📜 EwA Week Highlights: Return of the American Avocet, Jewelweed, and Another Wasp Mimic
Mike McGlathery
Hello everyone!
Here’s the September 17th edition of EwA’s weekly highlights.
📸 First up, we have this observation of an American avocet (Recurvirostra americana) from Dan. Due to hunting, trapping, habitat loss, and other factors, this species was locally extinct from the eastern United States for most of the past century. In the last few years, avocets have been spotted intermittently on Plum island--here's hoping the bird can become a more regular visitor to our state again. This is EwA's first observation of an American avocet in Massachusetts.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Daniel Onea · Ipswich, MA · Sep. 10, 2022)
If you've been a consistent reader of the EwA highlights this year, you might have noticed that I'm fascinated by yellowjacket mimics. I've got yet another convincing one to show you this week. This is a raspberry crown borer (Pennisetia marginatum), photographed by Joe. The raspberry crown borer is in fact a moth, and as the name suggests, its larvae are agricultural pests of raspberry plants.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Joe Macindewar. · Melrose, MA · Sep. 14, 2022)
And finally, we've got this observation of a jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) flower from Sara. Jewelweed seed pods will burst open if touched, flinging seeds away from the plant, a behavior I had great fun demonstrating to campers as an Audubon camp counselor.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Sara Gardner · Cambridge, MA · Sep. 12, 2022)
That’s all for this last week before fall begins.
-Mike
📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 697 observations of 379 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 124,703 observations of 8,641 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 Fall [ 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.
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