The spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularia)

The family Scolopacidae includes numerous species of shorebirds, e.g., sandpipers, tattlers, knots, godwits, curlews, yellowlegs, willets, and dowitchers. These are known as sandpipers tend to be small with moderately long legs and bills. Most sandpipers forage on sandy beaches and mudflats; a few utilize upland areas.

They feed almost exclusively on small invertebrates, either by probing into or gleaning from the substrate. Most species are highly migratory, breeding in the arctic and subarctic regions and either wintering along the coasts or in southern latitudes and the southern hemisphere; therefore, many are only passage migrants throughout most of the United States. Scolapids range in size from the least sandpiper (11.5 cm bill tip to tail tip) to the long-billed curlew (48 cm).

The spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularia) is 19 cm and very common summer resident of freshwater and saltwater bodies throughout most of the United States. These sandpipers are most often encountered singly but may form small flocks. Most winter in the neotropics. Females bird is approximately 50 g significantly larger than males (approximately 40 g).

Habitat

Spotted sandpipers breed along the edges of bodies of water. They usually in open habitats, from the northern border of the boreal forest across North America, south to the central United States. They require open water for bathing and drinking, semi-open habitat for nesting, and dense vegetation for a breeding strategy called polyandry.

Spotted Sandpiper Food

In coastal areas, spotted sandpipers search the beach and muddy edges of inlets and creeks, wading less frequently than most sandpipers; inland they feed along the shores of sandy ponds and all types of streams. But sometimes straying into meadows, fields, and gardens in agricultural areas.

Their diet is composed primarily of terrestrial and marine insects. While adult flying insects comprise the bulk of the diet, crustaceans, leeches, molluscs, small fish, and carrion also are eaten. Young feed themselves immediately after hatching, concentrating on small invertebrates. During insect outbreaks, sandpipers will forage in wooded areas near water, and they have been observed eating eggs and fish on occasion.

Partial prenuptial molt of body plumage occurs in March and April, while the postnuptial molt begins by August with the body feathers and ends anywhere from October to April with the loss of the primary flight feathers.

Migration

Spotted sandpipers generally migrate in small flocks or solitarily. They winter from the southern United States to northern Chile, Argentina, and Uraguay. They breed across North America, north from Virginia and southern California. In the spring season, females arrive at the breeding grounds earlier than males, by about 2 weeks.

Spotted Sandpiper Nests

The primary consideration for nesting sites is proximity to water, and it has been known to build their ground nests in such diverse conditions as depressions in volcanic rock and strawberry patches. Spotted sandpipers are polyandrous (i.e., a single female lays eggs for multiple males), with males supplying most of the incubation and parental care. Thus, reproduction is limited by the number of male’s present.

Spotted sandpipers lay a determinate clutch of four eggs. Females may lay several clutches in a year, often a dozen eggs per season. Egg-laying begins between late May and early June, and males incubate after the third egg is laid. Females sometimes incubate and brood when another male is not available. Parents brood small chicks and protect them with warning calls or by distracting or attacking predators. The female may store sperm for up to one month.

Sandpiper Range

Although a variety of vegetation types are used, nests usually are placed in semi-open vegetation near the edge of a lake, river, or ocean. The suitability of nesting habitat varies from year to year in some locations due to levels of precipitation and predators.

Females may lay one to six clutches for different males over one season, averaging 1.3 to 2.7 mates per year. Female mating and reproductive success increase with age, but male success do not. Lifetime reproductive success is most affected by fledging success and longevity for both males and females.

Spotted Sandpiper Call

The song or call of Spotted Sandpiper is very sweet of quick string of 10 weets in a similar style. The bird may give a pair of weet note when alarmed. Also, they give a sensible metallic spink to warn the chicks from predators. When they near the nest, they give a simple pink sound almost three times in a row followed by a brief paused.

Moreover, Spotted Sandpipers also use a courtship song among a mated pair that has a series of soft pips before the standard song. If they are staggered while incubating, they may let out a loud squeal.

You can listen the Spotted Sandpiper Call Here

Similar Species

1.     The solitary sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) is usually seen singly in freshwater swamps or rivers. Present over much of the United States during annual migrations, this average-sized sandpiper (18 cm) winters along the southeast and Gulf coasts.

2.     The western sandpiper (Calidris mauri) is a small sandpiper (13 cm), common on mudflats and sandbars, that winters on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores of the United States.

3.     The least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla), the smallest of this group (11 cm), is common in winter on salt marshes and muddy shores of rivers and estuaries in coastal areas across the United States.

4.     The semipalmated sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) are small birds (13 cm) seen in the United States primarily during migration and rarely wintering on Florida coasts. Most other members of the family Scolopacidae forage by gleaning.

Read More – The Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina)
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Facts of Bald Eagle

Bald Eagles have long rounded wings, large hooked bills, sharp talons, and are the largest birds of prey in the United States. They swoop down on their prey at high speeds, and their diet varies by species and considerably by habitat. In most species, the male is smaller than the female, but otherwise, the sexes are similar in appearance. This family also includes kites and hawks.

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), is U.S. national symbol. It is a federally designated endangered species. Relatively common in Alaska, populations in the lower 48 States have been seriously diminished, although they are recovering in some areas. Bald eagles are most commonly sighted in coastal areas or near rivers or lakes.

Bald eagles are primarily carrion feeders. Perhaps Bald Eagle sound is not good in listening. Normally they emit a sort of high-pitched giggle or a weak scream showing the classics symbol of adventure. Habitually, Bald Eagle is a very romantic bird of prey, tend to pair for lifetime. They like to share parenting responsibilities with the female. You can listen Bald Eagle sound here 

Body Size

Females are significantly larger than males, but otherwise, the sexes look alike. Body size increases with latitude and is the sole basis by which the northern and southern subspecies are divided. Length from bill tip to tail tip averages 81 cm in the more northerly populations. There may be the reason those female needs extra food reserves to produce her eggs. This is scariest eagle is pretty much always the lady.

Bald Eagle Habitat

Bald eagles generally are restricted to coastal areas, lakes, and rivers. However, in winter areas it is not associated with water. Preferred breeding sites include proximity to large bodies of open water and large nest trees with sturdy branches (often conifers) and areas of old-growth timber with an open and discontinuous canopy.

In a study shows, more than 200 nests, found 55 % within 46 m of shoreline and 92 percent within 183 m of shore. During migration and in winter, conifers often are used for communal roosting both during the day and at night, perhaps to minimize heat loss. Mature trees with large open crowns and stout, horizontal perching limbs are preferred for roosting in general. Bald eagles reach maximum densities in areas of minimal human activity and are almost never found in areas of heavy human use.

Food Habits

Bald Eagle primarily carrion feeders eat dead or dying fish when available but also will catch live fish swimming near the surface or fish in shallow waters. In general, bald eagles can be described as opportunistic feeders, taking advantage of whatever food source is most plentiful. Also, it is easy to scavenge or to capture, including birds and mammals. In many areas, particularly in winter, waterfowl, killed or injured by hunters, and shore birds are an important food source.

Usually, eagles forage in an upland area in the winter season. when surface waters are frozen over, consuming carrion including rabbits, squirrels, and dead domestic livestock such as pigs and chickens. The Bald eagles is also famous in to steal food from other members of their own species as well as from hawks, osprey, gulls, and mergansers. This Bald Eagle may occur when there is a shortage of a primary food source, such as fish, and an abundance of other prey such as waterfowl being used by other predatory birds.

Some prey is important to a few populations; for example, in the Chesapeake Bay region, turtles are consumed during the breeding season, and at Amchitka Island in Alaska, sea otter pups are found regularly in bald eagle nests. In the Pacific Northwest during the breeding season, that bald eagles hunted live prey 57 percent of the time, scavenged for 24 percent of their prey, and pirated 19 percent (mostly from gulls or other eagles).

Because bald eagles scavenge dead or dying prey, they are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants and pesticides (e.g., from feeding on birds that died from pesticides, consuming lead shot from waterfowl killed or disabled by hunters. Bald eagles also are vulnerable to biomagnification of contaminants in food chains.

At the close of Lake Superior (WI), herring gulls, which were consumed by over 20 percent of nesting bald eagle pairs, were found to be a significant source of DDE and PCB intake by the eagles. The gulls contained higher contaminant levels than the local fish because of their higher trophic level.

Molt

Adult eagles molt yearly. In northern populations, molting occurs from late spring to early fall; in southern populations, molting may be initiated earlier. It is likely that the molt is not complete, and that some feathers are retained for 2 years. Young bald eagles generally molt into their adult plumage by their fifth year.

Migration

Bald eagles migrate out of areas where lakes are completely frozen over in winter but will remain as far north as the availability of open water and a reliable food supply allow. Areas with ice-free waterways, such as the Columbia River estuary in Washington and Oregon, may support both resident and migratory populations in the winter. The far northern breeding populations migrate south for the winter and often congregate in areas with abundant food, particularly the Mississippi Valley and the northwestern States.

Some populations of eagles that breed in southern latitudes (e.g., Arizona, Florida) show a reverse migration and migrate north in midsummer (following breeding), returning south in early autumn or winter. Bald eagles have been observed to nest successfully at 4 years of age, but most do not breed until at least their fifth year. Breeding pairs remain together if both are alive.

Nests of Bald Eagle

Moreover, Bald Eagle is famous for building a massive nest high in the treetops. Both male and female play their role to construct their home to cement their lifelong bond. The nests normally consist of grass and feathers and they used it year after year spruce it up with a whopping foot or two of new material. The nests on average is 2 to 4 feet deep and 5 to 6 feet wide.

Large stick nests (approximately 1.5 m across and 0.6 m deep) are built near water and most often in a large tree, but sometimes on rocky outcrops or even on the ground on some islands. In the absence of disturbance, the same nest site may be used for many years. In Florida, eggs are laid in late autumn or winter, while over the rest of the eagle's range, mating and egg-laying occur in spring.

Clutch sizes are larger in the north, and both sexes take responsibility for feeding the young. Young fledge at about 10 to 12 weeks of age; after leaving the nest, they are still dependent on their parents for several weeks and often return to the nest for food. After nesting, large groups will often gather at sites with plentiful food and resources, such as along rivers following a salmon spawn.

Bald Eagle Range

During the breeding season, eagles require large areas near open water, with an adequate supply of nesting trees. Distance from human disturbance is an important factor in nest-site selection, and nests have been reported to fail because of disturbance. During incubation and brooding, eagles show territorial defense of an area around the nest site. Following fledging, there is little need for nest defense, and eagles are opportunistic in their search for abundant sources of prey.

During winter, eagles roost communally in large aggregations and share a foraging home range. The population of 150 eagles that fed on meadow voles in a 250-ha flooded field for a 4-week period. This group also established a communal night roost in the vicinity.

Bald Eagle Population

Because population density depends strongly on the configuration of the surface water bodies used for foraging, few investigators have published explicit density estimates on an area basis; most report breeding densities along a shoreline on a linear basis. During the breeding season, 0.03 to 0.4 pairs have been recorded per km shore.

Eagles migrating south from their summer territories in Canada have aggregated in communal roosts of up to 400 eagles in a 40-ha area. In the winter, communal roost sites may also contain large numbers of eagles. A group of 150 eagles that roosted and foraged together in the Klamath Basin, and communal night roosts of up to 300 eagles in Oregon in late winter.

Not all adults in an area are part of the breeding population. Some pairs may establish territories and not breed, while others may not even pair. The percentage of adults breeding and the breeding success of those that do vary with local food abundance, weather, and habitat conditions.

The bioaccumulation of organochlorine pollutants reduced the reproductive success of bald eagles. Now, in many areas, these raptors are reproducing at rates like those prior to the widespread use of these pesticides. Eagles lay one clutch per year, although replacement clutches may be laid upon loss of the initial one. Very little is known about mortality rates of bald eagles.

The population models that adult survival is more important than the reproductive rate to the continued success of bald eagle populations. In captivity, bald eagles have lived for up to 50 years, and one wild eagle, banded and recaptured in Alaska, was estimated to be almost 22 years old. Upon loss of an initial clutch, bald eagles may lay replacement clutches if enough time remains. Moreover, the average life of bald is around 20 years, however, the oldest confirmed life span is 38 years of age.

Similar Species  

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is similar in size (81 cm) to the bald eagle. Its range encompasses all but the southeastern United States. Small mammals, snakes, birds, and carrion are primary prey items, and golden eagles prefer mountainous or hilly terrain.

Read More – The Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina)

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Eastern Box Turtle Care (box turtles)

Order Testudines, Family Emydidae

Box turtles are the most terrestrial of the Emydid turtles, having close-fitting shells that have allowed them to adapt well to terrestrial life. They are found throughout the eastern and central United States and into the southwest. They are omnivorous. Eastern Box turtles are also known as box tortoises, currently, four recognized species of box turtles.

Eastern Box Turtle Facts

The eastern box turtle (Terrapene Carolina carolina) ranges from northeastern Massachusetts to Georgia, west to Michigan, Illinois, and Tennessee. Also, they prefer the water, but are not improved for swimming in water. Box Turtles can roam up to one mile in a year. The main roads are a major deadly hazard for these slow-moving creatures.

Also, aggressive exotics smother their food plants. Raccoons and crows, though native, are major predators of young turtles. Also, lawnmowers get injure and kill box turtles. There are four subspecies of T. Carolina. All found within the eastern United States.

·              T. c. carolina, T. c. major (Gulf Coast box turtle; the largest subspecies, restricted to the Gulf Coast).

·              T. c. triunguis (three-toed box turtle; Missouri to south-central Alabama and Texas).

·              T. c. bauri (Florida box turtle; restricted to the Florida peninsula and keys.

Body Size

The eastern box turtle is small, with adults ranging from 11.5 to 15.2 cm in length and approximately 300 to over 400 g. Hatchlings weigh approximately 8 to 10 g. Turtles continue to grow throughout their lives.

However, their growth rate slows after reaching sexual maturity. The growth rings are no longer discernible after 18 to 20 years. Therefore, the body fat reserves in a Georgia population-averaged 0.058 to 0.060 g of fat per gram of lean dry weight from spring through fall.

Where do Eastern Box Turtles Live?

Typical box turtle habitats include open woodlands, thickets, and well-drained but moist forested areas. But occasionally pastures and marshy meadows are utilized. In areas with mixed woodlands and grasslands, box turtles use grassland areas in times of moderate temperatures and peak moisture conditions.

Otherwise, they tend to use moister forested habitats. Many turtles are killed attempting to crossroads, and fragmentation of habitat by roads can severely reduce populations. Eastern Box turtles tend to thrive best when they have let them leave alone. Various people illegally collect Eastern box turtles to breed in captivity to adopt as pets.

Eastern Box Turtle Diet

Most people want to know, what do eastern box turtles eat. Thus, adult T. carolinaare omnivorous when young, they are primarily carnivorous, but they become more herbivorous as they age and as growth slows. They consume a wide variety of animal material, including earthworms, slugs, snails, insects and their larvae (particularly grasshoppers, moths, and beetles), crayfish, frogs, toads, snakes, and carrion.

They also consume vegetable matter, including leaves, grass, berries, fruits, and fungi. A high proportion of snails and slugs may comprise the animal matter in the diet, and seeds can become an important component of the plant materials in the late summer and fall.

Temperature Regulation and Daily Activities

The species is diurnal and spends the night resting in a scooped depression or form that the turtle digs in the soil with its front feet T.carolinaare most active in temperate, humid weather. In the summer, they avoid high temperatures during midday by resting under logs or leaf litter, in mammal burrows, or by congregating in mud holes.

In the hottest weather, they may enter shaded shallow pools for hours or days. In the cooler temperatures, they may restrict their foraging activities to midday. In the laboratory, locomotion is maximal between 24 and 32C. In the field, their mean active body temperature is approximately 26C.

Hibernation

In the northern parts of its range (northeastern Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois), the eastern box turtle enters hibernation in late October or November and emerges in April. In Louisiana, it is found that T. c. major hibernated when temperatures fell below 65F. To hibernate, the box turtle burrows into loose soil and debris or mud of ponds or stream bottoms.

The South Carolina population of box turtles to occupy relatively shallow burrows (less than 4 cm) compared with those occupied by box turtles in colder regions (up to 46 cm). The hibernacula of box turtles in Tennessee are under 15.5 cm of leaf litter and 5.8 cm of soil on average. In southern states, during rainy and warm periods, box turtles may become active again. In Florida, the box turtle may be active all year.

Eastern Box Turtle Care?

Keep the Box Turtle it in an outdoor enclosure if the climate is often remaining above 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Or keep in indoor glass tank which has at least 20 gallons of water. Moreover, soak from time to time to rehydrate and cool down the body of water that is large but shallow. Also, mist their living place several times daily with a spray bottle, to keep the humidity level high.

The Box turtles normally live for 25 to 35 years but in some cases, it is known to survive to over 100 years old. Moreover, if there are no woods on the roadside, then the best you can do is to find a small patch of woods as close to where the turtle was heading and reposition them there.

If anyone has Box Turtle as pets, then you must provide an adequate sun or artificial light to stay healthy along with a suitable diet. As Box Turtles are omnivores, so they need invertebrates, such as insects and worms, vegetable matter, leaves, fruits, and berries. Hence, it is very imperative to provide a varied diet in captivity to ensure good nutrition.

Breeding Activities and Social Organization

Box turtles are solitary except briefly during the mating season. Individuals restrict their activities to a foraging home range, but home ranges of different individuals can overlap substantially.

 Mating usually occurs in the spring but may continue into fall, and eggs are laid in late spring and summer. The female digs a 3-to 4-inch cavity in sandy or loamy soil in which she deposits her eggs and then covers the nest with soil. Also, Box turtle eggs can be a very easy target for predators like raccoons. 

Nests tend to be constructed several hundred meters from the female's foraging home range in the warmer and drier uplands. The duration of incubation depends on soil temperatures, and sometimes hatchlings overwinter in the nest. The young are semi aquatic but seldom seen.

Home Range and Resources

Measures of the foraging home range for box turtles range from .5 ha to just over 5 ha. A female may need to search for suitable nest site (e.g., slightly elevated sandy soils) outside of her foraging home range. Winter hibernacula tend to be within the foraging home range.

Population Density

Population density varies with habitat quality, but studies linking density to habitat characteristics are lacking. In some areas, population densities have declined steadily over the past several decades.

Some investigators attribute the decline to increasing habitat fragmentation and obstacles that prevent females from reaching or returning from appropriate nesting areas.

Population Dynamics

Sexual maturity is attained at about 4 or 5 years to 5 to 10 years of age. One to four clutches may be laid per year, depending on latitude.  Eastern Box Turtle clutch size ranges from three to eight eggs, averaging three to four in some areas.

Juveniles generally comprise a small proportion of box turtle populations, for example, 18 to 25 percent in one population in Missouri. Some individual box turtles may live over 100 years.

Similar Species

The ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata) and the desert box turtle (Terrapene ornata luteola) are similar in size and habits to the eastern box turtle. They occur in the western, midwestern, and southern Midwestern states.

Preferred habitats include open prairies, pastureland, open woodlands, and waterways in arid, sandy-soil terrains. The ornate box turtle and desert box turtle forage primarily on insects but also on berries and carrion.

Are Eastern Box Turtles Endangered?

Eastern Box Turtles are not listed as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. However, in some cases, it is considered threatened by many conservationists due to Loss of habitat, collisions with traffic, and illegal trade has made the eastern box turtle scarce in some of its native ranges.

Hence in recent years their population has been in decline. The exclusive bright coloration shell makes it very special for animals’ lovers. The Eastern Box Turtles length is 4 to 8.5” with its carapace is high and dome-shaped. The shell is made of bone covered by living vascularized tissue and covered with a layer of keratin.

The strong shell is connected to the body through its fused rib cage which makes the shell enduringly attached and not detachable. However, when it gets injured or damaged, the shell has the capacity to regenerate and reform.

Read More – The Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina)

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