Species of the Month

Halloween is just around the corner. Traditionally, we examine a spooky critter with a connection to Halloween for the Species of the Month. This year let’s try something different. There’s nothing scary about a ghost crab, but its name fits the season. 

Ghost crab (Science Magazine)

Scientific name: Ocypode quadrata 

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Malacostraca (soft-shelled crustaceans)

Order: Decapoda (ten-footed crustaceans)

Range: Rhode Island to Brazil 

Habitat: Ocean or estuary beaches, from the tide line to the dunes 

Lifespan: 3 years 

Diet: Bean clams, mole crabs, sea turtle eggs and hatchlings, organic detritus 

Predators: Shore birds, gulls, raccoons 

Conservation status: No special protection

Other info: Ghost crabs are small, nocturnal crustaceans. They grow to about a two inch carapace (back shell) with long legs and eye stalks, and their claws are uneven sizes. Ghost crabs hatch from an egg in the ocean and go through six larval stages before developing into adult crabs. Unlike other crabs that can only mate when the female is molting, ghost crabs can and do mate at anytime after reaching maturity which is usually after a year old.  

Juvenile ghost crab (NPS)

Ghost crabs live in burrows in the sand. They plug the holes during the day and emerge at night for feeding and mating. Mating occurs near the male’s burrow. They travel several feet per night and may not return to the same burrow. Occasionally they will go into the water to wet their gills; they are also capable of absorbing water from the sand into their gills. 

Ghost crabs can be used as an indicator species to monitor the health of their habitat. Populations can be easily estimated by counting burrows. Knowing the status of the crab population can tell what kind of impact human activities are having on the ecosystem overall. Off road vehicles and coastal development are the biggest challenges we give them. 

A pair of ghost crabs (NPS)

Once again this week's information comes from the Animal Diversity Web at University of Michigan. Next week is a rerun. We'll have fresh content after Halloween. Stay tuned!

Species of the Month

Just because we're past Valentine's Day doesn't mean our Species of the Month isn't still lovey-dovey. This month we're taking a look at the mourning dove, one of the most common birds in my area.

Scientific name: Zenaida macroura

Mourning dove with baby

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Aves (birds)

Order: Columbiformes (pigeons and doves)

Range: Southern Canada south to Panama

Habitat: Open woods and forest edges near open areas

Lifespan: Average is 1 1/2 years

Diet: Seeds, grains, fruit, insects

Two mourning doves that hatched from the
nest in my flower basket

Predators: Raptors, raccoons, snakes, domestic dogs and cats

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: Mourning doves form monogamous pairs for mating season, with both parents
caring for the young. The male selects the nesting site and brings material to female. He stands on her
back while she builds. I'm not exactly sure how that helps her, but I saw it happen with my own eyes.
Doves in northern areas may migrate to warmer areas in the winter. They make a whistling noise when
flying, and also audible flapping sometimes. Mourning doves get their name from their mournful
sounding call. When I was a kid, I thought it was an owl. You probably see them sitting on a wire by
the side of the road. They have a pointy tail and call out "Who ah who, who who." I noticed the ones in
Washington sound a little different from those in Pennsylvania. Even birds have a Philly accent.

Check out those pointy tails (eBird)

This week's information comes from the Animal Diversity Web again.

Crickets

Fall has almost fallen. It's hard to believe summer was in full swing when you last read a fresh Nature Minute blog. Internet issues and life in general kept me from my regular schedule. Maybe where you are, the leaves are starting to turn, there's a bit of crispness in the air, mornings are full of fog, and nights are longer and full of chirping crickets.

Black field cricket Gryllus assimilis (Texas A&M) 

Here in Pennsylvania, crickets typically begin their nightly serenades in the late summer, continuing through the fall. Only the males chirp. They do so by rubbing their wings together, as a mating call for the females. They are most active at night, and even during daytime are hard to find. If they notice you getting close, they'll stop chirping so you really need to look hard if you want to find the source of the chirp. Warmer temperatures will produce more chirps, and the number of chirps drops with the temperature. I never counted chirps before, so I never noticed this.

Northern mole cricket Neocurtilla hexadactyla
(University of Florida)

Many people consider crickets to be a pest because the chirping gets annoying, but they are generally harmless. Since crickets favor loose soil, they are frequently found in flower beds, which are usually right under your bedroom window, giving you a front row seat. At the bottom of the food chain, in large numbers they have the potential to attract other unwanted guests to your home such as raccoons and spiders.

Carolina ground cricket Eunemobius carolinus
(Oklahoma Panhandle State University)

Nature Minute will return in October with more autumnal awesomeness. I'm taking a much-needed vacation. Until then, relax to the sound of the crickets. Don't let them drive you nuts. They'll only be around a few more weeks, and then it will be too cold to keep the windows open at night. This week's cricket facts come from Terro.

Species of the Month

This month’s species of the month was supposed to be a lichen called lipstick cladonia, but for being a widespread lichen there is very little information about it. So I changed it to something a little easier to research. This past weekend I saw my first eastern bluebird, so that’s what you get this month.

Scientific name: Sialia sialis

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class:   Aves (birds)

Order: Passeriformes (perching birds)

Range: east of the Rockies from southern Canada to Honduras

Habitat: open areas with trees  

Lifespan: 6-10 years, mortality highest in first year

Diet: primarily insects, also seeds, nuts, and berries

Male bluebird with a cricket (Audubon Field Guide)

Predators: Snakes, house cats, raccoons, black bears, American kestrels. Flying squirrels and chipmunks are egg predators. House sparrows and European starling kill bluebirds and/or compete for nesting sites.

Conservation Status: no special protection

Male with brilliant blue on full display (Smithsonian)

Other Information: Bluebirds are a social, yet territorial bird. At times they gather in flocks, but will also defend a nesting territory and feeding territory from other bluebirds. They also have an interesting dynamic with tree swallows. Two pairs of bluebirds will not nest in boxes that are next to each other, and bluebirds will drive away tree swallows if only one box is available. However, placing two boxes side by side will allow the bluebird and the swallow to coexist as neighbors. Male bluebirds have a brilliant blue backside and red breast; females are dull gray with brownish breast. Her eggs are blue, but sometimes white, in clutches of 3-7. Eggs hatch after 13-16 days and the young fledge nest 2-3 weeks after hatching. Pairs may mate twice in a season, and sometimes the young from the first clutch will help raise the second clutch.

Female bluebird looking with muted colors (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Information this month comes from the good folks at University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web again.

This is a Crappy Subject

Now for the dirtier side of nature. Pretty much every living thing on this planet exists to be someone else’s meal. If you’re unlucky enough to become lunch, the next step is you become poop. No one likes to talk about it, look at it, or smell it. Even though it’s gross, it’s an essential element of the environment for a couple of reasons.

Raccoon scat

The most important function of poop, or scat as we call it in the science world, is a key role in the nutrient cycle. Every living thing needs an assortment of minerals in order to function properly. Minerals are absorbed from the soil by plants, then absorbed by herbivores that eat those plants, then absorbed by various levels of carnivores up through the food chain. Some minerals are present in the ground in rocks; others are returned to the soil through decaying organic matter (plant or animal) or through scat.

Nutrient cycle (from Exploring Nature.org)

Another important impact scat has on the environment is negative, and it goes beyond getting on your shoe. Nitrates and phosphates are common in scat, and also happen to be active ingredients in fertilizer. Excessive nitrates and phosphates in storm runoff causes high nutrient levels in lakes, streams, and even the ocean. Those high levels can cause an overgrowth of algae. Too much algae, even though it produces oxygen, can cause dead zones of little to no oxygen when the algae dies and decomposers feasting on it suck all the oxygen out of the water.

Algae bloom (Michigan Radio)

A third way scat is important is as a research tool. It allows people like myself who rarely observe animals in the wild to see what animals have been down the trail before. DNA samples can be pulled from scat, and population biologists can estimate population by counting turds. Ecologists can study an animal’s dietary habits from looking at scat.

The coyote that dropped this deuce ate a bird

Deer scat

Now that you’ve seen the usefulness of animal scats, maybe you will look at it in a whole new light on your next foray into the woods. Like anything else in nature (except maybe spiders), if you can overcome your aversion, you can learn to appreciate it.

Species of the Month

February's species of the month is a pink bird, reminiscent of Valentine's Day. The roseate spoonbill is a spectacle to behold with pink plumage that only becomes more vibrant as the bird ages. It's not necessarily known for being a love bird, but at least the color matches the month.

Roseate spoonbill (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Scientific name: Ajaia ajaja

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class:   Aves (birds)

Order: Ciconiiformes (storks and relatives)

Range: Gulf Coast south across the Caribbean, Central and South America

Habitat: freshwater and saltwater marshes

Lifespan: 16 years on average

Diet: small fish and crustaceans, plant matter, insects

Predators: alligators, coyotes, hawks (prey on chicks), raccoons (prey on chicks and eggs)

Conservation Status: No special conservation status

Other Information: The roseate spoonbill feeds by swishing its spoon shaped bill in the water. Like flamingos, the pink pigmentation comes from the crustaceans in the spoonbill’s diet. They were hunted for their feathers to near extinction. Protection in the 1940s led to their remarkable comeback. However, they remain vulnerable due to habitat loss.

This month's information comes once again from University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web, as well as New Hampshire PBS.

(Texas Parks and Wildlife)

(US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Species of the Month

October’s Species of the Month is another Halloween-related critter, just in time for the spooky holiday. Last year it was the little brown bat; this year we profile the great horned owl. Because they are primarily nocturnal, you are most likely to see one perched in the branches of a bare free, silhouetted against a full moon on a window cling or cardboard cutout decoration. 

Scientific name: Bubo virginianus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Aves (birds)

Order: Strigiformes (owls)

Range: North and South America from northern Alaska to southern Brazil

Habitat: Nearly universal in their range: forest, grassland, desert, swamp, and urban areas

Lifespan: 13 years in the wild, on average

Diet: rabbits, rodents, insects, amphibians, crustaceans, reptiles         

Predators: crows, raccoons (egg depredation)

Conservation Status: No special protection

Owl in a tree, Eatonville, WA

Other Information: The great horned owl is specially adapted for night hunting. The large eyes make efficient use of low lighting, and the round face funnels sound to the ears. The ears are offset, one higher on the head than the other, allowing the bird to locate prey by sound with pinpoint accuracy. Feathers have special edging that make for silent flight. The “horns” are feathers, not ears, and may serve as camouflage. They mate for life, and find each other during hooting rituals. While males hoot all year, females only hoot during mating season. A clutch of one to six eggs per season is the norm, although the number of offspring is dependent on prey density. Great horned owls are one of the most widespread birds, ranging from the polar regions to the tropics. As such, individual diets vary depending on specific habitat and location. Nests generally are someone else’s abandoned nest, such as a squirrel’s. The owls I saw in Washington flew out of a barn when I approached it, and I observed pellets (undigested feathers and bones that are coughed up) and droppings but no nest.

Information on owls comes once again from University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web. 

Owlets (Missouri Department of Conservation photo)

Adult great horned own (Missouri Department of Conservation photo)

Species of the Month

This month’s Species of the Month is a rarity on this blog. It has no seasonal connection to anything that is happening right now. This little critter is chunky, cute, and will fight you. It’s one of closest neighbors but we hardly ever see it because it is mainly nocturnal. The raccoon lives among humans, eating our garbage and is generally considered a nuisance in spite of its cuteness.

Procyon lotor

Scientific name: Procyon lotor

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Carnivora (carnivores)

Range: Southern Canada to northern South America, introduced to Europe and Asia

Habitat: Woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, urban areas

Lifespan: 5 years on average, less than 2 years is the norm but may live to be 16

Diet: Omnivorous opportunist. The raccoon will eat just about anything from nuts, berries, and fruit to insects, rodents, and amphibians to garbage and roadkill.         

Predators: Coyotes, wolves, hawks, owls

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: The raccoon will eat just about anything. The black eye mask is fitting, because its front feet function much like a little human hand, making it easier for these bandits to break into secured items than for most other animals. The raccoon is a good climber and can also swim if necessary. This little chunkster may be up to 50% body fat in the northern extremes of its range. They are normally solitary but babies (up to 7 in a litter) will live with mom until the end of their first winter. Babies are born blind. A male may spend a few weeks living with a female prior to mating. Raccoons do not hibernate, but during extended cold snaps they may sleep in as a way to conserve energy- a sort of mini-torpor. They are notorious carriers of rabies.  

This week’s information comes from University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web: http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Procyon_lotor/

Raccoon

Front footprint, hand-shaped

Raccoon scat, looks like cherry pits