Wildflower Oasis

A great spangled fritillary butterfly on clover.  (Photo by Don Comis)

My toy poodle, Friendly, led me to a wildflower oasis in a park across the road from our house. 

So, this morning I returned alone, with binoculars and a camera and got a photo of a great spangled fritillary butterfly on the tall clover plants that dominated this natural oasis in a park, caught between woods and a mowed lawn.  With Friendly, I was treated to the sight of three great spangled fritillaries all at once, perched on clover plants.

And this morning, I got to see a host of other pollinators on the clover, including at least three kinds of bees, an ant, beetles, cabbage butterflies, meadow fritillary butterflies, and an unknown black bug.  I even got to see the cabbage butterflies mating, which continued as they flew together in the air at times before landing again!

I also got to see  a mother red-tailed hawk guiding her youngster, warning me away.   I thought I could hear the two chatting as I lay on rock right next to Apple Valley Lake.  I saw a great blue heron fly along the opposite shore, while a dragonfly patrolled the shore near me. 

On my way to the lake I scared up three deer--one gave a warning shriek before jumping into the road and I could hear his hoofs clattering on the paved road. 

All in all, a good outing that got me out of bed, although it lasted 2 hours instead of 45 minutes because of my naps on my favorite lakeside rock!

I'll be returning to that wildlflower oasis soon.

Meadow fritillary, smaller than the great spangled.  (Photo by Don Comis)

For a slightly longer version of this blog, go to my website and click on "Daily Nature Blog" in the menu.

 

Screech Owls Lay Eggs in Mid-March

Screech owl in a neighbor's box.  My neighbor reports the owl comes out nightly a half hour before sunset.  (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

Screech owl box in a tree near Apple Valley Clubhouse, in park across from our home.  Photo taken Jan. 2, 2014 at 5:50 p.m., showing no leaves inside box or any signs of occupancy then.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I took a short walk today across the road to the park near the Apple Valley Clubhouse to check the lake for ducks and check out the screech owl bird house.

When I put my binoculars on the bird house, I saw it was stuffed with dried leaves.  Screech owls lay their eggs in Ohio in mid-March, so this might be an active nest.  I plan to check on this nest frequently, especially a half hour before sunset because a neighbor sees "his" screech owl leave the box provided in his yard that time daily.

The way this day was so cold and windy I could see why the owl might want all that insulation!  The lake was mostly frozen so I saw no signs of ducks.

I did see two crows yelling at a hawk, a flock of 12 robins, and two deer.  I knew to look whenever crows caw because they might be chasing a hawk, but I forgot that when the crows are fixed on a tree, I should look a few limbs below them.  The first time I looked I didn't see a hawk.  Later, on the walk home, I looked from another angle and saw the big bird below the crows.

Fourteen Deer but No Salamanders Yet

On my way to the vernal pool at sunrise today, I saw this herd of seven deer trying to figure me out.  (Photo by Don Comis) on

 
With light snow overnight, conditions aren't exactly right for the vernal pool show.  But it's always fun going there.  I made the trip again early this morning.  Again I was greeted by wild turkeys gobbling.  And I had a staring contest with a herd of 7 deers that were grazing in a cornfield on leftovers from last year's harvest.

And a mockingbird showed me the way out of there.  This time he had a buddy, a female I'll bet.  What I like about mockingbirds is that rather than hide from you, they show themselves to let you know you're not welcome in their territory.  So you can't miss them.

It was very cold at first, but by the time I got to the vernal pool the sun had risen over the horizon and lit up the Kokosing River and the vernal pool,  just 5 to 20 feet from the river.

I was back at my car at 8:50 a.m. Daylight Savings Time and had plenty of time to shop for groceries.  By around 11 a.m., I was back on Apple Valley Drive when I saw another herd of 7 deer grazing in the spillway area of the Apple Valley Lake dam.  At the same moment, two bluebirds flew, reminding me of the wildlife closer to home.

Native Americans in Howard, Ohio, and Vicinity

Chief Tom Jelloway

In reading some Knox County history books, I learned that Jelloway Creek and Little Jelloway Creek—which runs through the Apple Valley Lake—were named after Native American Chief Tom Jelloway because his tribe liked to camp on its banks.  The town of Jelloway, originally called Brownsville, was named after Jelloway Creek.  But at first it was called The Way of the Jello and then renamed Jelloway in the 1830s. 

I'll be adding to this topic over the next several days on both this blog and on my website..

As promised, here's more:

Tom Jelloway sounds like a real character.  He claimed to be a bird charmer and once called in hundreds of birds to prove it to a white settler.  He lived in Butler Township.

He also spent a lot of time in the Howard area.  He liked the whites so much that he dressed like them and refused to leave when the Native Americans were ousted to western reservations.  He often visited the homes of the pioneer settlers, like the Welkers and the Critchfields to sell brooches and other trinkets. 

He even has a hosta  variety named for him.

The Moundbuilders 

Today's Columbus Dispatch (Insight, Sunday, December 22, 2013, E5) has an excellent article on the Newark (Ohio) Earthworks.  

It's very timely for me since I went to my very first meeting of the Archaeological Society of Knox County in November and heard Bill Pickard of the Ohio Historical Society speak about the mounds and other earthworks.   

Pickard's theme was the survival and destruction of the structures.  Many have been lost to development.   

After the talk, I went to the website of the Mount Vernon's Moundview Cemetery and confirmed that the mound in the cemetery is indeed one of these mounds, built by prehistoric Native Americans.

And later, on a car hunt for two snowy owls reported in Ashland County, Jon Minard showed me a long burial mound preserved on a farm and visible from the road.

And on my most recent bird seed buying trip to Forster Seeds I learned about two more mounds, one near the store on Route 13, and one near Haysville.

N.N. Hill’s “History of Knox County:  Its Past and Present” says that there was one mound in Howard, "in the southern part of the township, situation on the farm of Worthington Shipley."

Indian Fields

I've learned  that there are at least three Indian Fields in Knox County--one in Howard, one in Mt. Vernon, and one near Fredericktown. 

Indian Fields are areas cleared by Native Americans to grow corn and other crops, trade, hunt, and have pow wows and other ceremonies and meetings.  They result in open prairies.

The early white settlers took advantage of these clearings for ready-made cornfields.  Abraham Welker, probably the first white settler in Howard, was one of those, farming on the Indian Field that is now the site of Indianfield Bluffs County Park. 

The Howard Indian Field was at least 480 acres in size, because that's the size mentioned in a history book regarding another Howard settler, Amon M. Shipley, who moved to Howard Township in 1852 and began a farm on those acres.  The Native Americans grew large amounts of corn and vegetables on this land.

The Indian Field in Mt. Vernon is near the intersection of Lower Gambier Road and Mount Vernon Avenue, near the end of the current Kokosing Gap Trail.  It is called the Little Indian Fields, which I thought was ironic because one history book referred to it as the largest in the area.  But on re-reading the history books I own I found that it was 40 acres in size, so next to Howard's 480 acres, the Little name may be justified. 

I also found that Native Americans would set up hunting camps near salt licks, natural areas that ooze salt.  One of those is not far from Little Indian Fields, somewhere near where South Main Street crosses the Kokosing.  There was no bridge in those days, so Mount Vernon began or ended there.  In fact at that time, the early 1800s, Mount Vernon didn't reach as far as the Little Indian Fields.

They camped near salt licks because animals congregate there to consume minerals.  This practice goes back to prehistoric times.  Some modern day hunters still use this technique, locating themselves on a bluff above a salt lick.  I'm going to try to see if the salt lick exists today.  But it may now be under the Kokosing River.

More Fields?

There are hints in the two history books I'm reading about more Indian Fields in Knox County, although it's possible the references are duplicating the ones I've already listed.  Here are the possible other fields I've read about:

Upper Prairie Indian Fields, Union Township near Owl Creek (Kokosing River).  Charles Critchfield and his father lived on these fields as well as on Indian Fields in Howard Township, probably the Indianfield Bluffs site.   Charles lived in the Howard-Union Township area beginning in 1806, except for the period 1846-1878 when he lived in Coshocton.  His father lived on Indian fields in Howard from 1809 to 1865.  If those fields are the Indianfield Bluffs, then farmers must have shared these fields and Amon Shipley would have been a neighbor of Charles' father on these fields.

Indian fields south of Mount Vernon.

Little prairie 5 miles above Mount Vernon, Armstrong section.

Hill's history says that many of the Indian Fields in the county were in the area of Howard Township because the Native Americans favored Owl Creek (Kokosing River), Jelloway Creek, and Little Jelloway Creek for hunting.   In fact, Hill says that at the time of settlement, Howard Township had the best hunting in the state.  While the Indianfields Bluff was a permanent camp, many of the others were temporary camps.

Mystery Wells 
In mentioning the salt lick camp, Henry Howe, in his "Historical Collections of Ohio" 
 (page 273), says that it was near two wells of unknown origin, found by the settlers.  He describes them as "built of neatly hammered stone, laid in regular masonry, and had the appearance of being overgrown with moss."  Almost immediately after settlement, the two wells were destroyed, presumably by the Native Americans.  He also says that later another similar was found a mile and a half away.  Philip Cosner found it when he was plowing a newly cleared section of forest land.  The well was covered with poles and earth, and was about 30 feet deep. 


Tribes Divy Up Ohio's Watersheds

My reading shows me that the various tribes in Ohio each claimed a watershed for their territory, so far I have these:

Owl Creek (Kokosing River):  Delaware territory.
Sandusky River:  Wyandot territory.
Scioto River: Shawnee territory until they moved to Miami River watershed.

For more general history, go to my Knox History page.

For Snowy Owl Alerts, go to my Local Events page.

For more information on local and natural history, see my "DIY Nature Science" website.

Useful Links:

Ancestral Knowledge Workshops:  I've taken two of these workshops in Maryland, one on fire-making by friction and one on edible plants.