Jagged Ambush Bug
The Jagged Ambush Bug (Phymata sp.) hides out on flowers, waiting for the opportune time to strike out and catch prey. These interesting looking insects can even mimic sounds to attract insect species to get a little too close them. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Connecticut for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
Read MoreYard Sharp-shinned Hawk
Here is a somewhat bigger recent bird from Twan’s yard, the Sharp-shinned Hawk! Hey, raptors have to eat too, and they are doing their biological function by preying on the various other avian populations in the area. They have growing young that need all the food they can get…after all, a significant percentage of their soon to be fledged and subsequently juvenile birds will starve to death. Nature is a difficult balance to say the least.
Read MoreBouncing Babies
Here we have some bouncing baby…umm, boys and girls I would guess. These spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) babies will soon be hatching from their globular masses and become veracious predators in the little vernal pools in which they temporarily reside. As they feed and grow, they will be racing against the clock in order to develop from free swimming legless tadpoles into four legged land dwellers before their nursery pool dries out towards the end of the summer. Talk about rapid development! Elyse Henshaw Conservation Technician
Read MoreDeer Overbrowsing
I may not be an expert on vegetation, especially ornamental, but something seems…not right…here. You have probably seen similar sights in the last couple of months now that the ice and snow have fully cleared as White-tailed Deer did a number on anything they could eat in the Northeast. Everything just above their head is bright and green, and parts below are bare and brown. Our overpopulation of deer wipes the forest floors clean to the point where they must pick at what we could call scraps like these in our neighborhoods. Some people may object to wolves in their backyards,...
Read MoreRed Fox Kits at Den
Check out the video evidence of this Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) family growing up and all the more red! Taken at the second and more hidden entrance to their den, you can even see them teething on some of the branches covering it up! So cute it hurts.
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