Kissin' Carp

Common carp, Cyprinus carpio

It's pretty hard to believe that the United States didn't have any common carp prying our natural waters before their introduction in 1831.  They're probably our most ubiquitous fish here in Ohio- there aren't many water bodies of significant size that don't have common carp.  I've never eaten them, but they are quite popular in other parts of the world.   They were even eaten here in the US, but we have seemed to have lost our taste for them- I wonder why?  It is it perhaps because they are able to persist in the nastiest of our waterways?  

These fish were swarming yesterday in the O'shaugnessy Reservoir at the Columbus Zoo.  A dad had brought a loaf of white bread, and his kids had a blast feeding these huge fish.  Weston watched intently, thinking they were just another part of the zoo spectacle, not realizing that these fish don't live in a tank.

Tom

Metroparks Challenge Hike #2: Sharon Woods

I have caught a cold! Oh Joy! I just love being sick. I hope I don't pass it on to anyone else.Fortunately, the cold hit last night, so it didn't mess up our weekend. Megan, Weston and I continued our Metroparks challenge- which is to visit every one of the 15 Metroparks in the system here in Columbus and Central Ohio. Two down, thirteen to go!

Sharon Woods a short drive from our home- just two exits off the beltway (i-270) that circles our great metropolitan area. Megan and I have been here before- pre Weston.

We decided that the 1.8 mile Spring Creek loop trail looked perfect for a nice hike with our little guy. The trail offered a variety of habitats- upland old fields and forests, lowland headwater streams, and even a small created wetland. Although none of these habitats were stellar- I wasn't expecting to see an amazing array of biodiversity, the hike was still interesting and fun.

As you can see over Megan's shoulder, the first portion of the hike led us through an old field dominated by Canada goldenrod.

I kept an eye out for butterflies, but the only one I observed was this pearl crescent, one of the most frequently encountered butterflies in Ohio.

After the old field, we entered a young woodland with several "wolf trees". These trees, often much bigger than most of the forest, were remnants of a time when this land was probably pastured or farmed. The old trees would have been surrounded by crops or grasses. At sometime in the past, the land was abandoned, allowing tree seedlings to become established. Since they were all competing against each other, these trees grew quickly and very straight, in contrast to this large open grown oak.

A little further down the trail brought yet another old field opening, this one much smaller. It supported a nice population of grease grass, Tridens flavus. This species seems to be relatively common in central and southern Ohio especially in old fields and infrequently mowed roadside habitats. If you run your hands up and down the stem and panicle, you'll feel why this plant is given the name grease grass- it somehow produces an oily substance- if you haven't felt it, it's really neat.

Another species growing in this meadow was Sorghastrum nutans, or Indiangrass. One of our showiest native grasses, I'm not exactly sure what it was doing here. It is native further west in Franklin County in the Darby prairies, but here it may have been planted or introduced from mowing equipment. It could have been a natural population, but I'm guessing that it is more likely introduced at Sharon Woods.

With Megan carrying Weston, she kept continuing hiking on, especially after my grass photography. It was taking too long- and he is heavy.

It's hard for me to not take a photograph of a honeylocust trunk covered with protective spines. I just find those spines amazing. The honeylocust is considered an example of an anachronistic species, first described by Dan Janzen and Paul Martin in 1982. The gist of this theory is that this tree species' protective spines are no longer needed because the giant herbivores that this tree evolved with and developed these spines to protect against are now extinct.

We crossed over a small stream that was full of minnows- although I've only dabbled in identification of Ohio's fish, if I had to guess- this is a creek chub.

Out of the forest and back into the old field, I did spot a few birds, including this field sparrow.

And, what I think is a song sparrow.

After just short of two miles of hiking, we finished the loop, and stopped to take a break before we got into the car. "Dad, that was fun hike, but I really just want to eat your camera!"

If you'd like to visit Sharon Woods, here is a Google map with aerial photography that shows the lay of the land. I've placed a pin where we began the trail, and roughly the traced our path. Overall, a nice little place for a quick getaway from life in the city.

Also- Megan is also blogging about our Metroparks Challenge with pictures of me not seen here.

So, two Metroparks down, thirteen to go. The next hike will be Batelle Darby Metropark, home to one of Ohio's highest quality stream ecosystems, the Big and Little Darby Creeks.



View Metroparks Challenge in a larger map

Batelle Darby Creek
Blacklick Woods
Blendon Woods
Chestnut Ridge
Clear Creek
Glacier Ridge
Heritage Trail
Highbanks
Inniswood
Pickerington Ponds
Prairie Oaks
Scioto Audubon
Sharon Woods
Slate Run
Three Creeks

Floods Come to Ohio

What an intense weather week! Snowstorms in Wisconsin, flooding here in Ohio, and horrendous tornadoes in the southeast. The Olentangy River, about a quarter mile from my front door, rose several feet, but did not overflow its banks. The same thing can not be said about the Blanchard River near Findlay, Ohio, which has flooded for the second time in less than a year.

Last night, I walked down to the Olentangy to see what the floods had brought, and I must say, I wasn't ready for this. I really thought an old fishing lure had washed up on shore.



It had not. This was a real fish, a recently alive gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum). It had been washed onto the shore by high water. This shad is not an adult, it was only about two inches long.

As I walked along my usual path, I was beginning to realize that he whole river bank was a mess. Logs, trash, and debris were everywhere. So were more gizzard shad. I noticed a flicker and ripple in several mud puddles. The ripples also turned out to be gizzard shad.

This time, they were alive. I corralled a few fish with by boot clad feet and gently directed them towards the edge of the puddle. I reached down into the finger numbing water and lifted a few of the slimy planktivores back into the river.



I walked further up stream and this sycamore caught my eye. I remember this tree, but don't remember its octopus root system being this far exposed. Sure enough, another dead gizzard shad was laying on top of one of these roots, as if some one had placed it there. Can you see it? I believe it is too small to pick out in this photo, but you could see how the water was rushing around this tree probably only a few hours ago.



I'm anxiously awaiting the sun's return here in Columbus. These pictures are just so gray and brown. They are not pleasant. I did see sunlight and blue sky thirty minutes before I took these pictures. But the clouds quickly came back, casting a very flat and dark light on the muddy riverbank.



I continue to watch for spring. And I feel that we are "over the hump" of the abdominal snow monster that is winter. Nina from Nature Remains reported that she heard a spring peeper this week. Today, we had two pairs of Canada Geese show up on our complex at work for the first time looking for nest sites. And one of the earliest flowers to bloom along the Olentangy River, a nasty invasive called lesser celandine, has already popped and leafed out. It is not phased by the floodwaters, and this plant did lend a bit of green on this dark, muddy day.



Megan and I live in the city. After the water passes our house, the riverine habitat becomes increasingly poor. The trees have been cut away, dams have been built, and by the time the Olentany reaches the Scioto, it is little more than a pond. But here, there are still inconspicuous but important remnants of wild that persist, and this spring and summer, I can't wait to see what the Olentangy will offer up. If you have not subscribed to my blog posts, be sure to do so, and then you'll get word of my photographs and images as soon as I post them here. Spring will be here soon!
Tom

Looking over a backwater channel of the Olentangy River, with Graceland Shopping Center in the background.

Wordless Wednesday- Fish From Our Aquarium

Any fish lovers out there? Quiz time. Which species are these?

Underneath the Surface of the Olentangy- a Look at Fish

Although I have put tons of pictures on this blog of what lives around the Olentangy River, I have posted very few pictures of things that live in the Olentangy. Megan and I became aquatic ecologists over the weekend and did something that I've wanted to do ever since moving near the river. Catch some fish.

Yes, I do enjoy fishing for small mouth bass, but this weekend this is not the fish we were after. I was looking for darters and other fish that live in the stream. These fish have really intense colors, and are just neat. Most people don't see these animals because they are pretty hard to catch. You have to use a pretty large minnow seine, a type of net, to be able to observe them.

Megan and I set out to see if the population of bluebreast darter still was present in the Olentangy in this stretch of river, in order to update the record in Ohio's Natural Heritage Database. Unfortunately, we were not able to relocate this species, but we saw an photographed a few other very cool fish.

Here is where we worked for a few hours. A little rapids area, known as a riffle, along the Olentangy River.



Ok, that isn't a fish, but it is the rusty crayfish, considered an nuisance species in much of the Midwest. These crayfish have been spread around the country for use as bait, and they can wreak havoc on freshwater ecosystems where they have been introduced.







Above we have some type of minnow, but I'm not sure what we have here. I do know that these fish are extremely common along the shore in slow moving areas of the river. Perhaps this is a river chub? I'm calling for a pinch hitter on this one.



We also caught several sand shiners. My co-worker Bob Gable helped out with the ID of this species. He said to notice the little black marks down the side of this fish, and to note the sub-terminal mouth, which is below the "nose" of this fish.



Next up is the first darter species of the day, the greenside darter. This species looks like a ocean dwelling blenny or goby, and has a distinct frog-like head. The green "W" shape markings on its side are also distinctive.



Above and below is the spectacular rainbow darter. It is just hard to believe that we have a fish this handsome living in Ohio let alone the City of Columbus.



This banded darter, I believe, pales in comparison.



Here is a log perch, just before being released. This one just wouldn't stay still in the acrylic observation box.



And finally, a hogsucker. This juvenile was captured in the seine, but I have seen these suckers get up to six or eight inches. A very neat fish.



So there you have it, some of the fish that live within and depend upon the flowing waters of the Olentangy River.

Olentangy River Fish

I'm going to make this one quick, but last night I was able to catch some fish in my five dollar bug net. I was in the Olentangy, and I think I came up with a banded darner, and some other type of riffle dwelling minnow, perhaps a central stoneroller, but that is a complete guess.

 

 

 

Longnose Gar

John Howard, an excellent naturalist who lives in Adams County, was telling me about the fish that live in Scioto Brush Creek. Where we first entered the stream, it was rocky and shallow. Several hundred feet downstream, however, the stream deepened and widened into a gigantic pool. In this pool, we spotted perhaps the coolest fish I have ever seen in Ohio, a Longnose Gar, Lepisosteus osseus. Here you can see the gar looking like pencil in the river. I then zoomed in on the fish to give a closer view. I just never realized we had these fish in Ohio. I haven't seen any in the Olentangy, and I doubt they are here in Columbus, but in Scioto Brush Creek, they are readily seen as they like to float at the surface.

Tom