Swamp Rose

Posted on July 17, 2026 by tspuckler

While hiking in a marshy area of north-central Ohio in the Springtime, I noticed this a perennial shrub that was just starting to get leaves. I went back to see it again in the Summer. Swamp Rose grows up to seven feet tall and is native to the eastern United States.

This plant occurs along stream banks, in swamps and along marshes. In swamps it is generally found growing on bald cypress knees or exposed downed logs. It grows best in slightly acidic, wet-to-moist soils in partial shade or full sunlight.

Its bright pink flowers are about two inches in diameter and bloom in late Spring through early Summer and attract a variety of pollinators — especially native bees. This shrub also provides thick cover for birds.

Swamp Rose is extremely fragrant and the pink blooms last for six to eight weeks in midseason – generally June through July. Indeed, I have found no other native flower that smells so strong and so pleasant.

The flowers give way to smooth red hips (fruit) that is red and fleshy on the outside with a mass of seeds inside the fruit. The rose hips are eaten by and spread by birds and mammals.

Its leaves are compound and the leaflets (usually 7) are oval-lance-shaped, with finely toothed edges. They are smooth on the surface and slightly hairy along the midrib underneath. They turn bright red in Autumn.

Like most roses, Swamp Rose’s petals and hips can be used to infuse liquids such as syrups or vinegars, and to make wine, tea, jelly or syrup.

This was a cool plant to experience while looking for reptiles and amphibians in a marsh habitat.

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Western Gray Squirrel

Posted on May 23, 2025 by tspuckler

I sometimes see this creature while hiking through wooded areas in California. I often see it in small groups of animals, rather than individuals. The Western Gray Squirrel is the largest tree squirrel native to the Pacific Northwest.

They are steel gray on the back, with contrasting white on the belly and throat, resulting in the name, “Silver Gray Squirrel” in some parts of their range. They are distinguished by their very long and bushy tails that are primarily gray with white-frosted outer edges.

These mammals are forest dwellers. Time on the ground is spent foraging, but they prefer to travel distances from tree to tree. They are strictly diurnal, and feed mainly on seeds and nuts, particularly pine seeds and acorns, though they will also take berries, fungus and insects.

When on alert, they will spread their tails lavishly, creating an umbrella effect that shields them and possibly provides cover from overhead predators. They are scatter-hoarders making numerous caches of food when it is abundant, and thus contribute to the seed dispersion of their food trees.

Like other tree squirrels, the Western Gray Squirrel has hypermobile joints, which means their ankles can rotate 180 degrees. This allows squirrels to descend trees head first. They can also use their rear claws to hold on to the tree trunk in this position, leaving their front paws free to eat.

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By-the-wind-sailor

Posted on February 26, 2021 by tspuckler

While tidepooling on the California coast, I came across these strange looking creatures. At fist I didn’t think that they were organisms at all, but rather pieces of plastic.

It is a free-floating hydrozoan that lives on the surface of the open ocean. Each apparent individual is a hydroid colony and most are less than three inches long.

Though their deep blue color is eye-catching, their most obvious feature is a small stiff sail that catches the wind and propels them over the surface of the sea. They catch their prey (generally plankton) using tentacles that hang down in the water and bear stinging cells.

These creatures typically live far offshore in open ocean waters and their little sails help distribute them using the force of the wind. However, because they sail only downwind or at a slight angle to the wind, they are often blown ashore in very high numbers, with millions piling onto beaches in drift rows.

There are two forms of By-the-wind-sailors. California specimens have a sail which is angled to the right of the main axis. This means that as the wind pushes it along, the creature tacks as much as 60 degrees to the right of the true wind direction. California’s predominant wind is from the northwest, therefore these animals are usually kept offshore.

The other form of By-the-wind-sailor has a sail angled to the left of the main axis. Not surprisingly these animals are found on the other side of the ocean – Japan, Korea and Siberia. Here the sail functions in the same way – it keeps the animal offshore and therefore safe from being stranded.

Each By-the-wind-sailor is a colony of all-male or all-female individuals (called polyps), which are divided into separate groups within the colony. Some polyps specialize in feeding and reproduction, while others protect the colony and provide structural support.

All polyps of an individual By-the-wind-sailor are connected by a canal system that distributes food and eliminates wastes. Even though they are very common and distributed throughout the oceans of the world, very little is known about the details of their life.

This was indeed one of the coolest creatures that I found on my visit to the Golden State. These animals may be alternately known as Sea Rafts, Purple Sails and Little Sails.

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Wandering Broadhead Planarian

Posted on February 12, 2021 by tspuckler

It’s not very often that I come across these very cool creatures, but I did recently while flipping rocks along a creek. Land Planarians are a type of flatworm that have about 1,000 different species living worldwide. The Wandering Broadhead Planarians are identified as flat, yellow and with a dark stripe down the middle of their backs. They are quite slimy, like a slug. Apparently the slime helps them move as well as maintain internal moisture levels.

Wandering Broadhead Planarians are nocturnal predators that feed on slugs, snails, pillbugs, millipedes, spiders and earthworms. They use chemical signals that are produced in folds of their skin to detect prey. When a land planarian feeds, it slimes over top of potential prey, attaches its mouth opening and vomits digestive juices, liquifying its food. Then it sucks up the soupy nutrients.

Like many other flatworms, they are able to reproduce either sexually or asexually. Sexual reproduction culminates in eggs being placed in cocoons that hatch in three weeks. A single planarian will, every couple of weeks or so, attach its tail to a rock or some other immoveable object and slime away, tearing its tail from its torso. A new tail grows from the wound, as we might expect of a flatworm. The tail segment left behind, however, grows a new torso and head within 10 days.

I often think of these strange creatures as being in the tropics and although I found these on a chilly Ohio day, they are indigenous to Southeast Asia. In the United States, they were first encountered in 1943 in Westchester County, New York. Since that time, and despite the disparity in climate between the USA and Southeast Asia, they have spread practically from coast to coast.

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Blushing Rosette

Posted on September 25, 2020 by tspuckler

Sometimes you can find crazy things in your backyard – all you have to do is look. This week I can across this strange organism.

Abortiporus biennis is a true oddball – a gnarled, messy-looking mass of irregular white pores that exude a reddish juice and bruise reddish brown. There is hardly a cap or a stem to speak of, and as it grows it engulfs sticks and blades of grass.

This gnarled form of this species is sometimes given the separate species name of “Abortiporus distortus;” it is apparently the most commonly encountered form of the species, though it does have a more normal looking variety with an identifiable cap and stem

This ground-dwelling polypore often puzzles collectors with its mixture of “normal” shelving clusters and “aberrant” cauliflower-like fruiting bodies.

Despite the common name “Blushing Rosette,” which refers to the hues seen in many fruiting bodies, the color is actually quite variable, ranging from cream, reddish, ochre, to brown.

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Aggregating Anemone

Posted on February 16, 2019 by tspuckler

This organism was quite abundant and frequently seen on my quest for Pacific Ocean tidepool creatures.

Their green color comes from an endosymbiotic (living within the anemone mutually benefiting both organisms), photosynthetic algae in their tentacles and body.

The tentacles can be retracted inside the body cavity or expanded to catch passing prey. When not submerged in the water, they pretty much look like blobs covered with fragments of shells from things they’ve eaten.

Aggregating Anemones catch prey that comes within reach of their tentacles and immobilize it with the aid of their venom-filled stinging cells within their tentacles.

The tentacles are triggered by the slightest touch, firing a harpoon-like filament into their victim and injecting a paralyzing neurotoxin. The prey is then transported to the anemone’s mouth and engulfed.

Despite the potency of its venom to its prey, sea anemones are harmless to humans. I stuck my finger near this one and it wrapped around it, trying to pull my finger into its mouth!

The closest relatives of these amazing creatures are jellyfish and corals. This was a fun animal to make an acquaintance with on my trip to California.

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