The Invasive Amur Honeysuckle

Does the term "invasive species" resonate with you? Hopefully it does. Naturalist types like myself have been trying to push out to the public the whole invasive species concept ad nauseum. Anyways, Ohio has many plants that aren't originally from this state or even continent, but got here one way or another. Many of these plants have escaped and thrived. One such plant is Amur honeysuckle, or Lonicera maackii. It seems to be just past peak bloom. Look through for it all throughout Columbus in woods and forests. If you remember, I blogged this winter about a removal project going on in Kenney Park. This shrub can grow quite dense in the understory of the forest or even along fence rows. The flowers are white and have a sweet smell which I am not fond of! This plant has been incredibly successful here in Ohio. It is the dominant shrub in most of Columbus's urban forests, and it has only been in the state for 100 years or so, depending on whom you ask. I captured this shot in Kenney Park.

 

Tom

The Olentangy River

Tonight, in this river, I caught my first small mouth bass of the season. I am quite fortunate to live only steps from such a great river.

 

Tom

Mallard Duck

Also known as Anas platyrhynchos, mallard ducks are common across Ohio. In fact, they are the most common duck that we have. After I was done with my previous post this evening talking about spring being a great time for new creatures (ok, baby animals, but that sounds to infantile!), I remembered that I had captured some great images of a mallard pair and ducklings at Mirror Lake. Megan and I spotted this family just before we attended a friend's wedding at the Ohio State University Faculty Club. They looked to be just hatched.

 

Tom

American Toads

I looked over my neighbor's fence this evening and peered into his neglected fish pond. My neighbor who built the backyard water garden next door to me passed away this winter after a long and arduous battle with pancreatic cancer. Since he doesn't have fish (his did not survive through the winter in his shallow pond), the toads that laid their eggs this spring have now hatched. Megan and I had toads singing in our backyard fish pond, but the fish surely gobble the eggs or any tadpoles. Anyways, tonight I peered into his dark pond, no bigger than three feet across, and noticed a plastic Kroger bag submersed in the water. Against this lighter background I could see hundreds of free swimming black dots, each a tiny polliwog! It is amazing how spring and early summer abound with brand new creatures. I've had the fortune to stumble upon young birds, squirrels, rabbits, and now toads this spring.

Tom

Summer already?

What summer like weather we have been having here in Ohio. Today was hot. Driving home from work was comparable to sitting in a blast furnace. I had all my windows down and the thermometer on the dashboard read 90 degrees. I think the official high of the day was in the low 80's. The calendar still tells me it is spring, but it certainly felt like summer today. Except the mosquitoes are still absent, making my evening hike to Kenney Park that much more pleasant. I searched for the blue-gray gnatcacther nest I photographed only 3 days before but I completely bonked. I couldn't find it. I kept looking for the box-elder tree but just never found the right one. I did relocate the hairy woodpecker nest. And the American cardinal nest. All seem to be doing well, and the peeps from the woodpecker nest seem to be getting stronger. Another sign of summer was the ethereal song of the wood thrush. This bird, related to American Robin, was calling throughout the park tonight. Along the river bank I tried my luck with the fishing pole, made several hundred casts, but only managed to hook what was probably a small rock bass before he jumped off my line. Oh well. The trees along the riverbank, most noticeably the silver maple, have leafed out. Sure, the leaves will get bigger, but they are no longer naked. Even the riverside cottonwoods, giants with diameters of three and four feet, have leaves. It really looks like summer. I'm starting to find pieces of the Olentangy river that I remembered from last summer when Megan and I first moved to north Columbus. A gravel bar or riffle here, a stone there, all hidden by high water from me until tonight's walk. Megan is off dining with the midwives of Columbus, so I had the night to explore. I'm tired, and if you checked out the times of my blog posts from this morning, you might be able to guess why.

Spring is wrapping up.......get out and see stuff before the mosquitoes beat you to it.

Tom

Lakeside Daisy Open House

While you are up on the lake looking at birds, be sure to stop by Lakeside Daisy State Nature Preserve this Saturday. The Division of Natural Areas and Preserves is holding its annual open house, highlighting the federally threatened Lakeside Daisy. This plant only grows in limestone quarries on the Marblehead peninsula and on Kelleys Island, and should be in peak bloom. The bright yellow flowers carpet the floor of the abandoned quarry. For more information, visit the link below.
Lakeside Daisy Open House

International Migratory Bird Day

Saturday is international migratory bird day. Festivals and events will be held across North America that focus on birds. Here in Ohio, the most famous event occurs on the Lake Erie Coast near Oak Harbor Ohio at Magee Marsh state wildlife area and Ottawa National Wildlife refuge. I just did a google search for "international migratory bird day Ohio" and found several more events across the state, all scheduled for May 12. The Magee Marsh event corresponds with the peak of bird migration, and this area serves as a bird magnet. Birds stop and rest in wooded areas near the Lake before crossing over to Canada. From what I'm told, colorful birds are just about everywhere. I'm not sure if Megan and I will make it this year, but if you are interested in birds, don't miss this day on Ohio's coast.

Tom

White Crowned Sparrow

Last night about 8:00, as Megan and I were sitting on our front porch, we saw a White Crowned Sparrow. It was eating the bird seed thrown in our street by our neighbors who love feeding birds. I wouldn't have noticed this bird if I hadn't been watching a gray squirrel building its nest through my binoculars. Although White Crowned sparrows are not rare migrants, most sparrows that feed in our street our the non-native house sparrow. I let Megan have a look at the sparrow, and she said something like, "It looks like it has a skunk haircut." Sure enough, the white crowned has three white stripes on top of its head, separated by two black stripes. This is a very cool bird that I would speculate that many backyard bird feeders just pass off as a house sparrow if they are not observing closely. I know I would have done the same had I not been watching the gray squirrel. Another species to add to our list of birds seen around our home.

Tom

Ohio Prairie Article by the Akron Beacon Journal

For those of you who regularly visit the "blog", you know that most of my posts detail some animal or plant I have observed in the field. The local media does cover natural history from time to time, and I thought that I could start highlighting various stories about nature that appear in Ohio's newspapers. The Akron Beacon Journal recently published such an article about Ohio's prairie past. It is a good read. The article can be accessed here: High praise for prairies

Ohio had several grassland areas called prairies when the first settlers reached this state. A very few of these areas still exist today. In addition, Ohio also is the home to prairie-like habitats called wet meadows dominated by sedges rather than grasses, which make up prairies. For more about a wet meadow that I have studied, check out The Ohio Department of Natural Resources prairie education website here:Ohio Prairie Interviews. There are several informative interviews that detail the people behind the management of a state nature preserve.

Tom

Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza longistlis

Here is a common woodland wildflower I photographed in Kenney Park. It is at peak bloom right now, and the flowers are very striking. However, it is the root of this plant that can really catch your attention. I love licorice, and this plant smells like the purple and white Good and Plenty candy. One of its common names is actually aniseroot, and if you find some on your property, break a stem or even dig up the root and take a wiff. The crushed stems and broken roots have a very strong scent of black licorice. Although this plant is not used to flavor licorice, Native Americans did readily use it to treat a wide variety of ailments. Licorice itself is named after the licorice plants in the genus Glycyrrhiza. If you haven't yet this year, try taking a walk in your local park and enjoy the wildflowers. Here in central Ohio, summer is rapidly approaching and spring will be a distant memory! I must say, what a spring we have had here. The blog has kept me focusing in on the natural world, and I have enjoyed bringing you the photos and experiences I have posted here.

Tom

 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Building a Nest!

When I was a small boy growing up in suburban Munroe Falls, Ohio, a pair of Robins built nests and raised young under my parent's deck for several years. I remember peering down through the cracks between the boards in our deck into the nest, only six inches below. I literally had a birds eye view of the nest building, incubation, hatching, and growth of the young chicks. I had not really thought of bird nests much since then, but yesterday, those memories came back to me as I watched a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher building a nest in Kenney Park.

I looked up and saw a gnatcather preening above me. It started to make a "peent" sound repetitively, and I wondered what was going on. I captured about 30 images of the bird, and finally, noticed a little more action higher up in the tree. Another gnatcather was building in its nest in the crotch of the box-elder about 15 feet off the ground. The cup shaped nest appeared to be constructed of lichens of all things. Wouldn't be great if I only had a deck from which to peer into this nest? Alas, I do not, but here is a photo I managed to capture of this very cool little bird bringing some material to finish off its nest.

 

Tom

Smooth Solomon's Seal

This afternoon I thought I would post a picture Smooth Solomon's seal, a common plant throughout northeast Ohio woodlands. This particular one caught my attention in Kenney Park (Notice the name change here. Today I realized that I have been misspelling the name of this park. I had been omitting the second "e".) Notice the dangling flowers in pairs or threes that are not quite open...I'll watch it and see what happens!

 

Palm Warbler

This evening, I believe I spotted a life bird for me, the Palm Warbler, Dendroica palmarum. This bird, a male, was flicking around in some honeysuckle and box-elder undergrowth in Kenny Park. What a find. He was active only about 5-6 feet off the ground, and I got a great view of him with my binoculars. Here are some pictures that I managed to capture with Megan's Kodak P850 ultrazoom camera! What a neat bird, if I do say so myself. I have been looking at birds all winter, and seeing the same species each day. Now, with the migration wave coming through, the woods are just popping with all kinds of colorful new birds. Am I starting to catch the birding bug? Only time will tell!

 

 

 

Tom

Nature in Mainstream Media

The mainstream media, including The Columbus Dispatch, does cover nature quite well. Jim Fry writes a column every other Sunday, covering some aspect of Ohio's natural history. Often, his subject is birds. Check out this week's column about Rose-breasted grosbeaks. This bird, which reminds me of a red, black and white cardinal, is supposedly expanding its range southward here in Ohio. The only place that I have seen them is at Jackson Bog State Nature Preserve, located in northern Stark County in Northeast Ohio.

Tom

Beetle Update

Thanks to BugGuide.net, someone has identified the beetle from North Bass Island as a Odontotaenius disjunctus, also known as the horned bess beetle. From what I found "The Internet," these insects actually show some social interactions with adults taking care of their larvae somewhat. They live in dead decaying wood, and I found this specimen crawling and basking on top of a nice dead and decaying log.

Tom

Strikingly Huge Beetle from North Bass Island

More photos on this rainy day from my trip to North Bass Island. A giant beetle, which was crawling on a dead log. It almost appeared that it was basking in the sunshine, but I can't be sure. I took a few shots and moved on. Being a naturalist is awesome. I get to take really cool pictures of bugs and get paid for it!

 

Paw Paw, Asimina triloba

Have you ever eaten a paw paw? This native tree and fruit is also called "poor man's banana" because of its yellowish fruit. Paw Paws are actually the fruits of the paw paw tree. Right now, the paw paw is blooming here in central Ohio. After Megan and I were done jumping, we spotted a clump of this tree along a stream terrace right next to the Olentangy river. What a cool flower this plant has! Three petals, brown, and downward pointing. I'm guessing the flowers attract things like flies, although that is entirely speculation. I wanted to get a picture of an individual flower. Most of the flowers were at least ten feet of the ground, but this specimen was right at eye level and made for the perfect picture.

 

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.

Black and White Warbler

Another species to add to this Spring's list!

Megan and I are quite fortunate to live where we live. Most people would probably look at our street and consider it, well, not that desirable. Our house itself has everything that we could ask for in a rental property. Our street is a little rough...one side is basically a parking lot for a shopping center, and many of the houses on the other side are rental properties that have seen better days.

BUT, we do live very close to the Olentangy River, known mostly as the river that flows through THE Ohio State University. But upstream from Ohio State, the river is really quite nice and even further north, the Olentangy has been designated a State Scenic River. What does this mean? We can walk to to this lush green corridor and really observe nature at its best. Yes, we are in the city of Columbus. Yes, the area is full of invasive species. And yes, there are unleashed dogs scampering throughout the park near our house. However, there are plenty of native plants, birds, mammals, fish, freshwater mussels, and an unlimited number of other cool natural things to look at. I have found that this blog is a great outlet for my pictures. I know that I have a few regular readers....I hope you are enjoying what Megan and I find.

Today, Megan spotted a black and white warbler for the first time. It was great. She was holding my binocs, saw a little bird scampering through the honeysuckle, and said something like, "wow, that is a cool bird but it isn't yellow." I had told her that most of the spring warblers migrating through Columbus and all of Ohio usually have some yellow feathers. If you haven't seen one, the black and white warbler could be called the zebra bird. They are more black than white, but have plenty of white striping. The word "referee" also comes to mind when I picture this small bird.

Other birds we saw on our mid-day walk.

Wood Duck
Mallard
Canada Goose
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American robin
Northern Cardinal (including one female on the nest)
Gray Catbird
White breasted nuthatch
Grackle
Red-eyed vireo
Goldfinch

Tom

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