Pileated Woodpecker

This handsome Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) returned to our backyard feeders this afternoon to enjoy a little suet before going on with his busy schedule. Whether it is PIE-leated or PILL-leated it makes little difference because it is this magnificent bird that draws our attention and not it's name.

The red cheek stripe indicated this is a crow sized, male, Pileated Woodpecker. The word "pileated" means crested.

Early last spring I spent a few minutes under a decaying tree that was being shredded by a pileated woodpecker as it searched for it's favorite food - carpenter ants. I was surprised by the quantity and large size of the wood chunks raining down on my head as I chased the woodpecker around the tree in order to get that perfect photo.  Pileated woodpeckers seem to have a preference for sassafras trees which will often show the rectangular feeding holes of the pileated as apposed to the round nesting holes.  Pileated woodpeckers are North America's largest woodpecker (assuming that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, Campephilus principilas, is now extinct).

Todd Nature Reserve, Butler County, PA

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

On November 25th, brother Tim and I again visited the Todd Nature Reserve at Buffalo Twp., Butler County, Pennsylvania. Five years ago, to the day, we hiked the trails vowing to return someday. The initial 75 acres of land for the reserve was donated by land owner C. W. Clyde Todd in 1942.   Mr. Todd was a noted ornithologist and Curator of Birds at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The reserve is now 334 acres and run by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.  The reserve is a wonderful combination of steep ravines, hemlock groves, fast moving streams, deciduous trees and evergreen ferns and mosses.  10,000 year old Native American artifacts have been found on the site that once was the location of an active limestone quarry.

Among the interesting plants is this wintergreen plant with it's pea size fruit.  Also known as" teaberry", the leaves can be steeped in hot water to make a delicious mint flavored tea.  Wrigley Teaberry chewing gum got it's inspiration from this plant. The plant is also an important food source for various furry and feathered residents of the area.

These evergreen polypody ferns are abundant in the reserve and has it's own trail.

Polypody ferns (Polypodium vulgare) are also known as "Rock Cap" ferns because they decorate the tops of the rock outcrops,

Club Moss is another evergreen plant seen throughout the reserve. This Fan Club Moss (Diaphasiastrum digitatum)is an ancient moss that during the Carboniferous Age helped to create the coal fields of Butler County. Also known as "ground cedar"

Another coal builder club moss is this Fir Club Moss (Huperezia selago).

The rocky beds of Walton's and Hesselgesser's Runs, that flow thru the reserve, create a welcome sound that breaks the silence of the shady forest.

  

And then there were none..............

On November 4th I released the last of the Gray Tree Frogs that I had raised from tadpoles. By my count it was number 8 from an original school of 10 tadpoles. Since I never found the remains of the other two I can only assume they are now eating insects inside the park's Nature Center.  I'll keep my eyes open for the escapees.

The tadpoles were raised on a pulverized combination of reptile pellets and shrimp flake fish food 50/50. They were kept in a 5 gallon aquarium filled with rain water with duck weed covering about 50% of the surface.  An air pump aerated the water and a aquarium light was used about 10 hours a day. The water was changed weekly to minimize the smell from the shrimp flakes. I added floating wood pieces so the frog-lets could climb out of the water when they became air breathers.
Tadpoles courtesy of Kevin Boner
Photo courtesy of J. Ormiston

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