The Chickadees are a genus of small North American birds in the genus Poecile. Species in the genus from North America are called Chickadees, while species found elsewhere are called Tits. They have distinct, beautiful calls that lent them their name.
“Their name reputedly comes from the fact that their calls make a distinctive “chick-a-dee-dee-dee“, though their normal call is actually “fee-bee,” and the “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” call is an alarm call.”
I have managed to see three species and photograph two! The Carolina Chickadee, endemic to the US, is found in the eastern US. The black-capped Chickadee is found in the northern US and Canada. It is a common species along its range and can be easily found at feeding stations!
A striking bird that is common across the island of Tasmania, I saw one the day I landed in Australia and was stunned to find a bird so beautiful. Being color-blind, I generally cannot appreciate birds completely, but blue is the exception!
Like other fairywrens, Superb fairywrens exhibit sexual dimorphism, with the female exhibiting a fawn color. Immature males start with fawn-colored plumage but turn blue after their first breeding season. Some take longer, as seen in the cover photo.
One species stands tall in the vast realm of carnivorous plants. Meet Drosera auriculata, commonly known as the Tall Sundew, unlike other drosera species that grow in low-lying rosettes. This captivating carnivorous plant has earned its name for its impressive height.
Tall sundews are recognized for their slender, elongated stems that can reach remarkable heights, often standing above other sundew species. The species can be found in both dry and damp places in Australia. The spot where I observed this species is the driest area I have ever seen a sundew in!
Like many sundew species, the tall sundew relies on both its sticky leaves, and a trigger response that envelopes the prey as it gets digested. A characteristics that is also utilized by its closely related species, the famous Venus-Fly trap! Below we see close-ups of leaves and their prey.
Now and then, you meet a plant that genuinely surprises you with its resiliency! Ewartia, or cushion plants, endemic to Tasmania, are compact, low-growing plants that form tightly packed stems. They grow hemispherical, which is characteristic of cushion plant species. It can spread a meter in diameter, creating adventitious roots along its branches! Tasmanian cushion plants evolutionarily converged due to wind activity at high altitudes. High winds blow anything away that grows too tall.
Cushion plants do not form a taxonomic group but describe an excellent example of convergent evolution. Plants growing in harsh environments have evolved similar adaptations of forming compact masses of closely spaced stems. They grow in environments with limited soil formations and low water retention. By developing close to the ground, they minimize wind-based water loss. Because they grow in harsh environments, they have little competition for sunlight and can afford to lose height.
Eastern spine bill is a beautiful honeyeater endemic to south-eastern Australia. The bird’s distinguishing feature is the long, needle-like bill, which adeptly extracts nectar from various flowering plants. This evolutionary feature independently evolves in many nectar-drinking species like I’iwi.
Vibrant colors adorn the male plumage, including a dark crown, a cinnamon-colored throat, and a contrasting white chest.
The Red-necked Wallaby, scientifically known as Macropus rufogriseus, is a charming marsupial native to Australia and Tasmania. Characterized by its distinctive red-brown fur on the nape of its neck and shoulders, this medium-sized wallaby exhibits a unique and captivating appearance. With a compact build and a strong tail used for balance, red-necked wallabies are adapted to a diverse range of habitats, including forests, woodlands, and grassy areas.
They are primarily herbivores, feeding on a diet of grasses and vegetation. These agile and social creatures are known for their bounding leaps, which allow them to cover considerable distances with remarkable speed and grace. Red-necked wallabies are integral to Australia’s ecosystems and are a delightful symbol of its rich and diverse wildlife.
Female wallabies, known as joeys, carry and nurture their young in a remarkable pouch, a defining feature of marsupials. After a relatively short gestation period, Red-necked Wallaby females give birth to tiny, underdeveloped joeys. These vulnerable infants, no larger than a jellybean, then make their way into the safety of their mother’s pouch. Once they are old enough, they start grazing right from their mother’s pouch!
Australian little penguins, or blue penguins, are one of the smallest penguin species in the world, growing to about a foot. They were once considered a subspecies of the little penguin from New Zealand, but later, mtDNA revealed that the Australian little penguins are a species of their own. Other than their behavioral differences, a critical difference between the two little penguin species is the striking blue plumage of the Australian species.
Little penguins spend most of their day in the ocean. During breeding season, the adults leave their chicks in their nest for the day as they head out into the sea to forage, returning at night to feed their young. One behavioral difference between New Zealand and the Australian penguin is that the Australian blue penguins come ashore in small groups, possibly to protect against predatory marsupials that did not exist in New Zealand.
The blue penguin is native to southern Australia, including Tasmania, where these cranky juveniles were photographed waiting impatiently for their parents to return! They are also found in the Otago region of New Zealand.
Every amateur nature photography enthusiast dreams of capturing a hummingbird, having a snack, or hovering between sips! These tiny, unique, buzzing birds can move incredibly fast, making them photograph slightly harder. I am so happy to have captured this female feasting on a field of Saltmarsh Mallow.
The ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is a small, beautifully colored bird native to North and Central America. Despite its tiny size, it is a migratory bird, migrating vast distances from central America to its breeding grounds in North America.
During migration, some birds living further south of Florida must migrate over 900 miles non-stop to cross over the Gulf of Mexico from Mexico into the eastern United States.
The pink lady’s slipper is a large orchid native to much of north Eastern America. It flowers every spring-early summer and is the most common orchid found in New Jersey. Despite their relative common occurrence, their numbers are threatened by habitat loss and illegal poaching. If you wish to grow a Cypripedium in your garden, please make sure to buy it from a reputable nursery like Plants Delights.
The Pink lady’s slipper requires acidic soil and tolerates shade and moisture. Like almost all orchid species, it needs the help of fungi species from the genus Rhizoctonia. Since most orchid seeds lack any food for the plant embryo, the fungi strands have to break open and attach themselves to the seed, providing it with the nutrients it needs to start growing. As the orchid matures and produces more energy, the fungi can extract nutrients from the plant.
I found a large patch of these orchids growing in a state forest here in New Jersey. They were plentiful and were multiplying. Seen to the side is a patch of young seedlings still too young to flower. In the background, one can make out the fence used to fence in a large patch of these orchids. It’s necessary to fence them in because the growing deer population eats these orchids. Nevertheless, the seeds of these orchids are small enough to have been blown out of the fenced-off area. These orchids were growing in a piney forest beside a Blackjack Oak.
The Pileated Woodpecker is a large, striking bird throughout North America. Known for its distinctive appearance and powerful drumming, this woodpecker is familiar in forests and wooded areas. It is now the largest extant woodpecker species in North America since the reclassification of the ivory-billed woodpecker as extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Unlike the larger and more specialized ivory-billed woodpecker, the Pileated woodpecker is more adaptable, allowing it to continue surviving in proximity to human habitation. The birds are essential in controlling the insect population, and even though some homeowners could consider them annoying, the disappearance of these woodpeckers could increase the tree beetle population, damaging forests.
Below, a woodpecker rams into a tree at the Palisades interstate parkway.
Native Hawaiian birds have some of the sweetest songs I have ever heard. These honeycreepers are altitudinal migrants living in wet forests along the slopes of Hawaiian mountains. They follow the progress of blooms across altitudes as the weather changes. Despite being the third most common land bird in Hawai’i’, it is still considered threatened.
Widespread destruction of forests and the spread of avian malaria has caused drastic reduction in their population. They have lost 90% of their range and are being considered to be endangered species.
As their common english name suggests ‘I’iwi use their curved bills to extract nectar from flowers. Shown here an ‘I’wi tries its luck on a Haleakalā Sandalwood inflorescence.
A bit of a throwback from last years trip to North Carolina. Callisia graminea, grasslead roseling is a plant species is endemic to the southeastern United states. It grows in sandy soil in pine barrens and disturbed regions. As the name suggests, it has grass like thin leaves and pink showy flowers.
As spring rolls in, the north east is filled with colorful flowering trees. Most of which aren’t native. But one small tree stands out, the redbuds. A native large shrub/small tree, the redbuds are covered in magenta pink flowers that occur in clumps right on the tree branch, or sometimes on the trunk itself. It is pollinated by long-tongued bees.
As the flower shape suggests, the redbuds belong to the Fabaceae family, also known as the pea/legume family.
The showy and long lasting flowers are why this plant is common in cultivation and is used in gardens and homes to add color to their spring gardens. Because its native, it also helps native bee population in the early months of spring and summer.
Epidendrum nocturnum, the night-scented Epidendrum, is the largest species of Epidendrum found in Florida. It is more common in Central America and the west indies.
A mature Epidendrum with multiple seed pods. If you look closely, you can see a seedling of a different orchid species in the middle of the branchAn orchids first seed pod.
This orchid is very rare in Florida but is globally secure. In Florida, if you know where to find it, it is locally common, but due to habitat destruction, it is endangered in Florida. The flowering period is July-January, but it can flower all year long. Most of the flowers never even open. As the name suggests, when they do open, they are very fragrant after the sun goes down. Unlike most orchids, the night-scented Epidendrum can self-pollinate and does not require insect pollinators. It is also common in the orchid trade.
Search for native Hawaii plants to look for, and undoubtedly the name of ‘Ohi’a lehua will show up on the list. This charismatic plant is the most common native tree found in Hawaii. It is an evergreen, highly variable tree found on the six major islands. Its flowers are showy and come in various colors ranging from yellow to red, red being the most common variation. Flowers are produced as inflorescence made up of a mass of long stamens. Ohia lehua forests are essential habitats for various native birds as it is one of the few Hawaiian plants capable of producing nectar. They host both native and introduced birds. To the right is a ʻApapane (top) and a Japanese white-eye bird move around a vast ‘Ohi’a tree.
The Ohia lehua is a crucial early colonizing species that grows straight out of basalt. It is among the first trees that are growing on recent lava flows. It is even tolerant of extreme sulfur content found along sulfur banks on the big island. A sign along the trail mentions the severe conditions on the banks and the possibility of the ‘Ohi’a colony evolving into a distinct subspecies over generations.
Its tolerance to various growing media leads to extreme tree size variations. In favorable soil, in rainforests, it can grow to be more than 80 feet tall, while when growing in boggy ground or on freshly cooled igneous rocks, it grows as a small prostrate shrub. In wetter conditions, Ohia branches drop down aerial roots that stay suspended and absorb moisture from the air. Shown here is an enormous specimen of Ohia lehua.
Current preservation efforts for the ‘Ohi’a have faced various issues, including the curse of introduced species like ornamental/livestock feed grasses that quickly take over ‘Ohi’a forests, climate change, and the latest fungal pandemic afflicting these plants, the rapid ‘Ohi’a death. First reported in the big island of Hawaii, mitigations efforts have been taken to help stop the spread of the fungus, including closing down of forests to visitors. Humans can carry these pathogens on their shoes as they walk through the forest floor. To avoid spreading the disease, visitors should use the shoe cleaners placed along trails. Please be mindful of your presence as an outsider when you visit these unique habitats.
Five Amaumau fern grow on lava flows created in the early 20th century with other pioneer species like ‘Ohi’a lehua.
Driving through the big island of Hawaii on the saddle road, the scenery changes drastically from vegetation introduced by ranches to hard lava rocks with little to no soil. Growing on it are some of the most versatile and hardy species of plants. These pioneer species are the first to inhabit rocky lava beds after the erupted magma cools down. Among those species is the Amaumau fern. The first time I saw this fern, I assumed it belonged to the more common fern order of tree ferns. I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about this fantastic fern. For now, it has taken the spot of my favorite species of ferns!
Amaumau fern belongs to the endemic genus Sadleria. It is found in all major islands of Hawaii and grows on lava flows, open spaces, and wet forests. The fern can tolerate extreme heat and direct sunlight, which gives its leaves a red tinge. The plant can grow vertically, like a small tree fern, or horizontally with its rhizomes covered with silver-colored dead leaves.
The crater Halemaʻumaʻu, home to the goddess of fire and volcanoes, Pele, derives its name from this fern. Halemaʻumaʻu means “house of the ʻāmaʻu fern.”
Preferring to grow on the leeward side of islands, these beautiful native poppies of Hawaii grow in dry, sunny coastal areas and high elevations dry mountainous climate. It is the only native poppy found across the Hawaiian islands. It also is endemic to the state.
The prickly poppy lives up to its name. The plant is covered with thorns, including on its leaves and buds. The plant is toxic, oozing yellow sap if disturbed. Native Hawaiians used the poppy for medicinal purposes.
The plants I was able to photograph were growing on the rocky coast of Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park. One of them had what I think was a stripped lynx spider ambushing possible pollinators from inside the flower!
I was lucky enough to visit an Albatross breeding colony on the island of Oahu. A childhood dream come true!
An albatross with a Pacific Golden-Plover. It really puts the size in perspectiveI was spotted.
The Laysan albatross is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. More than 99% of the breeding population of the bird lives in the northern Hawaiian island, specifically in the midway atoll and Laysan islands. The species suffered a drastic population reduction in the early 1900s due to immense scale slaughter of populations for their feathers. The species is not recovering and is now classified as near threatened.
Albatross tend to bond for life. To the right is a pair of albatross settling in for the night in a grove of possible false sandalwood.
Occasionally, the birds form same-sex pairs consisting of two females. This has been observed in the colony on the Hawaiian island Oahu, where the sex ratio of male to female is 2 to 3 and 31% of all pairs are between females.
Winter months in New Jersey can get hard, with limited sunlight and all the beautiful flora hibernating for the winter. I am lucky enough to have a sister who lives in Hawaii! While in Hawaii, I couldn’t help but botanize the local native flora. On the island of Oahu, it is sad to see that most of the landscape is covered with invasive plants and birds from across the world. The island’s native forests are at risk of being wiped out thanks to escaped plants from people’s gardens. Even so, one can find the surviving remnants of a once-thriving ecosystem and efforts made to preserve it. For the next few weeks, I will try to unload my photographs from the big island of Hawaii and the island of Oahu.
First off is possibly the most famous native plant in the botanical world, the Hawaiian silverswords! Silverswords are massive showy plants that grow on the sides of volcanoes on two of Hawaii’s islands, Maui and Hawaii. The plants are large silvery rosettes forming hardy plants that can survive climate extremities. Once common across the landscape, these large, showy plants suffered dramatic decline due to cattle farms and visitors ripping them out to keep as souvenirs. These plants are now federally protected, and restoration efforts are underway to try and save the various subspecies of the plant.
Three silverswords just done flowering and a large plant that should flower in the next few years!A young plant, far from maturitySome silverswords growing in clumps.A rosette opening up.
As is true for most island species, the two islands inhabited by the silverswords have produced two closely related subspecies. The Haleakala silversword grows around the volcano Haleakala in Maui. The Mauna Kea silversword is found around the peak of Mauna Kea on the big island. Efforts to save the Haleakala silversword have resulted in a resurgence of the plant under management, but the Mauna Kea has yet to see the same fate. Less than 50 of these plants continue to grow naturally in an inaccessible part of the Mauna Kea, saved from the cattle that have decimated its population. 750+ now grow under protection, many fenced off from livestock.
I was lucky enough to find these plants in a protected trail in Mauna Kea, kept under watch but left to the elements. Seeing them was a delight. At 9000 ft, the climate is not what you would expect from a place advertised relentlessly as a tropical paradise. The weather is much colder and harsher at that altitude, allowing the unique plants to survive. I visited them after they had done flowering for the year. Still, their giant flower stalks were left looking impressive, with a fresh batch of seeds! Hopefully, I can revisit them in the coming years and witness their magnificent blooms.
Silverswords are further empiriled thanks to climate change. They grow in a narrow band of altitude and depend on their delicate ecosystem for survival, with climate change, the habitable altitudes could change, further narrowing its natural range.
Minuartia carolinanana, or the Pine-barren sandwort is a small plant in the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae) native to the eastern coast of the US. They are found growing on white sands of pine barrens. They usually grow alone or with some grasses. The leaves are small and grow along the stem, resembling some moss species in both size and shape. The flowers grow out of these stems in long branches with five-petaled flowers that can grow longer than the stems supporting them.
To the left you can see the stem which shoots the flowering branch.
Monotropa hypopitys, or the pinesap, is a cousin of the more common ghost pipe. Both plants are parasitic depending on mycorrhizal fungi found in the forest floor. Unlike its cousin, Monotropa uniflora, pinesap flowers with multiple blooms on a single flowering stem. Like the ghost pipe, it can be found growing near oaks and pines.
The flower colors are varid, from yellow to purple/red. This is a rare plant in New Jersey with few populations recorded. I was lucky enough to find at least three distinct populations growing in a hilly portion of Jersey. One was flowering, while ther other was past its prime and beginning to fruit.
A less showy cousin of the much larger and showier white-fringed orchid (they were growing near each other in pinelands of New Jersey.) The plant has but one large leaves with others being reduced to bracts along its stems. This particular plant was a youngling that was probably flowering for the first time.
There is some controversy regarding its inclusion into the Platanthera genus. I do not know enough about the morphology of the genus to elaborate further.
The spot I found this orchid seemed to have a healthy population of orchids that were reproducing. One thing that concerned me was the thickness of the understory. As this location was used by people and was near a park for human picnicking, the area hasn’t burnt enough. Pinelands is a fire ecology, and I worry about what thick understory would do to the local orchid population.
The flowers of these orchids are not as showy as some others in the Platanthera genus, but that allows us to have a clear look at the twist that results in the resupinate nature of orchid flowers. Most orchids go through this, with certain exceptions like Calopogon. Resupinate flowers are those that twist and turn upside down. As an orchid bud develops, the lip of the orchid is towards the flowering stem (as can be seen below), but as the bud begins to open, the flower twists till the tip point down. In this orchid, you can see the twist that each flower went through.
Previous version of this post had termed this Iris as the invasive “Siberian Iris”, but according to iNat, this is a native Iris species called Savanna Iris (Iris tridentata) . Besides plant life, I like to document the creatures that surround and depend on them, and this hard-working bumble bee deserves its give minutes of fame. I have previously also photographed a bee pollinating the grasspink orchid that you can see here.
As I was driving to the Green swamp preserve in North Carolina, I kept an eye on the roadside; some interesting plants grow by the side of roads inhabiting a disturbed space. Besides, ditches ran around the roads used to direct rainwater. The trenches thus provide a wet ecosystem for semi-aquatic plants to thrive. Driving by one of them, I saw a flash of blue that needed closer inspection. I had initially hoped it would be the native Irises like the ones I had documented earlier but turned out to be similar-looking Siberian Irises. I am glad to now know that I had actually seen a possible pollination event of the Savanna Iris.
Luckily for me, there were plenty of bees working on these flowers in the early cloudy summer morning, perfect for photography, lots of light for fast shutter speeds, but soft enough not to create contrast issues while editing! Enjoy the slideshow of the bee forcing itself inside the Iris!
If there is one thing you can be sure of, as you learn more about plants and how to identify them, the clearer the destruction of native wildlands gets. Soon the beautiful flowers you see in a wild reserve turn up to be aggressive invasive species brought to the continent by people wanting a more European garden.
Today I want to show two species of Irises that can be found in New Jersey, North-Eastern America, Iris pseudacorus (Yellow-Flag Iris), and Iris versicolor (blue flag Iris). You can also compare the blandness of the Yellow-Flag Iris with another Native Iris, Savannah Iris
Both species look similar, but, in my personal opinion, the native Iris looks far better than its European cousin. But, as the yellow-flag were quite popular in Europe they were imported for their ornamental value.
Both species like wet conditions to grow in and are found growing near ponds or swamps. Yellow Flag Iris takes over aquatic habitat and out-competes native plants by forming thick clumps that are hard to remove.
Adding native plants to your garden has a lot of advantages. Besides making your yard look beautiful, they attract and provide shelter to native insects and help restore the land to its original splendor! You can find links to native gardening websites here.
Go ahead, slide between the two flowers, and tell me which one is prettier!
What's growing in the Garden State 