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by Elliotte Rusty Harold.
Original Post: American Bird Grasshopper
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American Bird Grasshopper, Schistocerca americana
Ridgewood Reservoir, Queens, NY, 2007-10-20
Steve Nanz found and later ID’d this monster yesterday at Ridgewood Reservoir. It’s one of the largest grasshoppers in North America. When spooked, it flies into a nearby tree, hence the name. It’s uncommon to rare this far north. Neither Steve nor I had ever seen one before. It seems to be more of a southern species. Possibly like yesterday’s Red-banded Hairstreak, global warming may be pushing its range north.
Other insect species at the reservoir yesterday included Green Darner dragonflies and Orange Sulphur and Monarch butterflies, though it’s starting to get a little late in the season for our six-legged friends. Avian species included:
Common Loon
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Merlin
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Purple Finch
Wood Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
American Woodcock
Sparrows were especially common. There were hundreds of White-throated Sparrows and dozens each of Song and Swamp Sparrows. Also both groups found Woodcocks yesterday. The North 40 at Floyd Bennett Field is probably still the best woodcock habitat in the city, but Ridgewood Reservoir is starting to feel like a close second.
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