Flora-quest Isn't Only Flowers

Ringneck Snake, Diadophis punctatus

Although Flora-Quest is a celebration of the late spring Flora of Shawnee State Park and Forest, Cheryl allows us to look at other things too.  Shawnee State Forest has quite possibly the state's most interesting reptile and amphibian populations, and during the weekend I was able to photograph these charasmatic herptiles.

Mole salamander larva, possibly a spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculata.

Northern Slimy Salamander, Plethodon glutinosus

-Tom

The Power of Collective Naturalizing

Ok, I think I just made up a new phrase. What the heck do I mean by "the power of collective naturalizing"? One of the coolest things that I do as an ecologist is get together with other top notch ecologists and naturalists around the state, and we do what we love- we naturalize. Or botanize. Or bird. To most of us, we love it all. Just being in a natural area, interpreting the plants, the animals, the ecological systems, it is fantastic. And when you're with a bunch of people, it is amazing how many new things you can learn in just a few days in the field.

I was in the field three days this past week, in two parts of the state, and all three times with fantastic naturalists. Here are just some of the things we saw. Some of these things I know to species, other to genus, and others, I don't really have a clue. I want to know what you know. Know what something is? Comment, give the number, and tell us something about that plant or animal-maybe your experience with it, whether you see it often, or maybe it is rare in your area. Let's collective naturalize through the blog. This is an experiment and something new that I've never done here, but I think it could be quite fun.


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More from Scioto Brush Creek

I'll throw up some more pictures.....I had a request. Here we have a violet dancer, Argia fumipennis violacea, and northern brown snake, Storeria dekayi.

Snakes in the Water!

"I've seen water moccasins in my pond." "My dad kills the cottonmouths back by the river each year". "Careful, those snakes in the water are poisonous." I've heard many people through the years tell me about how they have seen and subsequently killed cottonmouths or water moccasins, a venomous snake of the south, in Ohio's waterways. Unfortunately for us, we just don't have this species, Agkistrodon piscivorus. What we do have is the Northern Water Snake, Nerodia sipedon. They frequent the Olentangy River, but until yesterday, I had not photographed them. Luckily, I found two snakes, one a beautifully banded juvenile and the second a mature adult that had just captured a meal.




To me, these snakes are unique looking. There heads are particularly tall, most other snakes have more flattened heads. They bite like the devil if you try to disturb them, so do not even try! If you have seen the Dirty Job's episode with Mike Rowe and Kristin Standford, you will definitely not try to pick up one of these snakes. Although the show featured the Lake Erie Watersnake, a subspecies of the more common species pictured above, they have similar temperaments Anyways, these get a horrible wrap because people think they are poisonous, but they do have plenty of endearing features. They are fantastic swimmers, gliding on top of and darting underneath the water. The mature snake pictured in the water has something in its mouth-- I couldn't tell exactly what it had captured, but it was pink and had a tail. Maybe baby squirrel or muskrat? These snakes are true survivors. I have not spotted any other serpent species in the Columbus area, but here in the Olentangy, Nerodia sipedon appears to thrive.

Jumping in Kenny Park

Megan had the really good idea to capture us running and jumping today in Kenny Park. Ok, I know this is about the 18th blog post of the day, but it is raining and blogging is just so much fun. Here we are. I encourage everyone to get out there, jump, and have someone photograph you.

Tom

 

 

P.S. Megan and I just watched Kristin Stanford's segment from Dirty Jobs, where Mike Rowe travels to South Bass Island to help Kristin study the federally threatened Northern Water Snake. This show was off the hook! Mike Rowe, the host, just continually got bitten by the snakes as they gathered them along the shore of the island. They were "pooing" "peeing" and "crapping" all over him! If you haven't seen the dirty jobs show, it is one of the funniest programs on cable.

Ohio Snake Video

The Ohio Division of Wildlife has produced a very informative video of Ohio's snakes. I believe that this is from the Division's "Wild Ohio" program. The background music is a little bit over the top, but the cinematography is actually quite good. They have posted the segment on their website. It is about eight minutes long, so just make sure you have a high speed internet connection. Want to learn more about snakes? Don't miss it!

Ohio Snake Video