Although I heard a good number of flight calls overhead in the dark when I was opening the nets, there weren’t a lot of migrants around the area – the birds I heard must have kept on going, putting down close to the north shore of Lake Erie (rather than risk predation by crossing it in the light).
The relaxed pace allowed me to take a better look at what is going on in other areas. You can’t help but wonder at the number of spiders there are at Ruthven. The morning fog sets them off in the early sunlight and…..they’re everywhere! An insect has such a gauntlet to run to fly/move anywhere. If you can get to Ruthven early, check out the many different kinds of webs that festoon the vegetation.
But September, for me, is the month of the Praying Mantis. These remarkable insects can be seen regularly throughout the meadow areas. Belonging to the order Mantodea, worldwide there are over 2400 species. They are large ambush predators that seize their prey with their elongated “praying” front legs and then tear them apart with insidious biting/chewing mouthparts. Some species have been observed eating hummingbirds, mice and even snakes! These insects live for about a year, the adults laying their eggs in the Fall before dying. The eggs hatch in the Spring and the young mantises try to avoid being eaten throughout the Summer until they can become the eaters.
Praying Mantises indulge in “sexual cannibalism” – the female will often eat the male (or at least his head)that she is copulating with. I just love this phrase from the Wikipedia account: “hungry females generally attracted fewer mates than those that were well fed.” Does anyone find this surprising? I can just hear it: “I don’t care how good looking you are, you’ve got that look in your eye….”
We had almost as many retraps as we did banded birds: 24 vs 25. Almost all of the long-distance migrants were putting on weight….as well they should. The fine weather hasn’t necessitated that they hurry up and get going.
Banded 25:
1 Eastern Wood Pewee
2 House Wrens
1 Gray Catbird
1 Philadelphia Vireo
5 Red-eyed Vireos
3 Tennessee Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
2 Chestnut-sided Warblers
5 Magnolia Warblers
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 American Redstart
1 Common Yellowthroat
ET’s: 46 spp.
Rick