Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Sea ducks. Bay ducks. Marsh ducks. So many kinds of ducks! For those of you that think ducks are those aquatic birds that swim around in ponds, eating bread, and gracing the pages of the Boston-based classic Make Way for Ducklings , you would be right about 1 out of 39 times (39 being the number of regularly occurring species in North America). The most common and easily recognized duck is the Mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos ) and generally speaking, is the one most people think of when they think of a duck. Mallards at Hager Pond in Marlboro, MA. However, as the title suggests, the waterfowl family isn't simply one species. The birds I want to talk about today are some of the toughest, roughest, and even, dare I say it, attractive ducks in the Anatidae family! The name "sea duck" originates in several older documents including the earlier versions of Roger Tory Peterson's field guides and refers to their preferred winter habitat of coastlines, harbors, and the o

This morning I had the great fortune of spotting not only a life bird, but also getting a fairly rare bird for Massachusetts. The bird I'm referring to is the Cackling Goose ( Branta hutchinsii ), but upon looking at the two photos below, you probably have noticed something unusual about the appearance of these birds. For all intents and purposes, a Cackling Goose appears to be a dead ringer for a munchkin-sized Canada Goose ( B. canadensis ) and to the uninitiated, it could be mistaken for a "baby" Canada Goose. However, we birders know that what a baby goose looks like with its fuzzy yellowish down, peeping voice, and angry, protective parents so to be seeing a "baby" goose at this time of year would be completely unexpected. The Cackling Goose was for a long time considered to be a high Arctic breeding race of Canada Goose in northwestern Canada and Alaska. They themselves can be split into three or four races as well and include the Taverner's,

As the final month of the year draws closer, I am once again rushing to complete something that I resolved to do earlier this year. While I have held fast to completing some of my new years resolutions such as being more creative (with painting rocks and shells swiftly becoming my new favorite thing to do), learning about wild edibles, and completing my year birding goal of beating last year's goal. Over the past four years, my year birding totals have varied wildly, but as of 2012 I had seen 228 species, whereas last year I got 225. That means that as of today, I have 215 species on this year's list. As of 1:44pm this afternoon, I listed a King Eider ( Someteria spectabilis ) that had been spotted between the point at Weymouth's Webb State Park and the metal walkway leading up to Grape Island. It was an easy list and one that I had had on my most wanted birds list. The most wanted list features 20 (now 17 with the acquisition of the King, as well as Long-tailed Duck ( Cl

As I sit in my parent's kitchen having just returned from Pennsylvania for the winter, I'm thinking back on some of my teaching experiences that I've had over the past year or so and remembering the names children will give to certain animals. I mentioned one of these in post #125 when I was talking about what bugs were common in Pennsylvania during the fall. These would be the Common True Katydids ( Pterophylla camellifolia ) that the kids call "leafbugs". They're not wrong as they do look like a leaf has spawned legs and beady little eyes. But despite being named for something else entirely (the name Katydid is allegory about a girl who refused to tell the truth about something and suffered dire consequences as a result), but this other name suits them just as well. Another insect that springs to mind is the water strider ( Gerridae ) which is often misnamed as the "water spider". However, according to a quick glance on Wikipedia, they are

As my last weekend in Pennsylvania draws to a close, I decided on Friday night to go birding somewhere. But as I searched the local hotspots for migrants (which have since been growing thin as the main songbird species such as warblers have all but gone), I couldn't find an ideal spot. I had mentioned to friends at work about my interest about going to Hawk Mountain, but recent counts suggested that the "good" species had already filed through. So as I clicked on the lists and links of eBird, my eye was drawn to local sightings of Rusty Blackbirds ( Euphagus carolinus ), a particularly hard bird to locate due to their scarcity (their population has declined 99% in the past 50 years or so) and habit of sticking to small flocks of their own kind. A park about 45 minutes north of Horsham had hosted the birds within the past week and seemed to be worth a look. The report also detailed the presence of a juvenile Brant ( Branta bernicla ) that had been grazing on the shore of

After working with 5th and 6th grade kids, you definitely have a different perspective on the world. You realize how hard it is for kids in school these days with deluges of exams, the new Common Core standards, parental expectations, lack of recess and adequate physical education, and much more. But more than that, most kids and by extension, most adults, know little about the natural world around them. Through my years in the environmental education field and musings while on my own travels through nature, I always wonder how much other people are noticing about what's around them. As such, there are a lot of misconceptions about the wild creatures that we are increasingly coming in contact with as habitat fragmentation, housing developments, and other human-wildlife conflicts become more common. No more is the occasional raccoon raiding the bins or bear steal seed from the feeders, the wilderness is here and we better learn to live with it. That being said, I found with teachi

It will be two more weeks until my time in Pennsylvania ends, but before that arrives, I've been actively trying to add more species to my year list in an attempt to beat my year birding record from last year (223 spp.) With the addition of two American Coots ( Fulica americana ) this afternoon during a visit to Peace Valley Park in Doylestown, I now have 211 species on the list thus far. While I'm confident I can beat my record from last year, the nail biting finish is fast approaching and I can only hope that the sea ducks, LBJs, and auks I need, manifest themselves before December ends. Still it's been an amazing year and I've been clicking away whenever I get the chance (both in terms of photography and blogging). I decided to walk around Lake Galena (the main attraction in Peace Valley Park) today for two reasons. This past week I've been using a pedometer app to track how far I walk during the day at work and for the most part, I get about 10,000 steps a day

October is a strange month. Everything about it reeks of Hallowe'en or pumpkin flavoring or the last dregs of summer slowly fading into the bright fall colors and fresh breezes that we all wait for in the waning month of August. But there is something else just as noticeable as fall arrives and settles in and those are the abundant insects and other invertebrates that seem more visible than ever. While they are not a group that many are willing to actively look out for, they certainly are common enough to warrant a second look. This is the time of year when the crickets are in full song and the fuzziest caterpillars are migrating over the lawns and fields looking for a safe place to hole up for the winter months. It is also the time for the last butterflies flitting through the sunshine and for spiders to build their webs in wide open spaces to capture their abundant and unsuspecting prey. It has been over the past few weeks that several new and familiar invertebrates have caug