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This puff ball is actually a gall created by a wasp.
While many galls are small or otherwise overlooked, there is one larger showy gall you might see in April -- the gall from the Wool Sower Wasp (Callirhytis seminator). The Wool Sower Wasp is a tiny non-stinging wasp about 1/8th of an inch long that is harmless to people. The female lays her eggs on young plant tissue, typically the stem or leaf, and the tree reacts to the larvae to create the gall. The Wool Sower Wasp gall looks like a large red and white puff ball. The larvae continue to develop within the gall as the gall provides protection and food source.
A Wool Sower Wasp gall on its typical host plant, a White Oak.
For this species of wasp, their eggs and resulting galls are almost exclusively found on White Oak (Quercus alba). However, it is rare for these galls to cause any significant harm or damage to their tree hosts. After the larvae emerge from the gall as adults, the remaining gall eventually withers away and falls off as if it was never there at all.
Notice the strong back legs and webbed feet of this Green Frog.
Frogs are generally more aquatic than toads, with webbed toes and long legs for long-jumping. These leg and feet adaptations allow them to leap far into the safety of the pond when we walk by, and the webbed feet allow them to swim quickly to take cover. This time of year, multiple species of frogs start to sing and call for mates and will start laying their eggs in the water. Frog eggs can appear as jelly-like egg masses or as individual eggs, often in the water near the edge of a pond. Salamander eggs appear similar, except that many salamanders lay their eggs with an extra gelatinous layer enclosing the entire egg mass. Frog eggs hatch into tadpoles which are often green or brown in color, and may spend months or even over a year in the water, growing into a larger and larger tadpole, before finally transforming into a frog.
Frogs lay their eggs in jelly-like masses resembling gooey grape clusters.
Although toads are often found near water during their breeding season, they are more terrestrial and can often be found in the woods, seemingly far from water during much of the year. Toads usually have bumpy skin. But don’t worry, you won’t get warts from touching a toad! Toads have shorter hind legs, which work great for hopping short distances but not for the long leap into water you’d see a frog perform. A toad’s hind feet are also less webbed than a frog’s. They are enough for a toad to swim while they are in the water to lay their eggs, but with less webbing, they are a better fit for walking on land, where toads spend most of their adult life.
Toads have shorter legs and feet with little webbing – better suited for life on land.
In Raleigh, American Toads start to call in March while the other toad species start calling closer to April and May. Instead of blob-like egg masses, toads lay strings of eggs. Toads generally hatch fairly quickly- sometimes even within a week of the egg being laid, producing many very tiny black tadpoles (toad-poles). If conditions are right, you may even find tiny little toads (toadlets) emerging from the water within a month of hatching. Once they emerge from the water these toadlets move away from the water to seek food and shelter and can take a couple years to become full adult size.
Toad eggs are laid in long strings.
Tree frogs are a little different - unlike most other frogs, they do not necessarily stay by the water. You may often find them up high, clinging to trees or tall grasses near water. Or you may even find them on trees far from water, or even on the sides of buildings. Tree frogs have sticky toe pads to help them climb – sticky enough to cling to a glass window. But they still have the long hind legs for long leaps back into the pond if they feel threatened.
Notice the rounder toes on this Cope’s Gray Tree Frog. These toes are sticky which helps it climb vertical surfaces such as aquatic plants and walls.
Next time you see a frog or a toad can you tell which it is? Where did you find it? Did you notice how it moved? Be sure to check pond edges this time of year to see if you can find any egg masses, too!
The Turkey Vulture has a red head, white beak, and brown feathers.
The larger of Raleigh’s vultures is the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura). The Turkey Vulture has red skin on its head and a white beak, making it easily to recognize when on the ground. When they’re high in flight they can also be recognized by their wing patterns. Turkey Vultures have a band of white feathers on the underside of their wing running from the wingtips all the way to their body.
From below, the Turkey Vulture’s white wing feathers stretch from the wingtips to the body
Raleigh’s smaller vulture species is the Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus). The Black Vulture has black skin on its head and a dark gray or black-colored beak. The feathers on their body are also a darker black compared to the dark brown feathers of the Turkey Vulture. Black Vultures in flight have a patch of white or gray under their wing tips when viewed from below, but these lighter feathers do not continue down the wing to the body as a long band as the Turkey Vulture’s feathers do.
The Black Vulture has a black head, dark gray to black beak, and black feathers.
Both vulture species can be found together in groups when feeding, but Turkey Vultures are more often seen flying alone while they search for something to eat. Turkey Vultures have an extremely powerful sense of smell, which they use to find dead animals. Black Vultures do not have a powerful sense of smell, but will often follow Turkey Vultures to find food. Black Vultures, despite being slightly smaller, are more aggressive and may chase Turkey Vultures away from a feeding site.
From below, the Black Vulture’s wings have only a patch of light feathers near the wingtips.
Groups of vultures are called by different names, depending on what they are doing. If they are resting and roosting, they are called a “committee”. If they are flying in the sky, they are collectively called a “kettle”. When they are feeding together, they are called a “wake”.
All vultures are fully protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Turkey Vultures can live for up to 20 years in the wild. Despite often being included with “birds of prey”, Turkey Vultures are not aggressive and almost never attack any living animal, spending their long lives as a helpful clean-up species, willing to eat even the smelliest carcasses.