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NOVA uncovers the secrets of nature’s battleground—claws, horns, fangs and all.

Washington Week full episode, September 9, 2022

Washington Week with The Atlantic full episode, 10/18/24

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Rainy nights – especially night after night of rainy nights – are very busy times in nature – not so much because of a race for shelter by some animals, but because of a race to breeding frenzies and a race for food. Amphibians – with their moist skin typically race from moist shelter across areas that are dry most days to breeding frenzies at nearby ponds and roadside ditches that are swollen by rain. Rainy nights are also breeding times for crayfish, earthworms, flatworms, and other moist-skinned creatures that spend daylight hours in moist seclusion. High nighttime humidity allows some moist-skinned creatures like tree frogs to gather around lights to feed on insects also attracted by the light. Mass nocturnal movements to breeding areas also bring out nocturnal predators such as owls, bats, coyotes, snakes, and some lizards to feed on the moist-skinned crowd.

Storks are large, somewhat heron-like birds that spend a lot of time feeding and standing or sitting around – sometimes in small groups. Like herons and egrets, they feed on fish, crayfish and other small animals that they capture in aquatic environments. They are unique birds that may be most closely, but still distantly, related to pelicans. The Wood Stork is North America’s only native stork and is easily recognized by its primarily white plumage with black wing tips, a long heavy bill, long legs, pink feet, and a relatively bare head with wrinkled neck skin. A Wood Stork’s bill is not designed for spearing prey, but for deftly grabbing it. Among a Wood Storks unusual behaviors, a Wood Stork will often rest on its “heels” while sitting on the ground with its feet lifted above the ground. It will also sometimes stand on one leg with its other foot lifted and propped against the leg it is standing on.

The Black-crowned Night-Heron does most of its feeding at night. Its large red eyes may help it see in the dark and – unlike other herons and egrets -- it doesn’t often respond to mosquitos that land on its facial skin. By staying perfectly still, small fishes come closer and are thus easier for it to see and to catch.

The Monarch Butterfly with its orange and black wings, and look-alike mimic the Viceroy Butterfly are well entrenched in our educational system from grade school through graduate school. But details of the Monarch’s life and its mimic relationship with the Viceroy Butterfly are not so well known. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed and caterpillars that emerge feed on milkweed leaves. These leaves often provide toxins that protect the butterfly – often, not always. That protective toxin – gained during the caterpillar stage -- can disappear from the butterfly over time because the adult butterfly feeds on the nectar of many different flowers. Milkweeds are popular plants as ornamentals that attract Monarchs. One most prominently for sale is Tropical Milkweed, an exotic species with beautiful red and orange flowers. Tropical Milkweed has become an invasive and lives through Florida winters, building up populations of a parasite of Monarchs that can impair the butterflies. Unlike Tropical Milkweed, most of our native milkweeds die in winter and the monarch parasites die with them.

Killdeer are common plovers seen in open areas of neighborhoods, parks, beaches, and sometimes on gravel rooftops. They feed on insects, worms, and other small creatures and are with us year round. Nests are usually on the ground and are a scrape that they fill with light colored rocks and debris picked up and merely tossed over their shoulder each time they leave the nest. Their name comes from their loud, familiar call “Killdee! Killdee!”

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