Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Posted on September 20, 2024 by tspuckler

We often get these fine birds at our feeders and flowers. In some cases they will fight over their food supply and in others, a bird may perch nearby and chase away any incoming hummingbirds while emitting mouse-like, twittering squeaks. An aerial acrobat, hummingbirds beat their wings so rapidly they can fly forward, backward, and even hover in place.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is mainly seen in my home state of Ohio during the warmer months of the year. It generally spends the Winter in Central America, Mexico, and Florida, and migrates to Canada and other parts of Eastern North America in the Summer to breed. It is the most common hummingbird in eastern North America.

Adult males have an iridescent ruby red throat patch; the iridescence is highly directional and appears dull black from many angles. Hummingbird legs are short with no knees, so they can only shuffle to move along a branch. These birds have one of the highest metabolic rates of any animal, with heart rates up to 1260 beats per minute, breathing rate of about 250 breaths per minute even while at rest.

Weighing less than a nickel, it is a master of flight. Beating its wings 60 to 80 times a second, this tiny sprite creates a blur of motion and a whirring, insect-like sound. They expend a great deal of energy during flight, so they need to feed almost constantly, each day consuming up to half their weight in sugar. This bird uses its long, needlelike bill to eat flower nectar, preferring red or orange tubular flowers such as Trumpet Creeper, Cardinal Flower, Spotted Jewelweed, and Beebalm. It also eats insects and occasionally drinks tree sap.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are solitary. Adults of this species are not social, other than during courtship (which lasts a few minutes). As in all hummingbird species, the female Ruby-throat provides all the care for the young, which quickly outgrow their little nest and fledge after two to three weeks.

This creature prefers habitats where there are a lot of flowers, such as fields, parks, backyards, and open clearings in forests. We enjoy and look forward to there Summertime visits each year.

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Rose Gentian

Posted on September 13, 2024 by tspuckler

While walking on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath, I noticed pink splotches of color in an otherwise mostly green field. It was a new wildflower to me that I don’t recall ever coming across before.

Its eye-catching display of pink, gold and magenta attracts the human eye as effectively as it attracts bees for pollination. What makes this flower unique is its central lime-green star, outlined in magenta.

This plant can grow up to three feet tall and has stout, square, smooth stems. Each Rose Gentian has many branches that can bear a multitude of flowers. It occurs naturally throughout much of the eastern United States.

It prefers low, moist areas at the edges of rocky, open woods and fields where it has exposure to the sun. It tends to grow in loose groups rather than tight clusters. Rose Gentian’s leaves are stalkless, opposite, and broad-oval to heart-shaped; they are about an inch and a half long.

After flowering, its flower stalks may become brown while its seed capsules remain green. The seed capsules, are about 1/3 inch long, lack internal partitions and contain many tiny seeds that can be wind dispersed or carried by moving water.

Rose Gentian’s scientific name is Sabatia angularis – it is named in honor of Liberatus Sabbati, an Italian botanist and gardener in the 1700s. Its flowers are sweet-scented and long-lasting.

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Two-striped Grasshopper

Posted on September 6, 2024 by tspuckler

While hiking in Brecksville Reservation, I sometimes come across these cool insects. They are commonly found in North America, with high quantities inhabiting Canadian prairies and farmland.

A pair of pale yellow stripes running along the top of it body from above its eyes to the hind tip of its wings identify this species. This characteristic also gives this species its other common name, the Yellow-striped Grasshopper.

The Two-striped Grasshopper is polyphagous, which means it is capable of eating a wide variety of foods. Its diet includes diversity of grasses, forbs, trees, shrubs, and many cultivated plants.

It is a large insect. Females, like this one, can seem enormous compared with the males. The smallest females are larger than the largest males.

A grasshopper about 1 inch long can leap 20 inches. If a person 5 feet tall could jump that well, he or she could leap from one end of a basketball court to the other.

In addition to leaping, grasshoppers are also known for their musical talents. Many communicate by sound and have unusual ways of making their songs.

The Two-striped Grasshopper is highly adaptable and occupies many habitat types. It prefers habitats with lush vegetation, but is also associated with disturbed sites along roadsides, field borders, gardens, and agricultural sites.

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Ringless Honey Mushroom

Posted on August 30, 2024 by tspuckler

This is an eye-catching organism that I saw while visiting Brecksville Reservation.

Ringless Honey Mushroom grows in clusters, often in large numbers, at the bases of trees, especially oaks. It is common in urban yards. Sometimes it looks like it’s growing right out of the ground, but it is actually growing from low stumps, roots, or other buried wood.

It is most commonly observed from September to November. It can be identified by its convex cap, which is then flattened, featuring a margin that is uplifted with age. The cap is yellow-brown to honey brown, and it lacks a ring on its stalk. There are at least 10 species of this fungus.

Ringless Honey Mushrooms exist most of the time as a network of cells (mycelium) penetrating the tissues of living trees, frequently killing their hosts by damaging the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients. This particular species may be an exception, however, living on dead, not living, wood. When ready to reproduce, the mycelium forms mushrooms, which produce spores that are released to begin new mycelia elsewhere.

As the fruiting bodies (mushroom caps) begin to deteriorate, numerous insects swarm to them. The mushrooms provide food for a variety of small insects and other arthropods, which in turn become food for birds, salamanders, toads, and other animals.

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Ghost Shrimp

Posted on August 23, 2024 by tspuckler

Ghost Shrimp are relatively small invertebrates, reaching a maximum size of only two inches. Their see-through bodies and frenetic food-searching behavior make them fun to watch.

While the Ghost Shrimp’s body is transparent, an orange-to-yellow colored spot is often visible in the center of the tail. The body is segmented, and features ten sets of legs. The first four sets of legs have tiny claws that aid the shrimp in feeding.

This crustacean is naturally found in freshwater ponds, lakes, and streams in the coastal plain of North America east of the Allegheny Mountains, from Florida to New Jersey. They are most abundant in dense beds of submerged vegetation. This creature is considered a keystone species based on the services it provides to its habitat.

The diet of Ghost Shrimp is dominated by algae, though they are scavengers and consume a wide variety of tiny food items. It is nocturnal, remaining hidden among the vegetation by day, and emerging at night to feed. It is an important prey item for a number of birds and fish.

They are common aquarium pet due to their unique appearance – they also known as Jumpers, Glass Shrimp, Grass Shrimp, Glass Prawns, Hardbacks, Daggerblades and Popcorn Shrimp.

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Lady’s Smock

Posted on August 16, 2024 by tspuckler

While hiking in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, I noticed this small wildflower. It is a perennial herb native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia. It is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens, and has become naturalized in North America as a result of cultivation.

Its other common name, “Cuckoo Flower,” derives from the formation of the plant’s flowers at around the same time as the arrival each Spring of the first Cuckoo Birds in the British Isles.

In the United States it tends to be found in man-made or disturbed habitats, river or stream floodplains, forests, fields, swamps and wetlands. I usually see it growing in partial shade at the edges of meadows.

In British folklore Lady’s Smock is said to be sacred to the fairies, and so it was considered unlucky if it was brought indoors. It was not included in May Day garlands for this reason.

This plant is also known as Meadow Bittercress, Mayflower and Milkmaids.

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Killdeer

Posted on August 9, 2024 by tspuckler

A shorebird you can see without going to the beach, Killdeer are graceful plovers common to lawns, golf courses, athletic fields, and parking lots. I often see them at Canalway Center in Ohio and recently came across babies at the edge of a public park.

Killdeer have the characteristic large, round head, large eye, and short bill this is common to all plovers. They are especially slender and lanky, with a long, pointed tail and long wings.

Widespread and conspicuous, the Killdeer calls its name as it flies over farmland and other open country like fields, airports, lawns, river banks, mudflats, and shores. It is often found on open ground, such as pastures, and large lawns located a great distance from water.

Typically they run a few steps and then pause, then run again, pecking at the ground whenever they spot something edible. They feed on a wide variety of insects, including beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, fly larvae, and many others; they also eats spiders, earthworms, centipedes, crayfish and snails.

Killdeer nests are simple scrapes often placed on slight rises in their open habitats. Killdeer may make several scrapes not far away from each other before choosing one to lay in. This nest duplication may help to confuse predators.

Although the Killdeer is frequently around human habitation, it is often shy, at first running away rather than flying. When a Killdeer stops to look at an intruder, it has a habit of bobbing up and down almost as if it had hiccupped. Killdeer are some of the best-known practitioners of the broken-wing display, an attempt to lure predators away from a nest by feigning injury.

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Large Maple Spanworm Moth

Posted on August 2, 2024 by tspuckler

I’ve come across this cool creature only a few times – most recently one was attracted to our deck light one evening. This insect is of a decent size, with about a two-inch wingspan.

While the adult is a Fall-flying, nocturnal leaf mimic, its caterpillar is cleverly disguised as a twig. The caterpillar does not limit its diet to maple; it’s also found on woody plants like birch, willow, tamarack, aspen, blueberry, cherry, and dogwood, and on herbaceous plants like soybeans, sweet-fern, and members of the geranium family.

Most often seen in September, Large Maple Spanworms Moths are a sign that the days of Summer are numbered. They’re found around woodlots and swamps across southern Canada and the northern half of the United States. Adults are nocturnal, and may rest on the sides of buildings during the day.

Belonging to a group known as Geometrid Moths, geometrid means “earth measurer,” and the caterpillars are fondly nicknamed “inchworms,” “loopers,” and “spanworms” because of their gait.

This moth has a quite cool shape and color to it. It almost looks like a brown leaf, and often the edges of its wings are a little ragged-edged and wavy as well. It’s always neat to come across one!

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Greater Scaup

Posted on July 26, 2024 by tspuckler

While visiting Akron, (OH) I saw a few examples of this duck that is also known as a “Bluebill.” Males have a black breast, medium gray back, white sides, and yellow eyes. Their head appears black with a greenish sheen in good lighting. Females are brown overall, with white patch at base of bill and yellow eyes.

The only circumpolar (situated around or inhabiting one of the earth’s poles) diving duck, the Greater Scaup breeds on the tundra and in the Boreal Forest zones from Iceland across northern Scandinavia, northern Russia, northern Siberia and the western North American Arctic. It is estimated that three-quarters of the North American population breeds in Alaska. These examples were just passing through on their migration route.

The Greater Scaup dives to feed on aquatic plants and animals. In coastal areas, mollusks constitute their principle food. In freshwater habitats, seeds, leaves, stems, roots and tubers of aquatic plants like sedges, pondweeds, Muskgrass, and Wild Celery are important dietary items.

Like other ducks, they can dive completely underwater. Compared to dabbling ducks, their wings are smaller relative to their body weight. To take flight, they flap their wings and run along the surface of the water, patting their feet on the surface, gaining speed and lift until they are airborne.

The word scaup (pronounced “skopp”) may be related to the word scalp, akin to terms in northern European languages that mean “shell” or “shellfish bed”: In some regions, this bird feeds on clams, oysters, and mussels.

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Cucumber Magnolia

Posted on July 19, 2024 by tspuckler

It hard to miss this fine tree that produces 2 to 4 inch slightly-fragrant, greenish-yellow, tulip-like flowers at the twig tips in late Spring. Handsome at close range, they are borne so high on the tree that they are sometimes missed.

Cucumber Magnolia a large forest tree of the Eastern United States and Southern Ontario in Canada that tends to occur singly as scattered specimens, rather than in groves.

Its flower buds and flowers are edible and may have provided a minor food source to First Nations and white settlers.

This tree’s bark is smooth and pale gray on a young tree, becoming brown, deeply furrowed, and ridged on mature trees. One of the fastest-growing Magnolias, Cucumber Magnolia is pyramidal when young but becomes broad, oval or rounded with age, ultimately it can reach 60 to 80 feet in height with a spread of 35 to 60 feet.

Cucumber Magnolia is named for the green, warty, cucumber-shaped fruits that follow the flowers, which turn from green to red and then open to reveal small red seeds in late Summer. This fruit becomes forage for Towhees, other ground-feeding birds and small mammals.

Its foliage of huge, ovate, deep green leaves, up to 10 inches long, has nice yellow-gold Fall color.

These trees cast dense shade, and are beautifully symmetrical making them a park, residential and golf course tree of preference.

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Author Archives: tspuckler

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Rose Gentian

Two-striped Grasshopper

Ringless Honey Mushroom

Ghost Shrimp

Lady’s Smock

Killdeer

Large Maple Spanworm Moth

Greater Scaup

Cucumber Magnolia