By Joe Sebastiani: Members Program Team Leader
Do you want to become a better naturalist? Here is a butterfly multiple choice quiz question that will require a butterfly book or looking on the web for the species below. Do a little research and vote on what kind of butterfly you think this is. The answer will be posted soon. If you have any questions, be sure to leave a comment on this post.
What kind of butterfly is this? Photo by Joe Sebastiani
By Joe Sebastiani, Members Program Team Leader
At this time of year, insects are abundant and easy to find and photograph. Last week I tried recording insects on video at Ashland Nature Center and the Bucktoe Creek Preserve. Most of the videos have the constant buzzing of Silver-bellied Cicada in the background, which is the sound of late summer here in Delaware. Insects are feeding on native plants, and in turn feed birds heading south. Since Black Walnuts are full of insects, these are my favorite trees to watch for migratory songbirds. The flow of energy from the sun to walnut tree to caterpillar to warbler is easy to see these days. Get outside to witness these natural connections yourself as migratory songbirds stop in our area between now and late October.
The odd and somewhat creepy Butternut Woollyworm was found on a Black Walnut, which is one of their favorite foodplants. This insect looks like a caterpillar, but is actually the larva of a sawfly, Eriocampa juglandis. Sawflies are related to wasps, but their larva look like moth or butterfly caterpillars. As you watch the Common Whitetail dragonfly, look at the abdomen flexing in and out, which is how insects breathe. The Ebony Jewelwing damselfly and the fly in the following segment are eating very small insects. Skippers are tough to identify, and I am mostly sure this is a Zabulon Skipper. If you are a skipper expert, let me know if I am wrong and what kind of skipper this is. Finally, enjoy the fall-plumage Chestnut-sided Warbler feasting on a caterpillar.
Joe Sebastiani, Members Program Team Leader
Sorry about the blatant advertising, but at the request of many Nature of Delaware blog readers, we would like to update you on upcoming programs occasionally. This is so that you can avoid hitting your head in frustration after reading a blog about a Delaware Nature Society program that you missed and might have enjoyed.
Two opportunities to participate in bird banding are coming up. I know this is late notice, but there is still room in the Hummingbird Banding and Biology program taking place on Friday, August 21st, 9:30 a.m. to noon at Ashland Nature Center. Bruce Peterjohn, the Chief of the USGS Federal Bird Banding Lab will conduct a banding session and discuss the biology of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Catch hummingbirds, watch how they are banded and measured, and take part in the release.
A Ruby-throated Hummingbird in hand. Female or juvenile? Photo by Derek Stoner.
The other banding session is the Bird Banding at Bucktoe Creek Preserve with local bander, Doris McGovern on Saturday, August 29, 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. We conduct this program every autumn and catch migrants such as thrushes and warblers as well as common year-round residents.
During the Bucktoe Banding Session in 2008, we caught several Tufted Titmice. This one is being released. Photo by Joe Sebastiani
Doris McGovern explains the succession of feather molt and how she is aging a Wood Thrush we caught. Photo by Joe Sebastiani
Both of these programs are will provide great opportunities to see wild birds in the hand and for close-up photography.
For more information on these programs, visit www.delawarenaturesociety.org or call (302) 239-2334 ext. 134.
By Derek Stoner, Education Program Assistant
The past few evenings, cooling temperatures and a crisp breeze from the north caused my thoughts to jog ahead into fall. Somewhere on a mountain in northern Pennsylvania, herds of elk are grazing peacefully.
As dusk settles, a pair of huge bull elk bugle and battle atop legendary Winslow Hill.
A cow elk and her calf join a herd grazing in a field near Benezette, PA.
Maple and Sassafras trees ablaze with fall color in the Pennsylvania Wilds.
Watching herds of elk against a backdrop of fall color and mountain mist.
By: Joe Sebastiani, Members Program Team Leader
One of the best parts of my job with the Delaware Nature Society is the Teen Naturalist program, which I have led for the last 10 years. Each month, we get together for outdoor adventure, and in the summer, take a week-long adventure trip. This year, we travelled to the Adirondacks of northern New York for a 30-mile paddling adventure.
Nine Teen Naturalists experienced the mountains, lakes, rivers, wetlands, forest, and wildlife of Adirondack Park with me and my co-leader, Dave Pro. This area of wild land is so huge, you can fit six Delawares into it. This three-and-a-half-day trip took us from Long Lake, down the Raquette River, and into Tupper Lake. Gordon Fisher, a Delaware Nature Society volunteer guide and board member who summers in the Adirondacks, helped us plan the trip and joined us for the first few hours of paddling.
Each night, we stayed at beautiful campsites, each with an "Adirondack" shelter.
Paddling was mostly easy, although we had an hour or two of windy conditions that provided a little more challenge. By early afternoon each day, we selected a campsite, insuring that we got the ones we wanted, since some of the sites are in demand because of swimming opportunities and pristine views of islands and mountains.
This “summer classic” adventure was characterized by lazy afternoons in the wilderness, swimming in cool lakes, and leaping into deep swimming holes. Fishing was mostly a bust, but Dave managed to land a few pickerel, providing some hope to the rest of us.
Paddling the winding Raquette River is pretty easy, but contains a 1.25-mile portage around a waterfall.
The Raquette River is a little wider than the Brandywine in northern Delaware, but is fairly deep and slow. On the second day, we came to a section of rapids and waterfalls where we had to portage one-and-a-quarter miles. It took us two trips to carry our gear and the heavy canoes through the portage. This was the most strenuous part of the trip, and there was only a single casualty…one of my water shoes was lost along the way.
Leaping from a fifteen-foot high bank was a great way to spend our last afternoon on the Raquette River.
Dave and I knew in advance that we wanted a particular campsite on our last night. We beat out other paddlers and secured this fun and scenic location by early afternoon. This campsite has a decrepit Adirondack shelter, but its location, location, location that counts. At the camp, a high bank over a deep hole provided hours of swimming and leaping for everyone, and was probably the highlight of the trip. The view here is spectacular as well, where the river does a 120 degree turn and also contains a not-quite-cut-off oxbow, forming what looks like 4 rivers coming together! Luck was on our side for this trip. It only rained at night, no one got hurt, and amazingly, a canoeing party behind us found my missing shoe and delivered it to us a day after I lost it. Good thing I didn’t burn the other one in the fire!
Mist rose from the Raquette River into the cool air, on the final day of the 2009 Teen Naturalist Adirondack Canoeing Adventure.
A new year of the Teen Naturalists starts in September. If you know someone between 13 and 17 that might be interested, more information can be found at www.delawarenaturesociety.org.
By Jason Beale, Manager, Abbott’s Mill Nature Center
I look forward to summer thunderstorms in August for two reasons. First, they provide a welcome respite from the heat and second, they bring the Meadow Mushroom, Agaricus campestris.
Meadow Mushrooms and a toddler, in their natural habitat. Sasha examines the chocolate brown spores on her left hand.
The Agaricus mushrooms are well known to most people through Agaricus bisporus, the cultivated button mushroom. The genus is fairly easy to identify. Many are white and possess a ring on the stalk or annulus. The gills are pink when young and dark when mature, producing a chocolate brown spore print.
The pink gills darken with age. Note the fading rings on the stalks.
They can be readily told from the Amanita genus which is responsible for 80-90% of mushroom fatalities though they share a superficial resemblence. Amanitas possess an annulus, but the stalk usually emerges from a cup-like volva. They are associated with tree roots and aren’t common in lawns. Additionally, they always possess pale gills and produce a white spore print.
Easily overlooked, the Meadow Mushroom is a widespread and choice delectable.
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