Creepy Crawlies of Kiptopeke (and the Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge)

Happy Halloween! I'm Ashley Hansen, CVWO's Monarch biologist. While the majority of my work is focused around Monarchs, I also do surveys to assess overall insect species diversity and beneficial insect populations. I also encounter a wide variety of other amazing animals while out and about! To keep with the spirit of the spooky season, I’ve taken over the blog to talk about some of the amazing, sometimes spooky, and fascinating animal finds that have been spotted around Kiptopeke and on my adventures in the field since starting here with CVWO. Without further ado, let’s check them out!

Praying Mantis

The Praying Mantis is a very common find, especially around the Hawkwatch platform, where they have been spotted attempting to capture the hummingbirds around the feeders. As well as taking full advantage of the butterfly garden just down the way to munch on some smaller prey – beetles, bees, moths, and butterflies, most notably (and unfortunately for me) monarchs! 

Mantids will wait within the flowers, camouflaged in greens and browns to blend with the leaves and stems. Once their chosen prey is comfortable and nectaring, they will unfold their barbed front limbs and snap them back shut over their unsuspecting prey. 

The barbs and their strength making it a challenge and rather painful to attempt to escape. Much like many zombies are depicted in media, mantids will slowly start devouring their prey while they are still alive, head first. This also translates over to their rather interesting mating ritual – the females devouring the heads of their mates after the act, the male acting as a source of energy to help with the development of the eggs and eventually, ootheca!  

SDF

A female Praying Mantis with (can you find him?) the poor headless male hanging out to the left. 

Top: female Praying Mantis on the platform hummingbird feeder with a (rather headless) male attached to the left. 

Bottom: Female Praying Mantis laying ootheca. 

The ootheca is a specialized egg covering and means of protection for the eggs of mantids, mollusks, and cockroaches. One female praying mantis can lay between 3 and 6 oothecae. Each can contain several hundred eggs. Watching them emerge, typically with 3 to 6 months of laying, could count as a terrifying experience all on its own. Especially if one makes the mistake of bringing one of these rather interesting-looking egg cases in during the winter for one reason or another. With exposure to high enough temperatures for long enough, you’ll find everything covered in these tiny, translucent carnivores. Back in mid-September, we were lucky enough at the hawkwatch platform to witness a mass ootheca laying event of between 10 and 14 females all laying every few stalks. It will definitely be a sight for those observing the hatching come spring!

The three types of mantids found in this region are European, Chinese, and Carolina Mantids. With the last one being the only one native to the area, and in great decline as it is being out-competed by the much larger European and Chinese Mantids. You can tell the difference by their sizing (the non-natives are much larger) and by the vertical striping that is only present on the Chinese Mantis. 

---

Green Snake 

A lot of people find snakes to be very scary animals to encounter, fearing a venomous bite and cold-blooded body, and potentially feeling something akin to primal instinct. However, snakes are not something to fear, especially these little Rough Green Snakes!

Rough Green, also known as grass or green grass snakes are smaller sized, non-venomous snakes with bright green bodies and yellow underbellies, named for the feel of their scales. In regions that contain both species, they are easily confused with the Smooth Green Snake and are best differentiated between in looking at their keeled or ridged scales.  

They are commonly found along the Virginia coast, and are found within a wide range of habitats from overgrown pasture to woodland and even the beach! The two individuals I spotted were found alongside the beach and in the transition between a forested area and an open prairie. They mostly eat insects and arachnids but have been known to occasionally go for small frogs and snails. These snakes can frequently be found climbing along different levels of vegetation, and are known to be encountered in trees, mimicking the swaying motion of branches in an attempt to blend with their habitat. While unlikely to actually encounter these little guys in the wild, know they are very docile little snakes that cannot hurt you and, instead, are looking to find a way back up into a tree. 

Rough Green Snake climbing into a tree at the South Beach at Kiptopeke.

---

Spiders

Flower Crab, Orb weavers, and Yellow Garden Spiders, oh my! As is with the spooky season, and most seasons, there have been quite a few spiders out in about within the various sites around Cape Charles and Kiptopeke! The most common of which being the little, and adorably named Flower Crab spiders!

A Flower Crab spider eating a Dun Skipper at the Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge.

These small, commonly yellow or white spiders do not make webs in order to capture their prey. Instead relying on their small size, adaptability, and quick reflexes to find a meal. Flower Crab spiders can alter their colorations to better match the flowers that they chose, becoming more yellow in patches of pollen or goldenrod and white with hints of pink and purple like the individual pictured to match the passionflower or even partly blue mistflower and others as shown in the images below. 

Flower Crab Spiders seen at CVWO's butterfly garden near the hawkwatch platform and at the Wildlife Refuge.

They will sit within a flower with two sets of legs open and ready to strike, remaining perfectly still with hopes that a butterfly or another tasty morsel will come by for them to strike! But, they will also nibble and snack on pollen as they bide their time.  

Yellow garden spiders are another great find! They are typically found building their webs within areas near open, sunny fields – with their webs being large as 2 feet in diameter! While they can look rather scary with their bigger size and vivid “look out for me” coloring. However, much like the Flower Crab spider, they are harmless. With their venom only being something to worry about if you happen to be an unlucky insect trapped in their signature zigzag silk webs.

Yellow garden spider beginning to weave its web.

The most you have to worry about is accidentally walking through their hard work and feeling the discomfort associated with spiderwebs on your person. 

---

Velvet Ants

A Red Velvet Ant.

Legitimately the scariest insect I have encountered while out in the field and one I will be giving a warning on. While beautiful in their vivid colors, patterns, and fuzzy look, those bright reds and whites are a warning not to touch or come near. These “ants’ crawling along the ground are actually female wasps, wingless and on the search for the nest of an unsuspecting bee or fellow wasp to place her own brood. Velvet ants are parasitoid wasps who deposit their eggs onto the larvae or eggs of mostly solitary, ground-dwelling bees and wasps. Though, there have been reports of individuals going for Bumblebees and insects outside of their order (Hymenoptera).  

Another type of Velvet Ant, Timulla dibutata.

Another species of Velvet Ant, Timulla dibutata.

They can be found within open prairies and fields, as well as in large patches of prairie flowers as adults primarily feast on pollen and nectar. If you see one, I would highly recommend walking the other direction. Females have long, barbed stingers and will sting if handled or frightened. Red Velvet Ants (pictured above), specifically, have been known to create a sort of vocalization if handled and as a warning before stinging. These insects are sometimes known as “Cow killers” as the pain and shock from receiving their stings is quite intense, though it is not actually that intense that it would kill a mammal that size. The second individual, I have personally experienced a sting from and it is not as intense or lasted as long as what is described for the prior ant, but still was quite painful for a while. Feeling much like boiling cooking oil being poured on the patch of skin that the injection site, its rated as more intense than a bee sting, can cause localized swelling and redness. There have been 20 separate species of Velvet Ant discovered and recorded, I have only encountered these two in my surveys. 

---

Wheel Bug

Part of the assassin and true bug families, Wheel Bugs are a wild sight to see with their vivid orange legs, antennae, and red proboscis, alongside their strange spiked dorsal wheel protruding from their backs. They are beneficial predators, primarily hunting common garden pests. However, they do have a rather painful “bite” if disturbed, as I was definitely doing as I was taking this photo based on how she’s looking at me. However, many people just consider this insect as “aggressive’ from the get-go, but as long as you treat her and her much smaller mate with respect and distance, she will not come after you with her sharp, stabbing proboscis and long front legs. Which are her tools to help her capture and drain the fluids from her prey. It is unknown at this point why she and members of her species have that crest; however, it is highly speculated to be a warning to potential predators of their horrid taste. 

------

Atlantic Ghost Crabs 

Described by some as “alien” and named for its pale, almost translucent appearance, shifting in and out of view as it sprints across the sand, like a specter in the wind. Atlantic Ghost Crabs are very small, semiterrestrial crabs that are very common along the beach around Kiptopeke. They might just be my favorite part about that survey site, there are many found along the beach but are hard to spot as they are constantly darting in and out of their burrows, which can go as far as 4 feet underground! You typically will not see them very active during the day, as they are more nocturnal. However, if you go to the beach on a particularly cloudy day or after it rains, they will be all over the place! You can tell when the beach has been particularly popular, as they tend to stay hidden until there is not as much activity. Many scientists actually use these crabs to help assess the impact of human presence along such beaches as these, counting individuals observed and the number of holes found.

They are omnivorous and scavengers, praying on small insects, other crabs, sea turtle hatchlings, and their eggs, as well as scavenging for anything edible they can find. Potentially including monarch wings, as I found this sight as I walked along the beach one afternoon. As far as I can find, there are no reportings of these crabs going after them, however, if a mantis happened to be among the goldenrod and the crab found the pieces left behind, there is a chance for a few extra calories for the day. We may never know, however, as these little crabs are keeping their secrets to themselves. 

---

I hope you guys enjoyed this little attempt at sharing more of the wildlife we encounter and have an amazing holiday weekend with both Halloween and El Dia De Los Muertos!  

- Ashley 

[All photos and graphic by Ashley Hansen.]

A New Wave of Migration

Migration continues to roll along at Kiptopeke Hawkwatch! Sunday, October 18th was an eventful day, with three species showing up in larger numbers than we've had thus far in the season, marking a turn in migration as we move further into fall. 

An adult Red-tailed Hawk on its way south (Karl Bardon). 

Sunday was our first significant movement of migrating Red-tailed Hawks. Because there are a number of resident Red-tails in the area, we monitor their behavior to see whether or not it appears they are migrating versus simply hanging around and hunting. Until the 18th, we would often go days at a time without seeing a migrating Red-tailed. Prior to that date, the highest number of Red-tails seen migrating in one day was 4 - and that was all the way back in September! On the 18th, however, that count increased by quite a bit as we had 19 migrating Red-tails. Since then, we've had a steady stream that has increased our count of this species by more than 80 birds. While coastal areas like Kiptopeke don't get the large numbers of migrating Red-tails that mountain hawk watches do (these birds tend to prefer to travel via the updrafts provided along mountain ridges), we are still excited to see their migration picking up!

Increasing numbers of Red-tails - while a delightful event in its own right - is also the signal of something else: the fact that (as Bob Dylan might put it if he were a hawkwatcher instead of a folk singer) "the hawks they are a-changin'". While our high point of migration (the first few weeks of October) may be behind us, Red-tails appearing in larger numbers are a sign that we are moving into the later wave of migrants that make late October through November a good time to be peering up at the skies. While the overall numbers tend to be fewer in this part of the year, the shifting species composition is an exciting change. 

One of the now-ubiquitous Yellow-rumped Warblers (Karl Bardon). 

Another change in the migratory makeup is the en masse arrival of Yellow-rumped Warblers! October 18th brought our first large wave of Yellow-rumps, with no less than 5,652 birds streaming through the skies past the platform. These birds have been present in the trees by the dozens all over the park and beyond. They consistently appear in large numbers as the other migrating warblers wain, signaling an end to that chapter of migration for the year. 

October 18th was also the first day this season that we've counted more than 2 migrating Red-shouldered Hawks in a day. Red-shoulders are similar to Red-tails in that they tend to prefer migration routes further inland and tend to migrate later in the season. In addition, this has thus far been a low-count year for them, so seeing 6 in a day as we did on the 18th - while certainly not a huge number - felt like a treat. 

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk (Karl Bardon). 

While the peak of falcon migration is also behind us, we are still getting small streams of Peregrines, American Kestrels, and Merlins moving through the skies. And while they are not appearing in the larger peak-season numbers, they are still providing excitement for those who get to see them. In fact, we recently had several visitors (volunteers at Hanging Rock Hawkwatch in West Virginia) who remarked that getting to see falcons - even in these late-season numbers - was a treat for them as they are coming from a mountain ridge hawkwatch where falcons are much less frequently seen. 

Karl and I will be here through November, so remember that you are welcome to come out and watch the skies with us as the season continues to change!

Until next time,

Bridgett

Live At Kiptopeke

We've loved having so many excellent in-person visitors at Kiptopeke Hawkwatch this fall! While being at the hawkwatch in person is certainly the most enjoyable way to stay up-to-date with what we're seeing, we know that there are many folks who, for one reason or another, won't be able to make it this time around or who simply would like to know what we're seeing once they leave the platform. The good news is that we offer two ways for folks to see what we've been observing - even at a distance!

The first is Hawkcount.org - Kiptopeke's numbers can be accessed here by selecting "Find a Hawkwatch" on the left-hand side, choosing "Virginia" then "Kiptopeke Hawkwatch" and then selecting the "Monthly" or "Daily" tab on the left-hand side. The second is Dunkadoo.org - numbers can be accessed here by selecting "Explore" at the top, then finding Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory tab on the map and selecting it. Both of these websites provide real-time updates for what we're observing throughout the day!

These numbers will be updated daily through November 30th, the official end of the season. 

Happy birding!

Bridgett 

Pine Siskins at Kiptopeke

Pine Siskins are all over the place at Kiptopeke this year! Along with the other irruptive species (Blue Jays and Red-breasted Nuthatches) we've discussed in previous posts, these little guys have been gracing us with their (rather adorable) presence throughout the skies and at the feeder, much to the delight of everyone on the platform. While we had a few scattered sightings in September, our first consistent sightings began on October 3rd. Since then, not a day has lapsed without seeing these birds moving past the platform. 

An aforementioned adorable Pine Siskin near the platform (Karl Bardon). 

For the past four or five days, we've had a consistent group of more than 100 that have been staying at the feeder. During slow moments of the day, the Siskins can always be relied upon to provide their wheeling, bursting flight patterns as entertainment. Their presence has, of course, also been attracting the attention of visitors of the raptor variety - Cooper's Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and Merlins have been zipping through the trees in hot pursuit of their next meal. 

These little guys are big fans of the feeder! (Top: Karl Bardon; Bottom: Brian Taber). 

In addition to the general enjoyment of having this be an "on" year for Siskins, it's also been notable and enjoyable to have such high numbers this year - 2,016 for the season as of October 17th. These birds have also been migrating past in sizeable groups, with one flock of 860 recorded on October 14th.

The yellow wing-stripe on Pine Siskins is especially enjoyable 

to watch flashing in flight (Karl Bardon).

On those exceedingly blue-sky days in which every raptor seems to be flying miles above us, it has been a treat (as well as a relief to the eyes!) to have the Siskins moving in their beautiful flight patterns right over our heads! 

Until next time,

Bridgett

Notes on Nuthatches

This fall has been an interesting season for nuthatches here at Kiptopeke! We've had Red-breasted, White-breasted, and Brown-headed Nuthatches at the feeders this season. Many visitors have asked why they see Red-breasted Nuthatches some years and not others, and others have commented on the previous relative lack of Brown-headed and White-breasted Nuthatches on this part of the Eastern Shore. So what's going on here, you might ask? While all are varieties of nuthatches, the reasons for the appearance of these three species are different. 

A Red-breasted Nuthatch near the platform (Karl Bardon).

Red-breasted Nuthatches are an irruptive species - the same as the Blue Jays we've been witnessing in such huge numbers recently. As we noted previously when discussing the jays, irruptive species are birds that are highly dependent on eating certain cone or nut crops in the northern parts of their range during the winter. So, when these crops do poorly, nuthatches and others continue down into other areas where food may be more abundant. Irruptive species have famously erratic migration patterns. Unlike "regular" migrators, they don't have a set route or destination, but simply fly until they find food. 

Irruption is a complex phenomenon with many factors, and its reasonings change from species to species. With Red-breasted Nuthatches and others, an interesting phenomenon known as masting has an effect on their particular brand of irruptive migration.

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Karl Bardon). 

Masting trees - which include many conifer and nut trees - are those that produce cyclic bumper crops followed by periods of very low production (on a roughly every-other-year cycle). While there are likely many reasons for masting - nutritional supply, rainfall, etc. all factoring in - one particular reason the trees may have developed this production technique is as a species-level survival mechanism. Since seeds can't exactly get up and run away from seed-predators, trees developed another way to ensure all of their progeny wouldn't consistently be eaten up by a stable predator population. So, they developed a way to destabilize the predator population: instead of producing a consistent year-to-year crop, some years they flood the market - meaning there are way too many seeds for the seed-predator population to eat all of - while other years they dry it up, meaning there are either predator die-offs or - as is the case with the irruptive bird species - the seed-predators simply go elsewhere, leaving the little seedlings a chance to establish themselves. Keeping the seed-predator population a bit off-kilter is one key to their seedlings' survival - and is also what allows us to see Red-breasted Nuthatches down here!

Brown-headed Nuthatches are routinely some of our visitors' 

favorite birds at the feeder! (Karl Bardon.)

The situation with Brown-headed Nuthatches is different. They are not an irruptive migrator like their Red-breasted cousin, but instead are year-round residents throughout Virginia. However, they have not been typical at Kiptopeke, with some records from the National Wildlife Refuge just south of us but not many within the park. According to Brian Taber, CVWO's President, he has only seen these nuthatches around the hawkwatch site perhaps 2 out of the 40 years he's been observing this area! His theory is that because there are more Loblolly Pines growing up between the Refuge and Kiptopeke, these little guys are being provided a habitat bridge and have decided to take up residence at Kiptopeke. 

A White-breasted Nuthatch in flight (Karl Bardon).

As for the White-breasted Nuthatches, we have not seen any of these little friends since the beginning of the season. But the fact that we saw any was apparently quite remarkable for this immediate area. While they are common throughout the rest of the state, they are very rare on the southern tip of the Eastern Shore, with Brian again saying he's only seen 2 or 3 at Kiptopeke over the years. These birds sometimes have "mini irruptions" south, and Brian has postulated that this could account for their appearance at the hawkwatch this year. 

I hope you've enjoyed this view into our nuthatch movements at Kiptopeke Hawkwatch this season! We're still getting plenty of Brown-headed and Red-breasted Nuthatches at the feeders, so please come on by if you'd like to see them for yourself! 

Happy birding!

Bridgett 

Unusual Avian Visitors

The past few days have been full of excitement here at Kiptopeke Hawkwatch! 

The excitement began yesterday evening when Lynn Davidson and others noticed a single hummingbird coming to the feeders at the platform. As our last Ruby-throats were seen over a week ago, this attracted some attention - and it's a good thing it did, as this little guy turned out to be none other than a Black-chinned Hummingbird! These birds are very rare in the East, so those who got to see him were lucky. We even had a few folks from across the Bay who arrived this morning with hopes of seeing the Black-chinned, which had been re-sighted at least three times this morning.

Various views of the Black-chinned Hummingbird (Karl Bardon).

The Black-chinned was only one of several delights this morning. A visitor came to the platform around 10:00 this morning saying that she had seen something very peculiar in the women's bathroom near the hawkwatch - a Virginia Rail! This, of course, caused everyone - even the assiduously dedicated Karl - to abandon the platform and fast-walk our way to the bathroom. Sure enough, a small Virginia Rail was found crouching in the corner when we arrived! Thankfully, the bird was completely uninjured and did not appear to be in any distress. Aided by a net from the park's storage shed, Lynn Davidson and Hal Wierenga performed an excellent rescue mission. They securely netted the bird and immediately transported it to the National Wildlife Refuge for release in the salt marsh. It's anyone's guess as to how a rail ended up in the women's bathroom, but it sure did make for an interesting Friday morning! 

A very lost Virginia Rail in the women's bathroom (Steve Thornhill).

And for those who keep close tabs on our Hawkwatch or Dunkadoo data, you may have been surprised to see a…ahem…very unexpected avian visitor logged on Karl's morning data yesterday. Brian Taber e-mailed Karl sometime yesterday morning to note his surprise at seeing - yes, it's true - 6 Passenger Pigeons recorded just before 8:00 a.m. Of course, while we'd all love a world in which that could be true, it was all due to a strange Dunkadoo quirk, in which typing in "Pine Siskin" also brings up "Passenger Pigeon" as an option on the drop-down menu, which Karl accidentally selected. Why on earth Dunkadoo decided to have a bird in the system that's been extinct for over 100 years, we may never know - but it has provided more than a few good laughs today on the platform, so I'd say it's all worth it!

The, uh, very unexpected visitor we "had" yesterday morning... (Wikipedia)

Until next time!

Bridgett