~The Natural State~......DELAWARE

olena

<font color=green>Emerald Angel<br><font color=mag
Joined
May 12, 2001
State Bird

Blue Hen Chicken


Adopted on April 14, 1939, the Blue Hen chicken had long been used as a motif in numerous political campaigns and in many publications. During the Revolutionary War, the men of Captain Jonathan Caldwell's company, recruited in Kent County, took with them game chickens that were said to be of the brood of a famous Blue Hen and were noted for their fighting ability. When not fighting the enemy, the officers and men amused themselves by pitting their Blue Hen chickens in fights. The fame of these fights spread throughout the army and when in battle, the Delaware men fought so valiantly that they were compared to these fighting roosters.
Gallus gallus is native to Southern Asia, particularly the jungles of India. Gallus gallus spread all over the world when people domesticated the chicken. This account primarily discusses the wild species.

Gallus gallus ' plumage is gold, red, brown, dark maroon, orange, with a bit of metallic green and gray. There are also some white and olive feathers. Two white patches, shaped like an ear, appear on either side of the head. Gallus gallus can be distinguish from other chickens not only by these white patches, but also by the grayish feet. The red junglefowl can measure up to 70 centimeters in length. They have a total of fourteen tail feathers. Gallus gallus rooster tails can be almost 28 centimeter in length.
The red junglefowl rooster is said to be more brilliantly colored that its tame relative. During June to October, G. gallus moults into an eclipse plumage. An eclipse plumage is, for male, black long feather across the middle of his back and slender red-orange plumes on the rest of his body. For a female, an eclipse plumage cannot be distiguished, but she does moult. The female red junglefowl is leaner than tame hens.

Reproduction
The breeding season of the red junglfowl is spring and summer. The chicks will start their lives in the warmth of the summer sun. An egg is laid each day. For twenty-one days before hatching, the chick will develop inside of the egg. On the first day, the heart and blood vessels of the chick develop and start to work. At the end of the first day, the head starts to take shape. By the fourth day, all organs of the future chick are present. On the fifth day, external sex structure developed. By the thirteenth day, the skeleton begins to calcify using the calcium from the eggshell. From the time when the egg is laid until hatching, the chick feeds on the yolk that surrounds him. The yolk penetrate in the chick body by the umbilicus. On the twenty-first day, the chick, now fully developed, starts to break through his thin shell. This action can take anywhere from ten to twenty hours.

By four to five weeks of age, the chicks are normally fully feathered. Their first adult wings' feather will take another four weeks to grow. When the chicks are twelve weeks old, the mother chases them out of the group. They will then go on to form their own group or join another. At five months old, the chicks reach sexual maturity. The females reach sexual maturity a little later than the males.

Behavior
Gallus gallus has very distinctive social system involving a pecking order, with one dominating all, and one submitting to all. There is one pecking order for female and one for male.

The physical action for dominace is to raise the tail and head. Submission is shown when a G. gallus lowers his tail and head, crouches, and tilts the head to one side. Hens feed safely under the protection of the dominating rooster. In order to fight, hens need to go at least ten feet from him. When a rooster dies, the next higher male in the pecking order takes charge immediately. The pecking order is introduced to chicks when they are just a week old. An order is accomplished in about seven weeks. The dominating rooster's sphere of influence is about sixty to seventy feet.


hen
 
State Marina Animal

Atlantic Horseshoe Crab

Limulus polyphemus


Description 24" (61 cm) long, 12" (30 cm) wide. Horseshoe-shaped carapace convex, with triangular abdomen and spikelike tail; older individuals usually covered with algae. Greenish-tan. Pair of compound eyes on each side of carapace, 2 simple eyes on forepart of midline. Sides of abdomen scalloped, with 6 spines. 1 pair of pinchers in front of mouth. Mouth surrounded by 5 pairs of walking legs, each walking leg with a burrlike base; last pair of walking legs with circle of leaflets; first pair on male heavy and rounded; others with pincher tips. Underside of abdomen has 6 pairs of overlapping flaps, the first covering openings of six ducts, the others covering 5 pairs of book gills comprised of many flat sheets.

Habitat On mud or sand bottoms; from near low-tide line to water 75’ (23 m) deep.

Range Gulf of Maine to Gulf of Mexico.
Discussion This animal is the only one of its kind in American waters, and cannot be confused with anything else. It feeds on clams, worms, and other invertebrates which it grinds with the burrlike bases of the walking legs that surround its mouth. In spring, horseshoe crabs congregate near the shore, males holding onto the abdomens of females with their heavy walking legs. When the tide is high, each female digs a hole above the low-tide line and lays 200-300 pale greenish eggs. As she does, the male spawns sperm to fertilize them. The eggs are then buried in sand, where they remain for several weeks, until hatching as miniature horseshoe crabs with tiny button tails.


crab
 
State Herb

Sweet Goldenrod

Solidago odora
Anise-scented Goldenrod

Description A smooth, tall, anise-scented plant bearing crowded, cylindrical clusters of yellow flower heads along one side of slightly arching branches.
Flowers: Head about 1/8" (4 mm) long.
Leaves: 1-4" (2.5-10 cm) long, smooth, narrow, stalkless, with small, translucent dots.
Height: 2-3' (60-90 cm).

Flower July-September.

Habitat Dry fields and open woods.

Range Nova Scotia; New Hampshire and Vermont south to Florida, west to Texas, and north to Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Discussion The crushed leaves of Sweet Goldenrod give off an anise scent that readily identifies this widespread species. A tea can be brewed from its leaves and dried flowers.


gr
 
State Tree

American Holly

Ilex opaca
Christmas Holly

Description Evergreen tree with narrow, rounded, dense crown of spiny leaves, small white flowers, and bright red berries.
Height: 40-70' (12-21 m).
Diameter: 1-2' (0.3-0.6 m).
Leaves: evergreen; spreading in 2 rows; 2-4" (5-10 cm) long, 3/4-1 1/2" (2-4 cm) wide. Elliptical; spiny-pointed and coarsely spiny-toothed; thick, stiff and leathery. Dull green above, yellow-green beneath.
Bark: light gray; thin; smooth or rough and warty.
Twigs: brown or gray; stout, covered with fine hairs when young.
Flowers: 1/4" (6 mm) wide; with 4 rounded white petals; in short clusters at base of new leaves and along twigs; in spring; male and female on separate trees.
Fruit: 1/4-3/8" (6-10 mm) in diameter; berrylike; bright red (rarely orange or yellow); bitter pulp; 4 brown nutlets; scattered, short-stalked; maturing in autumn, remaining attached in winter.

Habitat Moist or wet well-drained soils, especially flood plains; in mixed hardwood forests.

Range E. Massachusetts south to central Florida, west to S. central Texas, and north to SE. Missouri; to 4000' (1219 m); higher in southern Appalachians.

Discussion The evergreen fruiting branches from wild and planted trees are popular Christmas decorations. Many improved varieties are grown for ornament, shade, and hedges. The whitish, fine-textured wood is especially suited for inlays in cabinetwork, handles, carvings, and rulers, and can be dyed various shades, even black. Many kinds of songbirds, gamebirds, and mammals eat the bitter berries of this and other hollies.


holly
 


State Insect

Convergent Lady Beetle

Hippodamia convergens


Description 1/4-3/8" (6-8 mm). Oval, convex above. Pronotum black with white border and 2 converging white stripes. Elytra are red or orange with 13 black spots (1 spot at scutellum and 6 on each elytron); sometimes spots are enlarged to form 3 transverse bands. Larva is velvety black with 8 orange spots. Pupa is black with red spots.
Food Aphids and other small insects.
Life Cycle Female may lay up to 500 eggs during a lifespan of a few months; clusters of 5-30 eggs are attached on leaves and twigs. Larvae feed, then pupate attached by the back end to some support. Many generations a year, if food supply is good.
Habitat Woods, meadows, and gardens.
Range Throughout North America.
Discussion Large numbers of ladybugs occasionally find their way into houses in autumn looking for places to spend the winter. In the West huge swarms fly into mountain canyons, overwinter under leaves, and return to valleys in the spring. Overwintering beetles are sometimes purchased by mail and freed near crops that are vulnerable to aphids.


ladybug
 
State Flower and Floral Emblem

Peach

Prunus persica


Description A well-known, small fruit tree with a short trunk, spreading rounded crown, showy pink blossoms, long narrow leaves, and yellow to pink juicy fruit.
Height: 30' (9 m).
Diameter: 1' (0.3 m).
Leaves: 3 1/2-6" (9-15 cm) long, 3/4-1" (2-2.5 cm) wide. Lance-shaped or narrowly oblong; finely saw-toothed; sides often curved up from midvein; leafstalks short with glands near tip. Shiny green above, paler beneath. Crushed foliage has a strong odor and bitter taste.
Bark: dark reddish-brown; smooth, becoming rough; bitter.
Twigs: greenish turning reddish-brown; long, slender, hairless.
Flowers: 1-1 1/4" (2.5-3 cm) wide; with 5 rounded pink petals; usually single and nearly stalkless; in early spring before leaves.
Fruit: 2-3" (5-7.5 cm) in diameter; a nearly round peach; grooved; with fine velvety hairs covering the yellow-to-pink skin; thick sweet edible pulp; large elliptical pitted stone; maturing in summer.

Habitat Along roadsides and fence rows.

Range Native of China. Naturalized locally in E. United States, S. Ontario, and California; mostly in the Southeast.

Discussion Peach has been grown as a fruit tree since ancient times. Numerous cultivated varieties include freestone peaches, with pulp separating from the stone; clingstones, with pulp adhering to the stone; and smaller, hairless fruits known as nectarines. Other varieties are ornamentals, some with double flowers and with white or red petals. Spanish colonists introduced the Peach into Florida, and American Indians then planted it widely.


peach
 
State Fish

Spotted Seatrout

Cynoscion nebulosus


Description To 28" (71 cm); 16 lbs (7.3 kg). Elongate, fusiform, moderately compressed; dark gray above with bluish iridescence and black dots extending onto dorsal and caudal fins; spiny dorsal fin dusky, other fins pale yellowish; silvery below. Mouth oblique; lower jaw projects beyond upper, which extends past eye; 2 large canine teeth in front of upper jaw; no barbels or pores on chin; preopercular margin smooth. Dorsal fins completely separated by deep notch; soft dorsal fin unscaled, base much longer than anal fin base; caudal fin truncate or emarginate. Scales ctenoid, large; lateral line extends to caudal fin tip.

Habitat Juveniles in estuaries, tidal mud flats, grass beds, and salt marshes; larger specimens mostly in shallow coastal waters over sand.

Range From Cape Cod to Florida; Gulf of Mexico from w. Florida to Laguna Madre, Mexico; absent from West Indies and Caribbean.

Discussion The Spotted Seatrout, often called "speck," is a valued food and game fish, especially in the shallow sand flats around barrier islands off Florida and the Gulf Coast.

trout
 


State Butterfly

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Papilio glaucus

Description 3 1/8-5 1/2" (79-140 mm). Males and some females above and below are yellow with black tiger-stripes across wings and black borders spotted with yellow. Long, black tail on each HW. HW above and below usually has row of blue patches inside margin, with orange spot above and sometimes much orange below, running through yellow. Dark form females are black above with border-spotting of yellow, blue, and orange (blue sometimes becomes cloud on HW), below brown-black with shadowy "tiger" pattern. Yellow spots along outer edge of FW below are separate in all but northernmost populations. Most have orange uppermost spot on outer margin of HW above and below and orange spot on trailing edge.
Similar Species Western Tiger Swallowtail has spots on outer margin of lower FW that run together into band; uppermost spot on border of HW is yellow; blue spots are more violet-tinted. Spicebush Swallowtail is distinguished from dark female Tigers by bluish-green spotting around margins above and orange spot on costa of HW (not outer border).
Life Cycle Yellow-green, globular egg, 1/32" h x 3/64" w (0.8 x 1.2 mm), very large for a butterfly. Young caterpillar brown and white, resembling bird droppings; mature caterpillar, to 2" (51 mm), is green, swollen in front, with big, false, orange and black eyespots and band between 3rd and 4th segments. Mottled green or brown sticklike chrysalis, to 1 1/4" (32 mm), overwinters. Great variety of host plants, mostly broadleaf trees and shrubs; favorites include willows and cottonwoods (Salicaceae), birches (Betulaceae), ashes (Fraxinus), many cherries (Prunus), and tulip-poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera).
Flight 1-3 broods; spring-autumn, actual dates vary with latitude.
Habitat Broadleaf woodland glades, gardens, parks, orchards, and roads and rivers.
Range Central Alaska and Canada to Atlantic; southeast of Rockies to Gulf. Rarer at northern and southern edges of range.
Discussion This species is the most widely distributed tiger swallowtail, and one of the most common and conspicuous butterflies of the East. Alaskan, Canadian, and northeastern butterflies are smaller and paler than those of the eastern states. Feeding in groups, adults take nectar from a wide range of flowers. The black female form has evolved to mimic the distasteful Pipevine Swallowtail; its presence in the population reflects the abundance of the species it mimics.

ts




Previous Natural States
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Iowa
Kansas
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Hampshire
New York
Ohio
Oregon
Rhode Island
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Washington
West Virginia


Previous Natural Provinces
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
 
Thanks Olena, great photos and information as always. I love these posts :)
 
Very nice. Delaware might be my favorite so far. Thanks for your hard work in putting these together.
 

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