Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

It's rare to see two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds not trying to chase each other off.  At least I was impressed to see these two calmly sitting together on a branch in one of my Chinese Privets this afternoon.

Two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds sharing a perch

Early Fall Migrant Birds

I was up at daybreak this morning to look for any early migrating birds passing through.  There were two I saw that probably fit that bill:  a Red-eyed Vireo and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Red-eyed Vireo in the Magnolia tree

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher up in my neighbor's Sweetgum tree

Otherwise it was a pretty good morning for birdwatching in the backyard with 14 species observed in roughly a 45 minute period.  The following list is from my eBird checklist this morning:

14 species (+1 other taxa) total

1	Laughing Gull flying to the west
2	gull sp. high flyover; did not have black heads
2	Chimney Swift
2	Ruby-throated Hummingbird
1	Red-eyed Vireo
3	Blue Jay
2	American Crow
2	Carolina Chickadee
1	Tufted Titmouse
1	Carolina Wren
1	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1	Brown Thrasher
2	Northern Cardinal Age & Sex Juvenile Immature Adult Age Unknown Male 1 Female 1 Sex Unknown
5	House Finch Age & Sex Juvenile Immature Adult Age Unknown Male 1 2 Female 1 Sex Unknown 1
1	House Sparrow Age & Sex Juvenile Immature Adult Age Unknown Male Female 1 Sex Unknown

 

Are you submitting a complete checklist of the birds you were able to identify?

Yes

Carolina Anole

The Carolina Anole (Anolis carolinensis) is a lizard native to the Southeastern U.S. including right here in Wilmington, North Carolina.  They're very common in my backyard, often found crawling on the outside brick walls of my house or within the bushes and small fruit trees nearby.  They eat all kinds of small insects and I once observed one eating a fully-grown Carpenter Bee!  They're quite active during the spring, summer and fall, but will occasionally venture out during the winter if there's a span of several warm days.

Carolina Anole looking for insects on a canna leaf.

Carolina Anoles are active and very photogenic.  The antics that result when two lizards fight for territory or chase down a moth are great fun to watch.  When males are interested in a prospective mate they inflate a bright red dewlap or throat sack, usually while perched in a high, very visible location.  Nothing makes you think you live in a tropical paradise more than seeing a half dozen of these in your backyard.

Carolina Anole with his dewlap showing, hoping to attract a mate.

Fall Bird Migration

It's almost that time of year when the migratory bird species that call the mid-latitudes of North America home all summer begin to move back to the tropics and subtropics for winter.  The trigger for this southward migration is shortening day lengths and cooler weather.  Over the span of a couple months billions of birds will make the journey, and some of those birds will fly through your backyard.

Why do birds expend the energy to fly thousands of miles, sometimes risking dehydration and starvation to fly across the open waters of Gulf of Mexico?  As colder weather develops across temperate North America food supplies dwindle.  In addition many birds simply aren't adapted to survive sustained cold weather, particularly cold weather of the magnitude experienced in Canada and the northern United States.  Snow covers up any food on the ground.  The tropics and subtropics offer mild temperatures, plentiful food supplies, and a safe place to wait out the cold winter weather to the north.  But that begs the question "if it's so nice in the tropics, why fly north each spring?"  So many birds packed into so little space in the forests of Central America eventually would lead to stress on the naturally occurring insect and plant food sources here too, especially as the birds tried to breed and raise hungry young.  Temperate North America offers relatively uncrowded territory with ample food -- at least for the summer months.

I live in a great area to view the various bird species during fall migration.  Prevailing wind directions during the fall begin to acquire a more northwesterly component across the Eastern U.S., constricting the southward-moving stream of migrating birds up against the Atlantic coast.  Contrast this to the spring migration where the stream of northward migrating birds fans out well to my west.  During spring migration I invariably will see much lower numbers of migrating species.

The reason I'm writing this today (August 30th) is I saw my first Red-Eyed Vireos of the year. While Red-Eyed Vireos do breed across Southeastern North Carolina they do not breed in my neighborhood.  (At least not that I'm aware of)  When I start to see Vireos show up it means this species is beginning its movement  out of its typical breeding habitat and the migration season can't be far behind.

The list of fall migrants I typically see here is unique:  Red-Eyed Vireos, White-Eyed Vireos, American Redstarts, Black-and-White Warblers, Gray Catbirds, and Black-throated Blue Warblers. It's even arguable that some the Black Vultures I've seen in fall are southward-moving migrants.  There are many, many more species that move through this area I'm just waiting to see.

Here are some photos taken in my backyard from previous fall migration seasons:

Red-Eyed Vireo

Black-and-White Warbler

White-eyed Vireo

Black-throated Blue Warbler (never faced in my direction)

American Redstart

Toward the tail-end of the migration season in late October I start to see my typical winter birds return:  Baltimore Orioles, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and White-throated Sparrows among others.

Invasion of the Gulf Fritillary Butterflies

Gulf Fritillary butterfly

Late each summer these bright orange visitors colonize the coastal Carolinas from the south. Gulf Fritillary butterflies are essentially a tropical species that cannot survive sustained freezing weather in the egg, caterpillar, pupa (cocoon) or adult butterfly form.  This means those that don't migrate south of the "hard freeze line" in Florida or along the Gulf Coast during winter are killed and the species is forced to recolonize areas to the north the following summer.  Southeastern North Carolina experiences at least a few hard freezes each winter that virtually guarantees no winter-surviving Gulf Fritillaries locally.

I have a large hedge of Lantana bushes in my backyard -- probably the primary reason I see butterflies at all as their bright yellow, orange and red flowers attract many species of butterflies to their limitless nectar supplies.  Lantana's not a North American native but is one of the best nectar-producing plants I'm aware of, feeding many butterfly species, bees, and even hummingbirds.  Gulf Fritillaries have always been attracted to the Lantana and I've observed them feeding ("nectaring" in butterfly-speak) here from early August up through the short, cool days of November.

This is the first year I've grown passionflower vines in my yard.  I've picked two species to try -- both of which are very cold hardy and should survive our North Carolina winters:  Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) and Blue Passionflower. (Passiflora caerulea)  These two species both serve as the larval (caterpillar) host plants for Gulf Fritillary butterflies and this means these creatures now have even more reasons to call my backyard home!

Three Gulf Fritillary eggs on
a Maypop leaf

Gulf Fritillary butterfly laying an egg
on the tendril of a Maypop
passionflower vine

It didn't take but a couple of days after first spotting the Gulf Fritillaries this year before I started seeing eggs on the leaves and tendrils of the Maypop passionflower vines.  These eggs hatched within just a couple of days into tiny black and orange caterpillars which immediately began munching away on the the leaves.  I actually ended up with more eggs than I knew the small plants could support, so I "thinned" them down to half a dozen or so. . .

Young Gulf Fritillary caterpillar

. . . but obviously I missed a lot of eggs because within a week I found nearly two dozen caterpillars ravaging the Passionflower vines!  I thinned these down to about half a dozen caterpillars, leaving just the largest ones.  These should be the first ones to spin cocoons that obscure the amazing metamorphosis process -- finally resulting in the caterpillars turning into adult butterflies.

Several caterpillars...

As of today the largest caterpillars are nearly 1.5 inches long and they're still ravenously eating.

First Post

This is the first post on a project I've been wanting to do for a long time:  documenting what nature can do even in the most unexpected places. (like my backyard!)

Google Earth map of where I live

I live in suburban Wilmington, North Carolina and have a fairly typical half-acre yard in a fairly typical sprawling neighborhood located just a few hundred feet from a busy four-lane highway.  Interstate 40 is less than a mile from here and despite the relative closeness of the Atlantic Ocean (a little over five miles as the Crow flies) I'm too far inland for the local views to look very different than what you would find 50 or even 100 miles inland.  My weather is strongly influenced by the ocean however, and that largely makes possible the climate conditions that support what I find living and growing here.




So why write this blog?  I want to keep a record of what I see across all the spectrum of life from the tiniest insect to the rarest bird to the largest tree.  I hope to do this in an entertaining, interesting, and visually exciting way with plenty of photos and well-researched identifications.  Perhaps others stumbling across this blog years (or even generations) from now will also realize that while 100,000 acre wilderness preserves are wonderful and necessary, even in the most urbanized, homogenized location you'll find a staggering number of species growing happily there, many of which will amaze the careful observer.

Yuzu (Citrus ichangensis ×
Citrus reticulata )

Back to my yard for a moment.  Despite living in an area that is better identified as a "warm temperate" than a "subtropical" climate, I'm growing plants that are definitely subtropical in origin:  citrus, bananas, and pomegranates.  The bananas are relegated by my climate (frequent frost during the winter months) to the ornamental category only.  The citrus will easily survive most winters here -- but that one-in-ten year hard freeze is going to be tough on them too.  Same thing goes for the pomegranates.  I look forward to expounding more on these in later blog posts.








My influences in this endeavor are mainly what I've seen others do online, particularly Bill Hilton Jr. over at hiltonpond.org.  He's taken a parcel of otherwise mundane South Carolina Piedmont (an area not known for its diversity in wildlife or plant life) and shown how many amazing plants, animals, insects, and birds call it home.  His photography skills, particularly with birds and insects, are some of the best I've ever seen.  My wife and her family have been instrumental in developing my love of birds and birdwatching over the past couple of years.  An outgrowth of birdwatching has been an appreciation and love of virtually every other form of life you can find outdoors from butterflies and lizards to trees and insects.  My grandparents on both my mom's and dad's side of the family were avid gardeners and that has definitely translated into one of my interests as well.

We'll see what direction this project takes over the coming months -- I can't wait to see it myself!