Animal Field Guide
Here's a brief survey of the animals found at my site!
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Meadow Spittlebug |
Invertebrate are the first to be covered. If you dig a little into the leaf litter,you will immediately find some Pill Bugs (Armadillidium
vulgare) (see picture on right). Most likely, you will
find the Pill Bugs curled up in a defensive posture because you have disturbed
them. When curled up, you can appreciate the intricate gray plates of the Pill
Bug. Do note that the Pill Bug is
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Pill Bug |
actually a crustacean and not an insect! Another
interesting invertebrate to look for are the Meadow Spittlebugs (Philaenus spumarius). The adult
Meadow Spittlebugs are hard to see with the naked eye, but around mid-May, you
will see them in the form of a milky white foam at the base of leaves and
branches of grasses and sedges (see picture on left). This is the nymph form of
the Meadow Spittlebug and it is hiding in the foam, protected from predators
and the environment’s varying temperatures. In early May on a sunny day, if you
wait patiently enough, you may find a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) resting on the gravel
trail with its wings spread out (see picture below). It is a charismatic
butterfly with brown colored wings and a white border along
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Mourning Cloak |
the edge that has
blue spots. If you can get close enough, notice how subtly the antenna move up
and down as the Mourning Cloak senses its surroundings.
You’ll hear the birds the minute you enter Union
Bay Natural Area, but there’s a few birds that you can commonly spot! The first
is the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (see picture on right). There is a Mallard couple that has built
a nest in the middle of the marsh area. The nest is quite humble
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Male Mallard |
consisting of
a depression in the moist ground and some grasses and leaves from nearby. Just
recently (late May), I saw at least six ducklings swimming in a single file
behind their mother. I have seen the same Mallard couple all quarter and at other
times, you will see them dabbling. The Mallards have a broad beak and instead
of diving into the water to catch prey, they tip forward into the water (so
their behind sticks out of the water) and forage for
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Savannah Sparrow |
food. Another common sight is the Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) (see picture on left). This small songbird is easily identified by a yellow
stripe over its eye. This is initially a little hard to look for without a pair
of handy binoculars. Another bird has also recently (late May) taken residence at my site. A Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) (see picture below) has built a nest somewhere among the Himalayan Blackberry thicket. It has been pecking at branches and bringing them into the thicket. As the name suggests, the Black-capped Chickadee can be identified by a black cap and it also has white cheeks. It's an adorable bird with a short neck and large head.
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Black-capped Chickadee |
On a lucky day if you’re at my site early in the
morning, you may catch a glimpse of a Great Blue Heron (see picture below). This
majestic, blue-
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Great Blue Heron |
gray bird has long legs and neck, and looks shaggy in appearance.
Even though Great Blue Herons usually nest in trees, I believe the Great Blue
Herons in my site are ground nesting and they have built a nest somewhere far
among the Cattails because they always stalk in and out from the same general
location.
There are two more wetland bird species that you
will learn about with a close knit interaction. The
first is the Red-Winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). The males are easy to identify as they have
glossy black feathers with red epaulets bordered with a yellow color. If you
look at the top of the tall snag in the midst of the Cattails, you can probably
find a male Red-Winged Blackbird perched there surveying its territory (see
picture on right). The second is the Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris). These small birds are a little
harder to
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Red-Winged Blackbird |
spot because they are always hiding amongst the Cattails and they
have a brown color, much like the Cattails in the area. If you patiently look
at the marshy shore, you may find a Marsh Wren feeding with its tail cocked. So,
what’s the relationship between these two species? As you may have noticed, the
two species reside in the same area, which can be problematic. In fact, Marsh Wrens
are known to destroy the eggs and young of Red-Winged Blackbirds because they
both create nests among vegetation in marsh areas(1). On a rare occasion, you
will hear major rustling and specific aggressive calls occurring from the
Cattails and while you cannot see exactly what’s occurring, one can speculate
that it is a confrontation between a Red-Winged Blackbird and Marsh Wren.
Luckily, these confrontations do not occur often because Red-Winged Blackbirds
favor sparser vegetation, whereas Marsh Wrens favor denser Cattails. In
addition, you will often see multiple Red-Winged Blackbirds fly into the same
general location among the Cattails because they have developed a cluster
nesting strategy, which protects the young from the Marsh Wrens. Not all is
calm on this front!
If you stare at the marsh area for a little bit,
you may be unnerved to occasionally see air bubbles rising to the surface of
the water. Not to worry, there isn’t a monster down
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Eastern Painted Turtle |
there, but in fact some peaceful
Eastern Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta picta). These turtles are merely in the mud hunting for food. I
once saw one with a shell that was a foot and a half long and mistook it for a
patch of mud until it slowly moved. The turtles hunt along the bottom of the
marsh and jut their head in and out of vegetation to agitate prey. On a rainy
day, you should pay close attention to the marsh to spot a turtle because they
are good at camouflaging themselves in the mud. If it is a sunny day, you will
have much better luck finding and watching the turtles. Their dark colored shell
is very smooth and they can be easily identified by yellow lines on their head,
neck, and legs. Sunny days are the best days to
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Sun basking turtles |
look for these turtles because
they are cold-blooded reptiles. This means they regulate their body temperature
based on the environment and for warmth, they must bask in the sun. For this
reason, no matter the time of the day, I always seem to see the turtles basking
in the sun. On the far log you will often see a group of turtles basking in the
sun (see picture on right). They will stretch their neck and stick it up as high
as possible. This allows them to increase the amount of surface area that is
exposed to the sun. This position also allows you to easily identify the
turtles because their yellows stripes will be clearly visible. When they have
warmed up enough, you will see them walk towards the edge of the log, tuck in
their appendages and head, and drop back into the water to hunt for food.
Source:
1. Picman,
Jaroslav. "Impact of Marsh Wrens on Reproductive Strategy of Red-Winged
Blackbirds." Canadian Journal of Zoology. 58.3 (1980):
337-350. Print.
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