Butterflies As Pollinators
Butterflies pollinate during the day while most flowers are open and they have better color perception than bees or even humans, but they are less efficient than bees at moving pollen between plants. Their legs and proboscis are longer and farther away from the flower’s pollen so they do not pick up as much pollen on their bodies. They also lack specialized structures for collecting pollen. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine that some of the Daylily pollen that has collected on this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail’s wings might not fall onto or be brushed against the stigma of the next Daylily it visits.
Naturally Curious is supported by donations. If you choose to contribute, you may go to http://www.naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com and click on the yellow “donate” button.
Lesser Purple Fringed Orchis Flowering
Approximately sixty orchids can be found in the Northeast, more than half of which are found growing in bogs and fens. (Bogs are filled with atmospheric moisture and have very low levels of nutrients; fens receive their water from streams or springs, and have slightly more nutrients than bogs.) In July and August in the Northeast, the Lesser Purple Fringed Orchis (Platanthera psycodes) sends up a 1 – 3’ spike filled with fragrant, tiny (3/4” long) flowers, each of which possesses a three-lobed, fringed lower lip and a long nectar spur . Found in cooler habitats, its range is being pushed northwards as global temperatures warm — a specimen was found at an altitude of 1,500 feet in Vermont. This orchid is on several states’ endangered or threatened lists outside of New England, and a species of special concern in Rhode Island. (Thanks to Shiela and Steven Swett for photo op.)
Naturally Curious is supported by donations. If you choose to contribute, you may go to http://www.naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com and click on the yellow “donate” button.
Bald Eagle Eyesight
The eyesight of a Bald Eagle is impressive. Part of the reason for their excellent vision is that these birds of prey have two centers of focus (foveae), which allow them to see both forward and to the side at the same time. Cone cells, one of three types of photoreceptor cells in the retina, perceive color, fine detail and rapid movement. In a human, the fovea has 200,000 cones per millimeter; in the central fovea of a Bald Eagle’s eye, there are about a million cones per millimeter. An eagle’s eye is almost as large as a human’s, but its sharpness is at least four times that of a person with perfect vision.
Bald eagles are capable of seeing fish in the water from several hundred feet above, while soaring, gliding or in flapping flight. (They locate and catch dead fish much more rapidly and efficiently than live fish, because dead fish float with their light underside up, making them easier to see.) It is very likely that a Bald Eagle can identify a rabbit moving almost a mile away. This would mean that an eagle flying at an altitude of 1000 feet over open country could spot prey over an area of almost 3 square miles from a fixed position. (photo: recently fledged, juvenile Bald Eagle)
Naturally Curious is supported by donations. If you choose to contribute, you may go to http://www.naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com and click on the yellow “donate” button.
Eastern Cottontail vs. New England Cottontail
There are two species of cottontails in the Northeast – the New England Cottontail and the Eastern Cottontail. The New England Cottontail was the only rabbit east of the Hudson River until the Eastern Cottontail was introduced in the late 1800s. Today the New England Cottontail is restricted to less than a fifth of its range in the early 1900s, whereas the Eastern Cottontail can be found throughout New England.
Although they are two separate species, these two rabbits look very similar – the Eastern Cottontail is slightly larger, has longer ears, and its eyes are half again as large as the New England Cottontail’s. The New England Cottontail is a forest species that depends on areas of thick shrubs and young trees that grow up following natural disturbances. A combination of dwindling habitat due to development, the ephemeral nature of young forests (they only last for 10 to 20 years before becoming older woodland, where ground-level plants are too thin to provide rabbits with enough food and cover to survive) and inferior eyesight has led to the dwindling population of New England Cottontails, and fostered the growth of the Eastern Cottontail population. Eastern Cottontails seem better able to survive in the increasingly fragmented habitats of New England, including open fields, forest edges, small thickets, and even golf courses and suburban lawns. (Photo: Eastern Cottontail)
Naturally Curious is supported by donations. If you choose to contribute, you may go to http://www.naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com and click on the yellow “donate” button.
What Other Naturally Curious People Are Saying