach at Breezy Point, Queens, NYC.
Backyard and Beyond 