Hairy-tailed Mole

Posted on May 28, 2016 by tspuckler

I was walking along the Cuyahoga River on a cloudy day when I stopped to listen to and photograph a Baltimore Oriole that I heard calling. While enjoying the sight and sounds of the orange and black bird, I heard something shuffling at my feet. I looked down and saw this Hairy-tailed Mole crossing the railroad tracks.

As the name implies, this mammal is very similar to an Eastern Mole, except that it has a distinctly hairy tail. Its broad front feet with outward-facing palms help it to dig through soil. Since it spends most of its time underground, its eyes are tiny and it has no external ear openings.

The Hairy-tailed Mole is about six inches in length and has a long, red-tipped snout. As in other moles, its fur is short, very dense, soft, and silky – and therefore a good coat for traveling through underground tunnels.

The Hairy-tailed Mole digs deep tunnels, and then loosens soil particles with one front foot at a time. It then pushes loose soil under its body with the front feet and kicks the soil backwards with the hind feet. By shoveling the residual piles to the surface this animal cleans the tunnel and creates a characteristic molehill, about 3 inches deep.

This animal spends most the day underground searching for food. They have a voracious appetite for insects, including destructive types, such as cutworms and Japanese beetles; the mole’s daily food consumption can equal 50-100% of its weight. The underground tunnels that they create may be used eight years or more by many generations of moles.

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Rove Beetle

Posted on May 21, 2016 by tspuckler

While visiting Lake Hope in Hocking Hills, I came across a couple of examples of this interesting insect. Rove Beetles are primarily distinguished by their short wing covers that typically leave more than half of their abdomens exposed.

Their family is an ancient group, with fossil Rove Beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago, and possibly even earlier. Most Rove Beetles are predators of insects and other invertebrates living in forest leaf litter. They are commonly found under stones, around the edges of freshwater environments.

This type is known scientifically as Platydracus maculosus and is the largest and one of the most commonly encountered species, though its maximum size is only about an inch long. The brown spots on its abdomen are one of its identifying characteristics.

These cool creatures are not harmful to humans and are considered beneficial because they are predators of insect pests.

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California Striped Racer

Posted on May 14, 2016 by tspuckler

One morning last month while hiking near Santa Cruz, California I encountered this fine reptile. It has a distinctive “look” with a bold pattern, thin body, large eyes, elongated head and smooth scales.

These serpents are also known as Whipsnakes and are long, slender and fast-moving (a yellow-orange “racing stripe” runs down each side of their body). They are active in the daytime and inhabit chaparral, scrubland, open woodlands and rocky hillsides.

California Striped Racers can reach 5 feet, but are usually 3 to 4 feet long. They are whitish, cream, pale yellow, or orange below, becoming coral pink on the underside of the tail.

These reptiles are known to eat a variety of prey including insects, lizards, snakes, birds and small mammals. They show a strong preference for lizards, which are captured by a grasp of the mouth and swallowed alive.

California Striped Racers hold their heads high to look over grass or rocks. They are good climbers that can escape into shrubs or trees. It was awesome to see this snake on my visit to the Golden State.

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Tule Elk

Posted on May 8, 2016 by tspuckler

I saw these majestic animals on my visit to California. This is a subspecies of elk native is to California and found nowhere else, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast.

When the Europeans first arrived, an estimated 500,000 tule elk roamed the state, but by 1870 they were thought to be extinct, primarily due to uncontrolled hunting and displacement by cattle. By some accounts, fewer than 30 remained in a single herd near Bakersfield in the mid-1870s. Through conservation efforts, their numbers are now around 4,000.

Elk are highly social animals, but the extent of herding can vary by their gender and the time of year. A fully matured bull (or stag) can weigh 700 pounds with the females about three-fourths as large. Only males have antlers, which are rounded and widely spread and average four to six points on each antler.

These mammals play a critical role in preventing succession of open grasslands to less diverse, shrub-dominated ecosystems. Their grazing seems to have a positive impact on native grassland species abundance and diversity.

The Tule Elk will probably never return to their historic numbers or range because of human’s use of the land and lack of suitable elk habitat, but it was cool to see these animals for the first time.

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Yellow-eyed Ensatina

Posted on May 1, 2016 by tspuckler

An Ensatina is a type of lungless salamander found in coniferous forests, oak woodland and chaparral. I came across a few of them on my recent visit to California.

One of their characteristics are their large, expressive eyes. They also feature a tail that is constricted at the base. A bright yellow patch on the eye gives this salamander its common name.

This subspecies of Ensatina is orange-brown to dark brown above, with orange coloring below. They are typically 3-5 inches in total length.

Since they are lungless, they conduct respiration through their skin, which requires them to live in damp environments on land and to move about on the ground only during times of high humidity.

When feeling threatened, an Ensatina can drop its tail to distract the attention of a predator while the amphibian can crawl away to safety. The tail can grow back. As another defense behavior, an Ensatina will stand tall in a stiff-legged defensive posture with its back arched and its tail raised up and secrete a milky white poisonous substance, while swaying from side to side.

These amphibians eat a wide variety of invertebrates, including worms, ants, beetles, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, millipedes, sow bugs and snails. They tend to catch their food with their sticky tongue, like a toad does.

These are neat creatures to encounter and I had a great time seeing them in the field when herping California.

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White-crowned Sparrow

Posted on April 25, 2016 by tspuckler

While visiting Point Reyes National Seashore in California, I saw many of these distinctive birds with bold black and white stripes on their heads.

Juveniles are not as brightly colored as the adults. Immature White-crowned Sparrows are tan with brownish head stripes.

They require a patchy mosaic of bare ground and shrubby areas for breeding. These birds fan out into open ground away from sheltering bushes as they feed.

They use a two-footed scratching maneuver to locate food in the leaf litter which consists of seeds, grass, buds, fruits. insects and spiders.

I saw several males calling from shrubs. The White-crowned Sparrow is one of the best-studied songbirds in North America. Much of our knowledge of bird song and development is based on studies of this species.

It was enoyable not only to see these birds, but to hear them pour out their songs over and over again, adding to the sights and sounds of the Bay Area.

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Rubber Boa

Posted on April 16, 2016 by tspuckler

When most people hear the word “boa” they think of a tropical serpent of gigantic proportions. But not only is the Rubber Boa the most northerly-occurring member of the boa and python family, it also is rather small, never getting to 3 feet in length.

Named for its lithe, pliable skin, this reptile, especially in older literature, is sometimes called the “Two-headed Snake,” since its blunt tail is about the same size and shape of its head.

The Rubber Boa is shy and rarely attempts to bite when caught. It is slow-moving and tends to curl up in a ball and hide its head when confronted with danger that it cannot escape from.

Unlike most snakes, the very secretive Rubber Boa likes relatively cool temperatures – 50-60 degrees. These snakes have a subterranean existence at least some of the time, they disappear in warm weather and seek cooler surroundings and moisture – often underground.

This snake was found on a mountain. Because they tend to live in relatively cold areas of the United States and sometimes at high elevations, these snakes may hibernate six months out of the year in some areas.

They are small, averaging 20-25 inches. Rubber Boas are unicolored and usually a drab shade of grey, brown or olive-green. It’s odd lifestyle and habits make this one of North America’s most unique serpents.

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American Alligator

Posted on April 9, 2016 by tspuckler

When visiting South Carolina during the first week in March, I had the chance to get reacquainted with a reptile I haven’t seen in awhile, due to not having visited the southeast states (they only place where they live) in 20 years.

The American Alligator inhabits freshwater wetlands, such as marshes and cypress swamps from Texas to North Carolina. Large individuals can be more than 10 feet in total length. Like other reptiles, they warm themselves in the sun on cool days, as these were doing.

These reptiles are apex predators and consume fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. They also play an important role in the ecosystem through the creation of alligator holes, which provide both wet and dry habitats for other creatures.

The American Alligator propels itself through the water with its muscular, flat tail. The skin on the back is armored with embedded bony plates called osteoderms or scutes. Their long snout with upward-facing nostrils at the end lets them breathe while the rest of their body is under water.

Historically, hunting decimated their population, and they were listed as an endangered species by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Subsequent conservation efforts have allowed their numbers to increase and the species was removed from the list in 1987. It is a rare success story of an endangered animal, not only saved from extinction, but that is now thriving.

American Alligators are long-lived animals whose life spans can exceed 60 years. Alligators and their relatives are the last of the living reptiles that were closely related to dinosaurs, and their closest modern kin are birds. There is only one other alligator species, the Chinese Alligator.

The American Alligator is the official state reptile of three states: Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

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Southern Live Oak

Posted on April 3, 2016 by tspuckler

These trees have the characteristic of evergreen foliage; they remain green and “live” throughout winter, when other oaks are dormant and leafless. Southern Live Oaks are confined to warm parts of the country, because of their inability to survive freezing temperatures.

I enjoyed seeing this tree on my visit to South Carolina last month. To me they are an iconic part of the southeast states. Although live oaks retain their leaves nearly year-round, they are not true evergreens, since they drop their leaves immediately before new leaves emerge in the spring.

The bark is dark, thick, and furrowed longitudinally. The leaves are stiff and leathery, with the tops shiny dark green and the bottoms pale gray. The moss that frequently hangs from the tree branches it often used by birds to construct nests.

Its small (1/2 to 1 inch) acorns are oblong in shape, shiny and tan-brown to nearly black and are often black at the tips. They are eaten by birds and mammals, including sapsuckers, mallards, wild turkey, squirrels, black bears and deer.

Southern Live Oaks tend to survive fire, because often a fire will not reach their crowns. Even if a tree is burned, its crowns and roots usually survive the fire and sprout vigorously afterwards.

These are majestic trees that are emblems of the South. When given enough room to grow, their sweeping limbs plunge toward the ground before shooting upward, creating an impressive array of branches.

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Southern Flounder

Posted on March 26, 2016 by tspuckler

I did a bit of fishing when visiting South Carolina earlier this month and caught one of these cool creatures. This fish likes to reside on mud, and to a lesser degree, sand bottoms in relatively shallow water. Southern Flounders commonly enter fresh water and have been found 100 miles up rivers.

The body is very compressed laterally and right side is white and eyeless. The left side has both eyes and is olive brown in color with dark and white spots.

Flounders are known for their unique and spectacular transformation from a normal-looking fish with an eye on each side of the head to both eyes on the same side of the head. Movement of the right eye to the left side of the head begins when the fish is a to ½ inch in length and is complete when the fish is ¾ inch to 1 inch in length. During this time, the left side develops its dark color and the right side turns white.

These fish are well adapted for ambushing quick-moving prey such as fish or shrimp. Their flattened shape allows them to become nearly invisible on the bottom. Their brain has large optic lobes to provide them with good vision, and they have large mouths and strong teeth.

Typically Southern Flounder range from 15 to 18 inches, but the fish can grow to as large as 33 inches. It was an awesome experience to meet one of these fish “in person.”

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Tim Spuckler's Blog

Reptile Ramblings and More

Yearly Archives: 2016

Hairy-tailed Mole

Rove Beetle

California Striped Racer

Tule Elk

Yellow-eyed Ensatina

White-crowned Sparrow

Rubber Boa

American Alligator

Southern Live Oak

Southern Flounder