Immature Plumage

Top Photo: Adult male hooded merganser. The next time you’re down in our wetlands, scrutinize the female mergansers. One of them may be a male. Adult male hooded mergansers (photo above) are easy to pick out in a crowd. Their chestnut sides, black back, black and white breast, black and white crested head, and amber eye stand out, for sure. Females are a bit more cryptically plumaged. They’re the ones who will be incubating the eggs inside a tree-cavity nestRead more

The Cooper’s Hawk

Top Photo: Cooper’s hawk in courtship display flight over museum. While spying on hooded mergansers in our wetland here at the Museum of Life + Science, I noticed one of the ducks tilt its head to the side and glance skyward. Reasoning the merganser was eyeing something potentially hazardous to itself, I too craned upward, thinking it perhaps an eagle or other worthy raptor. There, way up high against a severe clear sky was a Cooper’s hawk. It’s stiff postureRead more

Nest Box Update 2.14.2023

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs (from previous year). Official Volunteer Sammie and I went around to all six of our bluebird nest boxes this morning placing new berry baskets inside each as we went. The birds have been singing a bit more than in previous weeks and we wanted to get ahead of them. Though not surprising, a pine needle was found in one of the nest boxes (bluebird?). The nest boxes have all been cleaned and exteriorly coated andRead more

Spring Already?

Top Photo: Male hooded merganser swims past a bale of turtles out basking on a warm February afternoon. Basking turtles, excavating nuthatches, blooming honeysuckle, sunning anoles, and mating hawks, all a part of the spring to come. Sliders come out on every available sunny winter day to bask, but they were out in force on a sunny 70 degree day this week. Brown-headed nuthatches commence cavity construction in soft-wood trees each February. They excavate many more holes than they useRead more

Spring?

Top Photo: The pollen flies as I tap hazel alder’s male catkins in our wetlands. February is the time of year hazel alder blooms in our wetland. The plants are monoecious, having both male and female flowers on the same plant. The wine-red female flowers stand above the amber male catkins and are pollinated via the wind, or through the tap of a naturalist’s finger. The shrub is also called smooth alder, common alder, tag alder, or Alnus serrulata inRead more

How Close Can You Get?

Top Photo: Ranger Patrick (lower right) photographing one of the local red-shouldered hawks (beyond and to right of pine tree – large tree trunk on left). Our resident red-shouldered hawks are quite used to human activity. When they’re hunting they seem to pay little or no attention to folks passing by. In the heat of the breeding season the birds seem even less concerned. They often allow close approach by photographers like Ranger Patrick in the photos here, as heRead more

Ducks, Cherry Dogwood, Crocus, Geese, Sliders, and Mistletoe

Top Photo: Hooded mergansers float and reflect in the wetland’s water. Here’s a handful of things to look for as you stroll around and through our outdoor areas during the last half of winter. We hope to entice hooded mergansers to nest in our wetlands. Cornelian cherry dogwood’s flower buds are about to burst open into a bright yellow display of florescence. The small tree shown here is located on your right, just outside the main building’s door to GatewayRead more
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Hummingbird Moth Caterpillar

Top Photo: Can you find the caterpillar amongst the leaves? The literature states that hummingbird clearwings (Hemaris thysbe) lay their eggs on honeysuckle and viburnum, less frequently on a few other tree species. The moths have been documented laying eggs on viburnums here on campus and their caterpillars have been spotted on two different varieties of viburnum. The caterpillars reach a length of about 2 inches, a little less than half the size of some of the more familiar sphinxRead more