Identify Animals by Sound Alone

 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?

Dragonfly Swarms. Capture, and Identification

 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. 

Episode 3, "Dragonfly Swarms, Identification, and Anatomy" is available now. You can watch it on the embedded link below:

Spider Fangs! Episode 2 of our YouTube Series "What Lives in my Yard?

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.

First Video Episode of "What 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 "What 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! 

Interspecies Cooperation and Communication: Black-capped Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse

 In theory, every species expends its energy to further the continuation of its own genetic code. One might assume that means not aiding other species of dissimilar genetic code, especially those that compete for the same resources in a common environment. Essentially, however, it is in the interest of every species to maximize its return on investment in terms of genetics. So, if helping a species that competes for the same resources results in a higher overall survival rate of one's own species, then helping that other species survive is an overall net win. It's basic game theory.

For the strategy to be effective, the effect of the lost resources taken by the other species has to be outweighed by the benefit gained from having the other species sharing those resources.

Let's look closer at two example species: the tufted titmouse and the black-capped chickadee. In New England, and specifically where I live in New Hampshire, the Tufted Titmouse and the black-capped chickadee share the same territory. Where you find one of these two species, you are quite likely to find the other. They will even visit bird feeders together. They generally eat the same foods and should be protective of food resources against one another, but they are not. So, it seems, the benefit to each species of having the other around must outweigh negative effects of sharing available food resources.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: Wild Animals in Nature Videos for many more animals videos

What sort of aid might they give each other? One type of cooperation is that they both give vocal warnings when they notice a potential threat and each species responds to the threat call of the other. This gives the advantage of extra sets of eyes watching out for danger when the birds are feeding. In this video you can here the alarm calls of both the chickadee (the familiar CHICK-A-DEE-DEE=DEE call) and of the tufted titmouse whose call seems to me tonally similar to the DEE-DEE-DEE part of the chickadee alarm call. At twenty-two seconds into the video, you'll hear the tufted titmouse's alarm call. At forty seconds, the alarm call of the black-capped chickadee.  Both bird alarm calls are meant to be loud and attention getting, so that birds in the nearby area can hear them and be alerted to the threat. Chickadees even change their call to indicate the severity of the threat and whether the threat is from below or from the sky. In that sense, it's a primitive language in that they are communicating specific meanings with their vocalizations.

In the case of these two bird species, it seems, the benefit of having that extra warning when there is possible danger outweighs the burden of sharing food and habitat with each other. 

What are some other forms of interspecies cooperation that you've noticed? Let us know in the comments below. 

We have a Wild Animals YouTube Channel

 In addition to this blog highlighting all the animal species that I find in my yard in New Hampshire, We also have a YouTube channel featuring Wild Animals in Nature . On that channel, we are presenting videos not only of animals that we've found in our yard, but other animals that we've encountered in our travels. 

Currently, we have 31 videos posted featuring everything from Prairie Dogs, Porcupines, Moose, Eagles, and Whales. We'll be adding more on a regular basis. Subscribers who click the Notifications Tab when subscribing will get a YouTube alert when New Animal Videos as posted to our channel. When relevant, we'll include links or embedded videos on the pages of this blog to videos we've taken of the specific animal found in our yard. We're also going to try to create complete video entries with all the information about the specific animal as you'd find on this blog. That's still a work in progress at this point, but here's an early example featuring information the Great Egret (Ardea alba) which as it turns out isn't really an Egret at all! Turn on sound or Closed Captions for information about this magnificent bird.

We also encourage you to subscribe to the YouTube Channel: Wild Animals in Nature. Our goal for that channel is to get 1000 subscribers. As you can se, we have a long way to go, but every new subscriber helps. If that channel becomes as popular as this blog, we should have no problem.

YouTube channel subscriptions are free and can be anonymous depending in your own account settings.  

Our intent with the YouTube Channel isn't to replace this blog, but to augment it with video content and to provide video content of animals that may not be found in our yard as well. We encourage you to leave comments on the videos to let us know which ones you like and why.

As always, thank you for your support!

Gray Tree Frog in Its Green Coat

 When an animal has a specific color in its name, you expect it to be that color, but that isn't always the case. Take, for example, the Gray Tree Frog. This small climbing frog can be brownish-gray, bright green or any shade in between those two extremes. In fact, its Latin name is Hyla versicolor  (or Dryophytes versicolor) which means many colored tree frog or changing color tree frog. 

Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor/ Dryophytes versicolor)
from WhatLivesinMyYard.Blogspot.com
Photo: Brad Sylvester, all rights reserved

Tree frogs are climbers. They climb trees (and houses) using the sticky pads found on the end of each of their toes. It is thought that they climb to escape predators like snakes which mostly live on the ground in the range of the Gray Tree Frog. The toe pads provide a suction-cup adhesion that lets them stick to smooth surfaces. For rougher surfaces, the tree frog can still climb by wrapping its legs around to the sides or back of smaller branches and gripping. The gripping pressure is created by using its muscles to provide opposing pressure to both sides of the branch. By using both gripping pressure and suction cup adhesion, the gray tree frog is able to climb faster than it could using either one of the methods alone.

Tree frogs mate and lay eggs in the water of ponds or vernal pools. The eggs will be attached to underwater plants. They will hatch as tadpoles and live in the water until they grow legs and can live on land. Once they leave the water, they spend most of their time in trees, except when hibernating in the winter. They tend to hibernate under leaf litter or hidden under tree roots. During the active warmer months, they may hide in the deep crevices of tree bark. They are usually found in moist environments.

Gray Tree Frog with Suction Cup Toes
Photo: Brad Sylvester, all rights reserved

During a rain, they may move from place to place without fear of drying out. That's why they're most often seen on rainy evenings. The Gray Tree Frog shown in these photos was found right next to my front door on the siding of my house during a light rain when I came home after dark in early August.

The tree frog calls out by inflating its throat like a big bubble and using the released air to create a surprisingly loud trilling sound. 

Gray Tree Frog tadpoles mostly eat plant matter and detritus in the water. Once they leave the water as adults, they are insectivores. They'll eat most small insects that can be swallowed in one gulp such as ants, crickets, beetles, flies, and even small moths.

The Gray Tree Frog measures 1-2 inches long as an adult. They have a distinctly bumpy skin unlike some of the smoother frog species.

Taxonomy of the Gray Tree Frog

KingdomAnimalia

PhylumChordata

ClassAmphibia

OrderAnura

FamilyHylidae

GenusDryophytes

SpeciesDryophytes versicolor

Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) vs. Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) Identification

Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers are common visitors in my yard, in New England, and throughout much of the United States. They are found as far north as Alaska and Canada and south to Central America. They primarily live in forests. They have also adapted to suburban areas as well as long as there is an abundance of trees around. like most woodpeckers, the hairy Woodpecker eats insects that it finds in the back or digs out of the wood of trees. They are also attracted to suet feeders and bird feeders containing nuts or peanuts. 

Size Difference between Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers

The Hairy Woodpecker is often seen in the same areas as the similar Downy Woodpecker. They can be difficult to tell apart at first glance. If you see them side by side, the Hairy Woodpecker is larger, measuring as much as 10 inches long to the tip of the tail. The Downy Woodpecker, on the hand, only reaches about 6.75" long. 

Beak Length Difference between Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers

The bill of the Hairy Woodpecker is also quite a bit longer than the shorter bill of the Downy Woodpecker. If the beak of the hairy Woodpecker is just about the same length as its head, while the Downy Woodpecker's beak is less than half the length of its head. In the video of the Hairy Woodpecker below, taken in my yard, you can see the length of the beak compared to the length of the head. This is perhaps an easier way to identify whether the bird is a Hairy or Downy Woodpecker when you don't have both together to compare overall size. 

Hairy Woodpecker searching for food in a birch tree.

Pecking Rhythm Difference Between Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers

Notice the rhythm and speed of the pecking in the video as well. The hairy Woodpecker tends to have a slower "drumbeat" than the Downy Woodpecker. This can be difficult to determine if you only have one of these two pecking and can't compare them directly, but the Downy Woodpecker's pecking is often so fast that you can't even count the individual beats. 

Both of these two woodpecker species are black and white with a white stripe down the middle of their back. In both species, if you see a red patch on the back of the head, then you know that it's a male bird.

Woodpecker Diet

While both are largely insectivores, they will eat nuts and other foods high in fats. They search out calorie dense foods like suet, peanut butter, or nuts when visiting backyard bird feeders. They use their sharp pointed toes to cling to vertical surfaces and will even hang upside down in order to reach food sources.  They use their tails to brace themselves against that surface to give them leverage to peck forcefully into the wood and bark of a tree.

Taxonomy of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers

You will notice from the title of this post that these two woodpeckers are not only different species, but also different genera. Despite their very similar appearance and behaviors, they are not that closely related. You have to go all the way back to Family classification find common lineage.

Hairy Woodpecker

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Piciformes

Family Picidae

Genus: leuconotopicus

Species: Leuconotpicus villosus

Downy Woodpecker

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Piciformes

Family Picidae

Genus: Dryobates

Species: Dryobates pubescens

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Birds are fascinating. They are actually dinosaurs, part of the Dromaeosaur family. Of course, they have evolved and changed since the classic age of dinosaurs to become the many different birds we all know, but they are still true dinosaurs. One such dinosaur that I saw in my yard on April 18, 2022, is the Sharp-shinned Hawk. Unfortunately, I did not have time to get a picture. 

The Sharp-shinned Hawk looks much like a Cooper's hawk, but smaller. Both of these two hawks have incredible agility in flight. They can weave through the forest, among and around trees and shrubs at high speed. They have this adaptation to help them hunt. Their diet mainly consists of songbirds. The sharp-shinned hawk uses its speed and agility to chase down and catch songbirds. They will sometimes sit overlooking backyard birdfeeders waiting for a meal to fly in. 

The Cooper's hawk similarly eats other birds, but because it is larger than the Sharp-shinned hawk it can catch larger prey. In fact, several years ago I was hiking on the mountain near my house when I found a Cooper's Hawk eating a Sharp-shinned Hawk!

Taxonomy of the Sharp-shinned Hawk

Kingdom: Animalia

Phyllum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Accipitriformes

Family: Accipitridae

Genus: Accipiter

Species: Accipiter striatus

Habitat of the Sharp-shinned Hawk

Variations of the Sharp-shinned hawk can be found through North and South America and the Caribbean. Those in the colder northern climates typically migrate south for the winter.

Reproduction of the Accipiter striatus

The Sharp-shinned haws lays as many as eight eggs or as few as three in a hidden nests. The eggs are about 1.5" long. They take about 30 days to hatch. After hatching the baby birds stay in the nest, protected by the mother for about 3 weeks, give our take a few days. During this time the father will continue hunting and bringing meat back to the nest. Once the babies leave the nest, they will stay nearby and still call for food from the parents, who continue to feed and protect them for about another four weeks.

Staus of the Accipiter striatus Population

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species says the Sharp-shinned Hawk is a species of Least Concern and has a growing population. Although numbers dropped in the 1960's and 1970's, they are rebounding with new environmental protections such as banning the widespread use of harmful pesticides.

Paper Wasp Nest Construction

This photo shows a paper wasp nest that has been torn open, most likely by some animal looking to eat the larvae and wasps inside. One of the most interesting things about this particular view, esssentially a cross section of the nest, is that it shows the multiple layers of construction with air spaces in between each layer. This is a very effective mean of insulation to help keep heat in the central region of the nest. Heat would be generated their by the metabolic activity of the wasps and would keep the center and especially the queen, from freezing during the cold New England winters. While I can't tell who made this nest, it was certainly a wasp of some type. Remember all hornets are wasps, but not all wasps are hornets. While we don't know the exact species, we do know how wasps make nests like this one. It is made out of paper, but the wasps also make the paper itself. They chew bits of wood and mix it with saliva to form a pulp which dries to the papery material you see here. Wasps often build their nests in old sheds or near human houses because there is often wood readyily found near the homes of people. While these types of nests are often build under the shelter of a shed roof or eaves, they can also be built on a tree branch or in a shrub. Some species, notably yellow-jackets, build them in the ground accessed by a small hole in the ground that leads down to the nest. Wasps, then, are capable of making wood-pulp paper and applying it bit by bit to around the edges to form a large pattern that eventually turns into an enclosed, multi-layer ball- shaped hive- almost as if it were being 3D printed.

We're Back- Thanks to Two New Sponsors!

 After a long hiatus, What Lives in my Yard is back! Thanks to two new sponsors, we will once again be making regular posts highlighting the wild (and domestic) animals that live in out forested yard in New Hampshire, USA. We'd like to thank www.MySylvanGardens.com who grows and sells a wide variety of houseplants from Cactus to jungle tropicals and everything in between. We'd also like to thank www.EpiphyllumsOnline.com -a premiere source for Epiphyllums, also known as Orchid Cactus plants, a true cactus that has adapted to life in the tropical forest and offers huge colorful flowers! Please check out both of these sponsors to make their support and our continued operation permanent!

Photo is copyrighted by EpiphyllumsOnline. Used with permission, all rights reserved

Starting this week, we'll once again be adding new creatures to our master list and spotlight pages. We've just received about 10 inches of fresh powdery snow so our first new addition will focus on those creatures active in this kind of weather. 

We are delighted to be back. We hope you'll be as happy with our new posts as you were with our old ones. We've amassed hundreds of thousands of page views and the site continues to draw new visitors despite having been inactive for several years. Thank you!

I Brought 1000's of Invasive Insects to Live in my Yard

We have just introduced a colony of invasive insects to our yard. While we ordinarily think of invasive species as harmful, there are actually many beneficial species that were not native to North America. Among these are honeybees.

Italian Honeybees, Apis mellifera lingustica
Photo by Brad Sylvester, may be used only with a link back
to whatlivesinmyyard.blogspot.com

That's right. There were no honeybees in North America before they were intentionally brought to Virginia around 1622. Incidentally, that's a year before the first of my ancestors (Edward Hilton, Dover, NH) reached North America, but let's stick to the topic of honeybees. Today there are many species and sub-species of honeybees in North America. All brought over either intentionally or unintentionally to help pollinate crops and to provide honey. The climate and biosphere were so suitable to the honeybee that they spread throughout the continent.


So accepted are honeybees that most think of them as native to our nation. When the population of this invasive species began plummeting in recent decades, there were widespread cries of alarm. Plainly, not all invasive species are harmful.


We purchased a three pound package of bees which included a mated queen bee. We introduced them into a hive and within 24 hours, we can already see that they are building combs on the starter frames that we placed inside the hive. The combs that the bees build are used for several purposes. Of course, we all know about honeycombs which are combs used by the bees to store honey. The queen bee will lay her eggs in combs as well. Not honey combs, but brood combs. Once the eggs are laid in the combs, they hatch into larvae. Larvae are fed and cared for by the worker bees until they pupate and emerge as adult bees. It takes about 21 days from the time the egg is laid until an adult bee emerges.


The main reason that bees make honey is because that is what they eat during the winter when fresh nectar is not available. They store it in the honey combs and then use it as food during the winter months. That means that if we take all the honey out of the hive, the colony will starve to death. So we need to be careful to leave an adequate supply of honey for the bees at the end of the season.


In the lower section of the hive, the queen will lay her eggs. At some point, moving upward from the bottom, there is a brood/honey dividing line with honey storage above and brood combs below. This divide makes it possible for the bee-keeper to remove honeycombs without disturbing the next generations of worker bees.


Quick Facts About Honeybees:



How do honeybees survive the winter? During the winter, honeybees will stay in the hive tucked into empty comb cells clustered around the center of the hive. Although they are cold-blooded like all insects, they group together to try to conserve what heat is available. They don't truly hibernate and may come out of the hive on particularly warm days. Even in the dead of winter, a knock on the side of the hive will result in a buzzing from within as the bees react to the noise.

What do honeybees eat? Honeybees eat nectar from flowers when it is available and honey during the months when flowers are not available. They also need water to drink and will sometimes be seen visiting birdbaths or a pet's water dish during the summer if other sources of fresh water are not available.

Why do honeybees swarm? Honeybees swarm when a hive gets too crowded and a second queen emerges from the hive. This is the natural way for honeybees to create new hives and reproduce. When a hive swarms, about half the bees will leave with the new young queen and the remainder will stay with the old queen. This leaves two small hives that will gradually build up their populations again. Beekeepers often discourage swarming because a depleted hive will produce less honey because it has fewer worker bees collecting nectar.

Are worker bees boys or girls? Everyone knows the queen bee is female, but few know that the worker bees are also female. Drones are males. The queen bee mates during the swarming flight, the drones that mate with her die, and the queen remains fertile for the rest of her life. The hive is ruled by the females and not just the queen. At the end of the summer as the weather turns colder, the female worker bees will drag the larger drones out of the hive to die. Because the drones are so much larger, they'd use up too much of the stored food during the winter.

What is colony collapse? Colony Collapse Disorder is the name given to the rapid disappearance of the majority of the worker bee population of a hive. Without worker bees, the entire hive dies. In recent years, colony collapse has become widespread vastly reducing the number of honeybees throughout the country. It affects both wild honeybees and those in domesticated hives. It is well documented that Colony Collapse Disorder is caused primarily by pesticides that contain nicotinoid compounds. Because these pesticides are commonly used on corn, and beekeepers feed their bees high fructose corn syrup (which carries the pesticide from the corn plant), beekeepers can lose their entire stock of hives in a single season. Wild bees pick up the pesticide directly from the flowers of treated crops. The link between pesticides and Colony Collapse Disorder was unknown for years, but is widely accepted now due to convincing evidence such as this 2012 Harvard Study.



Taxonomy of Honey Bees

Honeybee Hive with syrup feeder
Photo by Brad Sylvester, may be used only with a link back
to whatlivesinmyyard.blogspot.com

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Apidae

Genus: Apis

Species: Apis mellifera

Subspecies (for Italian Honeybees): Apis mellifera lingustica

Woodpecker Hole Identification, Pileated Woodpecker

Woodpecker holes in a pine tree in our yard.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, all rights reserved.

In the forest, there are many animals that are reclusive and tend to hide away from human contact. By learning their habits and patterns or just by being lucky, we might be able to see them from time to time. Some, however, might remain forever hidden if they did not leave behind evidence of their presence after that have hidden themselves away from our sight. Many woodpeckers, for example leave holes in trees that tell us that they have visited even if we never see or hear them directly.

In our yard, as I mentioned in a previous post, we have a nest of Hairy Woodpeckers. They live inside a big birch tree in a cavity that they chipped out with their chisel-like beaks. The opening is a small round hole. This type of hole, round and just a two or three inches wide at most is typical of Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers as well as several other types native to the area. it is definitely not typical of a sapsucker or the larger Pileated Woodpecker.

Sapsuckers, when they feed, tend to make linear or grid-like patterns of very small holes around the trunk of a tree.  These holes might be a half inch or less in diameter. Far too small for nesting. The handiwork of Pileated woodpeckers, on the other hand, can be identified by the size and shape of the distinctively rectangular holes they carve out in the tree trunks.

Rectangular or oblong holes indicate the work of a Pileated
Woodpecker.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, all rights reserved.

The hole of the pileated woodpecker starts out as a small round hole not too different than that of other woodpeckers, but may tend to have more raw wood with the bark removed around the outside of the hole. The pileated woodpecker, however, keeps working the holes over time in a vertical direction so that they soon develop into larger narrow slots in the tree truck. There will often be several such holes in a single trunk.

In the photo to the left, you can see both expanded edges around the round holes and markedly rectangular holes in this pine tree. These are strong evidence that this is the work of a Pileated Woodpecker.

I have to admit that I have rarely seen pileated woodpeckers in the area of our yard. Very occasionally, I will see one flying through, but only once or twice a year. I thought they lived farther away in the forest. The number of holes in this tree, however, suggests that they are visiting my yard fairly frequently despite the rarity of sightings. I haven't heard their calls in the yard and haven't distinguished their drumming pattern from that of the more common hairy and downy woodpeckers, although I admit, I have not thus far made a determined effort to do so.

The Pileated Woodpecker is, by a good margin, the largest woodpecker in New Hampshire and has a very striking crest and coloring. Knowing it is present with some regularity means that I will definitely prioritize getting some good photos for this blog. For now, I'll hold off on adding it to the master list of animals that live in my yard even though there is very strong evidence.

Animals Announce their Presence in Spring: Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)

 

Male Chipping Sparrow singing in Springtime.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2015. All rights reserved

Springtime can be a particularly fruitful time for discovering new species in one's yard, especially new species of birds. Spring is the time when male birds of many species are loudly announcing their presence with their songs, often performed in the most highly visible location they can find in the hope of attracting a mate. All one needs to do, therefore, to find a new species in one's yard is to listen for an unfamiliar bird song and catch a glimpse of the bird singing it. As an added bonus, spring is the time when most of them have their full breeding plumage offering the brightest color of the year.

Popular apps like iBird Pro 2 not only have drawings and photos of bird species, but also allow you to listen to the song to see if it matches what you're hearing in the field. It is an absolute clincher for tentative identifications. For example, This morning, I heard a long trilling song from about 50 feet up in a pine tree in my front yard. I got my camera and zoomed in to the location from which the song emanated and got two very mediocre shots of a small brown bird.

As many of you know, there are a great number of small brown birds. As it happens, though, I got enough in the photo to determine that it was almost certainly a sparrow. I could see a greyish-white underside in one photo and in the other I could see a pronounced rufous-colored cap, bordered by white then a black eye line. By typing sparrow into the iBird Pro 2 App on my phone (I also have it on my Kindle Fire), I chose a likely candidate from the thumbnail images of all sparrows. It looked like a Chipping Sparrow, but the photos weren't great, so maybe it could have been an American Tree Sparrow. To settle between the two, I used the app to play the song of the Chipping Sparrow. It was an exact match to what I heard up in the tree. Case closed, and another species, Spizella passerine, is added to the list of animals that live in my yard.

Quick facts about the Chipping Sparrow

Q: When can the Chipping Sparrow be found in New Hampshire?
A: According to Spring Arrival Dates Revisited by Pam Hunt, Chipping Sparrows most often arrive in early April after having spent the winter months in the southernmost tier of states (from Southern California to South Virginia) and Mexico.

Q: What does the Chipping Sparrow eat?
A: I often see chipping sparrows foraging on the ground for seeds and insects. They will also visit feeders and take suet and most common bird seed.

Q: What kind of nests to Chipping Sparrows build?
A: They build nests of grasses, small plant stems and similar stringy materials woven into a thin cup-shaped nest. The cup is then lined with softer material such as animal fur. At our house, we have a long-haired dog and whenever we brush out her coat she sheds lots of hair. We leave this outside on the ground and it is often incorporated into bird nests around our yard.

Q: What do their eggs look like?
A: Chipping Sparrow eggs are a light blue-green in color with darker brown or black spots usually more pronounced on the fatter end. They usually lay between 2-7 eggs that take 10-15 days to hatch, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Cornell also says Chipping Sparrows may hatch between one and three sets of eggs each year.

With the addition of song identification, the two photos
shown on this blog entry are enough to positively ID
the Chipping Sparrow.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2015, all rights reserved.

Taxonomy of the Chipping Sparrow

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Emerizidae
Genus: Spizella
Species: Spizella passerine






 

Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis Phoebe) Returns with the Spring

A female Eastern Phoebe building her nest under the eaves
of my house.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2015, all rights reserved.

While some view the American Robin as a sign of spring, the truth is that they can be found in New Hampshire all year round. The return of the Eastern Phoebe on the other hand, truly means that spring has arrived. In fact, according to an article by Pamela Hunt published in the Spring 2007 issue of New Hampshire Bird Records, the earliest recorded spring arrival date for the Eastern Phoebe in New Hampshire is March 3rd (as of 2007), with a median arrival date of March 24.

The Eastern Phoebe typically builds its nests under the eaves of artificial structures. The nest is made from mud, moss, twigs, pine needles, and similar things that it can find and which can be used to make the nest sturdy and comfortable. Nesting sites are usually near wooded areas and sources of water.

The Eastern Phoebe is likely one of the birds whose population numbers have likely been aided by the encroachment of European style buildings throughout North America since they provide millions of suitable nesting sites for the species. Although I'm not sure data exists to support this speculation. Before widespread artificial structures were present, the Eastern Phoebe built nests on rocky ledges. Some can still be found nesting in such places, but they are much more likely to choose a man-made building with eaves.

This video shows a female Eastern Phoebe adding what appears to be a daub of mud to the beginnings of a nest under the eaves of my house. A pair of Eastern Phoebes have nested there for several years. Their call is a familiar sound around my backyard. You can listen to their calls at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

The Eastern Phoebe belongs to the set of birds known as flycatchers. As you might expect, they get their name from their eating habits. The Eastern Phoebe will sit on a tree branch and wait for insects to fly by. When it spots one, it will leap up with a flutter of wings and grab the bug out of the air. Often with its legs and wings protruding out from the edges of the Phoebe's clamped beak. While Phoebes generally eat insects, especially flying insects, they are opportunists, as are most small birds, and will also eat seeds and small fruits.

As they sit and wait for a snack, they will often bob their tail feathers up and down rhythmically. This may be part of a territorial display since they seem to choose branches that reach out into highly visible areas for this display, but their motivation is only my speculation.

The Eastern Phoebe gets its name from the sound it makes. The first part of the song is a clear, musical "feee" sound and the second half is a bit more of a buzzing, trilling "eeee" or "beee" sound. The male will generally respond aggressively if you can imitate its call and often responds to "pishing."

Quick facts about the Eastern Phoebe:

Q: When is the Eastern Phoebe here in New Hampshire?
A: The Eastern Phoebe arrives in March and stays until the weather turns colder between September and early November.

Q: Do both male and female build the nest?
A: No, only the female Eastern Phoebe actively builds the nest.

Q: What color are the Eastern Phoebe's eggs?
A: The Eastern Phoebe lays between two and six small white eggs which may have some little light brown spots. They may raise one or two broods each summer. If the nest remains through the winter, the birds will often return and use it again the following spring.

Q: Where does the Eastern Phoebe go during the Winter?
A: The Eastern Phoebe, according to the IUCN Red List website, winters in the extreme southern areas of the United States around the Gulf of Mexico and down through Mexico to Central America.

Q: Is the Eastern Phoebe and endangered Species?
A: No, The Eastern Phoebe is numerous and widespread throughout Eastern North America. The IUCN lists it as a species of least concern. It is, however, protected by The Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Eastern Phoebe building a nest
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2015. All rights reserved

Taxonomy of the Eastern Phoebe:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Sayornis
Species: Sayornis phoebe
 

Life with Three Feet of Snow

As you know, New Hampshire gets cold in the winter, sometimes very cold. It snows here, sometimes it snows very much. Animals that are native to the area, therefore, must develop strategies to survive the cold and to find food when everything is buried beneath three feet of snow, as it is now.

Many things simply hide themselves away in the warmest place they can find and wait it out. Insects, for the most part, are among those that simply wait for spring. As we've previously mentioned, lightning bugs may burrow as deeply as they can into the rough bark of trees for shelter. If we search carefully, we can find them there. Others take advantage of man's ability to control the environment. The Asian Lady Beetle and the Western Conifer Seed Bug may have burrowed into tree bark in their warmer native environments, but after migrating here to the much colder Northeast, they burrow into the cracks and crevices of the woodwork of our houses. Sometimes, they find a way all the way inside and we may find an active one or two inside the house in the dead of winter.

Some insects burrow into the ground and rely on the natural antifreeze compounds in their bodies to keep from turning into ice cubes. June Bug grubs, Japanese Beetle grubs and a number of others fall into this category.

Chipmunks hunker down in their burrows and truly hibernate through the winter. Chipmunks and some other rodents are known as obligate hibernators. That is to say they have a built-in need to hibernate seasonal regardless of whether there is still food available. Their body temperatures drop quite low, and body temperature and heart rate slow along with all their other metabolic processes.

Some animals, like the black bear, go into a more shallow form of hibernation when the weather gets cold and food becomes scarce. They also experience a drop in body temperature, but the drop is much smaller. They are less deeply asleep, and may even be roused during hibernation. While their hibernation differs from that of deep sleepers like chipmunks, they are still classified as hibernators.

Hibernation means that the animal in question suppresses its normal metabolism to much lower rates, enabling it to go long periods without the intake of food and to survive in harsh conditions. Some lower their metabolic rates more than others, but that is simply a matter of degrees within the spectrum of hibernation.

Other animals are still able to find food during the winter and remain active throughout the year. White-tailed deer, many birds, the gray squirrel, the snowshoe hare, and the coyote, for example, can be found roaming the woods and hills of New Hampshire even in the coldest of winters.

Some, particularly many species of birds, simply go away to where the weather is less severe. Migratory birds such as the Canada Goose and most warblers fit into this category. We've all heard of birds flying south for the winter, but it is less commonly known that for some birds that live even further north, the New Hampshire is a gentle enough winter climate for them to comfortably overwinter when compared to their breeding ranges. This means that during the winter months in New Hampshire, it is possible to find some species that are not commonly found here during the summer.

Some undertake a much lesser migration, remaining in the same latitude, but heading to more hospitable winter habitat. Many woodland ducks fall into this category. The Common Loon, Wood Duck, and Mallard Duck all fall into this category. Moving from the inlands ponds, lakes and rivers where they spend the warmer months to the seaside for the winter. They require open water in which to feed, so they head to the only open water that is guaranteed not to freeze in this climate, the ocean.

Even though we are in the very heart of winter, we can still find new species, even some that aren't here during the rest of the year.


 

Northern Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata)

Recently, I was doing some gardening, actually pulling tufts of grass up by the roots from around the border of my raised-bed gardens, when a noticed that there was a small snake in the grass clump I had just uprooted. The snake was very small and brown. At first, I almost mistook it for a night-crawler. It turned out to be a northern red-bellied snake of about seven or eight inches in length.

Northern Red-bellied Snake
Photo by Brad Sylvester. All rights reserved.

According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game website, this diminutive snake eats snails and slugs. As it happens, the border to my raised bed garden is made of wood and when we have wet weather, small black slugs can be found on the wood. All the sources I found include small slugs as the preferred menu item for the northern red-bellied snake although a number of sources add other various prey to the snake's diet. It's worth noting that the sources don't agree exactly on what those other items might be. At any rate, eating slugs from around my garden earns this little snake my favor.

The red-bellied snake is quite small with a maximum length
of about 16 inches.
Photo by Brad Sylvester. All rights reserved.

The northern red-bellied snake doesn't grow more than 16 inches in length and is completely harmless to humans and pets. Because of its small size and tendency to hide under woody debris (where it's primary prey resides), it is not often seen. In fact, this specimen that I found accidently while working in my garden is the first of its species that I have ever encountered.

The red-bellied snake is viviparous which means that it gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Sources vary on the maximum litter size ranging from highs of 14-23 although average litters are much smaller by all accounts, with about six to nine baby snakes being the average estimate.

The specimen that I found living in my yard was brown with a pinkish belly with an almost blue border separating the pink belly from the darker area of its body. While not typical, this coloration is well within the range for this species. The belly can range from red to orange to pink, while the upper body may be brown, grey or black with four darker stripes running along its length. Some of these snakes have 3 pale dots around the nape of the neck, but the one I found in my yard did not.

According to the Michigan Society of Herpetologists. the northern red-bellied snake can often  be found around dumps that contain wood scraps or sheet metal that provide good habitat for slugs. If present, they can be found by flipping over bits of wood or sheet metal that is lying on the ground.
The one I found in my yard was in tall moist grass growing against the sides of my raised bed garden which is made with wood that frequently has little black slugs patrolling its surface after a rain or a heavy night dew fall.

The underside of the red-bellied snake may be pink, red or orange.
Photo by Brad Sylvester. All rights reserved.
 

 

How to Catch and Hold a Dragonfly

There are literally hundreds of different species of dragonflies. They come in many bright colors and beautiful patterns. They are, arguably, as beautiful as butterflies, but because they fly so fast it is often difficult to see them in any detail. The reason they fly so fast is because they are insect world's equivalent of an air to air missile. Dragonflies, you see, eat other flying insects. Not only that, but they catch them right out of the air as they are flying. To do that, dragonflies must fly faster and be more maneuverable than their prey. Their flying prowess is wonderful for them, but not so great for spectators who want to see their colors and figure out what species they might belong to.
 
The Fear of Dragonflies

Maybe it's the dragonfly's reputation as a predator or maybe it's the viciousness of the aquatic dragonfly nymph, but these colorful winged missiles have a reputation as having a nasty bite-or a nasty sting, most people aren't really sure which. Most people do know however, that dragonflies are something to be feared. Actually, however, most people are completely wrong on this account. Dragonflies don't bite and have no stinger at all. They are, as a matter of fact, completely harmless to people.

How to Hold a Dragonfly
Those studying dragonflies often hold them in their bare hands in order to get a closer look. The proper way to hold a dragonfly without injuring it, is to fold its wings upward into a vertical position relative to its body so that the left and right side wings are touching, and then hold the wings between the thumb and index finger near the wingtips.

Holding them is easy; the hard part is catching them. Dragonflies, as I've already mentioned, are fast and nimble fliers. Like most insects, they also have compound eyes that give them a very wide field of view. This means that even when they do alight on a leaf or a blade of grass, they will probably see you coming and take wing before you can get close enough to reach out and grab them.

Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2012, all rights reserved

 

How to Catch a Dragonfly

Fortunately, we humans are a good deal more technologically advanced than dragonflies. As of right this minute, the absolute pinnacle of technology when it comes to catching dragonflies is the butterfly net. The butterfly net should have a long handle which allows you to take a swipe with the net at stationary dragonflies without getting close enough to scare them off. You can try netting them from the air, but you may find you have better luck waiting for them to land.
The net portion should be a fine mesh that is transparent enough for you to see inside the net. The net portion should be long enough that it flops over the net frame so that it effectively closes itself off, preventing whatever you have netted from flying out. That way you can reach in and grab the dragonfly by its wings.

Let it Go Unharmed

Once you have it in hand, you can examine the dragonfly closely, noting its features and coloration in order to help determine the species to which it belongs. In some cases, however, a microscopic examination to differentiate between closely related species may be required. Once you have finished, it should be released. Adult dragonflies do not make good pets because of their dietary habits and their high-speed flying.

Note: This article was originally published at Yahoo! Contributor Network on August 15th, 2011, where it was viewed 3212 times. All publishing rights reverted back to me as the original author when Yahoo! decided to discontinue the Y! Contributor Network on August 1st, 2014.

Natural History: The Science of Quiet Observation

As a child, I remember visiting several museums of natural history and seeing the vast collections of insects, birds, and all the other animals, plants and minerals. I read accounts of naturalists' detailed observations of animal species describing their habits and behaviors. So much can be learned simply by quiet, unobtrusive observation. It is really the only way to learn how animals behave when they are not being influenced by human presence.

Today, we may modern tools to help us observe animals in their natural habitats. We have trail cameras, for example, that not only take still photos, but also record video clips of animals in the wild. GPS monitors can follow the extended flight paths of birds in a way that no clever naturalist could ever hope to do just 50 years ago.

In the April issue of BioScience (1), a group of scientists wrote "Despite the importance of detailed natural history information to many sectors of society, exposure and training in traditional forms of natural history have not kept pace with growth in the natural sciences over the past 50 years." Their paper details the decline of focus on natural history and natural history projects within the scientific community.

Yet, they say, natural history, "the fundamental properties of organisms- what they are, how and where they live, and the biotic and abiotic interactions that link them to communities and ecosystems," remains important and has an important role to play in modern science.

On the one hand, popular citizen science initiatives like the Great Christmas Bird Count and Cornell University's eBird website have increased the amount of observational data available to researchers by enrolling huge numbers of ordinary people as observers. On the other hand, natural history lacks visible role models to inspire new generations to take up the practice, say the authors.

This blog is really an exercise in natural history focusing very tightly on the five and a quarter acres of land in southern New Hampshire on which I live. The species entries provide overview level observations and comments combined with researched data about the animals that live on this particular piece of the Earth.

It's not ground-breaking science in the popular sense (although I do occasional break into the ground to look for some of the creatures that reside there), but it does increase my knowledge and understanding of the world in which I live and the animals with whom I share it. Hopefully, it accomplishes some measure of that same purpose for faithful readers of this blog as well.

Going forward, I thought it might be interesting to take a more detailed look at one or more of the species that lives in my yard. Finding out where it lives, how it interacts with other animals, how it behaves, how it adapts to the seasons or extremes of weather, and essentially everything we can learn by just watching it in its natural environment.

To do this successfully, it will be important to pick a species that spends all or the great majority of its time in or around my property. It need not be a single individual that is constantly followed and observed, but could be multiple individuals, some of which live on the property and others which may be passing through.

Ideally, it would be something that isn't going to be so bothered by my presence that it's behaviors are substantially altered whenever I am present, and it would be something that I can reliably locate on a regular basis.

A number of birds might fit the bill, as might any number of insects. There a few mammals: squirrels, chipmunks, wild mice, perhaps even porcupines. Suitable reptiles and amphibians might include any of the several species of salamanders, snakes, frogs and toads that live on my property.

I'll have to give it some thought and pick one. Once I do, all the detailed observations, including photos and video clips will be presented at this link. I'll use every tool at my disposal- remote cameras, night vision video, tracking, and especially patience- to find out everything I can about this one particular species. If it works out, perhaps I'll add natural history pages for other species that live in my yard as well.

I encourage you to spend time in quiet observation of the natural world as well. Aside from the knowledge gained in the study itself, I find watching nature to be akin to quiet meditation that relaxes and renews one's spirit.  After all, if one can find time to sit and observe the behavior of Sheldon Cooper, Tyrion Lannister, or other fictional television characters, surely one can find time to just sit and watch what is really happening around them in the great outdoors.

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1) Joshua j. Tewksbury, John G. T. Anderson, Jonathan D. Bakker, Timothy J. Billo, Peter W. Dunwiddie, Martha J. Groom, Stephanie E. Hampton, Steven G. Herman, Douglas J. Levey, Noelle J. Machnicki, Carlos Martínez del Rio, Mary E. Power, Kirsten Rowell, Anne K. Salomon, Liam Stacey, Stephen C. Trombulak, and Terry A. Wheeler
Natural History's Place in Science and Society
BioScience 2014 : biu032v1-biu032.