Piebald White-tailed Deer

Posted on March 21, 2015 by tspuckler

Walking the Buckeye Trail I saw a group of White-tailed Deer in a farmer’s field. One of them, however looked very different from the others.

A piebald is an animal that has white blotches in additional to its usual coloration. The patterning of the blotches are usually asymmetrical, resulting in a random arrangement of white and brown.

A genetic variation produces the piebald condition in White-tailed Deer, not parasites or diseases. Sometimes the condition is such that they appear almost entirely white.

Piebald and white deer have long been the subjects of hunting myth and legend. Some believe killing them brings a curse of bad luck during future hunts. For me it was a cool genetic variant of an otherwise common mammal to see on my hike.

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Little Nest Polypore

Posted on March 14, 2015 by tspuckler

As Winter comes to a close and I walk through the woods, I occasionally encounter Little Nest Polypores, which blend in with the snow. The cap of this mushroom is about 1-2 inches wide and is thin, fan-shaped and white.

This common fungus grows “splash cups,” which are round hollow areas that contain spores. The spores are splashed out by falling rain to distribute them in other places and start new polypores.

Its habitat is woodland forests and rather than growing on trees, it is usually found on small sticks. Polypores are also called bracket fungi, and their woody fruiting bodies (the only part of that organism one typically sees) are called conks.

Polypores are among the most efficient decomposers of the main components of wood. Through decomposing tree trunks, they recycle a major part of nutrients in forests. Because of this, the nutrient cycle continues, and the forest remains alive and diverse.

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Hacklemesh Weaver

Posted on March 7, 2015 by tspuckler

Sometimes I find “wildlife” in my house, like this creature that turned up in my Living Room this week. Hacklemesh Weavers can live through the Winter and therefore are often found in households during cold weather.

Outside, their irregular looking webs can be seen in bark and woodpiles and often have roughly the form of a funnel. This species is common in and around homes, but is also found living under rocks, logs and leaf litter. It prefers dark, relatively humid places.

It is typical for this creature to have chevron-like lighter areas on its abdomen. Its legs are reddish to dark brown. It has eight eyes of relatively similar size, arranged in two horizontal rows of four.

The Hacklemesh Weaver makes a special kind of silk. Instead of sticky strands, the silk is made of fine, woolly fibers that can entangle even the smallest prey. The spider feels the vibrations from the struggling victim and rushes out to capture it.

In England, this arachnid is sometimes called the “Old Churchman” because it can be seen scurrying around on the walls and pews of old churches before rain storms.

Silk-spinning spiders have been around for roughly 400 million years, and they’ve made good use of their time. Today, they occupy just about every habitable region of the Earth…as well as my house.

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Ring-billed Gull

Posted on March 1, 2015 by tspuckler

This is Ohio’s most common gull – it is also easy to identify. The head, neck and underparts are white and the relatively short bill is yellow with a dark ring. Its back and wings are silver gray.

As you might expect gulls usually are found near large bodies of water; these were photographed near Lake Erie. Though this species is also a familiar sight in the shopping mall parking lots of the United States, where it can regularly be found congregating in large numbers.

These birds forage for food and pick up objects while swimming, walking or wading. They also steal food from other birds and frequently scavenge. They have an omnivorous diet which may include insects, fish, grain, eggs, earthworms and rodents. These birds are opportunistic and have adapted well to taking food discarded or left unattended by people.

Ring-billed Gulls nest in colonies on the ground, or sometimes in trees near lakes. They often nest near other water birds. The male and female work together to build the nest out of twigs, sticks, grasses, leaves, lichens and mosses.

Females usually lay three eggs. The eggs are light blue, green or brownish and spotted. Both the male and female both incubate the eggs for about 20 to 31 days. After the chicks hatch, both parents take care of them.

Ring-billed Gulls are highly social, occupying large colonies, especially during the breeding season. They defend small territories within nesting colonies. They engage in play, dropping objects while airborne, then swooping down to catch them.

They often associate with other species of gulls, ducks and cormorants. By forming mixed flocks, birds help each other stay alert for potential danger.

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Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

Posted on February 21, 2015 by tspuckler

Back in June of 2013 I was herping in Southern California and came across this beetle. It turned out to be an easy-to-keep pet, and I still have it in a terrarium on my basement window sill.

These beetles mainly eat fungus as well as some vegetation. As the common name implies, have one of the hardest of all arthropod exoskeletons. Adults are often found walking around out in the open; they may also be found under bark. They are about an inch long.

As a defense, the adults play dead, pulling in their legs and antennae. Their body has special grooves to hold these appendages.

This extremely durable beetle and its relatives reside in the American desert. Their hard exoskeleton is useful in retaining water. It is also nocturnal, venturing abroad when temperatures are cooler than in the daytime.

For as cool as this little insect is, not much is known about it – including how it got it’s “diabolical” name. This group of beetles have not been studied thoroughly and very little is known about their biology and habits.

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Milkweed

Posted on February 14, 2015 by tspuckler

As I walk through snow-covered fields this Winter, it’s hard not to notice the seed pods for Milkweed plants. With a little imagination, this one looks like a dragon’s head puffing smoke.

Milkweed is an important plant because so many species of insects depend on it. Monarch Butterflies, Milkweed Bugs and Milkweed Leaf Beetles only eat milkweed, and could not survive without it. Here’s a Milkweed Tiger Moth caterpillar that I saw last Summer in Brecksville Reservation.

This plant’s fruits are green pods which turn brown before bursting open and letting out fluffy seeds. A Milkweed seed is spread by the wind, which catches the cotton-like part and carries the seed for long distances.

Milkweed is usually 4-5 feet tall and has large, broad leaves. It can be found in fields, gardens and along roads. Milkweed flowers are pinkish-purple clusters which often droop. This is one that I photographed in the summertime.

This plant gets its name from its milky sap, which seeps when a leaf is broken. This sap has poisons in it which some animals can eat and not be harmed. When the Monarch butterfly’s caterpillar consumes the leaves of Milkweed, the sap goes into its body, making the caterpillar poisonous to predators. Even after the caterpillar has changed into an adult butterfly, it is distasteful to predators. Here is a Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed seen in Cuyahoga Valley National Park last Summer.

In the Autumn, large numbers of Milkweed Bugs can often be seen on the seed pods. At this time of the year, the Milkweed Bugs are focused on piercing the wall of the pod to feed on the seeds inside.

Milkweed is an interesting plant which can be enjoyed during all seasons.

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White-tailed Deer

Posted on February 8, 2015 by tspuckler

Although these are the largest wild animals where I live, they are smallest members of the North American deer family, and are found from southern Canada to South America.

In the Summer they are often found fields and meadows, using small trees for shade and hiding places. During the Winter they generally reside in forests, preferring coniferous stands that provide shelter from the harsh elements.

Only the males (bucks) grow antlers, which bear a number of tines, or sharp points. During the mating season, bucks fight over territory by using their antlers in sparring matches.

White-tailed Deer are reddish-brown with a white belly and tail in Summer. In Winter, the reddish-brown changes to grayish-brown. White-tailed Deer are mostly nocturnal, but can be seen any time of day. They do most of their feeding early in the morning or when the sun is going down.

A female (doe) has from one to three fawns in a litter. Fawns stay with their mother for almost a year. A doe leaves her fawns hidden while she feeds. Sometimes she leaves them for up to four hours. They do not move while she is gone. They have extra white spots on their coats which help camouflage them. These photos were taken in my backyard this month, here’s a summertime fawn seen in my yard a couple of years ago.

White-tailed Deer run very fast, up to 36 miles per hour. They are great swimmers and can leap far as well. Deer can leap over eight feet high and thirty feet long.

These animals are herbivores, but they eat a wide variety of foods, including green plants in the Summer; acorns, fruits and nuts in the Fall; and twigs in the Winter. White-tailed Deer also eat a lot of garden plants, flowers, vegetables and ornamental trees in people’s yards.

When a deer is nervous it will snort and stamp its feet. When it is alarmed it automatically raises its tail. Sometimes when you startle a deer, all you see is a flash of white disappearing into the woods.

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Tinder Conk Mushroom

Posted on February 1, 2015 by tspuckler

The species of fungus produces very large fruit bodies which are shaped like a horse’s hoof and vary in color from a silvery grey to almost black, though they are normally brown.

It contains a spongy material used primarily as tinder, but also used to make clothing and other items. The 5,000-year-old Ötzi the Iceman (a well-preserved natural mummy) carried four pieces of this fungus, thought to be used for tinder.

It’s scientific name is Fomes fomentarius. The Latin word fomes means “tinder” or “touchwood” and the Latin word fomentarius means “material to feed a fire” – both the generic and species names emphasize the use of this fungus for fires.

It also has a long history of being used for a variety of medical purposes. Hippocrates in the fifth century BC described it as a “cauterization substance for wounds.” The fungus is credited with helping to stop bleeding. Due to this fact, surgeons at the time found use for it.

This species of fungus dwells on bark of trees. If not picked, it does not fall off the bark. It remains attached to the tree until it is dead; then it starts to initiate rotting of the tree bark. This often provides the beginning of a hole that birds which nest in tree cavities eventually use.

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Tufted Titmouse

Posted on January 24, 2015 by tspuckler

With its pointy crest, large eyes and seemingly friendly disposition, the Tufted Titmouse has a special kind of appeal. It has a busy demeanor, flitting about actively foraging for food. This bird often hangs out with its similar-sized relative, the Black-capped Chickadee.

This bird is familiar to anyone who feeds birds as it is a frequent visitor to homes. Its peter, peter, peter call can often be heard when on woodland hikes. The Tufted Titmouse relishes sunflower seeds and will hold a seed with its feet and use its beak to hammer away at the seed until the shell falls off. These birds create caches of food, hiding seeds away under the bark of trees to retrieve later.

In warmer months they feed on insects, snails and spiders. In the Winter they seek out acorns, sumac, beechnuts and cherries.

This is one of about the two dozen species of Ohio birds that need dead or dying trees to construct a nesting cavity. Relatively recent woodland management methods have started to understand the value of standing dead timber.

The Tufted Titmouse likes to line its nest with fur and has been observed plucking to hair from sleeping dogs as a way of collecting its nest materials.

These birds seem comfortable around people and are common in a variety of habitats. They do not migrate and can be enjoyed year-round.

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House Spider

Posted on January 18, 2015 by tspuckler

These creatures occur throughout the world and have derived their name from their presence inside human dwellings. A number of species are classified as “house spiders,” although the Common House Spider is the most recognized. These arachnids are also sometimes referred to as American House Spiders.

House Spiders are typically brown or gray in color, with darker chevron markings along their bodies. Their legs are yellow, with rings at the end of each segment. Adult females are considerably larger than males.

Their presence is typically characterized by the formation of cobwebs; irregularly shaped structures that can be located in various places within a home, including windows, ceiling corners and above or beneath fixtures.

The abundance of empty webs is caused by the House Spider’s propensity to construct webs in various locations until it finds the most suitable place to catch prey. Unlike some other spider species, House Spiders may choose to cohabitate and mate numerous times. Females deposit as many as 250 eggs into a sac of silk. These sacs are often brown in color and are flask-like in shape. An individual spider can produce over a dozen egg sacs in her lifetime.

After hatching, air currents disperse surviving spiderlings on threads of silk. This process, known as ballooning, allows spiders to populate areas far from where they were hatched. Adult specimens may survive for more than a year.

This is one of the most commonly encountered cobweb spiders in urban areas, and can be found in almost every garage, barn, and attic. It is harmless, and it catches and eats flies, mosquitoes, and other pests that enter buildings.

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Tim Spuckler's Blog

Reptile Ramblings and More

Yearly Archives: 2015

Piebald White-tailed Deer

Little Nest Polypore

Hacklemesh Weaver

Ring-billed Gull

Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

Milkweed

White-tailed Deer

Tinder Conk Mushroom

Tufted Titmouse

House Spider