I was heading out of my apartment building, and down the block (151-150th Street on Broadway in New York) the other day whe I noticed this on the sidewalk.
I posted it to Facebook and asked if any one could identify it. It generated lots of responses! I was impressed! Stag Beetle did come up a couple times. It is the head and thorax of a Lucanus capreolus – Reddish-brown Stag Beetle http://bugguide.net/node/view/3107 one report from a teacher friend from near by reported that they were all over 152 Street! Oooo a tip for a nearby expedition!
Then a couple days later, this, right out side our apartment door! Wildlife, mandible and hord!
So I started to think it might be fun to explore the biodiversity of my block. We have a variety of trees (in VERY small tree pits I might add) from the north: Gleditsia triacsnthos L. (Honey locust, New York City Trees, page 136), two Styphnolobium japonicum Schott (Chinese scholartree. New York City Trees, page 144), one Zelkova serrata Thumb. (Japanese Zelkova, New York City Trees, page 216) and last on the south a larger Styhnolobium japonicum (Chinese scholartree). The Chinese scholartree seem to host a couple “species” of lichen (in quotes because lichens are groups of three organisms based on some recent research, a fungi, a photosynthetic algae or bacteria and now a yeast).
The Candelaria concolor – yellow -orange-green, grainy – and Physcia millegrana – grey, fine lobes, grainy – are seen in the above photo. This is on the northern Chinese scholartree on our block, south side of the tree.
I collected a little bit of the Candelaria concolor and placed it in a bit of water and the did some reading for a couple hours while I waited for the creatures living on the lichen to reanimate.
I set up in the median park along this stretch of Broadway at one of the chess tables.
You can see the median park in this photo and the trees along our block. You can also see the small size of our tree pit openings, they are really bricked in.
So here is the set-up:
A Swift FM-31 field microscope, a film can for the soaking specimen, a dropper, well slides and coverslips. I found 5 or more Rotifer Genus: Philodina (Rainis, Kenneth G., Bruce J. Russell, Guide to Microlife, Franklin Watts, Danbury, CT, 1996, page 188) and one Tardigrade not sure, but probably genus Hypsibius.
I also had a couple other species visit while at the table:
A flesh fly (family: Sarcophagidae) came by for a drink of water around the edge of my coverslip, and a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus L.) hopped by.
The rotifer were certainly the highlight, swiming and inching along feeding and foraging.
I will keep my eye out for more species on our block to share. There are the usual feathered residents in addition to the sparrows, but I will try to get some photos before I list any. A great place to share observations like this is http://www.iNaturalist.org. Open an account and start sharing your local biodiversity, large and small.