Butterfly Workshop Turns Bioblitz

Caterpillar strategically waits on dogbane plant for dogbane beetle to prey on.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Dogbane beetle blissfully unaware that this might be his last meal of dogbane.  (Photo by Don Comis) 

Even mating of butterflies is exposed when Jim McCormac leads a field trip.  (Photo by Don Comis)

This young northern leopard frog is actually one of the bigger-sized creatures unearthed on a recent field trip.  (Photo by Don Comis) 

The sping peeper is definitely not the smallest creature found on the July 12 wetland field trip.  (Photo by Don Comis) 

I don't know how this moth gets any sleep, unless it was sleeping when we found it.  I've photographed  this same moth at about 1 in the morning in my yard!  (Photo by Don Comis)

The pondhawk dragonfly looks small and weak when held by Jim McCormac, but it is a big fierce hunter that kills other dragonflies when it's free.  McCormac rescued this pondhawk from a spider and let it go unharmed.  It did bite McCormac, though.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Jim McCormac points out a plant on a field trip he led for the Midwest Native Plant Society's butterfly workshop on July 12.  (Photo by Don Comis) 

A butterfly workshop complete with field trips led by Jim McCormac  and Jeff Belth, author of "Butterflies of Indiana", was an eye-opener for the crowd of about 150 people who came to Caesar Creek Lake in Waynesville, Ohio, to participate.  The workshop was sponsored by the Midwest Native Plant Society.

We never walked far because McCormac or someone else in the group would spot an insect or a plant or a bird. McCormac showed us a baby katydid nestled in a fleabane plant, three dogbane beetles and a fuzzy white Tiger Moth caterpillar on dogbane plants--waiting to eat a dogbane beetle-- a monarch butterfly that was likely laying eggs in milkweed plants, a rare comet darner dragonfly, a white “albino” plant, a young northern leopard frog, a spring peeper, a gall on a plant harboring a gall fly grub, buttonbushes in bloom, a potter wasp, a golden digger wasp….well, you get the idea.

Of course he pointed out many different butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies and at least one day-flying moth and several birds. He enjoyed seeing a yellow-breasted chat bird  [www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_(bird] constantly re-appear and pose for us. This was the first time I even knew this bird existed.

Besides the albino plant, he spotted another plant anomaly—foxtail sedge with both male and female plant parts. The normal sedge has separate male and female plants for reproduction.

He also heard things I would have missed, like the singing of tiny crickets, the cry of a red-shouldered hawk, and the call of a willow flycatcher bird.

Later the two wetland groups met and merged so now we had Belth with us too. And boy did that ever give us more of a peek into the hidden world outdoors. His most amazing find was the tiny egg of a butterfly, placed near the edge of a leaf blade, so small I couldn’t see it at all until one of our group loaned me a 10-power magnifying lens! Then I saw it was a beautiful little green gem ball with ribbed lines, like a watermelon several times smaller than a green pea.

Murder and Mayhem Right Under Our Noses

On the trip the leaders pointed out many scenes of violence: an aging blue darner dragon fly eating prey, a pearl crescent butterfly carried off by maybe a robber fly, and an Eastern kingbird waiting to catch dragonflies patrolling the lake for their own prey.

McCormac spotted one assault that put us in the moral dilemma of whether to interfere with Nature—he saw a pondhawk dragonfly caught in a spider web, with the spider approaching to wrap up his snack, dead or alive. We voted with McCormac so he rescued the pondhawk, holding him gently for us to take photos first. It was a fair deal and the pondhawk was now free now to wreak violence on his fellow dragonflies.

One participant told me her main interest in observing moths is to learn what goes on at night in her yard while she sleeps. We all learned more about the mayhem that is part of the wild but wonderful world out there.

Or, to paraphrase what Bleth said in his earlier talk, “I hope more people get outside and realize that there are small things out there that really do run the world.”

For a longer version of this blog, check out my "Daily Nature Blog" on my website.

The Exquisite Moths of Mothapalooza

 

This is one of three photos I've taken that show moths that match or closely match those shown in photos posted by Jim McCormac on his blog, after his recent "Mothapalooza" weekend.  But I haven't seen moths as colorful as he has!  (Photo by Don Comis)

 

On his blogsite, Jim McCormac, a wildlife biologist for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, has fantastic photographs of moths taken at his annual Mothapalooza weekend, held the last weekend of June this year.

Although I'm on a moth kick too, and learned recently that moths aren't as dull as they seem, I still find some of his moth photos unbelievable, especially the giant leopard moth shown on his July 4th blog.  Originally I though the moth had yellow eyes like jewels, but I read closer tonight and realized the yellow is a form of bleeding the moth does when attacked, to deter predators.  Jim's crew pushed on the moth's thorax to induce the bleeding defense, but no moths were harmed in this production!

I hope to go to his Mothapalooza some year.   I just ordered a mercury vapor bulb to better equip myself for National Moth Week, July 19-27, although my porch lights already give me more moths than I can handle.  I'll try to observe moths for at least an hour each of those nine nights.

That's the easiest part, although it can wreck my day life and chores.  The hard part is submitting all those photos for identification.  Lately I've been sending one photo a night to three websites for identification:  www.butterfliesandmoths.org, www.projectnoah.org, and www.iNaturalist.org.  And those photos were all taken in June or earlier!

I think all three sites are linked to National Moth Week so a submission to any of them gets in the National Moth Week count.

I used to send my photos only to "butterflies and moths", but I haven't got any identified in a while, so I decided to try the other two sites--but I haven't gotten any id's there either.  I think my problem with "butterflies and moths" is just temporary and local, but I suspect that Project Noah and iNaturalist participants rarely get quick identifications, at least not for moths, a creature with far fewer fans than butterflies.  My "butterflies and moths" sightings used to get a response from a regional expert sometimes in less than an hour and rarely in more than three days.

But Project Noah and iNaturalist are still promising sites for other reasons.  iNaturalist has a smartphone app and both sites seem to share my "crazy" idea of documenting every living creature we see wherever we are, including plants.  So I have to love them.

I joined Project Noah when I found out that the Mothapalooza crew would submit its photos of species found to Project Noah.   In fact, tonight I noticed that some of those photos are already posted there and can be found by searching "Mothapalooza Lodge" under "Organisms".  Naturally the participants can't resist sending in photos of all other living things they saw at the Mothapalooza headquartered at a lodge in Burr Oak State Park.

I get a lot of ideas from Jim McCormac's blog and I tend to want to copy his equipment.  Someday I'll get a true macro lens and I hope to get his recommendation on that if I make it to the Midwest Native Plant Society's butterfly workshop on July 12, where McCormac will be. 

I learned from his recent blog that his smartphone is an iPhone 5S and he likes its camera and video features.  I'm overdue for my first smartphone and I think some young people I've talked to were recommending this iPhone model as well ;o)


Other links:

http://insects.about.com/od/entomologytools/ss/How-To-Build-Your-Own-Mercury-Vapor-Light-Setup.htm  (This site taught me I could get by with a 160-watt self-ballasted clear mercury vapor bulb
bought at an online bulb supply store for $25 and a clamp light with a ceramic bulb socket, rated for higher than the bulb wattage.  The guy at that site bought a 300-watt clamp light for $15 at his local big box store, which for me would be Lowe's or Walmart.  He clamps the light to an old camera tripod and secures it with zip ties.  Until I get my camera tripods back from Maryland, I'll probably use a shepherd's hook to clamp to and secure that with zip ties.)

http://www.bioquip.com/  (I decided to order my bulb from this company for convenience, even though it cost me about $50.  I also liked being able to order UV safety glasses from this company with my bulb order, for about $10, just in case looking at the mercury vapor light could hurt my eyes.. We'll see if I get it in time for National Moth Week.)

 

This is the second moth I've photographed that resembles one on Jim McCormac's recent blogs.  I'm waiting for identification of this one, but am pretty sure it's a grass-vaneer moth and may be the Pasture Grass-veneer, Crambus saltuellus shown on his blog.  I had one of my earlier moth photographs identified as this moth.  As McCormac says, this moth is so little it can easily be overlooked, but it's worth a closer look.  (Photo by Don Comis)

 

This is the third moth I've photographed that matches one on McCormac's recent blogs.  I had this one identified so I know it's the same moth species,  The Beggar, Eubapha mendica.  (Photo by Don Comis)

(Also check out my website.)

Five "New" Moths Include a Winter Flyer

Maybe the most interesting thing I learned this spring with my hobby of photographing moths by porch light is that one of the five new moths I photographed flies from September to May, including taking breaks from hibernation by flying in the winter.

The moth at my light is the three-spotted sallow.  The sallow moths include many of our winter-flying moths.  Jim McCormac describes his encounter with them in his car lights this past winter on his blog (http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2014/03/winter-moths.html).

I get the moth photographs identified at www.butterfliesandmoths.org and then read a bit about them in the comprehensive "A Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America".

Since I started this moth photography last year, I've added 24 moths to the listings for Knox County, Ohio, on the "butterflies and moths" website.  I'm off to a head start this year, having added 5 of those moths since around April 20.    If and when I get the time and find the photographs, I'll create a slideshow on my website (www.donaldcomis.blogspot.com) of each of the moths I add.  For now here are my five latest finds, with a little information on each:

The three-spotted sallow (Eupsilia tristigmata) moth ends his flying days this month, being one of the many sallow moths that fly at times in the winter.  (Photo by Don Comis)

The only plants in my yard the caterpillar of the sharp-angled carpet (Euphyia intermediate) moth has an appetite for is impatiens.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Caterpillars of the Canadian melanolophia (Melanolophia canadaria ) moth would like to nibble at my oak and maple leaves.  (Photo by Don Comis)

While the distinct Quaker (Achatia distincta) moth's caterpillar might munch a bit on my flowering crabapple tree, the adult moth may help cross pollinate it with my apple trees.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Caterpillars of the red-banded leafroller moth (Argyrotaenia velutinana) because they are the most serious pests of apple trees--but, again, the flying moths may cross-pollinate my apple trees!  (Photo by Don Comis)

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.

Tips from DNR Expert for Seeing Mass Salamander Migration

Longtail salamander on his way to freedom after release from my container, along the Kokosing River in Millwood, Ohio, on August 7, 2013.  (Photo by Don Comis)

After getting tips from Jim McCormac, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, (JimMcCormac.blogspot.com), I'm convinced for the first time that I will see the mass salamander migration when it occurs at Kenyon College.

I wrote to him on his blog last night and this morning, here was his thorough answer:

"Above 50 degrees is best, although the animals will move in smaller numbers in the 40's. It doesn't matter if it is actually raining, just that it has recently and the ground is wet. This often means being out in the rain, though. Usually amphibians are moving by 9 pm if conditions are right, and may continue all night if conditions remain warm and wet enough."

This means that I was wrong that it had to be raining during the migration.  It also means that the  migration goes on from about 9 p.m. to just before daybreak.  So I can arrive anytime during that six hour window.  All I have to do is keep an eye out on a day with rain in the forecast and a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees or more, the more the better, during the night.

So, for example, this Friday is promising as far as rain during the day probably leaving the ground wet that night and a high of 54 degrees Fahrenheit.  But, the night low will be below 40 degrees F.  That night, around 8 p.m., I'll have to go outside and see if the ground is wet from the day's rains and check the temperature.  If it stays 54 degrees F, say, at 8 p.m., it would be worth a try.  But it doesn't sound like a night that a mass migration will continue for six hours.

That might mean I have to try a two hour watch on two or three nights to see the biggest migration, but that's doable, compared to staying out all night and doing that more than few times!

Hope for Salamander Migration Soon

One of the first salamanders I've captured and learned to photograph as they "escape" the container I place them in.  I photographed this northern red on July 28, 2013, along Little Jelloway Creek near Apple Valley.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Probably the first frog I've photographed successfully.  This northern leopard frog was quite a ham, once I learned I couldn't use the salamander release trick to photograph him or her.  He would just jump out of sight when the container was opened.  So I just followed him along the banks of the Kokosing River in Millwood, Ohio, until he "froze",  hoping I wouldn't see him.  (Photographed on August 7, 2013 by Don Comis)

Jim McCormac's blog last night gave me hope that I still have a shot at seeing the mass migration of salamanders to vernal pools where they mate and lay eggs.  He confirms that this tough winter has delayed the mass migration, while individual salamanders and frogs have made the trip.

But the mass migration triggered by the combination of night, rain, and warm temperatures hasn't happened yet.  He believes it will happen in a week or two.  Right now, I'm guessing Thursday or Friday, based on weather forecasts.

In taking a back route the other day to a pond near my house to photograph a flock of redhead ducks, canvasbacks, and scaups, I found a mini-pond near wet woodland near the big pond.  This mini-pond is much bigger than the vernal pool I'm looking at in Gambier, Ohio.  Last year, I dismissed it when it looked only like a drainage gully.  The major snows of this winter must have swelled this vernal pool, if that's what it is.

I can confirm it by asking questions of the neighbors of the pool or by checking for eggs or waiting to see if it dries up in late summer as vernal pools do.   If it turns out to be one, it would be the first vernal pool I found on m own.  And it will be in my neighborhood, which I wished for.

This was the best I could do as I hid from this skittish flock of redheads, canvasbacks, and scaups on a recent evening.  The possible vernal pool in my neighborhood is near this full-sized pond.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Snowy Owls: 169 in 59 Counties

Snowy owl at Amish farm in Wayne County.  (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

 Jim McCormac's latest tally of snowy owl sightings is: 169 owls in 59 counties.   He talks about how happy birders in Geauga County are with the finding of their first snowy owl, with neighboring counties totaling 47 snowy owls. 


My own "beef" is with Morrow County still having no snowy owl sightings--not quite comparable with Geauga County since Morrow's immediate neighboring counties total only 8 snowy owls.  But still Morrow too stands out as a holdout.

The owls may be on the move now, preparing to go back to northern Canada--probably Quebec.  I read a post today on the "Ohio-birds" mailing list  that said the owls at Wayne County's airport left as of six days ago.   They had been there 18 weeks.  It had been a dependable place to see snowy owls.  I think when they migrate north from points south of Knox County we may have an even better chance to see a snowy owl.

And there are many sightings that may not reach Jim, like one on Route 308 near New Gambier Road on February 1.

Jim also has great information on moths flying in the winter.  I thought I had seen things flying in my headlights on some recent nights.

Now I'm anxious to see moths again as well as snowy owls.

Photo by Debbie Hurlbert, taken in Wayne County.

The Sunday Columbus Dispatch (February 16, Insight Section, Science, pages E-4 and E-5) has a nice article on snowy owls with great photos.  Even better photos are on its website at:  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/science/2014/02/16/snowy-invasion.html.  The online versions of newspaper articles are usually held only 30 days.



Jim McCormac also has a link on his blog (http://www.jimmcCormac.blogspot.com).   Jim is the unofficial keeper of snowy owl data in Ohio--besides being all all-round biologist and avian expert for Ohio's DNR and a great photographer and author.  He gives constant updates on snowy owl sightings on his blog.  His latest tally:  159 owls in 54 counties.



I've read that as the weather warms up, there will be even greater chances for sightings--for one thing, the owls will have to migrate back to Quebec, if I remember correctly, and that means all those owls farther south will come through places like Ohio.



The experts know there are far more than 159 snowy owls in Ohio.  Just as an example, I've heard of a reliable sighting on Route 308 near New Gambier Road that most likely was not reported to Jim.

Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 14-17, 2014

The latest report from the Great Backyard Bird Count, shows that 37 species were recorded for Knox County by 9 participants, including yours truly.  My feeders at Apple Valley had 17 species, including the first sighting during the count of a white-crowned sparrow.  My species count got a little boost when the Cooper's hawk appeared and got chased away by at least one American crow.

I've reported 56 species to "e-bird" since 2008 when I started counting birds while visiting my mother-in-law.  All but two I saw in Apple Valley--the other two were in Gambier and Mount Vernon.  This year I've reported 23 species, 20 of them in the first 17 days of February.

Building Birdhouses--Deadline Mid-March

Pileated Woodpecker (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

Red-headed woodpecker (Photo by Don Comis)

I spent the evening working on a pileated woodpecker birdhouse with my neighbor's son, Steven.  The pileated woodpecker box is his and next we'll work on a red-headed woodpecker box for my yard.  I read on the DNR website that mid-March is about the deadline for getting the birdhouses out there.  It's better to get them in the previous fall at least, to get them weathered so birds get used to them.

 I'll spend my next two mornings looking at birds for the continuing Feederwatch count, which involves two days of watching each week