Nature: Humans malign, persecute, crowd out snakes

A juvenile northern copperhead/Jim McCormac

Columbus Dispatch

September 30, 2018

NATURE
Jim McCormac

Venomous snakes strike way over their weight in regard to reputation. They can pack a punch, but the odds of encountering one in Ohio is very low.

Three venomous serpent species occur here. The massasauga rattlesnake and timber rattlesnake are listed as endangered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The former is an imperiled denizen of wet prairies and has declined tremendously. Timber rattlesnakes are rare inhabitants of remote tracts of southern Ohio forest. They formerly ranged much more widely, including the Lake Erie islands.

People and venomous snakes do not coexist well. If human encroachment into their turf becomes too dense, the snakes always lose. If habitat destruction doesn’t vanquish them, persecution will.

I recently got a lesson in snake/people conflict, and it wasn’t the first time. While returning from a nocturnal forest foray in southern Ohio on Sept. 15, I encountered a northern copperhead, our third venomous snake species.

A copperhead could win a reptilian beauty pageant. The coloration and patterning is exquisite. After shooting imagery of the handsome young snake, I transported it to the safety of a distant woods

The snake was in the vicinity of a lodge where I was staying. A few employees were in the lobby when I entered, and curious as to their reaction, I mentioned the copperhead. Sure enough, one instantly blurted out, “Just killed two of them last week!”

Years ago, I was road-cruising in the same region late on a steamy summer night. Encountering a large copperhead on the road, I stopped for photos and to move it off the pavement. Suddenly a man materialized from the gloom. It turned out I had stopped near his shack, and once he saw the snake, he began an anti-snake rant. As Shakespeare’s Falstaff said, caution is preferable to rash bravery. I said my goodbyes, and that snake probably didn’t fare as well as the protagonist of this column.

Copperheads have the widest distribution of Ohio’s venomous snakes, but the range encompasses only a dozen or so southeastern counties. It once occurred throughout southern and eastern Ohio, but it has been eliminated from most areas. Although the bite would be painful, deaths are nearly unheard of

My sinuous friend was docile, as copperheads usually are, and posed beautifully. It was a juvenile, with a greenish-yellow tail tip. The latter feature is retained for the snake’s first three years or so. Apparently the young snakes use the bright tail tip as a lure. By holding it out, wormlike, they attract insects and then snap them up. Adults are efficient mousers, with rodents a dietary staple.

The possible reasons why people fear snakes are interesting. Some of it is undoubtedly innate. Scores of generations of our ancestors learned the hard way that bites can be dangerous. Caution is now hardwired into our DNA.

Snakes have long been the recipients of bad press — consider the snake as the evil tempter in the Garden of Eden

Unflattering portrayals, along with adults reacting badly to snakes in front of kids, have discolored their reputation.

Snakes have been here far longer than we, and they deserve space and freedom from persecution. The only way to pragmatically conserve them is to protect large swaths of habitat free from excessive human inhabitation.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.

A Buddy for Life

Cheerio’s journey brought him to Animal Friends after he was transferred to Animal Friends from another organization. Originally found as a stray, he had contracted a serious disease that left him blind. To alleviate his pain, our Medical team made the decision to remove his eyes. Once he recovered, Cheerio quickly became a favorite among staff and volunteers, cuddling and giving lots of kisses to everyone he met. But, as Cheerio waited to find his new home, it was clear that he would need a family as special and loving as he was.

That’s when Rose and John came to visit. After spending some time getting to know the dogs on our website, Rose remembers thinking that she wanted to get another dog, but thought she would wait a few years. But then she saw Cheerio. “I thought he looked adorable but was uncertain about adopting a blind dog. Then my daughter saw the video about Cheerio on Facebook and called me saying, ‘You've got to go get this little fellow!’ I had my doubts, but after watching the very moving video and hearing Cheerio's story, I knew I had to go take a look.” As soon as Rose and her husband John met Cheerio, it was love at first sight – and the feeling was mutual!

After a successful meet-and-greet, Cheerio – who has since been appropriately renamed Buddy – began life with his new family. “Buddy's transition went better than expected,” says Rose. “We marked different rooms with different scents so he would know where he was in the house. We don't need to do that anymore as he knows his way around fairly well.” Buddy loves his daily routine of napping, playing, and (of course!) cuddling with his family. “From my 93-year-old mother to my 5-year-old grandson, everyone loves Buddy. He is our own little rock star,” says Rose.

Buddy’s transition to his new family is a great reminder that disabled dogs make wonderful pets. While there are some changes a family has to make when adopting an animal with special needs, Rose agrees, “The love and devotion you get in return from your new pet is beyond wonderful!”

Great Crested Flycatcher

An Outstanding Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher

 The Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) is our most outstanding flycatcher.  It is large, colourful and noisy.  It is noticed even by non-birders.  Many times I have been asked by people who don't normally notice birds, 'What is that bird?'

The Great Crested Flycatcher is about 20 cm (8 in) long and is noticeably colourful.  It is gray and brown on the head and throat, bright yellow on the belly which comes up onto the breast, and has dark wing feathers with contrasting white edges, and a rufous tail with lighter edges.  The bird spends its time in the canopy of mature deciduous trees where it often sits up high on an exposed perch.  From there it flies out into the air or onto the ground to catch insects, its main diet.  It is very vocal, making an ascending whee-eep or a purr-it.  It is our largest and most spectacular flycatcher.

Great Crested Flycatcher

The Great Crested Flycatcher is our only flycatcher which nests in tree cavities or occasionally in nest boxes.  There it builds a nest from grass, bark strips, rootlets, fur, feathers, plastic debris and often snake skins.  Four to 8 white buff eggs with brown, olive, or lavender spots are laid.  It is not known why they often adorn their nests with snake skins, possibly to scare away predators.

I am always happy to see this species return in the spring.  They breed here in our hardwood trees. Their breeding range includes south-central and southeastern Canada southward through the eastern US.  They are permanent residents of southern Florida.  They winter in Mexico, the West Indies, Colombia and Venezuela.  Being late September here, they have left now for their winter homes.  We will miss them.

Great Crested Flycatcher  

Nature: Seldom-seen caterpillars vital link in food chain

A mammoth hickory horned devil caterpillar/Jim McCormac

Columbus Dispatch

September 16, 2018

NATURE

Jim McCormac

Caterpillars represent the vast underworld of the food chain. Out of sight and out of mind, they make the natural world go ’round.

Trick question: What’s the biggest group of herbivores (by biomass) in Ohio? No, not white-tailed deer. Caterpillars. All our state’s deer would make a big heap. Pile up all of the caterpillars, and that stack would dwarf the deer.

So why don’t you see many, if any, caterpillars? After all, these larvae of butterflies and moths are fantastically diverse, with a collective 2,000-plus species in Ohio.

Short answer: They’re very good at hiding. But caterpillars are prolific and everywhere, especially in wooded areas.

I’ve been stalking caterpillars with a camera for years, and have made thousands of images of them. The vast majority were taken at night. Like a hidden army, caterpillars emerge from hiding spots under cover of darkness, the better to avoid predatory birds, insects and other diurnal predators

Caterpillars have evolved a large, diverse bag of tricks to avoid predators, but literally tons are still found and eaten. Experts think the mortality rate hovers at about 99 percent. Thus, most moths and butterflies engage in carpet-bombing reproduction. One female might lay hundreds or thousands of eggs. Such prolificacy is necessary to get a few through the predatory gauntlet and to the adult-reproductive stage.

The fallen caterpillars did not perish in vain. Birds galore, other insects, and even mammals made meals of them. Caterpillars underpin food webs, and without them we would lose many of our higher animals. The plants that are eaten by caterpillars — which is all of our native species — would go haywire.

Some of these crawling tube steaks are especially impressive, and I recently encountered a Holy Grail. While on a southern Ohio excursion, an exceptionally keen-eyed friend, Molly Kenney, spotted a hickory horned devil 12 feet up in a black-walnut sapling

Our group gathered to marvel at the hotdog-sized behemoth. We eventually extracted the horned devil from its tree for photos. Fierce as it looks, horned devils are harmless. The orange-and-black spines do no damage, nor does it bite.

However, the shock-and-awe factor probably sends most songbirds fleeing.

Eventually, hickory horned devils come to the ground of their own volition and roam about searching for soft earth. This is when people most often encounter them. Once a suitable site is found, the devil will burrow in and form a subterranean pupation chamber in which it spends the winter

Come spring or summer, the adult moth, which is known as a royal walnut moth, will push from the ground. The adult moth is bat-sized, orange-brown and as spectacular as its larva. Unlike its gluttonous caterpillar phase, the moth does not feed, lives but a week or so, and exists only to find a mate and reproduce.

Hickory horned devils are an important part of the ecology of hickory, sweetgum, walnut and a handful of other trees. Most other caterpillars are tightly wedded to a small suite of plants that are indigenous to their area; they will eat nothing else.

Caterpillar production is a huge part of why conservation of native plants is vital — they serve to fuel much of the rest of the food chain. Nearly all caterpillar species shun non-native flora. By planting native species in your yard, you can help generate little sausages for birds and other critters.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.

Head on with the fantastically bizarre hickory horned devil/Jim McCormac

High Above the Lake

The day was almost perfect

It was warm and great for walking

but a slight haze made the lake look a little misty.

We took the little train up to a place called Chexbres, 

high above the lake.

The flowers were all gorgeous, especially the geraniums.

This is a decorated old fountain on the way down to the vineyards.

This is just one of the decorations right next to the Chexbres train station.

These wonderful dark berries were ripening against an old wall.

A rusty gate and some steep steps led up to some vineyards

So prettily decorated with wild growing flowers

but not to be used by tourists or visitors.

The grape vines are protected at this time of the year.

We stayed to the public paths between the vines.

You can see how steep these slopes are.

Ideal for ripening the grapes and exposed to the sun and the reverberation

from the lake.

Here's a wider view of the vineyards with the slightly hazy lake and mountains beyond.

The grapes are protected both from passing walkers and the birds

by nets. I put my camera lens through the mesh of the nets to take this photo.

Here's the church steeple from the village called St. Saphorin

where we had lunch.

The church door as we made our way down some steep steps.

The ornate and lovely sign of the well known restaurant

called l'Auberge de l'Onde.

We sat next to an open window in the restaurant facing the church.

This refreshing drink is called 'Blanc cassis.

It's a mixture of cooled white wine with a dash of Blackcurrant liqueur!

A pretty dark pink rose on each table.

You can see the reflection of the church wall and blue sky

in the shiny dark vase.

The delicious looking ripe white grapes

just about ready for harvesting!

The Lavaux Vineyard Terraces are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The last time I walked in these vineyards was in May 2016.

You can see what they looked like

HERE

Ross's Goose

Ross's Goose Visits New Brunswick

Ross's Goose

For the last two weeks a Ross's Goose has been spending time with a flock of Canada Geese at Central Hampstead, down river from Fredericton.   It was first reported on September 17 and, according to local residents, had been there for about 2 weeks.  The flock feeds in a large field above the road and moves between there and the field and river below the road.

The Ross's Goose is listed as 'accidental' to New Brunswick.  That means it is very rarely here.  But the population is reportedly increasing in the last 50 years.  One was reported from Harvey Bank in 1995; another was with a flock of Canada Geese and Snow Geese at Ste-Marie-de-Kent on the 20 October 2013.  It is certainly not a species one would see very often here.

The Ross's Goose breeds on tundra in the central high Arctic islands and the north shores of Nunavut and North West Territories.  It normally uses the central flyway to migrate south to the south central US (Texas, Mississippi) and Mexico.  It often associates with Snow Geese.

Ross's Goose [Internet Photo]

 The Ross's Goose is smaller than the Snow Goose, the only species with which it could be mistaken.  The Ross's Goose is 58 cm (23 in)  long compared to the Snow Goose 66-84 cm (26-33 in).  The Ross's Goose has a smaller rounder head, shorter neck and smaller bill than the Snow Goose.  It lacks the 'smile line' which the Snow Goose has, an important identifying feature.  This dark line along the bottom mandible of the Snow Goose is lacking in the Ross's Goose.  The bill of the Ross's Goose is small, pink and triangular.  Its legs are pink.

Both the Ross's Goose and the Snow Goose species have blue morph individuals although they are rarer in the Ross's Goose.  The Ross's Goose blue morph shows less white on the head and neck than the Snow Goose blue morph.  See the photo above for both forms of the Ross's Goose.  Note that the blue morph has white only on the face and the nape and rest of the neck are dark.  The Snow Goose blue morph has a completely white head and most of the neck.

The Ross's Goose was first reported anecdotally by the explorer, Samuel Hearne, in 1770.  The species was not scientifically described until 1881.  Its nesting grounds were not discovered until 1940.  Sometimes a group of this species is called a 'blizzard' of geese.  That is understandable if one saw a large number of them flying over a cold, late fall landscape.

They feed on grass, sedges, small grains and they especially like wheat and barley.  Modern agriculture has undoubtedly contributed to the population increase.

Shawnee Photo Workshop!

A gorgeous pastel sunrise colors the foggy waters of Turkey Lake in Shawnee State Park, Scioto County, Ohio. Debbie DiCarlo and I conducted our 6th Focus on Photography workshop on the weekend of September 1 & 2, based at the beautiful lodge within this park, which is imbedded within the 65,000 acre Shawnee State Forest, with easy access to various photographic hotspots in nearby Adams County. For more on our workshops, and next year's schedule, GO HERE.

We had a great group of eight people: Dan, Molly, Suzee, Dan (another one!), Charlie, Patty, Michele, and Eric. Lots of interesting subjects presented themselves, and we got lots of practice in shooting a wide range of plants, animals, sunrise, sunset, and even conducted nocturnal work.

Day Glo orange fungi, the fan-shaped jelly fungus, Dacryopinax spathularia, adorns an old red cedar log. Just one of myriad wee things we found. Macro photography was a major part of this photographic foray.

A big timber rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus, poses for Debbie's camera. We were fortunate to catch the dynamic park naturalist, Jenny Richards, at her center and she had this and several other snakes on hand. They are educational animals, and have been used to enthrall thousands of visitors over the years. More importantly, Jenny uses them to teach about the importance of snakes in the environment, and hopefully win them new fans.

A portraiture shot of the other, darker, timber rattlesnake. Everyone got ample opportunity to admire the beasts and learn how to make a snake look good in pixels.

Shawnee and vicinity teems with flora - perhaps 1,000 native species! - and we saw many of them. This one is blue waxweed, Cuphea viscosissima. It's an elfin plant, but beautiful upon close inspection. The stems, leaves, and flower calyxes are beset with sticky hairs, probably to dissuade insects from reaching the flowers from the ground. Winged pollinators only, please!

A gorgeous red-spotted purple, Limenitis arthemis, poses nicely. This was just after a rain shower, which worked to our advantage. This butterfly and others were holed up and drying off, allowing for lengthy photo sessions.

Saturday evening, while the rest of us were stalking caterpillars and other nocturnal quarry, Debbie pulled out her astrophotography lens and gave a lesson on shooting stars. She made this gorgeous image of the Milky Way right before our eyes. There are not many places where stars can be seen with this clarity in Ohio. Both her and I love to shoot astrophotography and whenever night skies cooperate on one of our workshops, we're more than willing to take everyone out to try their hand at it.

Before and after Debbie's star-shooting lesson, this is what we were stalking - caterpillars. Most caterpillars are nocturnal, emerging under cover of darkness to avoid diurnal bird and insect predators. This one is a black-spotted prominent, Dasylophia anguina, one of the showiest of our myriad species. Caterpillars make for absolutely wonderful photo subjects, and not too many people shoot them, especially the harder to find species such as this. We found scores of species, and everyone went home with lots of interesting caterpillar material.

Looking surreal indeed is this tiny badwing moth, Dyspteris abortivaria. Another perk of nocturnal activities was "mothing". Molly and Dan Kenney, keen mothers/caterpillar'ers as well as photographers, brought mothing lights and other gear and we set up a mothing operation that yielded many interesting subjects.

In all, it was a fantastic weekend with dozens of subjects covering enormous diversity. I think everyone upped their game photographically, as well as their knowledge of natural history. One of our goals with these workshops is to impart a deeper understanding of the natural world. Not only does this help one better find interesting subjects, but also better see how they fit into the bigger picture. In a way, we're teaching "conservation photography", as we want to help people obtain images of Nature that they too can use to pique interest in the natural world.

On that last note, we were thrilled when a gentleman (who wishes to remain anonymous) funded a scholarship for a young person to attend this workshop. Thus, we could offer a full ride to Dan Hodges, who is three years into his career as a naturalist with a western Ohio park district. He is full of intellectual curiosity, already has a commanding grasp of natural sciences (more commanding now!), and is quickly upping his photographic game. We are very grateful for the donation that made this possible, as it totally supports exactly what we are trying to accomplish.

If you like nature in all its facets, and photography, I'm sure you would enjoy one of our workshops and we would love to have you attend one. CLICK HERE for details.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Birds Feeding on Wild Rice 

Birds Feeding on Wild Rice [LMills Photo]

Recently a friend was collecting wild rice near the Salmon River.  Wild rice is ripe now and ready for picking.  We have two species of wild rice in New Brunswick, Zizania aquatica and Zizania palustris.  The former occurs in the St. John, Miramichi and St. Croix watersheds.  The latter occurs in the St. John and St. Croix watersheds.  It was reported that 10 to 15 warblers of apparently one species were feeding on the heads of the wild rice plants.  Seen above is one of the photos showing a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) on the wild rice.  

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is a very common New Brunswick warbler.  They are hardy and remain here throughout the summer breeding season and sometimes well into late fall.  They feed mainly on insects but also on berries and seeds.  They can subsist on berries and seeds sometimes well into the winter.  The wild rice is heavily infected with insects so the warblers were probably feeding on them and their eggs and larvae.  They often feed around estuaries and seashores where insects are common.  Their favourite berry is the bay berry (Myrica pensylvanica).  We do have some growing along our shores so that would also attract them. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler Male in Breeding Plumage

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America.  It is hardy and adapts well to changing habitats and weather.  It has an unusual digestive system allowing it to  subsist on berries and fruits in winter which is unusual for a bird which usually feeds on insects.  It is able to digest 80% of wax-coated berries allowing it to winter farther north.  

Yellow-rumped Warbler Female

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is long-tailed and shows conspicuous yellow patches on its rump, top of head, throat and sides.  Its back is striped gray and its breast is white.  The throat can be white or yellow.  There are white wing bars and white spots on the outer tail feathers.  Fall and winter plumages are more subdued and browner.  

The Yellow-rumped Warbler inhabits most of North America.  It can be seen from Alaska across all of our provinces to Labrador and Newfoundland.  It winters in the southern US, Mexico and the Caribbean islands.  I have been in South Carolina some winters and it seemed that there were Yellow-rumps in every bush.  They were amazingly abundant!  

 

A Wedding in Zermatt, 2018

There was a special event in August this year:

My son's wedding in Zermatt.

Most of the guests went up to the mountains for three days.

I did the train journey with my daughter and grandson.

I'll start off by showing you the Zermatt flag which is very striking .

Then there is the Canton of Valais flag

and the well-known Swiss flag

We had booked into the same hotel.

It's just a stone's throw away from the church

where the wedding was to take place.

As you can see, it's very mountainous.

The town itself is at an altitude of 1.620 metres

(5.310 ft)

Twice a day, a herd of goats were lead through the main street

The children guiding the goats were dressed in embroidered

red tunics.

The surrounding mountains are stunning

But the most iconic of all is the Matterhorn

whose summit is 4,478 metres (14,692 ft)

On the first day, we settled into our hotel and enjoyed visiting the little town.

On the second day, a wonderful outing was organized for all the wedding guests.

We took a cogwheel train up higher into the mountains 

where a delicious meal was served on an outside terrace.

It was lovely to meet up with other members of the family

and meet friends and colleagues who had been invited.

We walked back down all the way down to the village.

It took about one and a half hours and I could really feel the muscles

on my legs for a few days afterwards!

The day of the wedding arrived and we left our hotel dressed in our wedding outfits!

My daughter took this photo of me as we were leaving!

My daughter and grandson, in disguise!

After the church service

We all went to the wedding reception where drinks and snacks were served outside.

We had a quick peek and the prepared tables in the living room,

This long one was for my son and his wife and all close members of the family.

There were also two round tables.

I had been busy many weeks previously crocheting red hearts

for each guest.

I was so happy to participate this way.

I had also seen the idea of folding the starched napkin into an envelope shape

with a place to hold the menu 

and with the heart,

I like that the envelope represents a love letter.

The flowers are not yet on the tables.

They were pretty red roses and white baby's breath and greenery.

Perfect!

One of the sparkling chandeliers in the dining-room.

Here are the happy couple leaving in the hotel's carriage drawn by

two white horses.

So romantic!

It was a fairy-tale wedding!

You can see the good-luck rice being thrown as the carriage leaves!

There were many emotional moments, especially at the church.

It was very much an unforgettable and wonderful time in the mountains!

Last December,

I also visited Zermatt.

You can see how different everything looks in the winter here:

A Weekend in Zermatt