Daddy Long Legs (Opiliones) (Formerly Phalangida)



English and Scientific Name: Daddy Long Legs (Opiliones) (Formerly Phalangida)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Arachnida

Observation:  This is a daddy long legs and the first thing I realized is so often we see a daddy long legs and assume it's a spider but a daddy long legs isn't a spider it's called a Opiliones.  After doing a little bit of research on it I found that one of it’s’ food sources is fecal material (Wikipedia.org, 2011).  Amazing fact because a human would be extremely sick consuming fecal material.

Questions:

1.      Why is the name no longer Phalangida?

2.      What is does its’ body consist of to make it able to consume fecal material?

3.      This is not a spider but when did spiders originate?

Scientific Research:

Coddington, Jonathan A. and Levi, Herbert W. Systematics and Evolution of Spiders (Araneae).  Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics.  Vol. 22, (1991), pp. 565-592.  Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2097274

When did spiders originate?

According to Coddington and Levi the earliest spider fossil is Attercopus fimbriunguis from the Middle Devonian Gilboa site in New York State.

Nature Observation Blog-Development of the Circle of Life

Hello All:

This is my Nature Observation Blog which is aptly entitled "The Circle of Life".  I initially thought when given the assignment of having to blog about nature that developing a name for my blog would be simple.  I quickly found out it wasn't.  I think we assume "it's just nature" so let's name it something involving, animals or plants but when I thought of those things it didn't seem to fit.  My blog won't be just about animals and it will not solely be about plants so I need something that would encompass nature and all it's components thus the creation of the name "The Circle of Life".  As I travel everyday to areas that I frequent, I had not noticed how many organisms are simply just sitting there that I haven't paid attention to before.  I will be posting a picture later today of an organism that I saw on the wall of the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru that I frequent daily.  It just happened to catch my eye.  I was by the speaker in which orders are placed and that makes me wonder can it hear me?  Is an insect an organism?  Where did it come from to get here and will it go back to that same place?  If I'm getting something from the Dunkin Donuts where, how and does the organism eat?  Stay tuned for the post's about what we'll now call the "Dunkin Donuts Organism".  Before I leave tonight, I did research whether an insect was an organism and here is what I found is that an insect is an organism with three pairs of legs and three body regions, the head, thorax an abdomen.

Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus)

English and Scientific Name: Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Observation:  The first thing I noticed about the falcon was that it didn’t have the blue/grey appearance that most falcons that I’ve seen have.  It was brown.  I never even thought a falcon could be brown and if I saw it without the name I would never think to call it a falcon.  The second thing I noticed about the falcon is the eyes (you can see it clearly in the picture), they are seemed to be big and stand out and gave me a sense that the falcon was actually thinking about what was going on its surroundings at the time we viewed it at the wildlife refuge.

Questions:

1.      Why is the color of this falcon different than most?

2.      Where does this type of falcon live?

3.      How does breeding occur when in captivity?

Scientific Research:

Epstein, Hans J.  The Origin and Earliest History of Falconry, Isis, Vol. 34, No. 6 (Autumn, 1943), pp. 497-509.  Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/225894

How does breeding occur when in captivity?

According to Epstein, Falcons cannot be bred in captivity, and thus each individual bird presents a new and ever varying experiment in trapping and training.

Website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanner_Falcon
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Lanner_Falcon
http://www.avianweb.com/lannerfalcon.html
http://www.falconrybirds.com/Pages/birds-lanner.shtml

Barred Owl (Strix varia)

English and Scientific Name: Barred Owl (Strix varia)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Observation:  I wasn’t surprised at the look of the owl when I saw this at the wildlife refuge because the owls I had seen on television looked very similar to this owl.  When taking a picture of the owl I noticed it didn’t flinch.  It almost seemed as if the owl didn’t notice us being there.  That was intriguing to me because there were so many people around and it didn’t seem make noise or anything as we were snapping pictures and talking fairly loud in the group.    

Questions:

1.      Are the owls calm when in captivity?

2.      Do they call at night only?

3.      How does feeding occur?

Scientific Research:

Bolles, Frank. Barred Owls in Captivity,The Auk, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr., 1890), pp. 101-114. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4067509

Are the owls calm when in captivity?

In June 1888, Bolles witnessed a Barred Owl perched on a tree branch.  Even after throwing a stick at the Owl it didn’t move (Bolles, 1890).  I find that intriguing because if you throw a stick at most animals they exhibit some reaction but the Owl did not.

Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Owl
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/id
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3680id.html
http://www.owling.com/Barred.htm

Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus)





English and Scientific Name: Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Observation:  The Harris Hawk in this picture is a brown color and I never even thought about a hawk being brown when I’ve seen them on television they’ve been bigger and lighter.  In hindsight they could be this size maybe seeing it on television could’ve caused an illusion.  I thought it was interesting that on the beak of the bird there is a spot of white and if you closely underneath you see a spot of white.    

Questions:

1.      Does the white on the bird help to distinguish it from others?

2.      Does the hawk migrate?

3.      How does feeding occur?

Scientific Research:

Bednarz, James and Ligon, David, J.  A Study of the Ecological Bases of Cooperative Breeding in the  Harris' Hawk, Ecology, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Aug., 1988), pp. 1176-1187.  Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1941272

How does feeding Occur?

Most birds breed individually but according to James Bednarz and J. David Ligon the Harris Hawk does what is called “Cooperative Breeding.”  This happens because the hawk depends on large elusive prey.  Additionally the hawk, travel like wolves and wild hunting dogs social systems based on 1) extended parental care, where young birds remain with older group members during their first year or years and 2) cooperation, where group hunting and prey-sharing provide a critical advantage to each individual (Bednarz, Ligon, 1988). 

Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris%27s_Hawk
http://www.peregrinefund.org/subsites/explore-raptors-2001/hawks/harrishk.html
http://www.parahawkusa.com/About_Harris_Hawks.html
http://www.raptorcenter.org/harris-hawk.asp

Green Winged Macaw (Ara chloropterus)

English and Scientific Name: Green Winged Macaw (Ara chloropterus)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Observation:  The is a picture of me holding what is commonly known as a “Green Winged Macaw” this beautiful bird was viewed during our class trip that someone brought in.  The bird is actually poised on my arm as I extend it out and I was quite surprised by that because usually if you go near a bird it fly’s away but I imagine that a bird that lives at a Wildlife Refuge is probably either trained and feels comfortable with human contact.  If you look at the picture the bird is just calmly sitting there which I think is amazing.  The first thing that struck me about this bird was the bright colors and how a bird such as this I don’t think you can see just in your everyday travels such as the pigeons that we often see in our everyday travels. 

Questions:

1.      What does the bird think about me holding it?

2.      Where do Green Winged Macaw’s live?

3.      If coming into human contact usually causes birds to fly away, for this bird, what could cause that?

Scientific Research:

Lamb, Chester.  A Glimpse of Bird Life on the West Coast of Mexico, The Condor
Vol. 12, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1910), pp. 74-79.  Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1362095.

The Macaw’s can reside on the West Coast of Mexico.  They usually fly in pairs and when flying keep up a regular, frequent and very loud call that sounds like the word wah-cah, with the accent on the last syllable, repeated two or three times, and this has given the Macaw the local name of Waca simply based on their call (Lamb). 

Websites:
http://www.rollinghillswildlife.com/animals/m/macawgreenwinged/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green-winged_Macaw
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/birds/macaws/greenwing.php
http://www.parrot-bird.com/green-winged-macaw-info.html