📜 EwA Week Highlights: A Hummingbird Moment, Big Turtles, and An Evocative Ant
Mike McGlathery
Hello everyone!
Mike here with the August 20th edition of EwA’s weekly highlights.
📸 We’ll start the week off with this stunning picture of a ruby-throated hummingbird mid-flight from Dan. This zippy bird’s wings are likely beating over 50 times a second, and yet the picture Dan captured is crystal clear. Click through to the observation to see a few other shots depicting different stages of the hummingbird’s wing-beat.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Daniel Onea · Woburn, MA · Aug. 13, 2022)
Erin observed this common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) in Alewife brook in Somerville on Tuesday. Snapping turtles continue to grow throughout their lives and as such can become quite large. Erin estimated this turtle’s shell to be at least 35 cm (14 in) long—while snapping turtles can grow up to about 50 cm (20 in), this is still one of the larger snapping turtles you’ll find in the wild around here.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Erin Ellingwood · Stoneham, MA · Aug. 16, 2022)
Our last photo comes from an anonymous caterpillars count user. Something about this eastern black carpenter ant’s (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) pose is incredibly pleasing to me. I could imagine this photo illustrating a beautiful children’s book.
EwA iNaturalist Record (EwA Caterpillars Count! Project · Middlesex Fells, MA · Aug. 19, 2022)
That’s all for this week—hope the dog days are treating you well.
-Mike
📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 538 observations of 289 distinct species. If you’re curious about the records from this week that have been validated by the iNat community so far, you can find them » here.
🏆 Running tally: To date, we have recorded 121,076 observations of 8,478 distinct species! Check out our EwA umbrella project, see the details per site/observer, and more » here.
📅 EwA Upcoming Public Events
Ewa Field Events » Check the EwA Summer Program [ Event details and registration » ] Don’t miss some great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and in the local wildlife! Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting the pressure on natural habitats which large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit (or cancel when you know you can’t come) to avoid no-shows.
EwA Fieldwork (and Resources)
Peak schedule: Our monitoring programs are in full swing, and are occurring every week this time of year. Check EwA’s Volunteer Program Calendar 📅 to know when things happen. And if a session is of interest to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to get the rendezvous location.
📅 EwA Sites Map | 🌱 Site Protocols and Guides · Field Rosters · Field Notes » All here! | ℹ️ More about EwA’s Citizen Science Program » Here
❓ Do you have any questions? Don’t be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.--