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Clove Lakes Park
Clove Lakes Park is a public park in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Staten Island in New York City. Clove Lakes Park has a rich natural history with valuable ecological assets and a few remnants of the past. Chief among them are the park's lakes and ponds, outcroppings of serpentine rocks, and Staten Island's largest living thing, a tulip tree. Clove Lakes Park is home to many species of indigenous wildlife. Visitors can see fish such as black crappie, brown bullhead, bluegill, emerald shiner, pumpkinseed, largemouth bass, and carp; birds such as red-tailed hawk, belted kingfisher, double-crested cormorant, red-winged blackbird, Canada goose, heron, egret and mallard; as well as reptiles and amphibians, like the common snapping turtle, eastern painted turtle, red-eared slider, and occasionally even the red-backed salamander. The park is also home to mammals such as eastern gray squirrel, muskrat, eastern cottontail, and eastern chipmunk. The park is known for its cozy picnic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clove Lakes Water View
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or fragrance in consumer products, such as toothpaste, soaps, or cosmetics. Cloves are available throughout the year owing to different harvest seasons across various countries. Etymology The word ''clove'', first used in English in the 15th century, derives via Middle English , Anglo-French ''clowes de gilofre'' and Old French , from the Latin word ' "nail". The related English word ''gillyflower'', originally meaning "clove", derives via said Old French and Latin ', from the Greek "clove", literally "nut leaf". Description The clove tree is an evergreen that grows up to tall, with large leaves and crimson flowers grouped in terminal clusters. The flower buds initially have a pale hue, gradually turn green, then transition to a bright red when ready for harvest. Clov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double-crested Cormorant
The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes and in coastal areas and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska down to Florida and Mexico. Measuring in length, it is entirely black except for a bare patch of orange-yellow facial skin and some extra plumage that it exhibits in the breeding season when it grows a double crest in which black feathers are mingled with white. Five subspecies are recognized. It mainly eats fish and hunts by swimming and diving. Its feathers, like all cormorants, are not waterproof, and it must dry them out after spending time in the water. Once threatened by the use of DDT, the numbers of this bird have increased markedly in recent years. Taxonomy The double-crested cormorant was described by René Primevère Lesson in 1831. It was formerly classified in the genus '' Phalacrocorax'', but a 2014 study supported reclass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Chipmunk
The eastern chipmunk (''Tamias striatus'') is a chipmunk species found in eastern North America. It is the only living member of the genus ''Tamias''. Etymology The name "chipmunk" probably comes from the Ojibwe word (or possibly ''ajidamoonh'', the same word in the Ottawa dialect of Ojibwe), which translates literally as "one who descends trees headlong." First described by Mark Catesby in his 1743 ''The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands'', the chipmunk was eventually classified as ''Sciurus striatus'' by Linnaeus, meaning "striped squirrel" in Latin. The scientific name was changed to ''Tamias striatus'', meaning "striped steward", by Johann Illiger in 1811.Wishner page 113 Description A small species, it reaches about in length including the tail, and a weight of . It has reddish-brown fur on its upper body and five dark brown stripes contrasting with light brown stripes along its back, ending in a dark tail. It has lighter fur on the lower pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Cottontail
The eastern cottontail (''Sylvilagus floridanus'') is a New World cottontail rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is the most common rabbit species in North America. Distribution The eastern cottontail can be found in meadows and shrubby areas in the eastern and south-central United States, southern Canada, eastern Mexico, Central America and northernmost South America. It is also found on the Caribbean island of Margarita. It is abundant in Midwest North America. Its range expanded north as forests were cleared by settlers.Godin, Alfred J. (1977). ''Wild mammals of New England''. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press Originally, it was not found in New England, but it has been introduced and now competes for habitat there with the native New England cottontail. It has also been introduced into parts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. In the 1950s and 1960s, the eastern cottontail was introduced to France and northern Italy, where it displayed a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muskrat
The muskrat or common muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over various climates and habitats. It has crucial effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. Adult muskrats weigh , with a body length (excluding the tail) of . They are covered with short, thick fur of medium to dark brown color. Their long tails, covered with scales rather than hair, are laterally compressed and generate a small amount of thrust, with their webbed hind feet being the main means of Aquatic locomotion, propulsion, and the unique tail mainly important in directional stability. Muskrats spend most of their time in the water and can swim underwater for 12 to 17 minutes. They live in families of a male and female pair and their young. They build nests to protect themselves from the cold and predators, often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-backed Salamander
The red-backed salamander (''Plethodon cinereus'') is a small, hardy woodland salamander species in the Family (biology), family Plethodontidae. It is also known as the redback salamander, eastern red-backed salamander,Integrated Taxonomic Information System [Internet] 2012. [updated 2012 Sept; cited 2012 Nov 26] Available from: www.itis.gov or the northern red-backed salamander to distinguish it from the southern red-backed salamander (''Plethodon serratus''). The species inhabits wooded slopes in eastern North America, west to Missouri, south to North Carolina, and north from southern Quebec and the Maritime provinces in Canada to Minnesota. It is one of 56 species in the genus ''Plethodon''. Red-backed salamanders are notable for their color Polymorphism (biology), polymorphism and primarily display two color morph varieties ("red-backed" and "lead-backed"), which differ in physiology and anti-predator behavior. Description and ecology The red-backed salamander is a small terr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-eared Slider
The red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin (''Trachemys scripta elegans'') is a subspecies of the pond slider (''Trachemys scripta''), a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the Family (biology), family Emydidae. Native to the southern United States and extreme northern Mexico, it is popular as a pet across the world, and is the most Invasive species, invasive turtle. It is the most commonly traded turtle in the world. The red-eared slider is native to the Midwestern United States and northern Mexico, but has become established in other places because of pet releases, and has become invasive in many areas where it outcompetes native species. The red-eared slider is included in the list of globally invasive species, list of the world's 100 most invasive species. Etymology The red-eared slider gets its name from the small, red stripe around its ears, or where its ears would be, and from its ability to slide quickly off rocks and logs into the water. This species was previously ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Painted Turtle
The painted turtle (''Chrysemys picta'') is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in relatively slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They have been shown to prefer large wetlands with long periods of inundation and emergent vegetation. This species is one of the few that is specially adapted to tolerate freezing temperatures for extended periods of time due to an antifreeze-like substance in their blood that keeps their cells from freezing. This turtle is a member of the genus ''Chrysemys'', which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago. Three regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, and western) evolved during the last ice age. The southern painted turtle (''C. dorsalis'') is alternately considered the only other species in ''Chrysemys'', or another subspecies of ''C. picta''. The adult painted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Snapping Turtle
The common snapping turtle (''Chelydra serpentina'') is a species of large freshwater turtle in the Family (biology), family Chelydridae. Its natural range extends from southeastern Canada, southwest to the edge of the Rocky Mountains, as far east as Nova Scotia and Florida. The present-day ''Chelydra serpentina'' population in the Middle Rio Grande suggests that the common snapping turtle has been present in this drainage since at least the seventeenth century and is likely native. The three species of ''Chelydra'' and the larger alligator snapping turtles (genus ''Macrochelys'') are the only extant Chelydridae, chelydrids, a family now restricted to the Americas. The common snapping turtle, as its name implies, is the most widespread. The common snapping turtle is noted for its combative disposition when out of the water with its powerful beak-like jaws, and highly mobile head and neck (hence the Specific name (zoology), specific epithet ''serpentina'', meaning "snake-like"). In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mallard
The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. Belonging to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae, mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. Males (drakes) have green heads, while the females (hens) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent purple or blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is and the bill is long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing . T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egret
Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build. Biology Egrets hold a separate group with bitterns and herons within the 74 species found in the bird family Ardeidae. Many egrets are members of the genus, genera ''Egretta'' or ''Ardea (genus), Ardea'', which also contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology. The word "egret" comes from the French word ''aigrette'' that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the long, filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season (also called "egrets"). Several of the egrets have been reclassified from one genus to another in recent years; the great egret, for example, has be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
