Home Field and Swamp: Animals and Their Habitats

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Archived-by-Date Pages

December 2011

Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  12/31/11

     
Wasp, Epitetracnemus genus, Encyrtidae family, Chalcidoidea superfamily.  About 1 mm long. More on ID process on BugGuide page. Jumping spider (Hentzia palmarum)      

Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC  12/30/11

       
Well-hidden Brown Thrasher        

Durham, NC  12/29/11

     
Miniature Rose Fall Cankerworm Moth      

Durham, NC  12/28/11

       
Tufted Titmouse        

Durham, NC  12/25/11

 
White-throated Sparrow Same sparrow Same sparrow Eastern Phoebe  

   
Black Vulture Another Black Vulture Black Vultures, this time on my street!    

Happy Holidays Card

 
   

Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  12/24/11

       
Red-shouldered Hawk        

Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  12/23/11

All of the spiders (found on bollards) were very tiny, 3 mm long at the most.  The stink bug and the weevil, found on a sidewalk, were each about 15 mm long.  The weather was unusually mild, about 60° F max.

False Black Widow Dark Fishing Spider Filmy Dome Spider Stink bug (Menecletes insertus) Jumping spider (Hentzia mitrata)

       
Weevil (Lixus genus)        

Durham, NC  12/23/11

       
Two Black Vultures with opossum road kill.  They didn't share for very long: the one on the left chased the other away.        

Jordan Lake Dam, Chatham County, NC  12/20/11

Great Blue Heron on Haw River Cormorant Spillway of the dam, with Ring-billed Gulls Creek branching off of the Haw River View of spillway from the top of the dam

   
Turkey Vultures on the lake side of the dam Turkey Vulture overhead Ring-billed Gull in flight over Haw River    

Durham, NC  12/20/11

       
Female Eastern Bluebird        

Durham, NC  12/19/11

       
Black Vulture        

Durham, NC  12/17/11

     
Pine Warbler, curious but cautious in the late afternoon Same Pine Warbler      

Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC  12/16/11

Once again, arthropods we don't usually see showed up on the bollards, as well as a few familiar ones.  Most notable: dozens of False Black Widow spiderlings.

Adult aphid Very young False Black Widow Jumping spider (Hentzia ) Mystery spiderling Leafhopper Aster, gone to seed

Durham, NC  12/16/11

       
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker        

Durham, NC  12/15/11

White-throated Sparrow White-throated Sparrow, another view Red-winged Blackbird, one of the migrating swarms of blackbirds passing through my neighborhood Red-shouldered Hawk Mystery hawk

Third Fork Trail, Durham, NC  12/14/11

 
Buffalo Treehopper Buffalo Treehopper and Hentzia mitrata jumping spider  

Durham, NC  12/13/11

     
Vultures on wireless tower.  Note how Black Vultures are really black, in contrast with the Turkey Vulture on the left. Ten vultures, mostly Turkey Vultures      

Southpoint Swamp, Durham, NC  12/13/11

 
Yellow-rumped Warbler Same Yellow-rumped Warbler Same Yellow-rumped Warbler Mallards  

Durham, NC  12/12/11

     
Black Vulture (second from left), with Turkey Vultures on a power line tower White-breasted Nuthatch      

Durham, NC  12/10/11

 
Mostly Turkey Vultures, with three Black Vultures, on a wireless tower Subadult vulture.  It's hard to pin down the species (and genus) from this photo, in which the nostril size is hard to pin down.  But the reddish coloring suggests Turkey Vulture.  Might be a hybrid, to judge from the activity of two other vultures photographed that day! A Turkey Vulture on a power line tower Turkey Vulture on top, Black Vulture on bottom: interesting...  

 
Female Northern Cardinal American Robin Hot and jazzy sunset Decidedly unromantic sunset  

Durham, NC  12/9/11

 
Hermit Thrush Carolina Chickadee Brown-headed Nuthatch Spider  

       
Turkey Vulture        

Durham, NC 12/6/11

       
White-throated Sparrow        

Durham, NC 12/5/11

Pine Warbler Killdeer landing Killdeer resting Killdeer in flight Shotgun shell seen near a major road in my neighborhood

Copyright © 2011-2021 by Dorothy E. Pugh.  All rights reserved.  Please contact for rights to use photos.

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