Claremont Wilderness Park, California

The day was perfect and Cindy and I were on a bug safari in Claremont Wilderness Park when we spotted this Bee Fly.  I think it was a Conophorus fenestratus but perhaps it should have been called a “frustrateus” since it was so hard to identify. As you might recall Cindy is the creator of the blog BugSafari.

 

While looking for insects on dead logs I found a cup fungi. Don’t know what it is yet.  I wish I had more mushroom field guides with me, I only brought the small one.

 

On the log was one of my best finds of the day, a Liometopum occidentale (California velvety tree ant).  I had never seen an ant with marking like these but there were very hard to photograph.  They rushed about so much and eventually started biting me.  Cindy suggested we give them some water since we were in a dry area.  I wouldn’t have ever thought of that and it is something I will need to remember as I travel into more desert regions.  Well they just ignored that so she pulled out an energy bar and gave them something sweet.  I don’t think they ate any but they were curious and I was able to get this good photo of one checking it out. 

 

We stopped doing battle with the ants and continued on up the hill where I found a familiar fern, well it was not really familiar but it was a polypodium species and we have them in West Virginia.  This was a Polypodium califomicum (California Polypody).

 

One of the seepage area had a couple nice insects. First was Erynnis propertius (Propertius Duskywing).

 

And later a Ischnura denticollis (Black-fronted Forktail). Both were new to me.  At first we only caught a glimpse of the forktail but there are so territorial I knew it would come back later so we went on and sure enough it was there when we came back by.

On my big adventure I have been enthralled by lizards, even with the most common Western Fence Lizard. Isn’t it handsome and very cooperative?  There tendency is to freeze when spotted so they make good photo subjects, not even twitching. But then they dash off at lightning speed.

 

One of the most beautiful creatures we found was a Limenitis lorquini (Lorquin's Admiral).

 

Cindy has an uncanny ability to spot the tiniest insect on a leaf of grass and I was getting so frustrated and not finding much, even though I can spot insects equally as well.  Then I realized that I was not familiar with the leaves and grasses we were seeing so the odd insect on a leaf doesn’t pop out. She likened it to a proofreader who is so familiar with the shapes of words that when a word is misspelled it almost pops off the page.  So as we continued back to the car she casually says, “There is a red spider over there”.  Well….it WAS on her side, and like I said she has an eye for insect spotting. Was I jealous?  Sure wouldn't you be. She is a generous teacher and I really learned a lot from her on this outing.

Phidippus johnsoni (Red backed jumping sipder)

We sort of ended on a sad note when we found this baby rattler tossed to the side of the trail.  Besides being a walking trail it is also a bike trail and it looks like this one had the marks of a tire track across its’ body.  You can see it has one button, the start of a rattle.

 

It was belly up but so we turned it over for a better look.

 

We both touched it and it touched us as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nursery visit

Last weekend I renturned to the Spotted Salamander and Wood Frog Nursery to see how things were progressing.  Remember all those millions of frog and salamander eggs that I saw being laid? Well now they are millions of tiny tadpoles. I think they are Wood frog tadpoles.  There were about 5 large groups like this in different areas of the pond.

They should be toadlets about the middle of June to the middle of July. I try will go back to take more photos and see the little guys leaving for their own adventures. Of course it will the salamanders that I really want to see.

If you missed the orginal post of a "Night to Remember" showing them mating you can link to it HERE.

When they first hatch they feed on their remaining yolk and then on the egg capsules. I think this is a photo of empty egg capsules with a Red Spotted Newt lurking about.

Some of the eggs have not hatched yet so next week there should be even more. To tell the truth I am not really sure if these are Wood Frog or Spotted Salamander eggs. I suspect Wood Frogs because of the sear volume. If anyone knows for sure please let me know.

Spotted Salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, egg mass.  There is a smooth outer gelatinous membrane surrounding the egg aggregation, which gives clear egg  masses a halo appearnace surrounding the dark embroys. In the wood frogs egg masses lack the smooth outer membrane and therefore are bumpy.

The spotted salamander egg masses come in three flavors - milky-white, clear and intermediate.  The larva grow and metamorphose within 2-4 months. So between June and August I should be able to find some young salamanders walking out of the pond. If you click on the photos for a larger view you can see that most of the dot are no longer round like they were when they were first laid. They are more comma shaped.

Some of them were close to the edge and beginning to dry out so I picked them up and moved them back into the water. Amphibians need all the help they can get nowdays.

Below is a close up of those two little egges at the edge of the big blob in my hand.

Spring Peepers and Northern Red Spotted Newts lay their eggs singly near the bottom of the pond and are attached to vegetation. I think these are photos of those but I am not certain.

Visit more ABC Wednesday here.

Mockingbird battle

This time of year many birds are marking and defending territory for breeding. They pick out what they think is the best location and defend it by song and sometimes by battle. The Northern Mockingbird, Minus polyglottos, has a reputation for being very territorial. When I used to do a lot of birding I would notice that often a Mockingbird would follow us around at a location, fussing at us until we left. Saturday I was visiting a friend's farm for another project and I couldn't help noticing this pair fighting. Actually there were about 5 on the farm but these two were really going at it. Below are some of the photos I took.  For a larger view click on each photo.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology had this to say. “Males disputing territory boundaries fly toward each other, land near the boundary, and face off, silently hopping from one side to another.”

“If neither bird retreats, they may fly at each other, ... 

... grappling with wings and claws and pecking at each other.”

“Eventually, one bird retreats and the other chases it a short ways.”

While I was in the area they had several fights over the prime location. 

I think they were fighting over who owned the flower garden.

Be sure to visit more ABC Wednesday.

Railroad Bridge over the Potomac River

Here is a view of the railroad bridge crossing the Potomac River and C&O Canal near Shepherdstown, WV.  A train flew over this bridge just after I took the photo and raddled my brain. I was glad to be on the ground.

Enjoy others photos from ABC Wednesday.

Winter Weeds

Before the snow came I had taken these photos of winter weeds to share with everyone.

Burdock in the family Asteraceae.

This year I have been intrigued by this plant and have tons of photos in sepia and black and white. I found a big stand of them along my favorite trail. The prickly heads called burrs are famous for their ability to catch on clothing and pet fur. They can cause intestinal problems if your pets ingest them in an attempt to get them off their paws.

What I learned recently is that young burdock can be eaten as a root vegetable. It is used in several Asian dishes. The young flower stalks can also be eaten before the flowers emerge and I read that they taste like artichoke. If you try some let me know what you think.

Like a lot of our weeds they have medicinal uses. The oil form the root can be used as an application to the scalp to treat dandruff and delay hair loss. Gives a new meaning to the popular burr hair cut doesn’t it?

Teasel is a member of the family Dipsacaceae.

The genus name came from the word for thirst referring to the shape of the leaves around the stem when they first emerge. This cup-like shape collects water.

When I think of weeds and Christmas it is the teasel that I remember most. My mother would spray paint them gold and add them to our holiday wreath along with pinecones, and nuts. I have even seen them made into ornaments in the shapes of people and animals.

They are a good winter source of seed for finches. You might have noticed Goldfinch sitting atop this tall plant. A single plant produces 2,000 seeds. The taproot may go down as far as 2 feet below the surface. The first year of the plants life all you see is the basal rosette and then the next year the stalk grows and flowers and dies making it a monocarpic perennial.

Thistle is the name for a group of plants with sharp prickles in the family Asteraceae. I mostly associate it with this plant. Those prickles are the plants way of keeping deer and other plant eating animal’s form snacking on them. It would certainly discourage me. After taking these photos I had several attached to me.

You can see the thistledown in this photo. The seeds are carried off by the wind much like a Milkweed seed. If you feed birds I am sure you are familiar with these seeds that finches practically crave.

This winter when you see these weeds along the roadside or in fields remember how valuable they are to wildlife and how much fun they can be. Cut a few for an arrangement and enjoy their unique structures.

Merry Christmas and thank you all who participate in ABC Wednesday.

Vunerable—Yes, even a Multiflora Rose is vunerable

I found a Multiflora Rose while on my walk last weekend that looked strange yet beautiful. I knew it was a rose because of the shape of the leaves and the thorns and figured it was probably a multiflora because they are prolific in the forest of West Virginia. So I took this photo with the thought of learning more.

It looks like I altered the photo doesn’t it? But I didn’t.

The colors and the bunched up leaves were as I found them.

Once home I began searching through my books and internet and found an article by James W. Amrine, Jr. associate professor of entomology and Dale F. Hindal, professor of plant pathology, in the Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture and Forestry, West Virginia University. It turns out that even the fast spreading, can’t kill it, can’t pull it up, invasive Multiflora Rose is vulnerable after all. A teeny tiny mite is responsible for bringing down this Goliath.

CHORUS: How small it is?

The mite is so small it only has room for two pairs of  legs on it’s tiny body instead of the usual four pairs.

CHORUS: (Repeat phrase)

It is so small that 20 mites can fit on a regular pin head.

But the mite just spreads the weapon, a virus called Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) also known as witches’ broom of rose, a condition fatal to the multiflora. The eriophyid mite, Phyllocoptes fructiphilus feeds on the rose thereby inoculating the plant with the RRD disease. Next a bright red to dark red pattern develops on the leaves. Thirty to 90 days later the infected rose produces lateral shoots that are bright red as seen in my photo. A large number of the shoots form the symptom known as witches brooming. These leaf clusters can act as a winter protection for the mites. The RRD spreads from the canes into the roots and then to the entire plant. The plant dies after one or two years. That’s the good news. The bad news it that it can sometimes attack cultivated roses in your yard.

So you see even a tough plant like the Multiflora Rose can be vulnerable.

Be sure to visit ABC Wednesday.

Trees...the naked truth

Driving down the mountain I am more aware than usual of the bare trees. They are really beautiful to look at, to see the basic structure and character of the different species. Each one is unique yet they share some traits with their own family. Sycamores have thick trunks and sprawling white limbs. The Tulip Popular is tall and slender.

I wonder if we could stand bare before each other without our leaves of adornment, without titles, makeup, status symbols, stuff and half truths. I don’t think so. I don’t think we have the courage of a tree. But I suspect that trees don’t judge each other, so they are free, even if just for a season, to cleanse themselves of their extra baggage. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could too, even if just for a season?

Read more from ABC Wednesday.

Slime Molds

In the previous blog I briefly mentioned finding slime molds on the cut log next to the trail and the mossy log with the Deadly Galarina. Here are some of the photos I took of those.

Slime molds are not a fungus, an animal, plant or bacteria but they are a new independent group of organism. There are around one thousand know species found worldwide. I think collectively the true slime molds are called myxomycetes and they are the ones I most often find since the cellular slime molds are only visible through a microscope.

This one is Metatrichia vesparia and I find it alot.

I'm not sure what this one is. The enlarged view is below.

As seen through the microscope.

I don’t even begin to understand them; nevertheless I love to look for slime molds. Currently our weather is wet and drizzly making it good for setting the stage for slime mold growth. Most of the times I find them on damp logs but they can be found on the ground, leaves and standing dead trees.

I found several on this log as well.

The spores are just about every where so it makes it relatively easy to grow them. Pull off a little piece of bark, soak it and then place onto a wet paper towel in a closed container and wait. Try several pieces for better results.

I find them interesting because they come in a variety of colors and structures that can be seen without a hand lens. Of course a lens shows more fascinating details.

I found this one and the following slime molds last year.

I think the common name for this one is Wolf's Milk.

Stemonitis splendens, Chocolate Tube Slime Mold

A biologist and mycologist friend told me you can feed them and watch them travel. The can go as fast as 1 millimeter per hour as they flow over and ingest their food. She was encouraging me to do so but I haven’t yet. Maybe that will be a good winter project.

Be sure to stop by ABC Wednesday for other interesting things.