Bantam Sunfish

Posted on October 21, 2022 by tspuckler

While exploring waterways in southern Illinois this month, I caught a few examples of the smallest of all sunfish species that can be found in North America.

This 3-inch fish occurs in swamps and mud-bottomed, heavily vegetated ponds, lakes and sloughs. It is perhaps the least colorful member of its genus.

Like all sunfish, its body is deep and compressed. The symmetrical shape of its body gives the Bantam Sunfish the scientific species name symmetricus.

Scattered populations of this fish exist in the southcentral United States. Adults have vertical bands of irregular brown spots often with scattered spots between the bars.

The Bantam Sunfish feeds on a variety of freshwater invertebrates. It is considered to be the least studied sunfish in the United States and is also listed as “Threatened” in Illinois.

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Prairie Lizard

Posted on October 13, 2022 by tspuckler

While exploring this glade in Missouri, I can across a small, grayish brown, rough-scaled lizard that I’ve never seen in the wild before.

This is a common species of open forests or along edges of woods and fields. It often lives around country homes and rock gardens, split rail fences and stacks of firewood.

Adult range from 4-7 inches in total length, with their tail being over half of their total length. Males are easily differentiated from females by two bright blue patches on their underside that females lack.

These lizards are extremely fast. When startled, they will often seek refuge in nearby vegetation or burrows. They also commonly escape capture by running up trees.

The Prairie Lizard eats a wide variety of insects and spiders. It was neat to see these cool creatures while visiting the “Show Me State.”

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Fairy Inkcap

Posted on October 7, 2022 by tspuckler

While looking for snakes in southern Illinois, I noticed a large number of tiny mushrooms at the base of a tree. This species derives its nutrients from decaying wood and is usually found on or near dead tree stumps or decaying logs.

These gregarious little fungi occur from early spring until the onset of winter, and they are at their most spectacular when the caps are young and pale – sometimes nearly pure white.

Common in Britain and Ireland and throughout Europe and North America, the Fairy Inkcap is truly a cosmopolitan mushroom, being found also in most parts of Asia and in South America and Australia.

For most types of inkcap mushroom, the gills and caps melt into an inky black ooze – which is what gives the inkcaps their common name. Though this is not a feature of the Fairy Inkcap.

Rather than melt into mush, the caps of the Fairy Inkcap remain brittle, and easily teared, hence their alternate common name of Trooping Crumble Cap.

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American Bird Grasshopper

Posted on September 30, 2022 by tspuckler

I happened to flush one of these creatures out of its hiding spot while walking through a field in southern Illinois. It did not just hop a few feet in front of me, like most grasshoppers, rather it took wing, flying several hundred feet and landing in high up in a tree.

Although these large insects have two generations a year, they are most abundant in the Autumn. Mature females are approximately two inches in length, and the males are only slightly smaller. They are North America’s largest flying grasshoppers.

While most grasshoppers overwinter as eggs in the soil, American Bird Grasshoppers overwinter as adults and lethargically active adults can be spotted on warm Winter days in meadows and along wooded edges throughout the colder months.

The American Bird Grasshopper is found in fields and open woodlands in eastern and central North America, south into Mexico and South America. Somewhat migratory, in the northern part of range it may be an immigrant only and not breed.

This species was the source of a newly discovered class of chemical compounds called caeliferins. When the grasshopper feeds on a plant, its caeliferins induce the plant to release volatile organic compounds. Caeliferins also play a role in defense, as the grasshopper expels large amounts of it when attacked.

Not only is its large size impressive, I found its detailed Art Deco-like pattern really neat.

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Central Mudminnow

Posted on September 23, 2022 by tspuckler

While catching tadpoles in roadside ditches this Summer, I came across this really neat fish that I have never encountered before.

When the oxygen in the water insufficient, the Central Mudminnow can gulp air at the surface and use atmospheric oxygen to breathe; as a result, it is sometimes the only, or one of a very few, fish species present in waters susceptible to Winter or Summer kill.

It burrows tail-first in mud and its ability to tolerate low oxygen levels allows it to live in waterways unavailable to other fish. Its coloration matches its habitat, being brownish above with mottled sides and a pale belly.

This 2-to-4 inch fish eats both aquatic invertebrates and land insects that fall into the water. In Winter, Central Mudminnows can remain surprisingly active, even under ice, and turn their attention to other small fishes, which become more sluggish and vulnerable as the temperature drops.

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Hawkweed

Posted on September 16, 2022 by tspuckler

This is a species that I recently found growing in my front lawn. I have also noticed it in bloom in a few of the local metroparks.

Hawkweed is a fibrous-rooted perennial with upright stems and small, dandelion-like flower heads in loose clusters. A European species, it is invasive in northwestern and northeastern North America.

This plant is found mostly in open fields, mountain meadows, forest clearings, permanent pastures, cleared timber units, abandoned farmland, roadsides and other disturbed areas. It is typically encountered where soil is well-drained, coarse-textured and low in nutrients.

Hawkweed, with their 10,000+ recorded species and subspecies, do their part to make the Aster Family the second largest family of flowering plants. I mostly see all-yellow types and orange types – their flowers are less than one inch across.

Its two-to-five-inch leaves mostly surround the base of the plant and are pointed or rounded at the tip and toothless. All parts of Hawkweed are conspicuously hairy and like Dandelion, will exude a white milky sap when broken.

Since most Hawkweed reproduce exclusively asexually by means of seeds that are genetically identical to their mother plant, clones or populations that consist of genetically identical plants are formed.

This plant is also known as Devil’s Paintbrush, Red daisy and Orange King-devil.

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Nursery Web Spider

Posted on September 9, 2022 by tspuckler

This is a fascinating creature that sometimes I’ve been lucky enough to find in my own backyard, as well as when on hikes along the Ohio & Erie Canal towpath.

It is similar to a Wolf Spider in appearance and has usually has brown and black stripes running the length of its body.

Four species of Nursery Web spiders in occur in North America north of Mexico. They are streamlined, with long legs and slender bodies, which help them blend in with plant stalks.

The Nursery Web Spider is an active hunter and does not spin a web to catch food, instead it employs a quick sprint to capture flies and other insects.

The female carries her large, round egg-sac in her fangs. When the young are about to hatch, she builds a silk sheet among the vegetation to act as a tent.

This “tent” shelters the offspring until they are old enough to leave on their own. This spider only uses its silk for purposes of creating a protective tent for its young.

Their habitat is grasslands, woodland borders, fencerows, roadsides, parks and gardens. They are closely related to Fishing Spiders and can run across the water’s surface if necessary.

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Tricolored Heron

Posted on September 2, 2022 by tspuckler

This was a neat and distinctive bird that I saw while visiting the southeastern United States. Standing at around two feet tall, it is one of the smaller heron species.

Tricolored herons inhabit fresh and saltwater marshes, estuaries, mangrove swamps, lagoons and river deltas. They can be found from Massachusetts, down through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, to northern Brazil.

This is a sleek, slender and distinctly-colored bird colored in blue-gray, lavender and white. The white stripe down the middle of its neck and its white belly set it apart from other dark herons.

Tricolored Herons forage for small fish such as topminnows and killifishes in open or semi-open brackish wetlands. They are skilled at stalking, chasing and standing-and-waiting to capture small fish.

Before striking, they draw in their neck and crouch down so low that their belly often touches the water. They also bend forward and push their wings over their head to entice fish to enter the shade provided by their wings.

Like its relatives, it builds stick nests in trees and shrubs, often in colonies with other wading birds. They typically breed on islands with small trees or shrubs.

The Tricolored Heron was formerly known as the Louisiana Heron.

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Wavy-rayed Lampmussel

Posted on August 26, 2022 by tspuckler

While exploring a creek near Youngstown, Ohio, I came across this cool creature.

The Wavy-rayed Lampmussel occurs in small-to-medium sized shallow streams in and near riffles with good current. It rarely occurs in rivers. Its substrate of preference is sand and/or gravel.

Its shell color ranges from yellow to yellowish green with numerous thin, wavy green rays. It can reach four inches in width and can live up to 20 years. Like all mussels, this species filters water to find food, such as bacteria and algae.

Mussels in general are rather sedentary, although they may move in response to changing water levels and conditions. Mussels insert their “foot” (seen here inside of shell) into the sand or gravel and pull themselves forward, inching their way along the creek bottom.

Belonging to a group known as bivalves, this mollusc is completely enclosed by a shell made of two valves. A hinge ligament joins the two halves of the shell together and large adductor muscles between the two valves hold them closed.

Mussel larvae are parasitic and must attach to a fish host, where they consume nutrients from the fish body until they transform into juvenile mussels and drop off.

The Wavy-rayed Lampmussel’s fish hosts are the Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass. The presence of fish hosts is one of the key features for an area to support a healthy mussel population.

In turn, mussels are ecological indicators. Their presence in a water body usually indicates good water quality.

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Nebraska Conehead

Posted on August 19, 2022 by tspuckler

While hiking on the Buckeye Trail I came across this cool insect. The Nebraska Conehead is type of Katydid. Like other members of its family, males “sing” on warm summer nights.

Part of this insect is not very well named: While it is found in Nebraska, its range is much broader, extending southward to Mississippi and eastward to Maryland. The other part is indeed well named: A prominent, cone-shaped structure is its the head, which easily seen when looking at it up close.

This katydid feeds on the flowers as well as the foliage of woody plants. The call of the male sounds like “tsip-tsip,” a buzz-like sound repeated once every two seconds. This call is typically heard in daytime, but occasionally at night as well.

It tends to spend its time facing head down more often than not, presumably prepared to execute its escape strategy – falling headfirst into the grass, where it will remain motionless to avoid detection.

Nebraska Coneheads can found along roadsides, in weeds at the edges of fields and woods and in brushy ground cover in open woods. This is the first one I’ve ever seen, so it made for a great hike.

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Tim Spuckler's Blog

Reptile Ramblings and More

Yearly Archives: 2022

Bantam Sunfish

Prairie Lizard

Fairy Inkcap

American Bird Grasshopper

Central Mudminnow

Hawkweed

Nursery Web Spider

Tricolored Heron

Wavy-rayed Lampmussel

Nebraska Conehead