Odonate Walk
Via the Aspetuck Land Trust with photos from ALT’s Jacquie Littlejohn: Over the weekend, Scott Kruitbosch of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History led an enthusiastic group of ALT members on a walk to see and learn about Odonata and Other Flying Objects in our Trout Brook Valley preserve. Among the various odonates (aka dragonflies and damselflies) we saw were: Widow Skimmer, Tiger Spiketail, Arrowhead Spiketail, Eastern Pondhawk, White-faced Meadowhawk, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Common Whitetail, Ebony Jewelwing and Eastern Forktail. Everyone got to see multiple Tiger...
Read MorePollinator Meadows
This morning RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser and I attended the annual meeting of the Aspetuck Land Trust at the always magnificent Trout Brook Valley Conservation Area in Weston and Easton, Connecticut with many great friends, naturalists, conservationists and caring neighbors. Thankfully incoming rain showers held off until the afternoon, but the cool and cloudy conditions kept it quiet for most insects. We joined our fellow members of the Land Management Committee to hike the property after the meeting, examining our pollinator meadows and the sizable growth of uncut grasslands that are now...
Read MoreSnowy Akeley Trail
This is a very snowy trail at the Akeley Swamp Important Bird Area in Warren County, Pennsylvania. Doesn’t just looking at this make you want to make the hike all the way to the end? You may want to put your skis or snowshoes on first…
Read MoreSnowy Owl in Flight
Let’s be honest – this winter has been absolutely brutal! Whether we want to blame this continuous weather pattern on climate change or not, this is not what the climate is supposed to feel like in mid to late February. As the sun keeps rising temperatures keep plummeting with record low minimums at night and record low maximums during the day. The snow keeps coming, and more will be coming this weekend. However, the Snowy Owls have been a bit tougher to find this year than last. Nevertheless, there are many individuals spending their season here in our neighborhoods, which look...
Read MoreBullet Ants (Paraponera clavata)
This last trip to Panama was definitely the trip of the Bullet Ants (Paraponera clavata) according to RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser as there was a lot of activity with this species. On some of the nights hikes our crew saw upwards of a hundred individuals, even getting to watch the activity of a nest at the base of an enormous tree. Male soldiers with wings started to fly into the main research hut! It may feel like we will never see ants again in some of our below zero and snow-covered backyards, but they will be out in full force again soon enough. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean...
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