Marty July 15th, 2008
After our trip to Cape May, we decided to head to old standby Forsythe NWR in Brigantine to find some shorebirds. We had good success with the insects at Cape May, but not so much with the birds. So, we figured we could get all 3 at Forsythe although we would focus on the birds. Continue Reading »
Marty July 15th, 2008
Last year my wife and I spent a long weekend at Cape May to celebrate our 5th anniversary; this year, we couldn’t do awhile weekend but we wanted to continue the tradition. I wanted to get really early so that we could be there at sunrise; Shari wanted to get up just before sunrise and make it down there early-is in the morning. We compromised and did what she wanted. Continue Reading »
Marty July 9th, 2008
Okay, I figured that it was about time I posted something again. It’s been an early turn to the summer doldroms, and I haven’t been motivated to get off of my butt long enough to write. I’ve got about a half-dozen 50%-done posts to catch up on one of these days (it’s amazing how much time one can lose playing a simple game of Civilization IV. So while I haven’t been writing, I have been going through a lot of archived shots of dragonflies and damselflies … and I’ll probably have more by the end of Shari and my trip to Cape May on Friday (and/or Saturday). However, I think I’ll start it off with some more local odonates.
Marty June 11th, 2008
After the extremely trying week I had last week (lots of hours, tons of different projects, lots of deliverables, grandfather back in the hospital, hang nail), I took Friday off to get a little bit of nature photography in before the pending heat wave (which has been ungodly, btw - near 100 degrees for 5 days). I went down to a small local pond where we can usually find quite a few cool bugs to photograph, taking my wife’s Nikon 105mm f/2.8 lens with me (God, I love that lens). After a rough start, suddenly, I was inundated with odonata everywhere. Continue Reading »
Marty May 30th, 2008
Life ain’t always pretty. While we were driving around Forsythe NWR last weekend, we saw a lot of cool things, enjoyed some sun, smelled some god-awful stuff (”It smells like dead feet” I said, once; later I followed that up with “It smells like rancid toe cheese”. Disgusting, but you know exactly what I mean, don’t you?), and saw some interesting things. One of them was a bit of nature at work in the form of one of the preserves top garbage collectors - the gulls. Continue Reading »
Marty May 1st, 2008
For part 3 of my ID series, I’m going to look at what are arguably the most well-known butterflies in the U.S. - the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) and related species. I call them the ‘royal butterflies’ - Monarch, Queen (Danaus gilippus), Soldier (Danaus eresimus) and, although technically they are in a completely different genus, Viceroy (Limenitis archippus). Continue Reading »
Marty April 28th, 2008
I went out looking for migrant birds Saturday - because I just needed to get out of the house and away from work, although the weather wasn’t helping much (overcast and spritzing). But I did get to see some cool birds at Palmyra Cove, including a lifelist worm-eating warbler. Continue Reading »
Marty April 16th, 2008
Some of the most common butterflies in this area are the sulphurs, part of the family Pieridae, which includes most white and yellow butterflies. In the tri-state area, most of the sulphurs (sub-family Coliadinae) are members of four genuses: Colias (Orange Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur, Pink-Edged Sulphur); Phoebis (Cloudless Sulphur); Pyrisitia (Little Yellow) and Abaeis (Sleepy Orange). Continue Reading »
Marty April 14th, 2008
Some of the most interesting butterflies in these parts are the various species of the genus Polygonia. The two most common species in the NJ-DE-PA area are the Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) and Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) butterflies. Both species are very similar on both the dorsal and lateral faces of their bodies, but with subtle differences. Continue Reading »
Marty April 14th, 2008
With spring approaching, it’s getting to be time for the butterflies and odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) to come out to play. My region - the NJ-DE-PA tri-state area - is a great place for both types of insects, but there are many species that are tough to tell apart unless you know what to look for. I’ve put together some ID lessons to help people identify some of the commonly confused species. Continue Reading »
