Many thanks to the readers who have been sending me nice photos. I’m sequestering all that I don’t use, and most will eventually appear. I’ll try to let readers know when their photos are up.
First, two arthropods from reader Gaurav:
This is a longhorn beetle, which has been identified to me as Lepturinae, probably Anthophylax. You can see it has a pseudoscorpion riding along as a phoretic parasite.
Diana MacPherson sent three photos:
Here are some of today’s pensive birds: a tree sparrow (I like the sparrow’s grey face), a junco and a female cardinal (who was much less nervous than her bright red male companion).Female cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in Weigela
Dark-Eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) in Weigela Bush
Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) Sitting on Rain Gauge
Reader Robert Seidel sent some pictures of The Birds:
These were taken in Eckernförde, Northern Germany, on last Sunday, February 15. Each black dot is a perching rook (Corvus frugilegus). They gather at dusk to spent the night in those trees. Reminds me of some film I’ve seen once, but I can’t quite remember which one 😉
Have all the same winter birds here in Iowa. Plus – Blue Jays, finches, starlings, nut hatches and doves and woodpeckers and more.
Here in Texas I see the cardinals and juncos, plus lots of drab goldfinches, titmice, house finches, downy woodpeckers, and carolina wrens (should I capitalize that?). Also occasionally see winter-only visitors such as the tiny winter wren and the brown creeper.
Especially in the winter (but not at my house thank PCC), we get giant flocks of great-tailed grackles and european starlings, all hanging out together and reminiscent of a horror movie.
I’ve never lived in a state where Cardinals live. I’ve seen them when visiting the mid-west and I like those birds. I wonder why their range doesn’t include the western states. They seem to be hearty, and I would think (like jays, robbins, starlings, crows) they would have a larger range.
They live in CA, if that’s where you are, but only a few places — you have to know exactly where to look. They’re common in southern AZ. If you’re in NV or UT I think you’re out of luck.
Pseudoscorpions must be really, really small.
This one was a millimeter or two.
Amazing photo. Beautiful colour wings.
Now I’ve seen everything! A pseudoscorpion nightjar!
The Birds seem pretty ominous. What are they waiting for? What are they staring at?
There’s a six-lane road next to that trees. Perhaps they’re watching out for a meal …
Joke aside, yes, the unimodal orientation is very strange. My theory is they do it to ensure coordinated take-off of the swarm.
In the spring and summer great flocks of crows roost together. Last year, I took a movie of them at work just coming in giant group after giant group. I like it and find it mesmerizing but it really freaks some people out.
Thank you for including the plant ID with your bird pictures, Diana. 🙂 I do miss seeing cardinals out here in BC.
🙂 The plant just looks like a bunch of twigs right now but it’s lovely in the summer & the birds love it then too because the foliage gives them cover. They still like it in winter as a hawk would really need to get in there after them & often they go to the bottom to eat their seeds.
Ravens make up for the lack of cardinals in BC!
The pseudoscorpion hitchhiker is cool. I wasn’t aware of these before. Apparently they kill a lot of things humans consider pests.
I love macro photography. Every speck of ground a safari.
“Every speck of ground a safari.”
What a wonderful thought!
Call me stupid, but I had no idea female cardinals weren’t red. Still a very pretty bird though, even w/o the bright color.
Nice beetle…is the pseudo scorpion a true parasite or is it just hitching a ride? I thought a phoretic insect is symbiotic.
You’re right, calling it a parasite was my mistake. I think if it purely uses the beetle for transport without contributing, that would be a reasonable use of the term, but I believe that they also contribute by eating mites, much as cleaner wrasse do. Incidentally, you can see at least one mite and maybe more also on the beetle (see the right hand antenna).
Thanks for pointing out that mite- I didn’t see it before. That is one complicated beetle 🙂
I feel bad for the poor nervous bright red male cardinals! They always have their mate with them and the female is so much more relaxed.
The poor males even flatten down their crest while out in the open, in a sad attempt to appear small. They must curse their pretty red feathers sometimes.
Yeah, that bright red sure makes them a target, doesn’t it?
😉
Phoretic just means “hitching a ride.”
I love rook and jackdaw (Corvus monedula) roosts!. The pictures are very evocative but the noise made by the birds is an important part of the experience.
Features some of our bird types…
>
OK, teeny-tiny pseudoscorpions exist. And hitchhike on the antennae of beetles. The beetle is a color for which car paint job enthusiasts would pay thousands of dollars. I can now go to bed knowing that I’ve learned something today.