Fieldnotes
-
Autotomy
Lizards can shed their tails to escape predators, including the two-legged kind. This is called autotomy (“self-severing” or self amputation): reptiles, amphibians, spiders, mollusks, even some mammals have various forms of it. The lizard tail situation is probably the best known manifestation of this adaption. There will be some regeneration, as you can see here,…
-
Nest
Underneath a pine, probably dislodged by the fierce rain of the day before, summer’s nest. Quite small, about 3.25″ across, but certainly not the smallest I’ve ever seen. That would be the absurdly tiny, lichen-camouflaged nest of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This is very elegantly made of grasses. Perhaps Chipping Sparrow? A little small for the…
-
Autumnal Flowers And Their Familiars
There’s only so much in bloom now.But there are still hungry insects.And insects that eat insects.The goldenrod smorgasbord.
-
Mammal Monday: Whistlepig
I’d just passed two woodchuck-sized holes under a tree when the lumbering run of a groundhog-in-the-fur caught my eye. The animal stood up for the best view in front of its burrow. Marmota monax, mammal of many names. Slightly easier to see if you click on this image to make it larger. *** The children’s…
-
Hairy Cs
It seems the Yellow Bear caterpillar is yellow in early instars, but then individuals takes on a variety of colors. Virginia Tiger Moth, Spilosoma virginica. In Green-Wood last week. The pupae overwinter.Hickory Tussock (Lophocampa caryae) named after a favored food (Carya genus), but “expected on almost any woody species,” says caterpillar maven David L. Wagner.…
-
Vespa crabro
These two European hornets were locked in mortal combat. Bugguide.net says they’re females. Were they from different colonies, fighting over a food source? This was right next to a compact but rich hunting ground of Buddeleia swarming with butterflies, skippers, and bees.The pair broke up, took to the air, but did not flee. They faced…
-
Statue of Butterflies
Under each wingpit, a chrysalis. At the tips of the wings, emptied husks of chrysalises. On the left wing, a chrysalis and brand new Monarch. Harder to see, but way down below the drape of rocky dress, another ripening chrysalis. Pictures from Saturday. Yesterday, I counted two butterflies and half a dozen chrysalises in process…
-
This Used To Be Turf
A meadow, a-roaring with crickets. Just listening was enough to be get through all the terrible noise of the day, the terrifying state of the nation, the unending human assault on the planet’s life. Get thee to a meadow these early autumnal days! Bonus here is that this hillside in Green-Wood Cemetery was reclaimed from…
-
Mole Cricket
Jumpin’ creepers! A mole cricket: the European Mole Cricket Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa? iNaturalist seems to think so. Found on the NY/CT border recently. There is a Northern Mole Cricket (Neocurtilla hexadactyla) found in Massachusetts and, belying its name, further south, but there are no Westchester Co. iNaturalist reports for it. Is this the song that Henry David Thoreau referred…
-
Wetlands
An early morning in September, still warm and humid but not oppressively so. The wetland is rather quiet, though above me a couple squirrels gnaw away at hickories.I am delighted to see a spreadwing, the first I’ve seen in the Bronx. Slender Spreadwing, Lestes rectangularis, I think. He has caught a fly and is eating…
Backyard and Beyond 