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NATURE IN GOOSE ISLAND
Nature in Goose Island
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Living with Goose Island Wildlife
| Animals Sightings |
Nature
News
Notes:
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What follows is a mixture of scientific and ordinary
nomenclature. I’ve tried to keep our Goose Island
“Tree of Life” clear and simple without being
simplistic. Thus I’ve omitted several seldom seen
categories that can be added if they are observed in
our area. Let’s face it, we’re not going to get a
lot of starfish. But if someone identifies a
nematode I’ll add it where appropriate. I will
generally use common names, but where possible will
gradually add scientific names as well. Any help in
this area will be welcome!
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Let’s define “Goose Island” as the sum total of all
our lots, plus adjacent areas to which one can
easily walk (such as Goose Island Road from the dam
overlooking the lake to the gravel road along the
river), plus whatever we see flying overhead.
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This list should contain creatures one of our
residents has personally seen or heard and
positively identified (you may never see an
Eastern Screech Owl, but its call is quite
distinctive). Photos are welcome, especially if you
aren’t sure what the critter is, and you would like
me to research it for you. Never get too close
to an unknown or dangerous looking critter just to
get a photo.
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Elsewhere in this Wildife section of our web page,
I’ve written some more information about bears,
copperheads, etc. I’ll also try to keep up a list of
recent sightings of baby animals, predators and
venomous snakes.
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Items marked with a question mark (?) have been
positively identified as a genus but not down to the
species level; e.g., I have seen a small leech in my
pond but have no idea what kind it is. Any help with
further identification of (?) entries is always
welcome. Any challenges, with supporting
information, are also welcome; e.g., Hmm, the UGA
range maps say that critter doesn’t occur this far
north. Challenged entries will bear an asterisk (*)
while further research continues.
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There are some links below to Internet resources on
these critters. Remember, however, Google never
sleeps, and you may poke around on your own using
the names given below.
- Birds and some
butterflies and insects are a special instance
because many are migratory, only passing through our
area or resident only in a given season. Unless
marked with an (M) for migratory, you can assume
that the critter lives here year round.
- Keep in mind this
list is a work in progress. These are the critters I
have identified so far. I need your help in
expanding the list! I hope you have fun with it
even as you come to appreciate the diversity of our
wildlife more and more. And don’t neglect the small
bugs and critters, which have their own charm.
Thanks!
Invertebrates
Annelids:
segmented worms & leeches
Earthworms (?)
Leech in pond (?)
Mollusks:
Snails, slugs or aquatic shelled creatures
Snails (?)
Slugs (?)
Arthropods: Insects, spiders, crustaceans
Note:
check out this web site:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/index.html
17 Year Cicada
(Magicida ?)
Ants (?)
Black & Yellow Garden spider (Argiope
aurantia)
Black Widow spider (Latrodectus mactrans)
Carpenter Bees (?)
Crickets, various (?)
Dog-Day (annual) Cicada (Tibicen ?)
Dung beetle (?)
Harvest Mites (Chiggers) (?)
Honeybee (?)
House Centipede (?)
Katydids (Tettigoniidae various)
Luna moth (Actias luna)
Mosquitos (?)
Moths, various (?)
Orb Weaver spider (?)
Red-Sided Flat Millipede aka Cherry Millipede
Spiders, various (?)
Wasps, various (?)
Wolf spider (?)
Yellow Jacket Wasp (?)
Vertebrates
Fish
Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis
macrochirus)
Amphibians
Note: check out this
web site: Frogs & Toads of Georgia and South
Carolina:
http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/anurans/index.htm
Also look for their linked sites on Turtles
and Snakes.
Bullfrog (Lithobates
catesbeiana)
Cricket Frog (?)
Salamander (?)
At least three kinds of Toads (working on ID)
(?)
Reptiles
Turtles
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina
carolina)
At least two other aquatic Turtles (working
on ID) (?)
Lizards
Blue-tailed Skink (Eumces, about 40
species?)
Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus
undulatus)
Non-Venomous
Snakes
Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsolete
obsolete)
Eastern Garter Snake(Thamnophis sirtalis)
Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula
getula)
Note:
Eats venomous snakes!
Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor
constricor)
Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus)
Venomous
Snakes
Copperhead (Agkisrodon contortrix)
Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)
Birds
Note: I’ll organize
the bird list into raptors, songbirds, etc. later on.
For lots of information, including range maps and
recordings of bird calls, check out this web site:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Kestrel
American Robin
Baltimore Oriole (M)
Barn Swallow (M)
Belted Kingfisher
Black Vulture
Black-and-white Warbler (M)
Blue Jay
Brown Thrasher
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Bufflehead (M)
Common Loon (M)
Canadian Goose
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Chuck Will’s Widow (M)
Common Merganser (M)
Common Nighthawk (M)
Cooper’s Hawk
Downey Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe (M)
Eastern Screech Owl
Eastern Wood Pewee (M)
European Starling
Golden-crowned Kinglet (M)
Grackle
Great Blue Heron
Great Crested Flycatcher (M)
Great Horned Owl
Hairy Woodpecker
Hermit Thrush (M)
House Wren
Indigo Bunting
Kildeer
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite
Northern Cardinal
Northern Mockingbird
Osprey
Peregrine Falcon
Pileated Woodpecker
Pine Siskin (M)
Pine Warbler
Purple Finch
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-Breasted Nuthatch (M)
Red-eyed Vireo (M)
Red-shoulderd Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-Winged Blackbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (M)
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (M)
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (M)
Sandhill Crane (M)
Scarlet Tanager (M)
Summer Tanager (M)
Swift (?) (M)
Tufted Titmouse
Turkey Vulture
Veery (M)
Whip-poor-will (M)
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Wild Turkey
Winter Wren
Wood Duck
Wood Thrush (M)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (M)
Mammals
Note: I believe I
have some web sites to bears etc. already up on the
nature page. I’ll try to add some more, but remember
Google! All of these mammals probably breed in our area,
so I’ve only included reports of young where they might
be of special interest.
American Black Bear
(Ursus americanus) Note: sows and
their cubs have been reported for several years,
indicating good breeding success. Please refer to
the section on the nature page about living with
bears in our neighborhood.
Bats (?)
Bobcat (Lynx rufus) Note: You’ll
usually hear these rather than see them, but several
folks reported seeing them soon after the fires in
the Cohuttas.
Coyote (Canis
latrans) Note: adults sighted but no pups
reported
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)
Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)
Note: They breed like rabbits.
Eastern Gray Squirrel
(Sciurus carolinensis) Note: One hears
they like bird seed.
Field mice (?)
Moles (?)
Raccoon (Procyon lotor) Note: Do stay
away from raccoons, because they are especially
vulnerable to rabies, and even if healthy, are
surprisingly strong. Just let them do their thing.
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) Note: at
least three years of successful breeding have been
reported in Goose Island. Very cute kits, but do
stay away from foxes as they can carry rabies.
Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)
Note: Downside: they like to live in roof
insulation spaces. Upside: they are really cute and
you can watch them launch themselves from your roof
onto nearby trees at dusk.
Virginia Opossum (Didelphis
virginiana) Note: Our North American
marsupial and a very ancient order. Interesting
fact: they are immune to viper venom and therefore
will kill and eat copperheads and rattlesnakes.
Voles (?)
White-tailed Deer
(Odocoileus virginianu) Note: Needless to
say, these animals enjoy good breeding success,
along with a lot of flowers and plants! It’s a
special treat to see a mother suckling her fawns.
BTW, sometimes mothers leave their fawns in one spot
for 24 to 36 hours, so don’t assume the doe has
abandoned a lone fawn in that time frame. She’ll
almost always come back for it, and it’s doing what
it should be doing, waiting quietly for mama.
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