Yearly Archives: 2012

Creek Chub

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The Creek Chub is a common minnow throughout Ohio. Its back is olive-colored with silvery sides and it has a long blackish-brown stripe down each side. The Creek Chub has rounded fins. Young examples, like the one pictured above, tend to be more pale than older fish, like the one pictured below.

Creek Chub live mostly in small to medium-sized streams, but they sometimes live in lakes too. They prefer clear to slightly cloudy water with a gravel bottom. They are most abundant in small streams where they are often the top predator. They are a tolerant species that can withstand a wide variety of water conditions.

To breed, the male Creek Chub will build a nest. He digs out a pit on the bottom of the stream by moving pebbles with his mouth. He will then pile pebbles up to build a small ridge upstream of the pit. Once he is finished, the fish will defend his nest from other males. Eventually a female will come along and spawn if she finds the nest to be suitable.

Creek Chub can grow to 12 inches, but they are usually much smaller. They can live up to eight years, which is surprisingly long for a minnow. They are one of two species of “backyard fish” that I regularly find in my creek.

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Northern Brown Snake

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With back-to-back weekend days sunny and in the 60s, I decided to see what was up on the Erie Canal Towpath today.

It wasn’t long before I spotted this in the vegetation.

I removed it and set it on the pavement to get a better look at it. A Northern Brown Snake was the first wild snake that I ever caught; which took place on a family outing a long time ago. Later I learned that I could ride my bike to vacant lots in Cleveland and find them. One summer my friends and I caught a total of 17 of them – all in the same lot and all under the same truck mudflap.

We grew up calling these snakes DeKay’s Snakes, which is a common name that is not used as much anymore. The snake is named is in honor of American zoologist James Ellsworth De Kay who collected the first specimen in Long Island. It’s Latin name, Storeria dekayi, honors zoologist D. Humphreys Storer and James De Kay. This is the only North American snake whose scientific name is a double honorific – that is, both the genus and species name honor people.

This reptile is often mistaken for a baby Garter Snake. It is usually less than a foot long and mainly eats worms and slugs. Like the Garter Snake, it gives birth to live offspring. This secretive snake does well in urban areas and they seem to coexist well with humans in city settings and can be found in gardens, city parks, vacant lots, and old cemeteries as well as Metroparks.

Dekay’s Snakes are usually some shade of tan with two parallel rows of dark spots down their backs. Sometimes they sport a broad, lighter stripe in between the rows of spots. Though they are harmless, when they get scared they puff up or flatten out, showing white skin between their scales.

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Woolly Bear

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Now is a good time in the year to find a common and well-known caterpillar. The Woolly Bear is black at both ends and reddish-brown in the middle.

There are two generations of caterpillars each year (May and August). The second generation is the one noticed in late Fall when Woolly Bears are often seen crossing roads, usually in great haste, as if they have someplace special to go.

They are scurrying to find a sheltered location under plant debris, where they will spend the winter as a larva. In the Spring they will feed briefly before changing into a cocoon and eventually a moth. I found one on my deck in one Autumn and put it in a jar in my garage. In early Spring it had formed a cocoon.

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The adult is known as the Isabella moth. Eggs laid by the female moths start the cycle over again. The adult moth has cream colored wings with scattered black spots – its wingspan is about 2 inches. This moth emerged from the cocoon above a few weeks later.

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The Woolly Bear is the species mentioned in winter-prediction folklore that claims the longer the black at the ends of the body, the more severe will be the coming Winter. This one seems to be predicting a very mild Winter.

Each year Vermilion, Ohio holds an annual “Woolly Bear Festival” – claimed to be the largest one-day festival in the state. Festivities include a parade, Woolly Bear races and an “official” analysis of the woolly bears and forecast for the coming Winter. Other states have “Woolly Worm” festivals for similar caterpillars.

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Northern Two-lined Salamander

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One of the nice things about having a creek in my backyard is that I don’t have to go far to find cool stuff. The Northern Two-lined Salamander is a small (3-5”) stream-side salamander with a yellowish olive stripe down its back bordered by two black lines.

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In spring it lays eggs submerged underwater and attached to the underside of a rock. The larvae hatch one month later and remain in an aquatic larval stage until metamorphosis two years later. Adults live on land and can be found under rocks, logs and leaf litter at the water’s edge. These amphibians can be rather common and don’t seem to be affected by pollution as much as other types of salamanders.

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Northern Two-lined Salamanders exhibit complex courtship behavior. A male uses his head to nudge or poke a potential mate, and encircles the female’s head with the front of his body. The male scratches the female’s skin with his teeth, possibly allowing secretions to enter the female’s bloodstream.

The adult salamander’s diet consist of insects such as beetles, mayflies, and springtails, as well as spiders, pillbugs, and centipedes. Adults may also consume other small invertebrates including earthworms and snails.

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The Northern Two-lined Salamander has short stocky limbs. They are active mostly at night, especially after rains. This rainy Fall weather we’ve been having is “prime time” for finding them. Once, when coming home at night in the rain, there was one on the side door of my house!

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Black-eyed Susan

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How about that storm? After 36 hours without power, it’s nice to have heat and light again. Ever wonder about one of America’s favorite wildflowers?  Who was Black-eyed Susan?  Her story is one of the grand romantic tales of the wildflowers. Legend says it comes from an Old English poem of the post-Elizabethan era entitled “Black-eyed Susan.”

These plants are most easily recognized by their flowers, which are yellow with a brownish-purple center. Black-eyed Susans grow in open woods, gardens, fields, and roadsides. They grow quickly in just about any kind of soil.

They are a pioneer plant; this means that they are one of the first plants to grow in a new field. For example, if a fire burns down part of a forest, this plant will be one of the first to recolonize the charred land.

Black-eyed Susans generally bloom from June to October. They are considered beautiful plants and many people include them in their gardens, where they attract butterflies. Birds also enjoy their ripe seeds.

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Eastern Gray Squirrel

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Walking through the woods today it was hard to ignore the activities of Eastern Gray Squirrels as they busily went about their work of collecting and stashing away food for the winter.

Squirrels are beneficial to the maintenance of Ohio’s forests through their habit of burying excess food supplies, such as nuts, seeds, and acorns. Although squirrels dig some of these up to eat during winter, many are left alone. In the spring, those will sprout, giving new growth to the forest. 

At the time of settlement, Ohio was 95% forested, making an ideal habitat for squirrels. A common saying is that a squirrel could travel from the Ohio River to Lake Erie without ever having to touch the ground. Agriculture and hunting have reduced their numbers significantly, but they can still be quite common in the right habitat.

Gray Squirrels prefer large expanses of wooded areas of hardwood trees. Although they are usually gray, on occasion they can be black. The mix of squirrels is often blamed on Kent State University, a rumored epicenter for the melanistic (black) squirrels in Northeastern Ohio.

Squirrels have been known to pretend to bury an object if they feel that they are being watched. They do this by preparing the spot as usual and miming the placement of the food while actually concealing it in their mouth, and then covering up the hole as if they had deposited the object.

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Cedar Waxwing

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I never really notice Cedar Waxwings until autumn, when shrubs are full of ripe berries. It is at this time that the birds can congregate in large numbers on a readily available food source.

Cedar Waxwings have a rather regal appearance, they strike a commanding pose with their erect profile. But their “unapproachable” image belies their gregarious, highly social nature. Groups of them evoke a party-like atmosphere. Several Cedar Waxwings sitting in a row will pass a berry or insect from one to another up and down the row until finally one bird decides to swallow it.

These birds do not appear to establish territories and are almost always encountered in groups. Their diet of cyclically available fruit probably causes the “safety in numbers” lifestyle they have due to their nomadic wanderings in search of food.

Thier “proper image” contrasts sharply with this bird’s propensity toward over-eating and constant chatter. Cedar Waxwings have been reported to devour an entire fruit crop of Red Cedars over a two-day period. Such feats have earned it an alternative name, the “Cedar Bird.” It is probably an important seed disperser of Red Cedar (as well as other fruit-bearing trees and shrubs).

Though fruit is its mainstay, insects are consumed during summer.  While they will eat a wide range of bugs, they are particularly fond of caterpillars. They are excellent flycatchers, too.

The Cedar Waxwing prefers forest “edges” or open woodlands as a general habitat.

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Katydid

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While doing a little hiking in Brecksville Reservation I came across a Katydid. Their great camoflauge is obvious. When looking straight down at one, it can be very difficult to detect in a field.

And while looking at one from the side, it appears to be a leaf. They can use their leaf-like wings to take flight if necessary.

Katydids eat a wide variety of vegetation. Males are capable of generating sound by rubbing their wings together. Females hear them with an “ear” located in each front leg.

They can be distinguished from grasshoppers by their long antennae, which may exceed their own body length. Females (like this one) possess a sword-shaped egg-laying structure called an ovipositor.

The Katydid is to the night what the Cicada is to the day, filling the night with its song. To some it sounds like it is saying “Katy did, Katy did, she did, she did,” over and over again. We don’t know what Katy did, but that is likely how the Katydid got its name.

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Witch-hazel

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Back in Ohio, the Witch-hazel is starting to bloom in South Chagrin Reservation. Its twisted yellow flowers appear in clusters of three. It has an unusual flowering time (in the autumn).

This small tree (typically less than 20 feet tall) usually has multiple crooked trunks. It tends to grow naturally along rivers and anywhere else where the soil is very rich.

Witch-hazel’s name strikes mysterious connotations. In colonial America, the shrub’s flexible forked branches were a favorite “witching stick” of dowsers used for searching out hidden underground water. This has nothing to do with witchcraft, rather it originates from the old English word for pliable – “wych.”

Although it’s not a hazel, the leaves have a striking resemblance to those of the common American Hazelnut.

Its leaves, twigs and bark are aromatic and have long been used for medicinal purposes. Witch-hazel produces an oil that is widely used as an ingredient in skin care products and pain relief medication.

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Rough Green Snake

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Crawling on and around the limestone bluffs were several slender and elegant Rough Green Snakes.

This is a mild-mannered snake that is often seen near water. It is frequently found climbing in low vegetation, where it blends in quite well – it is often overlooked because how well it can match its surroundings.

In the United States, their bright green coloration is only matched by their relative, the Smooth Green Snake.

They feed mainly on insects and spiders and are particularly fond of caterpillars. When captured, they never bite and are usually very gentle when held.

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