Redbud

Eastern Redbud is a small tree native to the eastern United States. In spring, its branches are covered with tiny pink and purple flowers.

Violets

Some violets stayed in bloom through this warm winter, but they are blooming really profusely now.

Whooping Crane Reprieve

Whooping Crane / Photo by Ryan Hagerty (USFWS)

The legal issue that held up Operation Migration's guided Whooping Crane flights in the fall has been resolved, at least for now.

The FAA granted a two-year rule exemption to let Operation Migration pay the pilot of a light sport aircraft to guide baby cranes each fall from Wisconsin to Florida. That’s where the cranes meet up with possible mating partners during the winter.

Cranes were on their way to Florida a few months ago when a former pilot filed a complaint with the FAA – and the government grounded the mission, saying it’s against federal rules to pay ultra-light pilots. But Operation Migration said its pilots were paid for what they did on the ground, and not in the air....

In granting the two-year exemption, the FAA told the group to make some changes. The pilots will need private licenses instead of light-sport craft licenses. And by next year, the planes must be upgraded from experimental light aircraft to a special light craft that more closely resembles a single-engine plane.

Hopefully Operation Migration will be able to put itself onto a safer legal footing so that future flights are not disrupted.

Eastern Pine Elfin

Yesterday at the Phillips Open Space Preserve in Old Bridge, I came across this butterfly fluttering around near the ground. It turned out to be one I had never seen before, Eastern Pine Elfin (Callophrys niphon). It was not very cooperative, so I did not get as clear or as close of an image as I would have liked. There was also a second, similarly-sized butterfly that was likewise unfamiliar, but I never managed to get a photo of it, so I am still not sure what it was.

Elfins are in the family Lycaenidae, along with coppers, hairstreaks, and blues. I think of them as specialized hairstreaks. In fact, they share the genus Callophrys with the green hairstreaks like Juniper Hairstreak. Elfins fly in early spring; in New Jersey this means flight periods ranging from late March through early June.

According to Gochfeld and Burger's Butterflies of New Jersey, Eastern Pine Elfin is common in the Pine Barrens in April and May. The Phillips Preserve is one of the northernmost remnants of Pine Barrens habitat in New Jersey, so it was in appropriate habitat. After mating, female elfins lay their eggs on the new growth of coniferous trees, especially Scrub and Pitch Pine.

Nomada Bee

I found this bee in the backyard yesterday afternoon. It looks outwardly like a wasp, but I think it is actually a cuckoo bee in the genus Nomada. Cuckoo bees are cleptoparasites, which means that they lay their eggs in the nest burrows of other bees, in this case bees in the families Andrenidae and Halictidae. Nomada larvae eat the nectar and pollen gathered by the host for its own offspring. Nomada bees look very similar to wasps, so much so that it is easy to mistake one for the other.