The Elegant Dancer

Towards the end of a walk along the Greenway, the sun having emerged from the gray clouds and quickly warmed the morning to a degree that encouraged me to move along more briskly than my usual wandering dawdle, I paused to inspect (yet another) common milkweed. Their heavy, pendant  inflorescences drooping under the broad leaves were lovely to see and smell, though their pollinator visitors were scarce at the moment. A fly here, a bee there.

A quick movement along the stem caught my eye. Was that one of those little signal flies with the black-patterned wings? It disappeared around the opposite side of the stem, then reappeared, black-spotted appendages flicking. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be not a fly at all but a spider, waving its long forelegs around each time it stopped its quick, short burst of motion. Each foreleg had a small black patch partway down, with a short fringe of black hair as additional decoration. What was it doing there on the milkweed, dashing about the stem and leaves, semaphoring with tiny, invisible flags. Or conducting a wee unseen orchestra, perhaps. Was it trying to fool its prey into thinking it was a harmless fly (sure fooled me!)? Was it trying to make itself look big and scary, to ward off predators?

Neither, it seems. This little spider seems to be Tutelina elegans, a jumping spider. Like its relatives, T. elegans males woo their mates with an erotic dance, flashing those extra-long legs with the handsome fringe in an elaborately choreographed sequence. Females are a shiny iridescent green with a larger abdomen, and lack the long, expressive forelegs.

I did not notice a female in the vicinity of my dancing friend on the milkweed. Males will dance not only as they woo a female, but also as they go in search of her. I imagine him on the prowl: surely she must be just around this stem? Or over on this leaf? Maybe under the leaf? When he finds her, I hope she is as impressed with his dance as I was.

Amateur Naturalist Part 2: What the heck am I looking at?

All right. So you’ve been out botanizing, birding, bugwatching, and you’ve got your specimen to identify via photos. Now what?

The old standby was generally a printed field guide, with photos or illustrations and descriptions. Over the years I’ve collected several guides to help identify plants; second-hand bookstores can be a great place to find guides, and your local library should also have a variety of resources. Books are helpful to page through quickly to see if any photos match up; even if you don’t find your exact specimen, you might find something similar enough to point you in the right direction, a genus or family that you can take to an online resource to refine your search. Look for guides as local to your location as possible, to ensure you aren't spending time looking at species that don't occur in your area.

• The Bur Oak series, including Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands and Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie, as well as Butterflies of Iowa. 
• Heather Holm's books about bees and pollinators on native plants.
• As a bonus I found this page with a series of posters/flyers showing native bees and some native flowers they enjoy. Free materials like this can be found on many sites dedicated to native plants, pollinators, or other interests.
• I have found use in Weeds of the Midwestern United States and Central Canada to help identify many of the less-desirable (but still interesting) plants that can be found essentially everywhere.

LeConte's Sparrow, identified with the
help of an online forum

For birds, one wonderful online resource is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its allaboutbirds.org guide, which includes North American species with tips for identification, similar species that it might be confused with, and general information about its habits, diet, range, and lifestyle. Of particular note are the Lab’s “Celebrate Urban Birds” and “Project Feederwatch” programs, both of which include materials like posters and PDFs that show some of the most common birds you will encounter.

The Iowa DOT has a series of Jewels of the Prairie posters that illustrate many common prairie plants. The Iowa DNR also has a series of posters illustrating many of the common species that can be found in Iowa, which, while not exhaustive, are helpful to see several species found in our area at a glance, and compare similar species. The available posters include butterflies, turtles, bats, dragonflies and damselflies, and many others. Although the posters are listed as being available for a cost, you can often find them given away free from the DNR table at events. 

Which brings us to that lovely, amazing internet: repository of all the world’s collected knowledge at our fingertips. My first step, if I have no idea what I’m looking at, is a google search. Describe the flower or bug as closely as you can, include your general location (for example, “green blue damselfly iowa”, and then browse the images that are returned looking for a match, or something close. I feel it necessary to point out that this can be a very time-consuming and often not-very-fruitful method of identification, though it helps me feel a little less lazy when I move on to the next resources.

There are dozens of websites or forums whose explicit purpose is to help people identify birds, plants, insects, and almost anything else you are interested in. Most simply require you to register with a username and password before allowing you to submit identification requests.

Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth (Anticarsia gemmatalis),
according to insectsofiowa.org

• insectsofiowa.org has a neat tool that uses AI to match a photo of a butterfly, moth, or other insect you upload to its species database, returning a list of possible species and a probability of match. It was trained extensively on butterflies and moths, and so is quite effective at identifying those images. I have had poor luck with bees, though other insects have been a little better.
• bugguide.net allows you to upload a photo of an insect for identification by volunteer experts. Depending on the insect, it may be identified quickly or can take weeks or months for an ID.
• iNaturalist.org allows you to document your outings by uploading photos along with the location. Volunteers will suggest IDs for your submissions. Another nice feature is that you can search for a species, narrow the location filter to your state or county, and see other species with which if may be commonly confused.
• Facebook groups! If you are on Facebook, there is almost certainly a group you can join that is dedicated to native plants, birds, pollinators, reptiles, or whatever critter you are interested in. Be sure to review the group’s guidelines before requesting an identification so you don’t run afoul of any rules (though most people are generally very nice and happy to help). These groups are also helpful with passive knowledge absorption: as you see and learn about what other people are posting, you can watch for them in your own outings. Look for Iowa Wildflower Report, Pollinators on Native Plants, your local bird club, and many others.
• Other forums: Dave’s Garden has a forum for plant IDs; sites like reddit have several subreddits dedicated to helping identify things (r/whatsthisplant; r/whatsthisbug; r/whatsthisbird for a few). When venturing into forums beyond local Iowa resources, be sure to include your general location to help with the ID.
• Another excellent and informative site is illinoiswildflowers.info, which has tons of detail about plants found in Illinois and at the bottom usually includes similar species and how to distinguish them. I will refer to this frequently when I have an idea of an ID but want to confirm it. This is also one of the primary resources I use when writing about the plants that can be found on the Greenway.

Although it can be incredibly rewarding to identify a new plant or animal on your own, there is certainly no shame in relying on experts for an assist. I try not to make the online ID requests my first stop, if only to allow me to feel the occasional sense of accomplishment when I do find something on my own!

Becoming an Amateur Naturalist Part 1: Getting Started

Step one: notice the thing. This can be harder than you might think!

Many people have found themselves enjoying the wildlife and nature in their yards and around local parks and trails in recent months. As you begin to pay attention to surroundings, you may become curious about the identities of the flowers, birds, bugs, and trees that you encounter. If so, wonderful! And welcome to the world of the amateur naturalist!*

It can be daunting to take your first walk outside and see so many different things, many of which can appear nearly identical. Is that yellow flower Wild Parsnip or Golden Alexander? That little brown bird looks the same as all the other little brown birds...how in the world do you tell them apart? What is making that noise out in the bushes? There are amazing local resources to help people learn about the world around us, such as Iowa Master Naturalists and [during non-pandemic times] bird walks with the Iowa City Bird Club or programs with Johnson County Conservation. But you can also learn a lot on your own!

Although I have been writing about wildlife on the Sycamore Greenway for several years, I am certainly not a professional--just someone with an interest and the time to learn about what I see and hear. And someone who has amassed an arsenal of resources to help me figure out what the heck I'm looking at, and why it is interesting.**  So stay tuned to hear about how the numerous posts on the Sycamore Greenway page come to be, as I share some of the tips and resources that have helped me learn about and share our Greenway neighbors over the years.

Although there are benefits to being completely unplugged and immersed in nature, a camera can be your best friend if you want to learn more about what you see. A good camera and lens are wonderful, especially if you are interested in birds, but your phone is more than adequate for plants in particular.

The first step is to walk slowly and look closely. This is not an activity best done while biking, running, or otherwise exercising. It requires focus. Look at everything around you. Pay attention to what catches your eye. Try to pick out a particular flower and find others that are the same type. Keep an eye out for other flowers that are similar, but not exactly the same, and try to discern the differences in leaf shape and structure, or subtle differences in the flowers.

And don't be afraid to stop and inspect something that looks a little out of place (this can sometimes be a risky endeavor). If you see a spider web, look to find the spider that made it. If a minuscule something jumps away from your footstep in the grass, try to follow it with your eye and get a closer look. If you hear a bird singing in a tree, stop and try to see it among the leaves.

And take pictures! Lots and lots of pictures. If you are looking at a plant, take a picture of the flower, a complete leaf, and the place where the leaves join the stem. If you are looking at an insect, try to get a shot from a few different angle, maybe top and side, or a butterfly with its wings open and closed. The more angles you have, the more possible identifiers you may have captured. How fortunate that we live in a time of digital photography, where hasty or poor photos don't cost us a thing!

Take pictures of every part of the plant! The flowers of native
Golden Alexander (top) and invasive Wild Parsnip (bottom)
look similar, but the leaves are quite different.

Start slowly. Pick out just a few individuals to try to identify at first, particularly those that are fairly common or distinctive. Take pictures, or take a video to capture sounds. Make note of where you saw the specimen (is it a plant in a wet area, or a disturbed edge? What plant is the insect on?), and be aware of the time of year for when you look to identify it (for example, there will be a greater variety of birds passing through during spring and fall migration than through the summer).

It can be awkward and may feel embarrassing at first to get some of those shots (my apologies to the many unsuspecting people over the years who have rounded a corner of the trail to be confronted with my rear end aloft as I creep along the grass taking pictures of teeny katydid nymphs, or are startled when I lurch out from the brush after chasing down a butterfly), but as long as you are aware of your surroundings, don't block the trail, and offer up a cheerful greeting, most passersby don't give you a second glance. Or maybe they do, but you'll be too busy learning about your new friends to notice.

Next week: You've got your specimen photos...now what?


*Absolutely not to be confused with a naturist...unless you're into that too.
**Not to mention the many, many, MANY photos I have of things that remain stubbornly anonymous. You only see the photos of things I can fairly confidently identify!