Red-shouldered Hawk

Posted on February 6, 2016 by tspuckler

Although the Red-tailed Hawk is the most commonly seen raptor in my part of Ohio, I occasionally come across this smaller hawk.

It is rather beautiful, sporting high contrast checkering on its wings, rufous barring on its chest and a boldly banded tail.

Rather than inhabiting open fields, like the Red-tailed Hawk, the Red-shouldered Hawk inhabits bottomland woods, wooded streamsides, swamps. At one time, it was more common than the Red-tailed Hawk, but as forests were cleared, the open areas that resulted were better suited for Red-tails.

This bird usually hunts by watching from a perch, either within forest or in the open, swooping down when it locates prey. Its diet includes includes small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds.

The Red-shouldered Hawk is a dietary generalist, changing its diet to reflect the local or seasonal abundance of different prey species.

This bird builds its nest 20 to 60 feet above the ground in the branches of deciduous trees in wet woodland areas. The nest usually is in a fork about halfway up the trunk and often close to water, such as along a river or stream.

Red-shouldered Hawks are about the size of crows. They show reverse sexual size dimorphism, meaning that females are larger than males.

Its intricate patterns make seeing this bird an enjoyable experience whenever I come across one on a nature hike.

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Longtail Salamander

Posted on January 30, 2016 by tspuckler

One of Ohio’s longest salamanders, the tail of this aptly named animal comprises 60-65% of its total length (up to 9”). They do not live in my part of northeast Ohio, but I have found them while visiting the southern part of the state, as well as in Kentucky. The examples in the photos above and below lost sections of their tails, which grow back, though not as long or with the same color and pattern of the original.

This amphibian can be rather attractive, with a ground color that is usually some shade of yellow or orange, but it may be brownish in some individuals. They feature black spots on their back, sides and legs. The herringbone-like pattern on the tail is the key identifying characteristic to differentiate it from its lookalike – the Cave Salamander.

Streams, springs, seeps, caves, and wet shale banks are the primary habitats for this amphibian. I usually find them under rocks along the banks of creeks.

Females lay between 60 and 110 eggs in the Winter and attach them to the undersides of rocks that are submerged in water. The eggs hatch in 4 to 12 into an aquatic gilled larval stage that inhabit streams until they metamorphose.

Like all salamanders, it is a carnivore. Long-tailed salamanders feed on a wide variety of aquatic and forest-floor dwelling invertebrates such as spiders, flies, mites, ticks, slugs and worms

This is a lungless salamander that breathes through its skin. Like most other lungless salamanders, the home ranges of adults do not typically exceed more than a few dozen square yards.

I always enjoy coming across these colorful, elongated creatures while searching for reptiles and amphibians.

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Red-bellied Woodpecker

Posted on January 23, 2016 by tspuckler

This woodpecker has a black and white zebra-like pattern on its back and a red neck. Males have red on the crowns of their heads, while females do not.

As it name implies, there is a red patch edged with yellow on the belly, but it is often hidden from view as the bird perches or feeds against a tree trunk.

Unlike most birds, Red-bellied Woodpeckers have a zygodactyl toe arrangement. What the heck does that mean, you ask? Answer: Two toes face forward and two face backward. This enables the woodpecker to grasp the bark of tree trunks as it looks for food.

These birds tend to live in old forests with large hardwood trees. Their nests are built in cavities carved into tree trunks.

Red-bellied woodpeckers have been seen playing. They play by flying and dodging around trees as if they were trying to escape a predator.

Male woodpeckers do not sing well, so they use another strategy to appeal to potential mates. In the Spring, woodpeckers are especially attracted to any sound that resonates, including aluminum shed roofs and even the hoods of cars. These birds often utilize man-made objects to get the word out.

They eat a wide variety of fruits, nuts, seeds, berries and tree sap, as well as insects. They are frequent visitors to bird feeders – including mine.

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Spined Micrathena

Posted on January 17, 2016 by tspuckler

If you’ve ever walked through a spider web in the woods, chances are it was a micrathena’s web. As an added “bonus” they tend to make their webs at face level.

This is a small species, about 1/2 inch long, with a chunky abdomen with ten spines on it. The abdomen can vary in color, but is usually it is whitish, yellow, or brownish-black. Only female Spined Micrathenas build webs. Male are about half the size of females. They only have a couple of spines and a much flatter abdomen.

To trap prey, this spider builgs her web between shrubs or small trees, three to seven feet off the ground. Insects that try to fly in between the trees don’t see the web and get caught.

The female Spined Micrathena eats her web each evening and constructs a new web the following morning. I had one that is living in my front yard this past Summer, and she built each web in the same spot.

In the daytime the spider hangs out in the center of her web, with her head pointing down. As soon as she feels the vibrations of prey trapped in her web, she runs to bite it. These spiders are slow and clums and many insects escape before they are caught.

Male Spined Micrathenas don’t build webs, though they do weave a “mating thread.” The male finds a female’s web, and weaves his mating thread onto her web. When he’s ready, he quickly runs out and mates with her. Males often do not survive the encounter.

This is a small, yet very cool spider that I usually enjoy coming across (unless I walk face-first into one of their webs).

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Dwarf American Toad

Posted on January 9, 2016 by tspuckler

I love toads and finding a new type while on a herping adventure is always a thrill. In October, while visiting southern Illinois, I came across a couple of examples of this little gem.

As the name implies, the Dwarf American Toad is rather small – about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches. These creatures are often brick red in color without any distinct pattern. The bumps behind their eyes are called paratoid glands; they produce a foul-smelling, toxic chemical. This keeps some predators from trying to eat these toads.

These amphibians are found in most of the south central region of the United States. They live in habitats ranging from forests, open fields and pastures and even residential areas – as long as the habitat contains leaf litter, sandy or loamy soil for burrowing, moist hiding places, and an abundance of food.

Toads are most often seen and heard in the Spring when they are breeding. They are also seen frequently in the Fall when they look for new places to live and hibernate. They are mostly active at night.

Dwarf American Toad are predators and they eat a lot. Insects, spiders, earthworms, snails, and slugs make up most of their diet, but they will eat just about anything that fits in their mouths. They catch food by lashing out with their sticky tongues to grab prey. If the prey is large, they will use their arms to stuff it into their mouths.

This amphibian’s Latin subspecies name, charlesmithi is in honor of its discoverer, Charles Clinton Smith – an American naturalist and educator in the early 1900s.

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Virginia Pine

Posted on January 3, 2016 by tspuckler

Virginia Pine are small to medium-sized pine trees, growing up to 60 feet. They have long, spreading branches and reddish brown bark.

Their pine cones are small and oval-shaped, up to two-and-a-half inches long; small seeds come from the cones. Their short yellow-green needles are paired and are often twisted.

I have these trees growing in my front and back yard – they don’t fare well in forests, because thay have shallow roots and must have plenty of sun to survive. They eventually get pushed out by larger trees. Because of this, Virginia Pines are good pioneer plants, meaning they are some of the first trees to take over a field.

Virginia Pine seeds are consumed by many birds and small mammals. These animals help spread the seeds by carrying them to new places. These trees are a favorite of woodpeckers, because of the soft wood in older trees.

Another enjoyable aspect of this tree is its easy-to-remember scientific name – Pinus virginiana.

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Central Stoneroller

Posted on December 26, 2015 by tspuckler

After spending a bit of time exploring this creek, a caught a cool fish. The common name for this fish, “central stoneroller,” comes from the behavior of the male excavating a nest by moving gravel with its nose.

These are moderately stout, brownish colored minnows with small eyes and short, rounded fins. The snout is bluntly rounded and projects beyond their nearly horizontal mouth. Their mouth is white.

The Central Stoneroller is found throughout Ohio in moderate to high gradient streams with sand to gravel bottoms. They prefer riffle areas where riffles and pools alternate in rapid succession. Adults range in length from 3 to 5 inches, but they can reach 7 inches and males are generally larger than females.

They feed by scraping algae and and other organic matter from rocks and logs with the spade-like extension of their lower jaw. It is classified as a grazing minnow in its feeding behavior, and large schools of these fish often feed together.

The Central Stoneroller belongs to the Minnow and Carp family of fish. It goes by several other names: Dough Belly, Racehorse Chub, Rotgut Minnow, Steel-backed Chub, Stone Luger, Stoneroller, and Tallow-mouth Minnow.

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Red Squirrel

Posted on December 19, 2015 by tspuckler

The Red Squirrel is a small squirrel (compared to the Gray Squirrel and Fox Squirrel) with reddish to reddish-gray fur on top and a white underside. It has white around its eyes. Its tail is not as long or bushy as the tail of other tree squirrels. In the Summer, the red squirrel may have a black stripe on its sides.

Its curved front claws and powerful hind legs make it a very good climber and jumper. The Red Squirrel can reside in pine, deciduous (trees with leaves) and mixed pine-deciduous forests.

This mammal eats a wide variety of foods including insects, seeds, bark, nuts, fruits, mushrooms and pine cones. In the Autumn it will remove green pine cones from trees and store them in the ground. It also stores nuts and seeds in piles or under logs, at the base of trees and underground.

It doesn’t always find or eat all of the seeds and nuts it has stored. Because of this, the Red Squirrel plays an important role in spreading seeds throughout the forest. This animal also drinks tree sap from maple trees. It bites a tree until the sap flows out and returns to drink it after the water in the sap has evaporated.

The Red Squirrel is very vocal and chatters, growls and screeches. You can usually hear more of these forest creatures than you can see. Its bright eyes, perky disposition and chattering, rattling call add to the “personality” of the forest.

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Northern Map Turtle

Posted on December 12, 2015 by tspuckler

Walking along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath this Summer I encountered a turtle that I had never seen in the wild before. Its Latin species name is geographica and both this and its common name “map turtle,” refer to the markings on the skin and shell.

Part of the difficulty in finding this turtle is that it prefers to live in large rivers and is very wary, diving into the water at the slightest disturbance. It prefers large bodies of water and areas with fallen trees and other debris for basking. These turtles are more often found in rivers than in lakes or ponds.

Northern Map Turtles are more carnivorous than most other water turtles. Adult females have wide heads and broad, flat crushing surfaces in their mouths which they use to feed on molluscs, their primary prey, as well as insects and crayfish.

It is not unusual to see these turtles walking around under the ice, for they are among the very last turtles to go into hibernation – if they go at all – and among the earliest to reappear in spring.

The female of this species attains a shell length of about 10 inches, while the male’s seldom exceeds five inches. These reptiles are found throughout the eastern half of the USA and northward into southern Canada. In addition to being called Map Turtles, they are also known as Sawback Turtles. Whatever you call it, it was awesome to see this reptile in the wild!

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Bald-faced Hornet

Posted on December 5, 2015 by tspuckler

It may be December, but a walk through the woods can still yield insect life, if you are willing to turn a few logs. Earlier in the week I found this hardy creature.

This insect gets the first part of its name from the ivory-white markings on the face. Despite the second part of its name, the Bald-faced Hornet is not a “true” hornet, rather it is a a type of yellowjacket.

Fertilized queens like this one overwinter in protected places such as in hollow trees, rock piles, under bark and in the walls and attics of buildings.

In springtime, she collects cellulose from rotting wood by chewing it. She then adds her saliva and creates a paste to make a papery material with which to construct a football shaped, grey paper-like nest.

The queen creates a few brood cells within the nest and deposits eggs in them and feeds the larvae when they hatch. This Bald-faced Hornet built her nest on my deck in the summer.

Though they don’t have much of a “fan base,” Bald-faced Hornets are considered a beneficial insect because they reduce populations of unwanted insects (including other yellowjackets) and pollinate flowers when they are searching for nectar…and I think they are a cool creature to come across on a December hike.

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Tim Spuckler's Blog

Reptile Ramblings and More

Red-shouldered Hawk

Longtail Salamander

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Spined Micrathena

Dwarf American Toad

Virginia Pine

Central Stoneroller

Red Squirrel

Northern Map Turtle

Bald-faced Hornet