Finally, a Broad-winged Hawk! I had expected to see a Broad-winged Hawk in mid to late April when they first arrive back from their winters spent in South America. They usually slip into the nesting season with little fanfare so they can easily be missed. Broad-wings don’t make very much noise, usually vocalizing only during [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for July, 2008
Treefrogs Emerge From the Wetlands
July 31st, 2008I noticed a few newly morphed treefrogs on the vegetation surrounding the Wetlands. Both Green Treefrogs and Gray Treefrogs are emerging from the water as adult frogs and taking up positions in the vegetation surrounding the Wetlands. The two frogs pictured below are about 1/2 to 3/4 inches in length, still quite small considering that [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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A Cosmopolitan Dragonfly and other Interesting Creatures
July 31st, 2008I’ve been expecting to see a Wandering Glider for some time now. On the 23rd of July one appeared at the Sailboat Pond in Catch the Wind. As their name implies, Wandering Gliders can show up just about anywhere. These nonstop dragonflies are widespread in their distribution – cosmopolitan. They’re migratory. They lay eggs in [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Pretty Flowers or Weeds
July 31st, 2008Boneset is blooming at various locations around the Wetlands. The flowers should be fairly easy to locate. Look for clusters of small white flowers atop a straight 2-4 foot plant growing close to the water. The leaves of the plant are opposite. The bases of the leaves are joined at the stem of the plant, [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Marine Life in Durham?
July 15th, 2008On July 12th sharks, stingrays, porpoises, whales, sea urchins and other marine life were discovered at the Museum – at least in part. Scores of kids, and yes, their parents too, got down and dirty in the “Fossil Pit” digging for fossils along the Museum’s future Dinosaur Trail. Thousands of shark’s teeth, whale and porpoise [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Red Bat over Wetlands
July 15th, 2008Another reason to look up. A Red Bat was seen flying over the Wetlands during the 4th of July weekend. It seemed to have a direction and purpose to its flight as if hurrying off to a daytime roost. In other words, it wasn’t flying around in circles hawking insects, it looked to be going [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Look Up!
July 15th, 2008Look up! I see Chimney Swifts hawking insects above the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind loop every day. The number of swifts will no doubt increase as more young of the year leave their nests and join in on these foraging flights. If you’re not familiar with Chimney Swifts, they’re the small, acrobatic, black birds [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Storms Bring Out Frogs, Stinkpot Appears
July 15th, 2008The first week of this period brought daily thunderstorms towards the end of each day. Before each day’s rain, Gray and Green Tree Frogs and Narrow-mouthed Toads began calling from the dense cover surrounding the Wetlands. While it’s difficult to impossible to actually see it happening, many new eggs were being deposited in the Wetlands [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Buprestid Beetles appear, Cicada Killer Stakes Claim
July 15th, 2008I found a metallic woodboring beetle on the paved path in Explore the Wild. It was one of the large metallic woodborers, Chalcophora virginiensis (pictured at right). Its larvae bore into pines. One reference calls this beetle the Large Flat-headed Pine Heartwood Borer (the thoracic section of the larva or grub is flattened). I think [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Maypops
July 15th, 2008Thistle is in bloom just to the right of the “Seed Tower” in Catch the Wind. Passion Flower, or Maypops as it’s sometimes called, is blooming as well. I’ve only seen Passion Flower in bloom in one location on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop and that is on the Wetlands side of the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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