Bejeweled Journeyer
If you look closely, you will notice a metal band on the leg of this young Ruby-throated Hummingbird. It serves to identify unique individuals of these tiny birds and allows biologists to track their migration path. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds breed in the eastern USA during the summer, but they spend the winter in lower Central America. This bird was banded on an RTPI project in western Costa Rica and returned to the same site a year later, after it had made another successful trip to North America – a journey of at least 4,000 miles. Impressive for a bird that weighs not much more than a...
Read MoreBeautiful Wood Nymph
Roger Tory Peterson was fascinated by the moths he found in Jamestown as a young boy. In fact, he even approached the police department to ask for special permission to stay out past the city curfew to catch them! This bizarre and lovely moth was perched on the front door at RTPI yesterday morning. Using a Peterson Field Guide to Moths, it was identified as a Beautiful Wood Nymph (Eudryas grata). When was the last time you embarked on an exploration of the hidden lives of the moths that live in your own backyard? Summertime is the perfect time to follow in Peterson’s footsteps! Learn...
Read MoreRemarkable Recapture
Golden-winged Warblers are among the most imperiled birds in North America. Their numbers have plummeted nearly 70% in the past 50 years, and this species continues to decline at a staggering 2.5% each year. Outside of their core breeding range in the upper Great Lakes Region (mostly Minnesota and Wisconsin) they have just about disappeared altogether, and several northeastern states now no longer have viable populations of Golden-winged Warblers around. What causes these declines? Well, a number of factors play a role here. Golden-winged Warblers prefer to live in open, wet areas that are...
Read MoreWelcoming Morgan and Becky to PWA
Please join us in welcoming this year’s Project Wild America Youth Ambassador Crew Leaders, Becky Rew and Morgan Motherwell! Becky joins us from Jamestown Community College, where she studied Environmental Science as well. Becky will be transferring to SUNY ESF this fall to pursue Conservation Biology. Morgan participated in PWA last year as a crew member, and has completed her first year at the Rochester Institute of Technology where she is studying Environmental Science. Both of these bright and dedicated young ladies will be leading our crew through a busy summer season, exploring...
Read MoreA Frog that Few Have Laid Eyes On
Here is a frog that few have ever laid eyes on – Legler’s Tree Frog (Ptychohyla legleri). This is one of the target species of RTPI Director Twan Leenders’ recent trip to the mountains of Costa Rica where he joined RTPI Research Associate Alex Shepack in surveys of imperiled amphibian populations. Legler’s Tree Frog is an endangered species with a very small and highly fragmented distribution range. It is the only species in its genus in lower Central America; its nearest relatives are found in northern Nicaragua and countries north of there. This recently metamorphed individual was found...
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