Who Knew What Goes on at Night on our Garage Doors?

During the daytime, our garage door looks innocent enough, with maybe a few fuzzy spider nests hinting of the transformation at night.

The photos I sent recently to www.spiders.us for identification tell part of the story of the strange nightly doings.   What I thought was a spider either dying, dead or struggling with prey, was actually a spider pumping itself up with blood so it could blow up and break out of the external skeleton it had outgrown.  The photograph I sent was of the shed skin attached to the garage wall by a thread.

And one of the bugs I photographed was a parasitic wasp looking to take advantage of one of the spiders by making it host its young--I think that means paralyzing the spider and injecting wasp eggs inside so the wasp offspring can eat their way out of the spider.

The site also identified my first spider of the season, which I saw on April 14 hanging from a porch light, as most likely a furrow spider in the orb weaver family of spiders.  And it identified a blurry photo as likely showing a house spider in my basement.  And another of the bugs I photographed on the garage wall turned out to be a midge. 

Parasitic wasp on garage door.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Midge on garage door.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Shed exoskeleton of spider.  (Photo by Don Comis)

My first spider of the season, a furrow orb weaver.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Counting Bugs to Measure Stream Water Quality

This northern leopard frog enjoys the excellent water quality of the Kokosing River in Millwood, where one of the volunteer monitoring stations is located.  (Photo by Don Comis)

When I attended a biological stream monitoring workshop conducted by "Save Our Streams" in Maryland, I was pleased to learn it was fun and easy to assess water quality by identifying and counting water creatures, mostly larvae, with the help of a one-page chart.

It's just fun for all to stand in a stream holding a seine net to catch the creatures and then count and release them.  I did it with children at our church in Maryland for about a year.

The idea is to see how diverse the organisms are, indicating good water quality, and to see if the good water quality indicating organisms like mayfly nymphs outweigh poor water quality indicators like snails and other scavengers.

This came to mind when I saw that there will be a similar workshop conducted near where I am currently, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, on May 28.  

We're blessed here to have the very clean Kokosing River and volunteers that monitor it regularly at several locations.

To learn more about the upcoming workshop, go to:  http://watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/sqm .  Also, check out a longer version of this blog at my website:  www.doncomis.simplesite.com.

 

 

 

 

Going Native

Today I confirmed bluebirds were using a house I set out for them last year.  I also saw my first red-headed woodpecker in a long time eating peanut splits from a feeder.   And a flock of bees of various sizes discovered my new crabapple tree blossoms today.

I was thrilled to see the bees and even more thrilled when I realized that these are the bees that will eventually cross pollinate my two new apple trees to produce apples!

And e-mails from my Ohio Birds and morel mushroom groups tell me that Baltimore orioles are in Ohio now and soil moisture levels predict a banner year for morels, with maybe the first black morels showing up by May 1.

I'm hoping to plant a large wildflower garden soon as part of my plan to make my yard more wildlife friendly, as I go native!

One of the larger bees of a flock that discovered my new "Snowdrift" crabapple tree flowers today.   They worked these flowers all day.  (Photo by Don Comis)

A bee's  view of  a crabapple tree's blossoms.  The visit of a flock of bees today convinced me they will cross pollinate my two apple trees when those trees blossom.  I read that the "Snowdrift" crabapple is one of only a handful that will pollinate the "Liberty" apple trees I bought.  It also helps to have a crabapple tree with the same color flowers as the apple trees, luring the bees to all three trees.  (Photo by Don Comis)

A Glimpse of Native Americans in 2,500 B.C.

Imagine a Native American burial in 2,500 B.C. in Ohio.  The body is dressed in a fine deerskin outfit, completely covered with sewn-in small marine shells obtained from traders from the Gulf Coast.  The shell beads are also on the warrior's necklace, spaced artistically between the hollow leg bones of a Great Blue Heron and the teeth of bear and elk, along with a few human teeth.  Part of a wolf jaw bone is the centerpiece of the necklace.

Another honor for the warrior:  A stone weight of the type attached to a spear throwing device made from an elk antler.

It wasn't hard for amateur archaeologist Greg Shipley to imagine this scene since he saw much of it in  a cemetery below a farm field in Champaign County, Ohio.

He found nine of the stone weights (bannerstones) , a few thousand shell beads, and the necklaces.  He only had to guess the deerskin part because the clothing the beads were once attached to had long disintegrated.

Shipley is one of many citizen science archaeologists making contributions in the field.  Now armed with ground penetrating radar he is calling attention to what lies under our feet.

Oh, and he dated the cemetery finds to 2,500 B.C. give or take 80 years when a scientist carbon-dated charred material Shipley found in the cemetery.

I saw Shipley's presentation, both slides and actual artifacts, at April's meeting of the Kokosing Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Ohio at Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

While glimpses of Native Americans in 2500 BC excite Greg Shipley, he has a special passion for the waning days of the American and Ohio frontier, in the days of General Anthony Wayne, shown here dictating the treaty terms that ended Native American control of much of Ohio.  (Painting on display in Ohio Statehouse.)

Moths Coming Out for Spring

The first moth of the season for me.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Moths are mushrooming in numbers with the warm weather.  I saw my first moth this year on April 20.  The next day I photographed five moths and missed more, then found one inside my bedroom and bathroom.

Then the temperature dropped from the 60s Fahrenheit to the 40s tonight and at midnight I only saw one tiny probable moth and one spider either in a struggle with himself or with prey, I couldn't tell.

I like photographing moths because they're important pollinators that need protection, they're under studied, they're easy to find--and there's a website that has regional experts identify your digital photographs for you, quickly and free. Your photographs provide data for a "Butterflies and Moths of North America" survey (www.butterfliesandmoths.org) and help research and conservation efforts.

I'm waiting for word on photographs of 6 species I have sent in to the site since April 20, to see if they are among the 19 moth species I've previously added to my county's list on their site (Knox County, Ohio) or if they're new ones for me. 

One example of how much volunteers are needed is the fact that in my first year of living in Ohio, last year, I brought the total of moth species listed for Knox on the site from 13 to 32.  And an expert told me that we can assume that the average county has about 500 species!

(Not to mention that I didn't know a single moth before I began this project.)

Easter Sunday Brings Chipping Sparrow and Spring!

White-throated sparrow (left) has yellow markings on its face that make this bird stand out. I think bird on right is a female house sparrow.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Photographing this moth at my porch light tonight starts my moth-hunting season, to see how many more moths I can add to the listing for Knox County, Ohio, on www.butterfliesandmoths.org.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Today, Easter Sunday, was spring to me.  I brought out the outdoor furniture and had my lunch outside with a glass of wine and was treated to many sights and sounds.  Most exciting for me was finally seeing the chipping sparrow return from the south.

I also saw my first cabbage white butterfly and my first big flock of bees and wasps of the season.  The bees and wasps were eating nectar from the flowers of an ornamental tree in my neighbor's yard.

I also saw a small bird, maybe a bluebird, check out a pileated woodpecker birdhouse, and a blackbird, probably a grackle or starling, seeming to have settled in a red-headed woodpecker birdhouse.

By nightfall, I was treated to the sight of the first moth of the season near our porch light.  Not as exciting, I saw my first house fly buzzing nearby.

Morel Mushrooms Appear When Multiflora Rose Leaves Reach Size of Mouse Ear

At this month's meeting of our local archaeological club, I got at tip on morel mushroom hunting from Eric Taylor, a lifelong mushroom hunter in a family for whom mushroom hunting has been a tradition for generations.


His tip:  Looks for morels when the leaves of multiflora rose bushes reach about a half-inch in length.


This reminds me of a North American folklore saying:


"Morel mushrooms will suddenly appear
 When oak leaves are the size of a mouse's ear"


That saying comes from a book I just bought, "Morel Mushrooms in Michigan And Other Great Lakes States".


I watched a DVD by "The Taylor Boys" (Eric and Keith), "Mushrooms Grown Wild", and got ideas about where to look for morels, such as pine plantation edges, streambanks, old apple orchards, burn areas, and around certain trees like sycamores, in addition to the obvious wooded areas.


Eric told me that because of cold weather, like a fairly recent 1-inch snowfall, morels likely won't show up in my areas north of Columbus, Ohio, until later--which I guess means May.

Eric Taylor, wearing new "Morel Mushroom Hunter" t-shirt, selling DVDs at April 17, 2014 meeting of the Kokosing Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Ohio.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I bought this 40-page book recently.

Nature Changed Fast in my Absence

Whew--my computer broke down and so I had to stop posting for 10 days--just when Nature is really changing fast.


As I write this I can hear spring peepers through my open windows.   I recently heard a great horned owl calling from a white pine tree in our yard, and an answering call from a distance.  I had read that if you see red-tailed hawks in an area, there are probably also great horned owls.  They share the same habitat needs and great horned owls can kick red-tailed hawks out of a nest and take over.


I also read that great horned owls are the only predators that eat skunks.  I don't remember if the horned owl landed in the tree when there was a road-kill skunk nearby.  If so, it might have attracted the owl, but maybe the owls prefer killing things themselves.  But then if it smelled the dead skunk, how could it eat it?  I think I read they can't smell and that's why they can eat it.


Now I think vultures must have to smell since their prey never move.  But two vultures came in real low and close to examine the skunk.  But they left it alone as did the owl.  But why would the vultures be attracted to a smell even they can't stand?


And what or who took the skunk eventually?  I think it was a helpful neighbor.  The poor skunk got hit trying to cross over to eat at my bird feeders.


I'm also hearing more birds singing.


And there are more colors--green lawns and other vegetation and.white and yellow daffodils. 


I also saw my first butterfly today, one with blue wings called "summer azure".  Also, a spider recently set up shop on my rear porch light and survived a light 2-day snowfall.

Why Did The Newt Cross the Road?

I learned how to photograph frogs on August 29, 2012, the day I took this picture of a green frog at Bennett Pond in Apple Valley.  By spotting him first from afar and sneaking up on him, I was able to have him pose from 5 feet away.  (Photo by Don Comis)

In two nights, April 2 in Logan County and April 3 in Crawford County, Jim McCormac watched and photographed the following amphibians cross forest floor or paved roads to get to vernal pools to breed:  spotted salamander, smallmouth salamander, red eft larval stage of a red-spotted newt, green frog, northern leopard frog, western chorus frog, and spring peepers.

I went to "my" vernal pool at the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College tonight, April 7, 2014, and on April 3, and encountered no sign of amphibians.  Except for the frog I heard call near me tonight.

Of the amphibians he photographed, I have only seen--and photographed--the green frog and the northern leopard frog.  But I did that in daytime, late in the summer, post-breeding.  Of course I've heard many spring peepers, including tonight, but none around the vernal pool I've been stalking.

I wasn't going to the vernal pool tonight until I read Jim's April 6 report on his blog.

The bottomline for me is:  Do amphibians still use the vernal pool at the Brown Center?  Last year, I was sure I saw eggs there.  So, I'll keep coming back whenever the ground is wet from rain.

Brown Thrasher's Arrival Means Spring is Getting Even Closer

O

n April 5, the brown thrasher became my latest summer migrant bird returning, another signal spring just got a little closer.

One of the ways I spotted him near my feeders was the way he threw leaves around searching under them for grubs and other bugs and worms.  The only surprise I got was how he sometimes was pounding something with his beak, with all the force of a woodpecker on a tree.  I couldn't see what he was trying to get with that beak action.

But other times he seemed to be eating spilled seed from the feeders.  He's the second bird that surprised me by eating at feeders--an early arriving robin was the other bird I never expected to see eat bird seed.

The thrasher is supposed to be shy but we seem to have a pair every summer hanging around if not living in our yard, often in low shrubbery or under our back deck.

When I checked a field guide, I was surprised to learn that the brown thrasher, not the mockingbird,  knows more songs than any other bird in North America,  over 1,100 song types!

Salamander Search Yields Only Calls from Great Horned Owl and Sheriff's Office

Northern dusky salamander found under shale rock in shale seepage area near Little Jelloway Creek, near Apple Valley, on August 1, 2013.  (Photo by Don Comis)

April is here, the buds are turning green on my neighbor's shrub, the daytime temperatures are pretty warm--but still it feels like March going out like a lion.  As the winds picked up and the temperatures fell around 6 tonight, it felt really cold.


This gives me an excuse to skip a night search for the salamander migration tonight.


I spent about two and a half hours last night listening for woodcocks the first half hour and then sitting on a bench by the Kokosing River looking for migrating salamanders for an hour.  Nothing, but I did get to hear a call I think came from a Great Horned owl.


My other surprise was getting a call from the sheriff's office after a deputy saw my car late at night in an isolated parking lot.  He used my license plate to call my wife and check to see I was ok.  She gave him my cell phone number and I returned his call and explained what I was doing, or tried to.  My wife and I both thanked the sheriff's office for checking on me.


It's another example of what can happen to zealous naturalists.  I have an even better story about that I'll tell someday!


That call and the dense fog on the way home late last night also makes me glad that conditions don't seem right for salamanders tonight. 

Stalking the Woodcock's Nightly Performance

Reading a paperback edition of "A Sand County Almanac" around 1969 instilled a desire in me to see the woodcock's "sky dance" described in the book, which a nice sketch or two of  a woodcock, along with other black-and-white sketches. 

I did my second night Nature walk last night, this one at Honey Run Highlands Park, near Millwood, Ohio, a very short drive from Apple Valley in Howard, Ohio.


I went in search of the woodcock dance, having read an e-mail about a sighting at this park on March 31.  Like other sightings I've read, this dance has been occurring between 8 and 8:30 p.m.


So, I got to the park around 6:30 p.m. and walked until I found a great spot, on a hilltop with a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside, in a prairie area, with a bench!  I had lunch and waited until 8:30, but no woodcock, or even his "peenting" call.




It's possible I might have heard the peenting and mistook it for a frog call.   I heard plenty of spring peepers at the park, plus a  barred owl call, and some frightened calls from deer and unseen wildlife I scared.


Just before I got to the park, I saw two turkey vultures eating road kill, and more vultures flying around the park.


I heard plenty of bird calls, until late in the evening.


I sent an e-mail the birdwatcher who saw the woodcock dance, asking about where they were in the park when they saw the display.

Morels Fever

I recently bought this DVD for $7 from Eric Taylor, pictured at right next to his brother Keith, morels in all four hands and a bin overflowing with morels.  (Front cover photo by Jim Brewer)

Back cover of DVD showing Eric in 1978, at age 9, next to his "Grandpa and Teacher", the late Lincoln Miller, both holding morels.  (Back cover photo by Jim Brewer)

Last night I joined a morels forum and posted some questions, with more to come, to help me start my first morel mushroom hunt.


Everyone has morel fever in this area so I've caught it.  I bought a DVD on morel hunting from a local mushroom hunter I met at our local archaeological club meeting in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. 


Morels usually come out in early April in Ohio but may be a bit delayed by the cold winter, which, on the other hand, is said to promise a better than usual morel season.


The site has a video on morel hunting and links to sites where you can learn the soil moisture and soil temperature in your area to time your morel searches.  Morels like a soil temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit.


From the forum I learned of another soil moisture and temperature forecast site.

Bees, Spring Peepers, Woodcocks and Salamanders All Have Spring Fever

This July 6, 2013 photo, taken at the wildlife garden at the Brown Family Environmental Center, shows what we have to look forward to.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I had more first signs of spring, firsts for me anyway, on this wonderful spring-like day today.  My Nature day began this afternoon seeing not only purple crocuses in bloom in my neighbor's garden, but also two bees buzzing them and nearby yellow flowers that have bloomed for weeks now.

That made me decide that my next trip should be to the wildlife garden at the Brown Family Environmental Center. Of course, there were no flowers blooming there to attract bees, butterflies and moths.  I had jumped the gun!

But then, amidst the numerous chirps of birds, a loud chorus broke through and I finally realized these were not birds but frogs, likely spring peepers.

I'm also hearing of sightings of woodcocks doing their peenting call and mating dances, the closest one being at Honey Run Falls park.  All the reports in Ohio place the dance as between 8 and 8:30 p.m.  So I plan to visit that park and the Brown Center's north and south sides by 8 p.m. soon.

And if it's raining when I'm at the Brown Center, I may just head to the vernal pool there--conditions seem right for the mass salamander migration each evening from tonight through Friday, with Thursday seeming best.

The harsh winter here has delayed  both the woodcocks and the salamanders, giving me a chance not to miss either for the first time in my life!