Mohican!

Megan and I met my family yesterday at Mohican State Park and Forest. We share a meal at a restaurant in Loudonville then visited the Pleasant Hill Dam, on which we were standing while posing for the first picture. My Dad looks confused, I think my Grandpa was looking at a bird or something, my mom, Megan, and I understood to actually look at the camera and smile, and I think Tim was probably looking for girls. Anyways, there we are.

 

After the dam, we drove down to the cover bridge to see Ohio's newest scenic river, the Clear Fork of the Mohican. What a beaut!

 

Action along the river was light. I did see an eastern forktail damselfy and a few butterflies. I managed to capture an image of this species. It was checking out some, oh, well, some feces of another animal. At least it sat still and I could photograph it.

 

Finally, I plant that I do not see very often, but it is common in eastern Ohio forest, and that is purple flowering raspberry, Rubus odoratus. This large leaved raspberry, a native plant, has brilliant purple blooms. This shrub was covered and it made for a spectacular show. This native Ohio species grows well in cultivation. I did a google search and found several nurseries that sell it. Quite a interesting plant that not everyone gets to see, and we saw it in full bloom.

 

Tom

Animals from Tar Hollow

Tar hollow was very birdy, and we were constantly hearing ovenbirds, woodthrush, hooded warblers, and scarlet tanagers. The male scarlet tanager makes a very distinctive call which can not be mistaken for any other bird. "Chick Bur" "Chick Bur". Megan and I saw a striking male in brush about 30-40 feet away, unfortunately I was not quick enough with the camera to capture it. However, towards the end of our hike, we heard another male chick burring away overhead, we saw some movement, and luckily, the male alighted above us and stayed long enough for me to grab Megan's camera from her fanny pack. The bird was high up in the tree, but here is what I managed to produce using some sharpening in Google's Picassa software.

 

Next up we have the northern dusky salamander. Megan and I came to the first stream crossing on our hike and I noticed several small, flat pieces of sandstone in the water and leaf litter that looked perfect for salamanders. Sure enough, I overturned a few rocks and the little creatures seemed to wiggle out from everywhere. I saw a southern-two lined salamander and this northern dusky. Quite a nice portrait, if I do say so myself!