Mastodon Site Materials Await Winter Lab Tests

Cedar Creek Mastodon Site's Unit 13, excavated to the "O to 50 centimeter level" (0 to  1 toot 7 and 11/16 inches) had this photo taken for scientific documentation of exposed features.  One volunteer speculates that Feature D  could be part of a leg bone that extends into adjacent Unit 14--and that Features A1 to A4 could be part of a fire pit used to process some of the mastodon.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Possible hammerstone used to smash bones (near two red flags).   Unit 5 leader Richard Gross  lets high school freshman  Susanne Klein take a break from sifting dirt to join him in the more hard core work of excavating with a trowel.   On Oct. 25, we found flint carried to the site, presumably by prehistoric Native Americans, as well as two possible bone scrapers made from the flint.  (Photo by Don Comis)

It was a great day back at the Morrow County (Ohio) mastodon dig after my three week absence.  As soon as I got there I was struck by how many bones were exposed in the pits.   There are several pits—plots or Units--each 2 by 2 meters square (almost 7- by 7-feet square).

I was assigned to Unit 5 and it already had a possible hammerstone exposed from the last dig.  And our volunteer Unit 5 leader, Richard Gross--from the Sandusky Bay Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Ohio--said it has been very productive, providing a lot of evidence of Paleo-Indians butchering the mastodon.   This included the possible hammerstone—large round stones used as hammers or mauls, which the Indians may carry around in their “tool belt”.  In this case, the hammerstone might have been used to break mastodon bones.

Largest rock (upper part of photo), shown in Unit 5 on Oct. 25,  could be a hammerstone used to smash mastodon bones.  For scientists, lab tests for mastodon blood are needed for proof.  Amateur archaeologists look for marks from the stone used to hammer objects.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Richard Gross led the excavation on Unit 5 on Oct. 25.  His excavated dirt goes into the bucket for sifting.  Bones, flint, charcoal, etc., go into the paper bag, with possible flint artifacts wrapped in tinfoil.   The possible hammerstone lies near his yellow kneeling pad.   There are so many finds in the 7-foot-square plot that Gross only allows one other person with him at a time.   (Photo by Don Comis)

In response to a question I e-mailed him after the Oct. 25 dig, Dr. Nigel Brush, the Ashland University professor leading the excavation, said, “The only way to determine if the large rock from Unit 5 was a maul for breaking up bone is to send it to a lab for residue analysis (which we may do this winter).”   I guess that would be a DNA analysis to test for the presence of mastodon blood.  

    

Brush had other cautions in an e-mail message to me before the Oct. 25 dig:  “We may work at the site again next summer and or fall, depending on what our analysis turns up over the winter.  Given the shattered state of the bones, this is not a good site for recovering specimens for display.  Moreover, we have yet to find any definite artifacts.  Therefore, unless protein residues can be found on the flint flakes, or cut marks on the bone that reveal this was a butchery site, there is not much reason to continue excavating (in my opinion).”

Bone Scraping Tools?

We found two possible used scraping tools made from flint as we sifted soil dug from Unit 5, along with a lot of similar pieces and chunks of flint.   Brush said he hasn’t checked possible artifacts from the Oct. 25 dig yet and that he hasn’t seen any flint scrapers at the site so far.  If they do turn out to be flint scrapers, the one I found would be the first artifact I've found in my lifetime (because I've only searched once, for 15 minutes, on a farm field, to date).

 

Some of the flint found at the site seemed to have come from out of the area, presumably brought to the site by the people who butchered the mastodon.   Brush confirmed the flint was from out of the area, saying, “…Delaware chert was apparently brought to the site, as well as a piece of Upper Mercer chert from Coshocton County."

Upper Mercer chert (flint), found in bedrock  that is about 300 million years old,  is one of two of the most widely used flints in Ohio, the other being the colorful flint from Flint Ridge.  Delaware chert, found in bedrock that is more like 400 million years old, was used mostly locally where it was found, from Columbus north to Lake Erie.

I and other volunteers think it is likely the Paleo-Indians carried chunks of flint in their tool kits, available to make tools or weapons when needed.

New Finds From Oct. 25 Dig

In his Oct. 28 e-mail to the volunteers, Brush cited these new finds from the Oct. 25 dig:  “1) a possible feature in Unit 13, (2) a bovine incisor, and (3) a bone with something embedded in it (possibly just the root of a mastodon tooth).”

The unspecified features in Unit 13 were noteworthy enough to have photo documentation taken (see photo above).    In an e-mail to the volunteers on Oct. 29, Glen Boatman-- one of the participants-- shared his thoughts and ideas about the features, including that one might be part of a crushed leg bone found in adjacent Unit 14, and another might be a fire pit used to process parts of the mastodon.  Boatman also suggested that the fire pit may have been built with cobblestones from a nearby creek bed since cobblestones were found in Unit 16, at a depth of 2 to 3 feet.

The bovine incisor, found only on the lower jaw, might be from the mastodon.*  If so, that would be the fifth tooth found so far, and the first incisor found, I think.

The significance of something embedded in bone is that Brush is looking for spear heads or other weapons that were used to kill the mastodon.

The volunteers included several members of the Sandusky Bay Archaeological Society Chapter, as well as members of two other chapters—including one I belong to, the Kokosing Chapter in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.  In his Oct. 28 e-mail to the volunteers,   Brush said that besides Archaeological Society members, there were people from four universities, a number of visitors, two film crews, and about a dozen PhDs.

Hunting the Mastodon Documentary

I met Aaron Martin who is filming a documentary on the excavation called Hunting the Mastodon. He reads this blog and promises to send me a link to some of the footage he has shot in mid-November, so I can post it here!  Aaron works for Detroit Public Television, but the documentary is his own independent project, and he is planning to continue to follow the investigation into the mastodon site as it moves into the lab for the winter.

We found so many small pieces of bone on Oct. 25, some from tusks, that the first little brown bag we filled from sifting dirt from Unit 5 seemed to weigh 10 pounds.  We then switched to a new bag.   One of the new participants called me eagle eye, because, three weeks of experience, coupled with plenty of bones to uncover in the soil dug down to the 18-inch level, made it easy.  And, the autumn angle of the sun helped too.   The sunlight easily highlighted many pieces of bones so that their reddish clay-like color stood out.

The Unit 5 leader told me that flint similarly shines in a farm field after it is plowed.  That day, I learned what should have been obvious to me long ago:  When looking for tools or weapons made by prehistoric Native Americans (Paleo-Indians), learn what flint looks like and only look for flint.   This is good for beginners like me to avoid collecting a pile of stones that happen to look man-made. 

Naturally there are exceptions, like hammerstones, which are big heavy round rocks, I guess of many types.  But it would be hard for beginners like me to distinguish these from any other round rocks.

Context is important—so such a rock found near mastodon bones like at our site would be highly suspect as a hammerstone.   And hammerstones and other artifacts are most likely to be found near rivers Indians might have traveled on, exposed on farm fields by plowing.

On Oct. 25, I learned another tip about spotting bone pieces—when scratched with a fingernail, they show a shiny spot.  So the day was very productive for me, for sure.

*Correction:   On Nov. 4, I learned that the incisor was probably from a cow--mastodons don't have incisors.

Note:  I also have a website where I post information and photos on archaeology finds as well as all other aspects of natural history.  This blog and website began to catch the spillover from the monthly stories I write for the Apple Valley Cider Press, mainly a regular "Nature Article" feature.

Mastodon Dig Wrapping Up With Pile of Bones, Flint, Charcoal, and Four Teeth

Ohio History Connection Archaeology Blog's "Diorama showing mastodon being butchered by Clovis hunters". The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, has a museum at its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

On Saturday, October 18, volunteers at the Cedar Creek Mastodon Site dig in Morrow County found a fourth mastodon tooth, which leaves only four more left to be found.  It was a tooth found by a farmer after drainage pipe was laid in his soybean field that prompted the excavation which began in August.  In addition to the teeth, volunteers have found parts of bones from legs, ribs, ankles, and tusks.

In his October 21 e-mail to volunteers, Ashland University’s Dr. Nigel Brush said, “Last Saturday, the volunteers who braved the cold made excellent progress on the excavation and also completed the excavation and removal of the fourth mastodon tooth from the site.  There are four teeth in the mandible and four in the maxillary. We have two front and two back teeth, but have not yet determined whether they are from the mandible or maxillary (or both).”

Brush said that there are only four units left to excavate, with one, Unit 15, almost done.  In his Oct. 14 e-mail Brush had  said that volunteers in Unit 15 are “still excavating a pile of rocks, bones, and flint flakes in the western 1/3 … Portions of two rib bones are visible in this unit.”

Goal:  Finish for Season by Nov. 8, More Work Next Year

The goal is to finish by November 8, weather permitting—but just for the winter.

In an article in the Sunday (Oct. 19) Columbus Dispatch newspaper 

Brush  said that the dig could go on for “as long as two years.”

By October 11, the volunteers  had finally reached  down to the layer containing most of the mastodon bones. 

The article explains the possible significance of finding the bones on piles of rock and gravel:  The Paleo-Indians may have butchered and cleaned the mastodon on those rocks.

Brush’s  Oct. 1 report to volunteers says  that “We are finally coming down on the layer containing the mastodon bones, although the long bones and ribs are broken into pieces…The bones are scattered about and lying on top of a gravel/cobble layer.  A few flint flakes are also being recovered from this layer.”

The flint flakes could be parts of weapons or tools  used by prehistoric Paleo-Indians to kill or butcher the mastodon.  The Dispatch article says that some of the pieces have been sent for testing for the presence of mastodon blood.

Charcoal found at the site could mean the Ice Age hunters cooked and maybe smoked some of the meat at the site.

Who Were First People in North America?

In his Oct. 12 column in the Columbus Dispatch , John Switzer talks about the controversy over who the first people who occupied North and South America were.   I first learned about the controversy while talking to a student at the Morrow County dig.   I had always thought that the first people were Paleo-Indians who arrived about 13,000 years ago.  They were called Clovis people, based on the fluted style of their projectiles, some of which have been found in Ohio, Switzer said, and some embedded in mastodon bones.   Now some archaeologists believe the Clovis people were preceded by 3,000 years by a different group of Paleo-Indians.

It still amazes me that people did not arrive in the Americas until 16,000 years ago, I guess blocked by the Ice Age!

In his October 2 report, Dr. Brush also asked for volunteers during the week to help with the lab work at Ashland University, saying that, “In addition to our Saturday excavations….there is a significant amount of work to do back in the lab at Ashland University in order to clean, sort, catalogue, and store the materials we are recovering from the site. “

I missed the past three digs (Sept. 27, Oct. 4, and Oct. 11), but hope to make the Oct. 25 dig, and the remaining digs, and maybe work at least one day at the University lab.

Making Ice Age Weapons on a 3-D Printer!

In an interesting post on the Ohio History Connection blog, Brad Lepper  shows a replica of the fluted spear style that marks the Clovis people, made by a laser scan. 

 He says they can “create near perfect 3D digital models of the objects.  These digital models can be reproduced in plastic using a 3D printer allowing us to generate as many copies as we want from a digital ‘mold’ that will never wear out. These reproductions can be used as hands-on educational resources or sales items for the museum shop.”

Lepper also has a great “Diorama showing a mastodon being butchered by Clovis hunters”,  that gives probably a fairly realistic idea of how it was done.  It shows Paleo-Indians hanging the meat on a  rack, which I would  think could have been for smoking the meat as well as for cooking it. 

Did Ice Age Hunters Hunt More Rabbits Than Mastodons?

Lepper also has a link to a 2008 column he wrote for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch newspaper  in which he discusses a finding that of eight Clovis knives examined, half had the blood or rabbits.  The other four knives, Lepper reports,“ were stained with the blood of a variety of relatively large mammals, including both cervid (caribou, deer or elk) and bison blood on one [knife], bison blood on another, bear blood on a third, and white-tailed deer blood on the fourth.

As further proof that the Clovis hunters were not the macho big-game hunters usually depicted, Lepper cites a Cree Indian from northern Ontario telling an anthropologist that he lived on rabbit all one winter.

As an amateur who has only the experience of living with a group of Cree Indians in far northern Saskatchewan decades ago, I can say that they just about only hunted moose.  They supplemented their diet  by catching fish in large nets year-round and with beaver meat, from the animals they trapped for fur.  But I never saw them with a dead rabbit.

We, on the other as rank amateurs depended on snaring rabbits.  The trapper who was the main hunter for the group agreed we could stay in one of his cabins as long as we only trapped animals like squirrels and rabbits, which he did not trap for fur.  We lived off squirrels and rabbits and fish, beaver, and moose provided by this hunter/trapper.   He taught us to smoke our fish in a tee-pee style rack.

Giant Rabbits?

The story of living off rabbit reminds me of a man from a company trying to convince the Crees and other Canadians to allow a pulp mill near Saksatchewan’s La Ronge.  He told us that even if there were no moose because the woods was clear cut, the Crees could live on the rabbits, which would be much bigger because they’d have more shrubs to browse on!  Also, rabbit populations rise and fall in a cycle, which would make them a less dependable—not to mention smaller—source of food.

I’ll grant Lepper one point though, as shown by his diorama, women may have done most of the butchering work, not to mention cooking!

Handling Smithsonian Museum Pieces by Computer

Lepper’s description of the spearpoint replicas reminds me of the scans of a mastodon skeleton made by the University of Michigan’s  Museum of Paleontology, which I wrote about on September 24.  

And Lepper gives a link to the Smithsonian’s “X3D Beta” work with a whale skeleton, a wooly mammoth skeleton, and other museum specimens that are fun (as well as educational) to maneuver!

The difference is that the Smithsonian and Michigan Museums are putting their collection online for examination in 3-D from all angles, as though handling the artifacts, while the Ohio History Connection museum is giving people copies to handle or keep.

Sampling Mud Down to 13,000 Years Ago to Shed Light on Mastodon's Grave

The two volunteers in the foreground are standing in a trench that reveals some of the soil layers in the excavation site that could reveal how the site was formed over the past 13,000 years or so--and how it fits in with the nearby bog that was once a glacial lake when the dead mastodon roamed its shores.   (Photo by Don Comis)

Pieces of mastodon tusk (left) and other bones (right) collected from the surface of the ditch area on April 26.   More complete bones should show up soon as we hone in on our quarry, during a dig that is in its third week.  (Photo by Don Comis)

On September 10, Ashland University's Dr. Nigel Brush sent me and other volunteers a link to Dr. Greg Wiles' latest blog (September 7) “on the sediment cores that were taken from the bog near the Morrow County (Ohio) mastodon site last Saturday, September 6.”  

Wiles will collaborate with the soil core team, giving his Climate Change students at the College of Wooster (Ohio) the opportunity of working with the cores over the next several weeks—a wonderful way to spend the first semester back at school!

The team—Dr. Tom Lowell and  his graduate student Stephanie Allard, at the University of Cincinnati, and University of Illinois student Jacklyn Rodriguez-- found many species of snails and possibly clams in one three foot (one meter) core sample of  lime-rich mud (clay “marl”).   In answer to one of the questions I e-mailed him after the September 6 dig, which I participated in, Dr. Brush said that that “Clay marls are light gray to whitish in color and are composed of a mixture of clay and small shell fragments of various organisms, such as gastropods (snails) and pelecypods (clams) that lived in glacial lakes.”

They team took samples—in 3-foot sections--down to 21 feet (seven meters).  The last 3-foot core sample represents the late glacial period, about 13,000 years ago, about the time when mastodons roamed the shores of the glacial lake that is now the bog.

The blog includes some nice photos, including one showing the soil layers (stratigraphy) in a trench cut in the nearby mastodon excavation area to locate the path of the machine that uncovered an 8-inch long mastodon tooth and pieces of other teeth and the jaw bone as it laid drainage pipe.

The caption says that “we hope to be able to link the bog cores to this site.  It may take a backhoe pit from the excavation to the bog to really understand how the stratigraphy here {in the nearby bog] links with the former lake.”

Another caption reads, “We look forward to the analyses of the cores…”

My Post-September 6 Dig Questions Answered

In answer to other questions in my e-mail, Dr. Brush said that the large bone, about 3- by 6-inches, might be part of the mastodon’s jaw bone, based on the bone’s angle, “but we haven’t been able to verify that yet.”

He also said that the charcoal found where we were digging could have “come from an earlier land clearance by one of the farmers who previously owned this property (i.e. cutting down trees near the bog and burning them).  There is always the possibility that the charcoal might also be from Native American campsites.  However, since we are still digging in disturbed soil from the recent ditch digging activities, as well as plowing, it’s impossible to say at this point.”

Big Bones Soon

The action continues this upcoming weekend.  On Saturday, a small team will dig down to the drainage pipe to find clues as to where we should concentrate our excavation work on Sunday.   The big bones should start showing up soon!

Mastodon Found in Ohio Soybean Field

 Illustration from "Ohio's Prehistoric Peoples" depicting Paleo-Indians attacking a mastadon.  Makes me wonder why they didn't use atlatls or throwing sticks to kill from afar.  See my earlier  blog on atlatls.

At my local archaeology club annual potluck and auction on August 21, I picked up a flyer looking for volunteers for excavating a buried mastodon near the Richland/Morrow County line in Ohio, starting Saturday, August 23. 

The flyer explained that a backhoe digging a drainage ditch last year uncovered a mastodon tooth, bits of bone, and tusk fragments.  It may also have hit the mastodon’s skull.  The ditch drains water from a soybean field to a pond.    The man who farms that field discovered the tooth and bone fragments after the ditch was dug.

If the rest of the mastodon is found, the archaeologists will be digging every Saturday through at least September.

The group doing the dig last uncovered a mastodon 21 years ago.

In a book I bought at the auction, “Ohio’s Prehistoric Peoples”, the author, Martha Potter, says that mastodons, mammoths, giant elks, giant beavers, musk oxen, horses, and tapirs moved into what is now Ohio after the Wisconsin glacier began retreating, about 12,000 B.C.  “Practically all of these animals, however, had become extinct by about 3,000 B.C.,” she wrote in the book published by The Ohio Historical Society in 1968.

Potter, who was at the auction and signed my copy of the book, also mentions a mastodon skeleton found in Madison County and the remains of a giant beaver found in Franklin County, near Columbus, Ohio.  She says that, “Radiocarbon dates indicated that the giant beaver was here almost 10,000 years ago and the mastodon about 8,000 years ago.  Although none of these Ohio Pleistocene mammals have been found together with human skeletons or with man-made tools, it is highly possible that man was actually living here 11,000 years ago.  Ohio’s first human inhabitants, the Palaeo-Indians [also spelled "Paleo-Indians"], followed the movements of the animals and the retreating ice.”

The flyer says that one possibility is that the Paleo-Indians may have driven the mastodon into a nearby bog “to trap, kill, and butcher it, so we will also be looking for flint tools or evidence of cut-marks on the bones.”

More information on this find can be found on this website page of the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Blog. 

I hope to get on the waiting list for volunteers on this dig, so stay tuned!

An Ohio Prairie Primer Walk for Bird Lovers

Guy Denny showing his prairie to local Audubon birdwatchers on an August 9 tour.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Guy Denny seems to stand as tall as the big bluestem grass in the prairie he created on his farm in Fredericktown.

With his straw cowboy hat, belt buckle and jeans and standing in his prairie, you could easily think he’s out West in the Great Plains rather than in Ohio.  Only the 10-power lens handing around his neck tells you he’s also a man with a scientific bent.

But Denny tells the group on tour from the East Central Ohio Audubon Society that there were cattle drives in Ohio, as well as bison, elk and prairie chickens in central and northwest Ohio in the days when Ohio had one to two thousand square miles of prairie.  He cited examples of those former prairies including the Sandusky Plains 20 miles east of Fredericktown, as well as the Darby Plains and Piqua Plains.

He said all the prairies in the United States form in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains, on the east side where there is much less rainfall.  The glaciers were also critical in their formation, creating several thousand years of sustained drought that killed off trees and helped grass spread in its wake  throughout the Midwest and Eastern United States.

These prairies, he said, were lost when drainage ditches drained the lands to grow corn and soybeans.
When Guy Denny moved to his 50-acre farm in Fredericktown 18 years ago, he decided to try planting a small strip of prairie plants along his driveway.   That strip has since grown to at least 20 acres of his property, the rest being woods.    He has coyotes, deer, wild turkeys, fox squirrels, screech owls, and mink on his land.

Denny retired in 1999 from a 33-year career with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR), serving as chief of the Division of Natural Areas and Preservesmanaging nature preserves on state lands, and became an outdoors writer and advocate for protecting Ohio natural areas and preserves.

During the August 9  tour, Denny said that nature preserves are not city parks and have to be managed differently.  He compared them to the historical documents room of a public library, where the materials have to be more protected than the regular books on loan.

He explained to the bird watchers how he used Roundup to clear existing vegetation which included a lot of goldenrod and Canadian thistle.  He also rototilled, but thinks that was a mistake because it stirs up the underground seedbank, allowing weeds to compete with his prairie plantings.  He says that he know someone at Ohio University who killed existing vegetation without herbicides, by covering the land for a  growing season with plywood or sheets of tin.

This is similar to advice in “Birdscaping in the Midwest”, a book about creating habitats for birds and other wildlife.  The author of that book suggests covering land with layers of newspaper.  I’ve found I couldn’t come up with enough newspaper to do that, so I did a lot of rototilling and then finally covered the land with a permeable landscape fabric.  That’s expensive but I think it can be re-used and it’s easier and no more expensive than rototilling, I think.

You could tell from the questions that at least some in this group are thinking about creating  a prairie section on their land.  Denny said that covering the land with scrap material is better suited to smaller plots, like a quarter acre, while herbicide may be required for larger areas.

Denny also manages his prairie by a controlled burn every year, to prevent trees and shrubs from overtaking the prairie plants.  He has 25 years of experience doing those controlled burns for Ohio’s DNR.  He helps the Brown Family Environmental Center staff with their burns and they in turn help him on his.
Fortunately, I don’t think those burns are needed on smaller plots!

He said that while it’s less expensive to plant seeds, the results take longer.  Most of the growth from the seeds is underground for the first two years.  In fact, Denny said that even for mature prairies, two-thirds of the growth is underground in deep roots, so looking at a prairie is like looking at the tip of an iceberg.

But is that tip ever beautiful with the bright red of royal catchfly flowers, the white flowers of culver’s –root and rattlesnake master flowers, the purple flowers of joe pye weed and prairie coneflower, and the yellow flowers  of other prairie coneflowers,  brown-eyed susans , partridge-pea, and ashy sunflowers.  All of these and so much more set off with plants that grow very tall, including grasses like big bluestem that provide a nice background for the colorful flowers.

He warned that switchgrass, a grass I planted in Maryland and will probably plant at Apple Valley, can spread.   He advises anyone starting a prairie from seed to choose partridge pea seeds first because they will make a showing the first growing season.

He also invited the group to return on September 27 at 10 a.m. for a prairie seed collecting field trip. He said that Gail Martin of “Natives in Harmony” in Marengo (www.nativesinharmony.com) would be there.   I’m coming back then, hoping to get some partridge pea seeds and seeds of other plants for my own little prairie.

But I'm not sure I can wait until September 27 to start my garden. I'll probably order a pre-planned package of 96 plants for a “Monarch Habitat Garden” in a 9- by 18-foot area of my yard from www.prairienursery.com.    This company ships plants on September 15 since September is the time to plant the seeds or plants.   It also sells partridge-pea seeds and says this annual is often interseeded with prairie plant seed mixes.   I may order these seeds soon as well, and try planting them around the 96 perennial plants.

Denny believes he is the steward of the land he lives on, not its owner.  To back this up, he plans to sign a conservation easement with the Owl  Creek Conservancy to protect it from development forever.

For a little more information on Denny’s prairie and controlled burning, check out my July 27 blog on my earlier tour of his prairie, which was part of the 13th annual “Explore the Nature of Knox County” series.  The next event in that series is “Fossils of Knox County”, indoors at the Brown Center on Saturday, September 6, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.  For more information, go to the Owl Creek Conservancy’s website.

Also, check out my website.

Denny says partridge-pea is a good first prairie planting with seeds because it produces showy flowers right away, unlike many paririe plants that don't emerge above-ground even until after 2 years.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Tiger swallowtail butterfly on prairie coneflower on Guy Denny's prairie in Fredericktown.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Mission Oaks Gardens: Green Space for All

Mighty Gardens from Little Yards Grow



After visiting the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 1990, Susan Hendley made the “mistake” of telling her husband Bert that they should have a garden of their own at the home in Zanesville they had recently bought and renovated.



As Susan says, “This is his idea of a garden,” referring to present day Mission Oaks Gardens--more than 5 acres filled with hundreds of trees—including 200 kinds of conifers and 25 kinds of magnolia—1,200 varieties of perennials, two ponds, a spectacular rocky waterfall, a bog garden, and numerous azaleas and rhododendrons, just to mention some of the attractions.



The Hendleys formed the non-profit Mission Oaks Gardens Foundation to operate the Gardens as a community education garden getting more children and their parents outdoors. In 2010, they donated the Gardens to the Muskingum Valley Park District, with the Foundation doing the day-to-day operations. The gardens are now protected forever as green space and open to the public from dawn to dusk seven days a week.



They named the Gardens for the Mission Revival style of their 1920s era home and the mature white oaks in a ravine behind their house.



The name also reminds that the gardens have a mission. As Bert says, it is to preserve green space and introduce the public to plants they may not be familiar with, those not typically available at garden centers and those not thought to grow well in central Ohio. Susan adds that the mission is also to show the importance of parks to families, giving children a chance for outdoor recreation.



One of the secrets to Bert’s success it that he joins garden societies dedicated to each plant he wants to learn more about, including ivy, hosta, conifer, rhododendron, azalea, and holly.



There are three sections to the Gardens: a 1 ½ acre conifer garden with 300 trees—many not native to North America—and a large pond and a spectacular rock waterfall; a 1/4 -acre perennial garden with the classic color chart arrangement, from red to blue; and a 2-acre woodland garden.



The Gardens have so many plants and varieties, I can hardly do them justice as a beginning gardener—starting with the rhododendrons and azaleas near the entrance and on to serviceberry, magnolia, holly, maple, persimmon, dogwood, buckeye, and evergreen trees, to hellebores and primrose. They include unusual weeping versions of familiar trees, like redbud and cypress. Bert plans to add more native plants in the future.



Along with almost every plant you get a story relating to things like the variety’s origins and even Bert’s recipe for an organic fertilizer for rhododendron along with the advice to plant container-grown rhododendron a bit above ground and then cover with pine bark mulch.

 

But his main advice, offered repeatedly and pointedly on a tour I took on May 25, was that you’ll never know what will work in your garden unless you try it. He’s found success with many plants that were said not to be hardy enough to survive in Ohio.



The Gardens grew over time as properties came up for sale. He bought one such property, which included a dump. To clear it, Bert had to cart away over 50 dump loads of everything from refrigerators to invasive plants. But he found that the clay shards from a former manufacturer of decorative tiles provided the perfect drainage for part of the conifer garden, which includes conifers from a wide range of areas, including China, Japan, and Korea. He found that many of these conifers don't mind Ohio's cold winters, as long as they can keep their "feet" dry.



The sight of what he did with that property caused an adjacent neighbor to offer the use of some of her land for the gardens. Then an estate sale gave the Park District the chance to buy another property. And, a neighbor leaving town sold his property to the Park District. That land had auto parts buried by a mechanic in the 1930s, near a large sewer ditch. The Mayor of Zanesville at the time made a deal with Bert--if he paid for the pipes the town would install them since it would help keep Zanesville's waterways clean. It took Bert six months to clean the area of car parts and invasive plants, with care taken not to disturb the natural terrain.


Bert admires what Karen Buchwald of the Ariel Corporation does for Mt. Vernon, such as expanding Foundation Park and believes that this gives Mt. Vernon an edge over many other small towns without such great parks--an edge he hopes Zanesville also has with the Mission Oaks Gardens.



The tour of the Mission Oaks Gardens was the fifth event in the “13th Annual Explore the Nature of Knox County” series. I went to the sixth event, the Brown Family Environmental Center’s “Frogs and Tadpoles Family Adventure Day”, at Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio, on July 5. Anyone doubting the value of parks to families should take a look at some of the photos I took that day.



The Brown Center collaborates in the series, along with the Knox County Park District, Mission Oaks Gardens, and the Ramser Arboretum. The next event will be at 10 a.m. on July 26, at the Guy Denny wildflower prairie in Fredericktown.



Denny is an advisor to the Owl Creek Conservancy, which sponsors the series, and shares the Mission Oaks Gardens goal of preserving green space.



For more information on the Mission Oaks Gardens go to http://missionoaksgardens.org. For information on the “Explore the Nature of Knox County” series and the Owl Creek Conservancy, go to: www.owlcreekconservancy.org.

Also check out my website:  www.doncomis.simplesite.com.

Bert Hendley shows our tour group one of the many scenic spots at the Mission Oaks Gardens, a treasure he has donated to the public, forever.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Bert Hendley points out some trees to a group touring as part of the "13th Annual Explore the Nature of Knox County" series.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Bert Hendley points out the residential neighborhood the Mission Oaks Gardens sits in the midst of, something rare for showy gardens.  (Photo by Don Comis)

You can get an idea of Bert's friendly, thoughtful manner, as he leads of tour of Mission Oaks Gardens, in Zanesville, Ohio.  (Photo by Don Comis)
 

 

Bert Hendley talks to his dog (hidden in shade in far right), as well as to  plants.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Richard Stallard, Owl Creek Conservancy trustee and retired Kenyon College professor, (wearing black hat, far left) listens, along with others on tour, to Bert Hendley near the Hendleys home at the entrance to Mission Oaks Gardens.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Before the tour begins, Stallard talks with landowner who came to learn more about the rights and responsibilities involved in granting easements to conservancy organizations such as the Owl Creek Conservancy.  (Photo by Don Comis)
 

Predicting Butterflies: From Mid-Atlantic to Midwest

Red admiral butterfly seen collecting nectar from clover, on June 20, 2014.  The Red admiral, like many butterflies, arrives in Ohio in April.   Clover seems a favorite for butterflies.  Today, I saw three fritillaries on the same clover patch, with two cabbage white butterflies nearby, along with other pollinators.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Clouded sulphur butterfly also seen on June 20, 2014.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Reading messages from my "VA-MD-DE-Bugs" (Virginia-Maryland-Delaware) yahoo group (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/VA-MD-DE-Bugs/), I came across one of Rick Borchelt's weekend butterfly forecasts for the Mid-Atlantic region.   I had joined that group while at my home in Maryland, before returning to Ohio.

Many of its predictions should apply here, although I’d presume we’d be a week or so later than the Mid-Atlantic area because we’re colder.  He compiles the forecasts for each weekend at this site: http://leplog.wordpress.com/    You can also access his and a colleague’s log of butterfly sightings this year at this site.

So I thought I’d extract those predictions that may apply here.  First, his opening paragraph:

“We’ve been struggling to catch up to normal emergence dates for most of our butterflies this summer, and the recent rains and heat wave have helped tremendously.  Last weekend and this week saw an impressive number of FOYs [“First of the Year”s] and emergence of second broods of many of our stalwarts.”

He reports the Coral Hairstreak butterfly as flying in Maryland, so that means we should be on schedule in Knox County, Ohio, to see them as expected in July.    The hackberry emperor is flying now in the Mid-Atlantic area, so I assume it’s flying in Knox County now, or will be before the month is out.    Rick also mentions the tawny emperor flying and that has been an occasional visitor to Knox, since it is listed as being seen on the www.butterfliesandmoths.org database.  It is one of 67 butterflies reported to the site as having been  in Knox County, so it’s always possible to see it here again.  The dun skipper, a butterfly relative, is also an occasional visitor here, and it is flying now in the Mid-Atlantic, Rick reports.

Rick also says that swallowtail butterflies are into their second broods of the season now, so that should be true for our area  as well, again with that week or so margin.

Rick’s first paragraph seems to be saying that cooler temperatures and drier weather until recently may have slowed down the timetable of butterflies this year.

He also reminds us that if we see an azure butterfly now, it’s more likely to be the summer azure rather than the spring azure.

Finally, he can’t resist mentioning the yucca moth even though it's not a butterfly.  Rick’s e-mail inspired me to do some research, from which I learned that the females stuff some pollen from one yucca flower into their mouths, go to another flower, insert the egg into the flower’s pistil and then cover the egg with pollen from the other flower.  In the process, it, like many other moths, cross pollinates plants.  The yucca moth can also rest assured that the flowers will produce seeds for her young to eat!

I guess we better hurry, because the yucca moth stops flying in early July.

Another message on that same yahoo group mentioned a first-of-the-year sighting of common wood nymphs on June 22, so we should be seeing them in Knox soon as well.

Note:  One of my sources of information on the yucca moth is at http://bobklips.com/earlyjuly2008.html.  This site also has photos of the yucca moth,  a moth I don’t think I’ve seen yet.

 

For a slightly longer version of this blog, check out my website at:  www.doncomis.simplesite.com.

 

From Junk to Urban Treasure: Event #5

I drove about an hour and fifteen minutes along back roads to see the Mission Oaks Gardens in Zanesville, Ohio, where Bert Hendley created the gardens in a unique form of urban renewal.

Bert and Susan Hendley started by renovating a Mission Revival-style home at the top of the gardens.  From there, Bert went on to starting a woodland garden in a ravine behind the house, inspired by the white oaks already there.  You can see where the name of the Gardens came from.

Then Bert began asking neighbors if he could plant gardens in their yards.  He carted away 55 wheelbarrow loads of tires, refrigerators and other items dumped in a junkyard to make room for a 1 1/2 acre conifer garden.

He then started buying properties and converting them to gardens.

Today, the gardens, more than 5 acres, belong to the Muskingum Valley Park District, while operated by the non-profit Mission Oaks Foundation.

The stately gardens blend right into the neighborhood of homes where children play and adults work on cars in their garages.  It is a unique marriage of neighborhood and gardens.

The Revival Mission style home was built in 1925.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Bert Hendley (right) begins a tour of his dream-come-true:  Mission Oaks Gardens in Zanesville, Ohio.  Owl Creek Conservancy trustee Richard Stallard listens (far right).  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.)

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.

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.

Weather is Right, But No Salamanders Yet

Northern dusky salamander along Little Jelloway Creek in Howard, Ohio, on August 1, 2013.  (Photo by Don Comis)

It's 54 degrees Fahrenheit here in Howard, Ohio, at 3:35 a.m., with rain on and off, but no salamanders.  At least not up to 1:30 this morning.

I went out to the vernal pool at Kenyon College with a lantern flashlight with a red film screwed in and sat in a camp chair from midnight to 1:30 a.m.  Nothing and no eggs in the pool, so the mass migration of salamanders hadn't taken place yet.

It could still happen until the temperature drops to the predicted 32 degrees, but I doubt it. 

Maybe the salamanders know it could snow today.

The only animals I saw were a rabbit and deer.  I heard a few scary dog barks and a scary animal scream, plus smelled a musky animal fear smell, and saw a small creature run away.

Well, I'll consider this a practice run that's getting me familiar again with Nature at dark.

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!

Bumblebee Watch

I like citizen science programs so much that I just signed up for "Bumblee Watch" (http://www.bumblebeewatch.org) after reading about it in the April/May 2014 issue of "National Wildlife" magazine.

I like projects like this in which I can send in photos of bugs "in the wild", without capturing or harming them, and get them identified by experts.  It gives me the kind of positive feedback I need to go on with a task like that and not give up.  Plus I help researchers conserve species.

I've been doing that with Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) at (http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org) for about a year.  In that time, with no knowledge or interest in moths, I was able to bring the total number of moths identified on that site for Knox County, Ohio, from 13 to more than 30.  And I have only been in this county for just under 2 years!

When you send photos, you can say, "I think this is a moth." or "I think this is a butterfly." or "I don't even know if it's a moth or a butterfly."  And you can go farther, if you can, and suggest which moth or butterfly it is.  With the help of a simple guide such as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources booklet on common butterflies of Ohio, you can quickly learn to identify a good 20 or more common butterflies.   Moths are harder, but you can suggest id's when you photograph a moth that looks like one you sent in and got identified by an expert.


"Bumblebee Watch" is intended to help save bumblebees.  The "National Widlife" article refers to a new analysis finding that "almost a third of North American bumblee species are declining, and some are threatened with extinction".   The article states that "four once-common...species have vanished from large portions of their former ranges.  A fifth may already be extinct.  Scientists are seeing similar losses in Europe, South America and Asia".

This can be a real loss to pollination, already threatened by the decline in European honeybee colonies.  Pollination by native bees is an important backup to honeybees.  They are more efficient pollinators than honeybees as well.

For information on other citizen science projects, please go to the "Citizen Science" button on the menu of my website at http://www.doncomis.simplesite.com.

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.

Male mourning dove shows iridescent patch on neck that distinguishes him as a male to birdwatchers and doves of the opposite sex.  Photo taken January 25, 2014 at feeders on front deck of our home in Apple Valley in Howard, Ohio.  (Photo by Don Comis)

While watching a mourning dove chase a female dove around my feeders today, I was struck by a sudden flash of red, reminding me of the red wing badge of a sexually mature red-winged blackbird.  This confirmed my conviction it had to be a male doing the chasing and taught me that the iridescent spot on a male dove's neck may not be as subtle a signal as I thought.

The "spring" sun had hit the spot just right so it flashed at me from a distance, enabling me to know it was there without me being able to see it.  This makes me think that maybe the female sees it that way all the time?

In any case, this goes on my growing list of my favorite signs of spring.  And I'm finally convinced that the spring robins are here, after seeing 12 robins on a lawn in my neighborhood today.

I know woodcocks are doing mating dances and I've seen bluebirds go in out of their houses.  And I've had a pair of house sparrows building a nest for weeks now in one of my bluebird houses.  I've heard the calls of a pair of barred owls announcing they've picked a territory for their nest.  I know great horned owls were incubating eggs in February.

And a great number of butterflies are going to start flying in April and May in Ohio.  For me, the real spring is in mid-April, based on a memory of when I lived in Ohio in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  I just knew it was spring one day when it was warm and the flowers were blooming at the Mount Vernon Developmental Institute where my wife and I worked.