Welcome our new baby!

Julian Patrick Belardo

Born: 10/2/09 5:57 PM 9 lbs. 10 oz. and 21 1/4" long

Mom and baby are doing great!!!

You can read our birth story here and you can see a slideshow of photos here.

MADCAP HORSE

For some reason, this just popped into my head today. It's a mnemonic I learned for tree and shrub identification: MADCAP HORSE. It is used to help you remember which trees and shrubs have opposite leaves. It works here in NJ at least.

Maples
Ashes
Dogwoods
CAPrifoliaceae - viburnums and honeysuckles*
HORSE Chestnut

*I think viburnums are now in the family Adoxaceae, so this may be a bit confusing

I'm sure there may be exceptions to this mnemonic, but it's worked for me.

Moth Night Photos

Last night was "Moth Night" sponsored by the East Brunswick Environmental Commission. I was joined by John at A DC Birding Blog. Lots of families with kids, lots of good questions, and some pretty neat moths. Here are photos. If anyone cares to make some IDs for these, please do. I'll be checking them in the field guide over the coming days.

Cricket Crawl

If you're local to NY and free on September 11, you can join the Cricket Crawl. It's a citizen sciene survey of 7 common cricket and katydid species. The web site has a link to learn the calls of these 7 species, so that's useful, even if you can't attend.

Filmy Dome Spider

My parents have a group of spiders living in a large hedge that separates their yard from the neighbor's yard. The spiders build dome-shaped nest and are possibly Filmy Dome Spiders (genus Neriene). I was able to get a photo of the web, but not the spiders themselves. My point-and-click camera wouldn't focus on them. The spiders are about an inch long including legs. There are several webs in about a 3 foot square area. The detail of the dome webs is incredible. The web shown below is about 8" across. The second photo is a zoomed in version of the first photo.

Shooting dragonflies with a gun

Note to self: Don't try to shoot a dragonfly. Check out the story here.

Birds mentioned on The Daily Show

Douglas Brinkley, author of a new book about Teddy Roosevelt, was the guest on The Daily Show last night.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Douglas Brinkley
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

Nesting

Sorry for the lack of posts lately - we're in full-blown "nesting" mode. Beth made a comment on Facebook about her being in nesting mode. Of course, one of my witty friends responded, "Do you find that Pat watches you from a distance with binoculars while you are nesting?" Baby Julian will be here sometime around Sept. 16.