Gray Tree Frog - "Up, Up and Away!"

This jelly bean size Gray Tree Frog-let contemplates it's next jump while experiencing, for the first time, the rays of the morning sun.  24 hours earlier it had climbed out of the duckweed soup it was living in and became a full fledged lung breathing amphibian.

This is the fifth tree frog I have released and all truly know "what's up and what's down" making the release a true challenge.  Simply tilting the container up as if to pour the little critter onto a suitable leaf does not work. The frog just pivots, turns it's nose toward the sky and walks up the side of the container until it reaches the bottom. Turning the container open-side-up gets the frog to the lip of the container but as soon as I would tilt the container so the frog could step out onto the leaf again it was:

pivot, nose to sky, walk up the side to the bottom of the container.  I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me 5 frogs to figure out that the answer was to push the container, open end up, into the branches of the bush and let the tree frog figure out the rest. This all makes a great deal of sense when you consider that it IS a TREE FROG, spending its life above ground only coming down to earth to breed and lay eggs or overwinter in the leaf litter of the forest floor, then climbing back up into a tree or bush per their genetic programming. 

Salamanders and Tree Frogs

The relatively warm temperatures of the past two days have the amphibians of the park on the move.
It has also given me the opportunity to release two Gray Tree Frogs (Hyla versicolor) that were given to me as tadpoles by a naturalist friend.  The tadpoles are now emerging as air breathing true frogs with only residual tails visible.

#2 climbed out of the water onto this piece of branch and spent several hours enjoying a breath of fresh air adorned in a couple pieces of duckweed.

Even at this stage of development it is capable of changing color to blend in with its surroundings. It looks stunning in "Duckweed Green".  Just before release it had climbed the glass sides of the aquarium waiting for me to remove the screen cover. It was having some difficulty getting it's sticky little toe pads from releasing from the glass.

Also enjoying the warm rain but putting itself in great peril was this Blue Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale) found on the concrete floor of the Maintenance Shop.  Blue Spotted Salamanders are members of the "Mole Salamander" group preferring to borrow into the soft rich soil on the forest floor.

This salamander is only about 3 inches long from nose to tail. That is approximately the length of the tail of the park's Tiger Salamander which can be seen daily at the Fox Island Co. Park Nature Center.
Photos by J. Ormiston

Planeria

Water quality testing of Cedar Creek, in Allen County, is always an interesting and enjoyable activity. This past Saturday we found an abundant variety of aquatic invertebrates while testing the chemical and biological properties of the creek at Metea County Park. Among the various mayfly, dragonfly, caddisfly, and damselfly nymphs we found several little non-parasitic flat worms known as Planaria (Planaria dorotocephala).  Planaria are solid bodied flat worms that have the unique ability to regenerate a complete worm if cut into smaller pieces.  A planaria that is cut longitudinally down the center line will generate two complete individuals.  When cut transversely each segment will regenerate a new individual. Planaria are very near the bottom of the food chain and feed on very small organisms or dead animal matter.  They move by means of cilia (small hairs) and a slime layer on their bottom surface and are not easy to photograph as they slime across a petri dish.

The eye-spots (ocelli) are light sensing organs which help the planaria to move away from light.
Being somewhat intolerant of pollution planaria are good indicators of water quality and are normally found in oxygenated rapidly moving streams.
Photos by J. Ormiston

Common Buckeye Butterfly

Photo taken at Bowman Lake, Fox Island County Park

The Common Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia coenia) is a colorful butterfly in the "brush-foot" family of butterflies sometimes called 4-footed butterflies. Brush-foot butterflies, including Monarch Butterflies, curl their anterior legs tightly against their bodies so that they are all but invisible. These hairy, folded legs give the butterflies the "brush-foot" name. The "eye spots" on their wings are believed to function as deterrents to birds that may want to make a meal out of the Buckeye.  Buckeye butterflies are warm climate insects who move north from the southern states in the summer but are not considered migratory because they do not return south as winter approaches.
Photos by J. Ormiston

Indiana Stick-Bug - No Male Today

Masters of camouflage and mimicry is the Indiana Walking Stick insect sometimes called a Stick-Bug. A member of the order Plasmatodea various forms of these insects are found world-wide generally in warmer climates.  Walking sticks live most of their lives high in the leaves of deciduous trees eating leaves coming down to the ground only to lay eggs in the leaf litter on the forest floor. Stick-bugs also are PARTHENOGENETIC. Female parthenogenetic insects have the ability to reproduce without a male being involved in the process.  All offspring generated without a male will be female.

Walking sticks that have not reached the end of their molting phase have the ability to regenerate limbs that have been lost for one reason or another during a molt. Indiana stick-bugs are flightless and will not bite a handler making them desirable as pets.  This Walking Stick was found outside the Fox Island Nature Center crossing a path at mid-day and was a willing subject when placed on the leaf.

Photos by J. Ormiston

Bola Spider and Imperial Moth

It's always a challenge to see all nature has to offer when we're out hiking in the great outdoors but occasionally we run across things that we've never seen before and we are compelled to further research in order to satisfy our curiosity.  Renee Bentz, Allen County Parks employee, was at Metea County Park recently checking milkweed plants for caterpillars when she noticed a bird dropping on the underside of a leaf.  On closer inspection she realized it was actually a spider clinging to the leaf. Renee took a photograph, and headed for her insect and spiders field guide.

 What Renee saw was a Bola Spider (Mastophora bisaccata).  This spider does not spin a web in order to catch it's lunch but instead produces a single high strength thread adorned with sticky beads of scented liquid which attracts its prey.  The spider is capable of producing pheromones which are species specific in order to attract a wide range  of insects. As an insect approaches it the spider spins the thread, like a bola, using it's legs.  When the prey hits the thread it is trapped in the sticky liquid and promptly wrapped in a cocoon to keep it fresh for later consumption.
Photo by Renee Bentz

Another oddity seen recently at Fox Island County Park is this Imperial Moth caterpillar (Eacles imperialis).  This caterpillar was crawling slowly across the mulch when I saw it. This caterpillar's host plants are sassafras, elm, hackberry and several other trees.

The caterpillar will hatch and eat tree leaves until it is ready to pupate then crawl to the ground, find some soft soil, dig itself into the ground and stay there for the winter.  This caterpillar was 3 3/4" long and about the size of my index finger. The white dots along the side of the caterpillar are the spiracles or respiration openings.  The wingspan of an adult Imperial Moth can be nearly 6".  This caterpillar was returned to the ground after the pictures were taken.
Photo by J. Ormiston

Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar

This is a great time of of the year to see fuzzy caterpillars scurrying around on a mission that will sustain them through the winter.  The Banded Tussock Moth (Halysidota tessellaris) is a fuzzy caterpillar with "hair pencils" that stick out and is very tempting for young hands to pick up and examine. Unfortunately these caterpillars when handled can produce a skin rash due to alkaloids present on their hairs.  It's always wise to educate young naturalists on precautions to take when handling unfamiliar insects.

Photos by J. Ormiston