Sunday, May 20, 2018

Merganser Mama

Update: We went back to the C & O Canal a month later, and found a huge group of about 40 half-grown Common Mergansers, probably including the ducklings from this family. So of course, I wrote about them again.
  
Victor & I went hiking along the C & O Canal recently. My main intent had been to snag a bunch more new bird species for my year list, since spring migration is in full swing. I was indeed successful-- warblers and other songbirds were singing everywhere. I can't identify every one by call, but I was able to recognize several, and managed to confirm a few others I wasn't sure about by using the Merlin app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (This is a great field app, I highly recommend it! I have a post in the works about how I use it, so stay tuned.)

But in addition to the Indigo Buntings, Blackpoll Warblers, Yellow Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos that I logged on eBird that morning, I finally was able to check off a longtime birding bucket list item: seeing a Merganser carrying her babies on her back! I knew mergansers do this sometimes, as do loons and grebes, but I'd never observed it in the wild. Now I have!

When we first entered the trail at Seneca Creek, Victor immediately pointed out a female Common Merganser paddling toward the Potomac. I trained my binoculars on her and discovered she was trailed by several little babies! In fact, one of those babies had already climbed on her back for a break. Victor & I took turns snapping lots and lots of photos as she hustled toward the larger body of water.  As she swam along, more and more of her babies clambered on her back. SO CUTE! Even though I also saw my first ever Magnolia Warbler that morning, the mergansers were still the highlight of the trip.


Not all of our photos came out-- it was pretty humid and misty out, and that gave the camera a bit of difficulty focusing, I think.  But here are a few of the better ones. Enjoy!

Female Common Merganser swims along with one spotted duckling on her back and six more paddling behind.
One baby is riding comfy on the middle of mama's back. Everybody else is hustling to keep up.

Female Common Merganser swims along, with three fuzzy ducklings riding on her back and four paddling behind.
Now three babies have made it onboard.


Female Common Merganser swims on still, gray water, with four fuzzy ducklings riding on her back and three more behind.
Four babies are on her back at this point, with a couple still paddling madly along.

Female Common Merganser swims away into the mist, with seven fuzzy ducklings riding cozily on her back.
Finally, all seven babies are tucked up on top of Mama.  So off she goes into the Potomac. Farewell!

Monday, May 7, 2018

Butterflies by Group—Recognizing in the Field


There are some tips and tricks to identifying butterflies in the field, as I mentioned in my last post, "Butterflies for Beginners." Another good way to improve your butterflying skills is to learn the general characteristics of different types of butterfly. Once you've narrowed a new butterfly's ID to a basic group, finding the right species account in your field guide will be much quicker and easier. 

Spicebush Swallowtail

  • Swallowtails
    • Large, strong fliers
    • Rounded “tails” off hindwings


Cabbage White
  • Whites & Sulphurs
    • Medium size
    • Often fly erratically
    • Usually perch with their wings closed, showing the pattern on their underwings
    • Species in our area [MidAtlantic] usually have a few darker markings on a whitish/yellowish/orange background.


Juniper Hairstreak


  • Hairstreaks
    • Small
    • Erratic flight
    • Most species have thin hairlike “tails” off their hindwings, thought to be false antenna to trick predators
    • Often rub their hindwings together while perched, making those tails wiggle like antenna
    • Elfins
      • Univoltine (single-brooded)
      • Only flight is in early spring, roughly April
      • Tailless
      • Patterned in all browns
      • Not quite as fast fliers as other hairstreaks

Eastern Tailed-Blue

  • Blues & Azures
    • Small
    • Whitish/gray underwings, blue/gray/white upperwings
    • Beware the Eastern Tailed-blue, which has tails like a hairstreak—even rubs its hindwings together just like hairstreaks do.

Great Spangled Fritillary

  • Fritillaries
    • Medium to large
    • Patterned in oranges & browns
    • Most of our fritillaries have obvious silver spots on their underwing, except for the Variegated Fritillary.




  • Crescents—only one species in our area, Pearl Crescent
    • Small
    • Orange & black

  • Checkerspots—only 2 species in our area, Silvery Checkerspot and Baltimore Checkerspot (rare)
    • Medium
    • Orange & black

  • Anglewings
    • I highlighted our two local species, Eastern Comma & Questionmark, in a “Tricky ID” blog post for my butterfly survey project.
    • Distinctive shape
    • Upperwing orange with black markings
    • Underwing dead leaf mimic
    • Silver mark on underside of hind wing- shape determines E. Comma or Q. Mark
    • Fond of non-nectar food sources, but may also be seen at flowers

American Lady
  • Distinctive Brushfoots
    • Brushfoot—front pair of legs reduced in size and covered with hairs, often doesn’t touch perch
    • Brushfooted butterflies also include Fritillaries, Crescents, Checkerspots, Anglewings. “Distinctive” don’t fit with the other categorizations though, so best to look at the silhouettes in your field guide and familiarize yourself with species photos.
      • Mourning Cloak
      • Red Admiral
      • Painted Lady
      • American Lady
      • Common Buckeye
      • Red-spotted Purple
      • Viceroy
      • Monarch

  • Satyrs
    • Medium size
    • Brown, with eyespots
    • Often have very bouncy flight
    • Typically found in woodland clearings or near forest edges
    • Likely eat from non-flower sources, some species will come to flowers though.

Silver-spotted Skipper
  • Spread-wing Skippers
    • Medium size
    • Includes Silver-spotted Skipper, Duskywings, Cloudywings
    • Don’t usually “jet plane” like smaller grass skippers, although they can

Sachem skipper in the "jet plane" posture

  • Grass Skippers & Skipperlings
    • Small
    • Oranges & browns
    • Note the “jet plane” posture they often assume: forewings held vertically, perpendicular to their horizontally spread hindwings
    • Often the pattern seen on upper hindwing is diagnostic, so try to get looks at both the jet plane and closed postures if you can
    • Several species are very similar! It’s a challenge to discern subtle differences.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Butterflies for Beginners

Spicebush Swallowtail nectaring on milkweed at Huntley Meadows, in Alexandria, VA

Today's post was originally published for the butterfly survey project I run, over at Woodend Sanctuary in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Since the weather has been nice and warm for several days now, we're starting to see quite a bit of butterfly activity. There are hundreds of different kinds of butterflies, of many shapes and sizes. It can seem kind of bewildering at first when you're learning how to identify them. Over the years I've found several strategies can help you make sense of it all, though-- in particular learning what you need to look for. So to help you out, here is my general strategy on how to butterfly an unfamiliar butterfly in the field.

Size
The first observation to make when you see a new butterfly is its relative size. Our largest butterflies, swallowtails, tend to be about 3 or 4 inches across. Our smallest, blues and azures, are barely an inch across. The rest are somewhere in between. A birding trick that also works for butterflies is to use a familiar butterfly to help you remember an unfamiliar butterfly's size. Cabbage Whites are probably our most ubiquitous butterfly, and their medium size make them a great comparison.


Cabbage Whites are about 3 inches across when their wings are open, or 1.5 inches when their wings are closed like in this photo.  

Color(s)
Next you want to check out the main color of the butterfly. If it’s flying you may only get a general impression, e.g. darkish, or somewhere between white and yellow. Don't worry too much if you can't see details just yet.


A Peck's Skipper was posing nicely when I went to take the shot, but then of course took off as soon as I pressed the shutter release. But if this was what I actually saw in the field, I could guess it was a skipper because of the small size and the orange-and-black coloring.
  
Flight Style
While the butterfly is in flight (which it almost certainly is), take a look at *how* it flies. Some kinds of butterflies have easily recognizable flight patterns that can help you identify them, especially in combination with their general size.

  • Blues and Hairstreaks fly very erratically, switching directions every few seconds.
  • Swallowtails and Fritillaries fly more strongly and steadily than the smaller Blues & Hairstreaks.
  • Satyrs and Browns have a distinct “bouncy” style of flight—that is, veering up for a ways and then back down, then up again. 
 Once the butterfly finally comes to a rest, perhaps on a flower to nectar or on a sunny leaf to bask, you should look more closely at its colors and markings. The exact shape, size, and location of markings (stripes, spots, and /splotches/) varies from species to species. Some species that look relatively similar, like Spicebush and Pipevine Swallowtails, are easy to tell apart when you know which field marks are different. Pipevine Swallowtails have big round orange spots on the underside of their hindwings (the right-hand image below), while Spicebush Swallowtails’ spots are smaller and differently shaped.



You should remember that butterflies often have different markings on their upper (dorsal) side than on their under (ventral) side. Also take note of whether the markings are on the forewings (the pair of wings closest to the butterfly’s head) or the hindwings (closest to their abdomen). This will be important when you're reading descriptions of possible butterflies in your field guide, or looking at photos or drawings to compare them to your butterfly.

Finding butterflies in the field

But of course, all the skills in the world won't help you if the butterflies are nowhere to be found, right? Or, for that matter, if you can't get close enough to see them well. So here are a few tips to help you get better looks at butterflies than you might otherwise.

Sun-- Don't let your shadow pass over the butterfly you're watching. A sudden shadow tells the butterfly a predator may be looming above and about to strike. It's a great way to startle a previously resting butterfly into flight.

Speed-- Move slowly and steadily when approaching a butterfly for a photo. You can walk at any speed you like most of the time, but when you're trying to sneak closer to a resting butterfly, sudden movements might startle it into flight. (In fact, I often first spot a butterfly when it startles and takes into the air from wherever it was resting beside the path. Then I have to watch and/or chase it in hopes it will land again somewhere.)

Stillness (part 1)-- Butterflies are much easier to identify and photograph when they're not in flight. Although they do seem to spend most of the time in the air, you're not likely to get a sharp photo of a flying butterfly. Although (with practice)you can identify butterflies in flight as you pick out certain field marks that help you rule out possible IDS, your camera is unlikely to be able to capture those field marks in focus enough for an iNaturalist confirmation. So a better plan is to follow the butterfly, ready to look more closely and/or photograph it as soon as it sets down on a flower or leaf.

Stillness (part 2)-- If you get frustrated at chasing airborne butterflies, you could also try lying in wait for them. Select a flowering plant and wait discreetly nearby. Any butterflies that stop for a sweet meal will be easy to view and photograph. There's no guarantee that your specific plant will host butterflies while you watch, but it's still worth a try if chasing butterflies isn't working for you.

Happy butterflying! Let me know what you see, or if you have any questions about butterflies, in the comments.

I found this Monarch nectaring on some New England Asters at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.

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