Many of the animals in my yard make noise. I hear them during the daytime and at night, though it's usually different animals at different times of the day. Many can be reliably identified by the sound alone.
It's helpful to learn the sounds of the local animals. Birds, insects, and amphibians are usually the ones that call out with identifiable voices. Here's a quick quiz to see if you can tell which amphibian makes this noise:
How did you do? Let me know on the video comments section. or on the comments for this page. Would you like to see more quizzes?
You may have seen the videos of the huge dragonfly swarm on the beach in Rhode Island in the news recently. That swarm was most likely the Common Green Darner species of dragonfly. This species forms huge groups for migration. They typical move down the east coast in late summer. Although it looks rather startling if you happen to be on the beach at the time, Common Green Darners are harmless. Dragonflies do not sting, and they do everything they can to avoid bumping into people. If you hold one improperly, then it can bite, but rarely does. If you are bitten by a dragonfly, it's just a pinch. No fangs, no venom, just tiny mouthparts designed to crunch the insects that form their diet. Dragon fly nymphs, however, live in the water and are voracious eaters of almost anything organic. They will bite if they can, and their bite can be painful, due to the strong mandibles.
This past week, I had a dragonfly swarm in my backyard. It was smaller than the dragonfly swarm in Rhode Island, but still pretty impressive to see up close. Of course, I filmed it and even captured one of the dragonflies to get a good species identification. While some dragonflies are easy to identify with a casual observation, others require detailed scrutiny pr even magnification to properly identify. In this week's episode of "What Lives in My Yard?" you can learn about the important parts of the dragonfly anatomy for species identification and how to tell the male from the female easily.
In the second episode episode of the new series on YouTube. What Lives in My Yard? Episode 2: Spider Fangs!gives you a close-up look at the eyes, claws, fangs, and even the beating heart of a living spider. I find a spider in my yard and capture it to put it under the digital microscope to get a close look at the fangs it uses to deliver it venom and to see why spiders are so good at climbing walls. We also add a few new moths to our Master List including one whose caterpillar has tiny barbed "hairs" that can cause a painful reaction if they come into contact with your skin. I put these under the microscope as well and let's just say the porcupine has nothing on this guy except size. Visit our new YouTube Channel to join me on my weekly quest to find and identify every animal species that lives in my yard.
Here is the first full episode of the new series on YouTube. What Lives in My Yard? Episode 1: A Trap Made of Light shows you how to make the world's easiest and safest trap. I show you what I caught on the first day. I add what I thin is the biggest rodent that lives in my yard, and teach you how I identify a moth species. Visit our new YouTube Channel to join me on my weekly quest to find and identify every animal species that lives in my yard.
WE'RE MOVING! No. I'm not changing where I live, and starting on a different yard, but I am moving this quest to find every animal species that lives in my yard to a video format on YouTube. Every week-end I'll be publishing a new full episode of "What Lives in my Yard?" In between those weekly episodes I'll put out some short videos about the upcoming episode or some other interesting tidbits. Obviously, I'll be focusing more on video of each creature I find in my yard. I'll be putting things under the digital video microscope to get a closer look, and revealing details we couldn't see before like the fangs and beating heart of a spider in Episode 2.
I'll be much more interactive on the new channel, reading every single comment and responding to as many as I can. Be sure to let me know what you think of the videos and feel free to ask any questions either on the video comment section, or on the channel's community page. Once I get more accustomed to video publishing, I hope to have some live feeds from time to time, whether it's just me answering questions, or a live camera out in the yard.
I am really looking forward to adding many new animals to the Master List of What Lives in my Yard which will be updated at the end of each episode.
Come join me on the new YouTube channel for more of the great content you've found here in a new format!
