Obedient Plant

Posted on July 28, 2023 by tspuckler

This is a neat species of flowering plant that is in the Mint Family. It is native to North America, where it is distributed from eastern Canada to northern Mexico.

Sometimes known as “False Dragonhead,” it is more known commonly as Obedient Plant, because when a flower is pushed to one side, it will often stay in that position.

It grows 3 to 4 feet tall and forms dense spikes of white, pink or lavender flowers. Its leaves are opposite, stalkless, narrowly lance-shaped, sharply toothed and up to five inches long.

Obedient Plant occurs in the moist soils of fields, prairies, thickets, woodland openings and borders, along rivers and streams, and lakesides. It is commonly sold as a garden plant.

A sure sign of Summer is seeing the attractive upright spikes of snapdragon-like flowers abundantly borne atop this robust perennial.

Its very attractive flowers persist for a month or more from late Summer into early Fall. The flowers are often visited by by Hummingbirds, Bumble Bees and Carpenter Bees.

As one of our most handsome native mints, it’s hard not to enjoy the beauty of the Obedient Plant.

Third Eye Herp
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Rainbow Trout

Posted on July 21, 2023 by tspuckler

While fishing in the Ohio & Erie Canal, I caught this fine fish. It is widely farmed both as a table fish and to stock lakes and rivers as a sport fish.

The Rainbow Trout is native only to the rivers and lakes of North America, west of the Rocky Mountains, but its value as a hard-fighting game fish and tasty meal has led to its introduction throughout the world. This popular fish has been stocked in almost every one of the United States and on every continent except Antarctica.

Also called Redband Trout, they are attractive fish that derive their name from their beautiful, multi-hued coloration. Their bodies are blue, green, or yellowish, shading to silvery white on the underside, with a horizontal pink-red stripe running from the gills to the tail and black spots along their backs.

Steelhead and Rainbow Trout are the same species, and members of the Salmon Family. Rainbow Trout are freshwater only, and Steelhead are anadromous, or go to sea. Unlike most Salmon, Steelhead can survive spawning and can spawn in multiple years. Adult Rainbow Trout and Steelhead range in size. They can reach 45 inches in length, but are usually much smaller. They can weigh more than 50 pounds, but a more typical weight is 8 pounds.

This is a cool- to cold-water fish species that does best in areas where the water remains below 70°F. Rainbow Trout are carnivores and feed on a wide variety of prey including insects, crustaceans, mollusks, fish eggs and fish. In habitats that are dense with aquatic vegetation, they often have the opportunity to eat arthropods that fall into the stream.

A group of rainbow trout is called a hover.

Third Eye Herp
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Raccoon

Posted on July 14, 2023 by tspuckler

This is a common, but interesting creature that often visits our backyard. A highly successful mammal, I often encounter it on my travels as well. Raccoons are found across southern Canada, throughout most of the United States, and into northern South America. Scientifically known as Procyon lotor, Raccoons are commonly associated with washing their food. Their species name, lotor, means “the washer.”

Three of the Raccoon’s most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail. It is noted for its intelligence, as studies show that it is able to remember the solution to a task for at least three years.

Raccoons are usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates. In the natural world, Raccoons snare a lot of their meals in the water. These nocturnal foragers use lightning-quick paws to grab crayfish, frogs, and other aquatic creatures.

The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests, but due to their adaptability, they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and urban areas, where some homeowners consider them to be pests.

During Winter in cold northern climates, Raccoons sleep for extended periods, although they don’t actually hibernate. To prepare for cold Winters, Raccoons pack on extra body fat in fall. This extra fat helps provide the animal with energy when it’s too cold to search for food.

Raccoons live for around one to three years in the wild. In captivity, where the raccoon doesn’t need to contend with finding food or outwitting predators, some have lived as long as 20 years.

Third Eye Herp
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Purple Martin

Posted on July 7, 2023 by tspuckler

I was able to observe several of these remarkable birds while visiting Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Ohio. They are the largest swallow in North America. Despite their name, Purple Martins are not truly purple. The dark blackish-blue feathers have an iridescent sheen caused by light refraction, giving them a bright blue to navy blue or deep purple appearance. Females are not as shiny with some gray on the head and chest.

Purple Martins are considered synanthropic, meaning they have developed an association with humans over time and benefit from living in close proximity to them. Native Americans hung up empty gourds for these birds before Europeans arrived in North America. Purple Martins in eastern North America now nest almost exclusively in birdhouses, but those in the West use mostly natural cavities.

This birds is insectivores, primarily feed by hawking, a strategy of catching insects in the air during flight. A colony of these birds may catch and eat several hundred beetles, horseflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and wasps each day. Purple Martins not only get all their food in flight, they also get all their water that way too. They skim the surface of a pond and scoop up water with their lower bill.

Purple Martins suffered a severe population crash in the 20th century widely linked to the release and spread of European Starlings in North America. European Starlings and House Sparrows compete with these birds for nest cavities. Where Purple Martins once gathered in the thousands, by the 1980s they had all but disappeared. The Purple Martin Conservation Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of Purple Martins.

These birds are long-distance migrants, wintering in the Amazon Basin along waterways and wetlands. Graceful in flight, musical in its pre-dawn singing, the Purple Martin is one of our most popular, well-liked birds.

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Monthly Archives: July 2023

Obedient Plant

Rainbow Trout

Raccoon

Purple Martin