Comet Darner (Anax longipes)
I was very happy to find a local breeding population of the spectacular Comet Darner (Anax longipes) during our ongoing assessment of the Chautauqua-Allegheny region’s dragonflies and damselflies. These are the 747s of the dragonfly world, but in fire truck red. What more could you want? Photographed for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Twan Leenders RTPI President
Read MoreMoon Work
We at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History do not only work during the day! I am not just talking about sitting behind our computers all night either. Moon work, or nocturnal field surveys, will be undertaken throughout the spring and summer seasons for species like the Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), a New York species of Special Concern that nests in the Jamestown area, and for moths of all types. Those moths were a favorite area of study for Roger Tory Peterson, and we are looking to expand our knowledge on them as well as all the dragonflies, butterflies and other...
Read MoreGrasshopper Sparrow
I photographed this Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) last week on a dreary and foggy morning in grasslands known to be a spring migratory site for the species. It was busy feeding in the mist, generally avoiding any picturesque views, as is typical for the species. It had even been singing the previous day! RTPI staff documented confirmed breeding of Henslow’s Sparrows and Grasshopper Sparrows at the Chautauqua County/Jamestown Airport (KJHW) during the summer of 2013. Both species are listed as New York endangered species with the Henslow’s Sparrow classified as ‘threatened’ and...
Read MoreWe Didn’t Find Anything…And That’s a Good Thing!
After two months of intensive winter survey work, we found nothing. However, that’s precisely the result we wanted. As you’ve probably seen or heard, this past winter we surveyed several sites throughout the area looking exclusively for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA), an invasive insect that puts all Eastern Hemlock trees (Tsuga canadensis), the habitats they make up and the wildlife they support at risk. This particular pest is minute, but can bring a tree to its death within a matter of 3-5 years if left unchecked and untreated. In response to this, several organizations, state...
Read MoreGray Ghost Northern Harrier
This is a “Gray Ghost” Northern Harrier, an adult male soaring through the sky and hunting over grasslands. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History has been assisting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a second season of wintering raptor surveys in Chautauqua County in 2014-2015. The primary focus of these surveys is to determine where Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus), ‘endangered’ in New York, and Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus), ‘threatened’ in New York, are spending the winter season to roost and feed. As we...
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