EOA Nature Nuggets

 

A rare visitor to the Edge! Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) are large finches bedecked with stunning colors of gold, black and white. These are far northern birds who make their home in the boreal forests of the northern United States and Canada and in the Rocky Mountains. Occasionally they, like other northern birds such as common redpolls and crossbills, descend into the lower latitudes giving us “southerners” a rare glimpse of these beauties. This fall and winter has seen sightings of Evening Grosbeaks as far south as Florida’s panhandle. For more information about Evening Grosbeaks and infinitely better pictures head over to Cornell’s All About Birds website.

EOA Nature Nuggets

 

Monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, are well known for their long and incredible migration in the fall to their wintering grounds in Mexico. However, they are not the only insect who migrates, nor do they have the longest route! Insects in the orders of true bugs, dragonflies, and grasshoppers migrate as well as other species of butterflies and moths. In fact, the painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui,  in the eastern hemisphere, makes a 9,000 mile migration trip from the continent of Africa to the arctic and back again! Amazing!

EOA Nature Nuggets

 

Photo by Sam James

Where does a snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentine, go in the winter? The short answer is: the bottom of the pond. Snapping turtles have some really interesting overwintering strategies that have helped them survive for millions of years! Being ectothermic (cold-blooded), snapping turtles body temperature matches that of their environment. By staying underwater during the winter they can avoid freezing temperatures. Obtaining oxygen is of course challenging, however they need much less oxygen due to their slowed metabolisms. While underwater, these turtles can use parts of their body that are “highly vascularized” for absorbing oxygen including their mouths and cloacas! Wow! 

Unwanted Visitors

 This non-native Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis sinensis) randomly landed on a bird feeder at the preserve and didn't have any idea what he was in for from a cast of unwanted feathered visitors. This white-breasted nuthatch gives him the evil eye before deciding the seed was all he needed. 

The mantis had his hands full when more than one bird was at the feeder and it was all hands on deck when these goldfinches hit the seed and the mantis spread his wings fully in hopes of looking larger. The nuthatch appears to look on bewildered by the insect.

After a full hour of defensive postures one can't help but wonder if the mantis just couldn't hold his arms up any longer and he finally moved on unscathed. While the large non-native Chinese mantis has been known to take a hummingbird, it is exceeding rare and the exception to the rule. They eat mostly insects but its accidental visit to the bird feeder provided an hour of drama and humor.

EOA Nature Nuggets

 

Persimmon fruits (Diospyros virginiana) and acorns (Quercus spp.) are two excellent examples of soft and hard mast found in the eastern forest. Mast is a term used to describe seeds and fruits produced by woody plants. Soft mast consists of berries, buds, etc., and hard mast consists of nuts and seeds such as beech nuts and buckeyes. Persimmons and acorns in particular are eaten by a wide range of animals including deer, turkey, squirrels, raccoons, mice, opossums, and many species of birds. Persimmons are also prized by humans for eating and using in baked goods. However, most of the commercially available persimmons are from Asian species. Acorns too, are edible by humans, but contain large amounts of tannins making them very bitter and require quite a bit of processing to make them safe for consumption. It is best to leave these wild fruits for the myriad of eastern forest wildlife who are fattening up and storing food for the upcoming winter season.

EOA Nature Nuggets

 

Love is in the air for these two stick insects (the female is the paler and slightly thicker of the two). Northern Walkingsticks (Diapheromera femorata) are relatively common to the eastern woods and feed primarily on the leaves of oak tree species once mature. After mating, this female stick insect will lay hundreds of tiny seed-like eggs which simply drop to the forest floor to overwinter in the leaf litter. In the spring, the eggs hatch and tiny green colored stick insect nymphs emerge and feed on a wide variety of woody vegetation. By the time late summer and early fall rolls around, most of these incredible twig mimics are happily ensconced in the canopy of an oak tree. Strong winds and encounters with predators can cause the insects to fall to lower levels of the forest. Luckily for us it is in these instances when we can catch a glimpse of these magnificent creatures!

EOA Nature Nuggets

 

This spicebush swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio Troilus) is busy eating its fill of its host plant, spicebush (Lindera benzoin). Very soon it will stop eating and leave the plant to find a suitable place to pupate. It will spend the winter as a chrysalis and if all goes well, will emerge in the spring as a stunning adult butterfly. While many butterflies and moths over winter in the pupa stage, some like the Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) and the Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) are able to survive the winter months as adults. They can often be seen flying on warm winter days.