Yesterday was a federal holiday…couldn’t tell you which one, but it gave me the opportunity to do some wildlife viewing that does not consist of an invasive pest.
Since all the droves of tourists have finally left the cape (apologies to past and future visitors), I decided it is finally quiet and peaceful enough for me to explore some of the trails along the salt marsh flats. This of course took place after I got some quality time in with the new XBox 360 game, Call of Duty 3. Yup, I am doubly a nerd.
It was very quiet until I heard the familar chattering of several accipiters above. This particular red-tailed hawk was quite insistent on staying right over my head, hence the view in the picture.
Which reminds me, I have a bone to pick. Josh loves to get his world news from 2 popular shows, the Daily Show and the Colbert Report (both on Comedy Central, if that tells you anything). I’ll admit it, they’re a good laugh 
When a lot of older movies used images/scenes of bald eagles they superimposed the sound a red-tailed hawk (see here if you don’t remember what a red-tailed sounds like. Once there, scroll down and click on the sound bite). To their credit, bald eagles don’t exactly sound as cool, in fact, they sound pretty wimpy (see here, and click on the sound link). Any bird enthusiast will echo this issue of using the red-tail’s call for the bald eagle in movies. However, I thought this was a thing of the past. I haven’t noticed any movies lately deliberately misusing the call, most actually just show a shot of a red-tailed now.
Not Steven Colbert of the Colbert Report though. In the intro to his show, he has a bald eagle swooping in all mean and tough, like some kind of truth hunter for world news, and of course, it is accompanied by the call of a red-tailed hawk. For shame. Don’t be fooled dear blog readers and tv viewers. Anyway…
This is all to say that the red-tailed hawk still stops me in my tracks and gets me to look to the skies.
Once I was able to get my head out of the clouds I was able to notice plenty of 6-legged friends. This Lampyridae (A family of the beetles, better known as the fireflies/lightening bugs) caught my eye. I’m sure you have seen some of the other species that light up at night (also known as ‘bioluminescence’). They are able to light up because of a chemical reaction (between luciferase and luciferin) that takes place in their abdomen. Anyway, I think the particular species that I saw was a diurnal firefly. The ones that light up at night do so in order to attract/find mates. And each particular species has its own flash patterns.
As soon as I took the picture, something way cooler caught my eye. Right next to the lamyrid are some very tiny (< 5mm) creatures, you can just barely see them in the picture. These little darlings are collembolans. They are not considered your classical 'insect' (Hexapod, but not Insecta) but are entognathids (meaning their mouthparts are retracted inside of their head). Specifically, these little guys are globular springtails.
Not the greatest picture of them, but they are not exactly the easiest thing to get close to, and for a good reason. Springtails have a special structure, called a furcula, attached and tucked underneath their abdomen. When they are distressed, it springs out and makes them fling away. Actually, there is an excellent new series by David Attenborough and the BBC, “Life in the Undergrowth”, that has some really neat footage of springtails in action. Some species also do a little mating dance and there is a short clip from that series with Attenborough here for your viewing pleasure (click on the ‘dancing springtails’). All of the clips there on that page are definitely worth checking out.
Anyhow, I digress. There were a couple other insects that I met on my hike, including this stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae, probably Bromchymena).
Stink bugs are known for their shield-like body and, as their name implies, the ability to produce a stinky odor when threatened. Most tree stink bugs are predators of other insects and use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to impale into their prey.
I did manage to make it to the shore. So for my unfortunate family, friends, and readers who happen to be land-locked…here is a view of the Atlantic yesterday. Its too bad I can’t include a file of the way the sea and salt smelled, it was a gorgeous day that invoked all of the senses.
And, since it was Friday, we can’t forget about Gunther.
