Author: sbennet1

Spring sprung pretty early in Austin and as a result I’d been seeing a lot of bees around campus. However, I wasn’t sure what types of bees I’d been seeing. When one landed right on my water bottle while I was outside Jo’s I knew it was the perfect opportunity to snap a photo and upload it to iNaturalist. I uploaded a few photos and the iNaturalist community responded by telling me it was a Honey Bee. It was a relief to me to find out that the bees swarming around campus are Honey Bees because I know they’re not very aggressive. I’m also happy to see lots of these bees on campus because during my research I found out they’re in danger! Bee populations are shrinking because of Colony Collapse Disorder, in which bees leave their colonies and abandon the queen bee. Less bees means less plants and less food for humans, so we have to watch out for them!

Source: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/honeybee/

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5939438

When I first saw this group of birds on the ground near Hunt hall, I thought they were Grackles. However, when I took a closer look I noticed that they were smaller than Grackles and had yellowish beaks. I uploaded my photo and a description of the size and appearance of the birds to iNaturalist in hopes that someone could help me figure out what kind of bird I was looking at. I couldn’t get a very sharp photo because they were far away, but my description was good enough that someone identified the birds at European Starlings. I did some research about European Starlings and they looked and sounded exactly like the birds I saw. European Starlings are common in settled areas and they feed on the ground, often in lawns. I found out in my research that European Starlings were first brought to North America by Shakespeare enthusiasts in the nineteenth century. The group wanted America to have every bird species that Shakespeare mentioned in his writings. Although at first it was a question of “to be or not to be?” as the species had trouble surviving in America, they are now thriving all over the North American continent.

Source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/European_Starling/lifehistory

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5938723

Before I started using iNaturalist, I was only aware of Grackles because they can’t really be avoided. Grackles, it seems, have no sense of personal space and go to great lengths to get some food (I can relate to the latter). However, I didn’t know much about the species so when one almost hopped on my table at lunch, I took a picture and uploaded it to iNaturalist. I added the identity “grackles” to my photo. Two other users narrowed my observation to Great-Tailed Grackle. When I read about the appearance and behavior of the Great-Tailed Grackle I knew it was the correct identity. Great-Tailed Grackles are black or brown in color, often travel in groups and are usually seen scavenging for food in urban areas. During my reading I also found out that Grackles are a “sex-biased” population with more females than males.

 

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5922487

Source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great-tailed_Grackle/lifehistory

I saw these birds huddled outside of campus as I was waiting for the light at Congress and Woodward. They looked like Pigeons but I wasn’t totally sure so I took a picture and uploaded it to iNaturalist. I uploaded the picture under the classification “Pigeons and Doves.” Soon, two users narrowed my identification to Rock Pigeon. I did some research on Rock Pigeons and found that they are city dwellers normally found in large groups on the ground scavenging for food. This was a perfect description of the birds I saw so I agreed with the id. During my research I also learned that Rock Pigeons were introduced to North America from Europe in the 1600s. To continue with our class theme of science-y band names: Rock Pigeon is an amazing band name!

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5922470

Source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rock_Pigeon/id

When we were first introduced to iNaturalist the first species that came to my mind was the House Sparrow. Although at the time I didn’t know the species as anything other than “the cute tiny birds outside of Jo’s,” I was excited to find out more about them using iNaturalist. Fittingly, I spotted one outside of Jo’s. I took a photo and uploaded it to iNaturalist, where two users confirmed the House Sparrow identity. After doing some research on House Sparrows, I found out that, despite their cute appearance, they are freeloaders. They take advantage of structures built by humans or other birds (sometimes even pushing other species out of their nests) and scavenge for leftovers, which explains their constant presence outside of Jo’s. 

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5922457

Source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/id

I observed this tree on campus near Sorrin hall. Although the tree was beautiful, tall, and offered lovely shade, I was mostly curious about the identity because I noticed it had these long green seeds that I had seen before. During the Texas Spring, I find these long green seeds all over my car, dog, yard, and, somehow, my house. I was curious to determine the culprit of this annual mess, so I took a picture of the leaves and uploaded it to iNaturalist. I thought, because of the shape of the leaves that this tree was in the oak family. After I uploaded the picture of the leaves with the broad “oak” identification, someone commented and narrowed the id to Bur Oak. After some research, I found our that Bur Oaks do have the long stringy seeds that get all over my lawn in the months of March, April, and May.

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5922337

Source: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=quma2

Over Easter break I took a short trip down to Galveston. While I was on and around the beach I noticed lots of different wildlife than what I normally see in Austin. One species I saw a lot of were these seagulls. They are like the Grackles of the coast. They were all over the beach and seawall restaurants trying to get a bite of people’s food. I snapped a picture of one on our first day. When I tried to upload the photo to iNaturalist, there wasn’t an id available for seagull. So, I uploaded without an id and asked the iNaturalist community what they thought. I quickly got two ids for Laughing Gull. I looked up the Laughing Gull to see if I agreed with the identity. I found out that Laughing Gulls are year-long residents of the Gulf of Mexico and that they are often found in large numbers in beaches, docks, and parking lots.

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5922326

Source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Laughing_Gull/id

The last observation I made during out class outing with Dr. Belaire was undoubtably my favorite. As we were fishing up our walk, we heard some birds across the street from us. Although they were pretty far away I used the binoculars to get a good look. Next, Dr. Belaire guided me though the Merlin app, which asks a series of questions to help users identify bird species. After we went through the questions about size, color, and location the app told us we were probably looking at a Cedar Waxwing. I really enjoyed using the Merlin app and the binoculars to figure out what kind of bird we were looking at. I also enjoyed looking and listening closely to see something on campus that I had never noticed before. Although I am confident in my identification of the Cedar Waxwings, because Dr. Belaire helped me and I used the Merlin app, I was unable to get a good photograph so I didn’t get a very good response on my observation.

Observation : http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5434042

The second observation I made during our campus outing with Dr. Belaire was this tree, also near JBWS. The blooms sort of reminded me of cherry blossoms but I wasn’t sure so I decided to take a close-up photo of the flowers to see what the iNaturalist community thought. I quickly received two id’s for Mexican Buckeye. After doing some research I agreed with these two users. The Mexican Buckeye is native to Texas, blooms during the month of March, when I made this observation, and is an 8-12 foot tree, which fit the description of the tree I saw outside of JBWS. I also found out that Mexican Buckeye flowers are fragrant but their seeds are poisonous!

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5433937

Source: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=unsp

On our first campus outing with iNaturalist I found this nice flowered plant outside of JBWS. I had absolutely no idea what the identity of the plant was, but I thought it looked pretty. Dr. Belaire suggested that I take a photo and include some specs about the plant, like its height, leaf size, and leaf type. Upon posting I immediately received some responses about the id of the plant. One user correctly placed it into the sage family and another user narrowed it further to Cedar Sage. I googled Cedar Sage and, after some online research, determined that the user was correct. I found that Cedar Sage often grows underneath trees, which is exactly where I found this plant. I also found that this plant is native to Texas, specifically the Edward’s Plateau.

Source: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=saro3

Observation: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5433887