Autumn Meadowhawk

Posted on November 8, 2015 by tspuckler

Even though it’s November, I’m still seeing a fair number of dragonflies when I go hiking. Most are Autumn Meadowhawks. Their common name refers to the late flight season of this species. This insect lives in a variety of habitats, including marshes, bogs, ponds, lakes and slow-moving streams.

These are small to medium-sized skimmer dragonflies, known as darters in the UK and as meadowhawks in the North America. Dragonflies are expert fliers. They can fly straight up and down, hover like a helicopter and even mate in mid-air. Dragonflies catch their insect prey by grabbing it with their feet.

Nearly all of the dragonfly’s head is made up of its eyes, so they have incredible vision that encompasses almost every angle, except right behind them. Each compound eye contains as many as 30,000 lenses. A dragonfly uses about 80% of its brain to process all this visual information.

At this time of year when insect life if nowhere near as plentiful as it was a few months ago, seeing one of these brightly colored creatures is a welcome encounter.

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Golden Mouse

Posted on October 31, 2015 by tspuckler

While hiking on Snake Road in southern Illinois a few weeks ago, I came across a couple of examples of this very interesting mammal. These small, golden rodents are adapted to, and occur chiefly in, forested areas. Tangles of trees, vines, and brush seem to be a preferred habitat. They are rarely encountered in or near human habitations.

Unlike most mice, the Golden Mouse is semi-arboreal. Its semi-prehensile tail helps balance and stabilize it. As the mouse travels along vines and branches, the tail is used for balance. When the mouse pauses, the tail encircles the branch or vine.

They build nests and feeding platforms above ground in understory trees and shrubs. Young are born in nests that usually are a few inches to 15 ft above ground in bushes and vines.

Insects and spiders make of about half their diet. They also eat a variety of seeds including Sumac, Wild Cherry, Dogwood, Greenbriar, Poison Ivy and Blackberry.

This species occurs in the southeastern United States and I have never encountered one before. Coming across these cool creatures was an unexpected surprise.

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Black Cherry

Posted on October 25, 2015 by tspuckler

This is the largest of the native cherries and the only one of commercial value, it is found throughout the Eastern United States – including my backyard. Black Cherry is an aromatic tree; its crushed foliage and bark have distinctive cherry-like odor and bitter taste, owing to the same cyanide-forming toxic compounds found in the wood and leaves.

Its valuable wood is used particularly for furniture, paneling, professional and scientific instruments, handles and toys. The sweet-smelling inner bark of the Black Cherry Tree is used to make black cherry syrup, often an ingredient in commercial cough medicines.

This was one of the first New World trees introduced into English gardens, it was recorded as early as 1629 in Europe. Black Cherry is valued for its ornamental features, specifically its cherry blossoms. The tart fruit of the black cherry tree is an important source of nutrition for many animals and the leaves are eaten by several species of caterpillars.

The bark of young trees is smooth and reddish-brown, maturing to an interesting scaly texture.

It’s hard to imagine a tree that has more to offer than Black Cherry!

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Wheel Bug

Posted on October 17, 2015 by tspuckler

Walking near the Cache River in southern Illinois, I came across this awesome insect. The Wheel Bug is one of the largest terrestrial true bugs in North America, being up to 1-1/2 inches in length. It features a wheel-shaped structure on its back; this is the only insect species in the United States with such a crest.

A type of Assassin Bug, Wheel Bugs are predators upon soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, which they pierce with their beak to inject salivary fluids that dissolve soft tissue. Because most of their prey are pests, wheel bugs are considered as beneficial to man. They are also known for eating Stink Bugs.

These insects are common in eastern North America, although most residents where they live have never seen them. Wheel Bugs are well-camouflaged and very shy, hiding in leafy habitat whenever possible. They have wings which allow for clumsy, noisy flight.

Once you see a Wheel Bug, you are not likely to forget it. Not only is it the largest member of Assassin Bugs, their bizarre appearance makes quite an impression. It was very cool to come across this terror of the insect world, which I’ve only seen once before.

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Northern Copperhead

Posted on October 10, 2015 by tspuckler

This snake averages to 24-36 inches in length and has an hourglass pattern that runs the length of its body. This reptile is well-named named, because of its distinctive feature of a copper or bronze-colored top and sides of the head.

It’s coloration and pattern act as camouflage, as tan, brown and rust-colored bands allow the Northern Copperhead to disappear easily into dried up, fallen leaves, sticks and limbs.

Typically, these snakes use rock outcrops or rocky areas with talus slopes for cover, feeding and as entrance ways to subterranean hibernating quarters. They have a wide range in their diet, which includes small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and even insects.

Northern Copperheads give birth to live babies. Young copperheads are more grayish in color than adults and possess bright yellow or greenish yellow tail tips, which arer used to lure prey. The Northern Copperhead is a venomous snake, though is relatively mild and its bite is rarely fatal to humans.

Like rattlesnakes and water moccasins, copperheads are pit vipers. Pit vipers have heat-sensory pits between eye and nostril on each side of head, which are able to detect minute differences in temperature, so that the snake can accurately strike the source of heat, which is often potential prey.

It’s always a thrill to come across one of these beautiful and well-camoflauged snakes when out herping. Last weekend I saw two while visiting southern Illinois, and they were welcome finds

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Bird-voiced Treefrog

Posted on October 3, 2015 by tspuckler

Bird-voiced Treefrogs inhabit wooded swamplands of the south, where they can be heard calling during spring and summer. I have found several on my current trip to southern Illinois.

This is a small species growing to 1-1/8 inches to 1-3/4 inches long. It is usually has a dark, irregular pattern and a pale grey or brown on its dorsal surface, but its color changes with the temperature and its level of activity, and may it sometimes be pale green.

The Bird-voiced Treefrog is found over much of the southeastern United States. Its favored habitat is wooded swamps near streams and rivers. It blends in very well with the tree trunks where it usually hangs out.

They have large toe pads with adhesive, or sticky, disks on the tips of their toes. They allso have bright “flash colors” on their thighs (which are hidden when the frog is at rest) to visually confuse predators.

They are a highly arboreal species, climbing high into tree and are opportunistic feeders. Their diet consists mainly of spiders and small insects. They are nocturnal and forage for food primarily in trees at night time.

The Bird-voiced Treefrog’s call is a series of piping, bird-like whistles, which occur in rapid succession. This frog is listed as “threatened” in Illinois, where I found the examples in this blog post.

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Pandora Sphinx Moth

Posted on September 26, 2015 by tspuckler

While on a hike several weeks ago, I came across this cool caterpillar. It’s the larva of a Pandora Sphinx, a type of Hawk Moth. These large caterpillars feed on the leaves of Grape and Virginia Creeper.

This caterpillar is known to retract its first two body segments, the first being its head, into the third segment when disturbed.

The Hawk Moths are also referred to as Sphinx Moths because the large caterpillars of most species often rear up their front ends in mock defense when disturbed, resembling a “Sphinx.”

I took the caterpillar home and fed it grape leaves from my backyard. Eventually is turned into the this pupa and buried itself in the dirt at the bottom of its terrarium.

After several weeks of patiently waiting, the adult moth emerged.

As an adult, like many Hawk Moths, the Pandora Sphinx can be seen at night hovering about flowers in the tobacco family. It was awesome to encounter this crazy looking caterpillar and see it transform.

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Fowler’s Toad

Posted on September 20, 2015 by tspuckler

This toad looks similar to the American Toad, though it is slightly smaller and has several subtle distinguishing features. The easiest way to identify it is that it has three or more warts within each dark spot on its back.

I have almost always found this amphibian in sandy habitats, such as woodlands, meadows, prairies, sand dunes and lake shores. It prefers areas with loose soil that it can easily burrow into. Its skin is warty and bumpy. Toads have two kidney-shaped, raised parotid glands just behind their eyes that contain toxins. This is how these relatively slow-moving creatures prevent themselves from being eaten by predators.

Toads have big appetites and are considered to be beneficial to man, as they use their long tongues to snap up insects and other invertebrates. Fowler’s Toads are solitary, except when they congregate in shallow pools to breed in the spring. Their call is not as melodious as the trill of the American Toad; the Fowler Toad’s song sounds more like a buzzy quack.

I find this amphibian more often in other states than in my home state of Ohio, and I always enjoys coming across it in the wild.

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Pickerelweed

Posted on September 12, 2015 by tspuckler

Pickerelweed is an aquatic plant which grows to about two feet tall. It can be found growing shallow freshwater, such as marshes, pond edges, lakes, and streamsides. The leaves of this plant are large and heart-shaped, growing up to 10 inches long.

This plant is most often recognized by its beautiful flowers. Pickerelweed has large spikes with clusters of violet-blue flowers. Each flower is small, less than half an inch wide. It has a small yellow spot on one petal.

The nectar from their flowers attracts many insects, including bees and butterflies. Pickerelweed blooms mainly in late Summer and early Autumn. Bees and other insects pollinate the flowers. After a flower has been pollinated, it dies and a fruit grows.

The each fruit contains a seed. The seeds serve as a food source for ducks and muskrats. The leaves of this plant are eaten by Muskrat, White-tailed Deer and waterfowl.

The parts of the plant that are underwater provide habitat for tiny water creatures. Pickerel Weed is utilized by humans too, as a landscaping plant in water gardens.

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Fantail Darter

Posted on September 5, 2015 by tspuckler

Fantail darters have a long, slender body shape with a rounded tail. They have a straight-forward pointing mouth and pointed snout. Unlike some other Ohio darters, they have no bright colors on their body, only shades of brown.

These fish Fantail darters are well distributed throughout Ohio. They are most abundant in medium to small streams in the range of 20-40 feet wide. They are found in slower riffles or pools under flat slabs of rock. I often see them in Chippewa Creek in Brecksville Reservation.

The Darter Family has the second largest number of species of freshwater fishes in North America (only the minnow family has more species). Currently there are about 165 species of darters known and all reside in North America.

Fantail Darters are rather tolerant of pollution and turbid muddy waters and are usually the last darter species to disappear from badly polluted streams. Depending on the size of the specific darter, they can eat anything from tiny insects to larger insects and larva.

Darters usually rest on the bottom. When disturbed, they dart away quickly to a hiding place, which accounts for their common name.

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Tim Spuckler's Blog

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Author Archives: tspuckler

Autumn Meadowhawk

Golden Mouse

Black Cherry

Wheel Bug

Northern Copperhead

Bird-voiced Treefrog

Pandora Sphinx Moth

Fowler’s Toad

Pickerelweed

Fantail Darter