Monthly Archives: January 2023

Scarlet Cup

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01 Scarlet Cup Fungus_2911

While hiking in Hinckley Reservation, a bit of red on the forest floor caught my eye. This fungus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere and has been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and Australia.

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Scarlet Cup grows on decaying sticks and branches in damp spots in wooded areas, generally buried under leaf litter or in the soil. The cup-shaped fruiting bodies are usually produced during the cooler months of Winter and early Spring.

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The brilliant red interior of the cups (from which both the common and scientific names are derived) contrasts with their lighter-colored exterior. The edibility of this fungus is well established, but its small size, tough texture and insubstantial fruitings dissuade most people from collecting it.

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Known scientifically as Sarcoscypha coccinea, the specific epithet coccinea is derived from the Latin word meaning “deep red.” The species is commonly known as Scarlet Elf Cup, Scarlet Elf Cap, or Scarlet Cup Fungus. Its cup-shaped fruit measures one to two inches across.

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Fungi belong to their own kingdom and get their nutrients and energy from organic matter, rather than photosynthesis like plants. It is often just the fruiting bodies or “mushrooms,” that are visible to us, arising from an unseen network of tiny filaments called “hyphae.”

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Southern Yellowjacket

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01 Southern Yellowjacket Queen_0007

While flipping logs in the woods on a (relatively) warm Winter day, I sometimes come across invertebrates like this one. Southern Yellowjackets are typically found in the eastern United States and as far south as Mexico and Guatemala. Their territory expands as far west as Texas and as far east as the Atlantic Ocean.

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The Southern Yellowjacket is a social wasp. This species can be identified by its distinctive black and yellow patterning and orange queen. This species is predatory and typically eats live insects, but they also feed on the flesh of deceased prey.

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Their nests are typically found in unnatural habitats, such as yards, parks and the sides of roads. Mated queens (like this one) overwinter as adults in protected areas and start new colonies in the spring. In some cases, they build their own nest, but more often, they take a different approach.

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Since she emerges from hibernation a month or more later than the Eastern Yellowjacket, she simplifies things by finding a recently constructed Eastern Yellowjacket nest. She enters the nest, murders the queen, and appropriates the nest and workers (which don’t seem to mind the change in executive management).

05 Southern Yellowjacket Queen_9911

As a form of defense of their nests, Southern Yellowjacket workers use alarm pheromones to communicate with each other to coordinate an attack. These behaviors are chemically mediated, and the alarm pheromones cause many social wasp species to leave the nest and attack whatever may be threatening it.

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Red-breasted Nuthatch

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01 Red-breasted Nuthatch_0440

This is a sharp looking little bird that I occasionally see while visiting Brecksville Reservation; it also sometimes attends our birdfeeders. Around here it is not as common as the White-breasted Nuthatch.

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The Red-breasted Nuthatch is a blue-gray bird with a strongly patterned head. It has a black cap and stripe through the eye broken up by a white stripe over the eye. The underparts are rich rusty-cinnamon in color and more pale in females than in males.

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This bird lives mainly in coniferous forests of Spruce, Fir, Pine, Hemlock, Larch and Western Red Cedar. It has a nationwide distribution that extends well into Canada. Eastern populations use more deciduous woods, including Aspen, Birch, Poplar, Oak, Maple and Basswood.

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Like all nuthatches, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is an acrobatic species, hitching itself up and down tree trunks and branches to look for food. It goes headfirst when climbing down. It can “walk” on the underside of branches.

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Its diet changes depending on the season. In the Summer, it eats mostly insects, occasionally even flycatching, while in the Winter, it switches to conifer seeds. At feeders it will take sunflower seeds, peanut butter and suet.

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The Red-breasted Nuthatch often wedges food pieces in bark crevices in order to break them up with the bill (as opposed to holding the food in their feet, like the Black-capped Chickadee does).

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Coralberry

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01 Coralberry_0016

While visiting Carmel, Indiana for Thanksgiving, I went on a hike and noticed this plant. It is commonly called Coralberry, Buckbrush or Indian Currant and is a woody species of flowering plant in the Honeysuckle Family.

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This plant has a spectacular display of berries that mature in coincidence with Autumn colors each October. Its coral-pink to almost purplish berries are an attractive ornamental aspect that provides Winter forage for birds.

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In addition to birds, Coralberry supports a host of mammals, being a favorite deer browse plant, which inspired its alternative common name of Buckbrush. Although inconspicuous, its spring flowers support bees, wasps and flies with nectar and pollen.

04 Corelberry_9512

This dense, bushy deciduous shrub has soft downy foliage that makes an attractive leaf pattern. It typically grows 3 to 4 feet tall. It is also a host plant for the caterpillars of three native moths.

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Coralberry is native to the eastern and central United States as well as central Canada (Ontario) and northeastern Mexico.

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