Lake Erie waterfowl

 

The iconic Marblehead Lighthouse, near the eastern end of the Marblehead Peninsula. It is one of the most visited spots on Lake Erie.

On February 18, I traveled to Gates Mills, near Cleveland, to speak to the Cleveland Garden Club. This wonderful group has been in existence for 112 years! My subject was moths/conservation gardening. The temperatures were hardly mothy, though, but we were indoors so who cares.

But after that morning talk, I headed an hour and a half west, to the spot in the image above. A very rare (for Ohio) Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) had been present, and it was off the lighthouse up until about an hour before I arrived. It never reappeared during my time, but I am not a big lister/chaser anymore and have seen hundreds if not thousands of Barrow's Goldeneyes elsewhere, both on the east coast, and Alaska. Seeing it in Ohio would have been nice, but c'est la vie.

As always, click the image to enlarge

I was at least as interested - probably more so - in seeing the scads of waterfowl of at least ten species that had congregated on this part of the lake. It was a bit frosty, as the temps hovered around 12 F, and it was a gusty day with wind chills below zero. After nearly four hours of standing along the shore, I felt a little icy.

Enduring the cold was more than worth it. Perhaps 5,000 ducks were in the general area. In this group, most of the birds are Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria), but Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), Redhead (Aythya americana), Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) and Lesser Scaup (A. affinis) can be seen.

A quintet of drake Redheads wings past, with a hen amongst them and scads of fowl in the background. The toughness of these birds is incredible. Freezing air, strong winds, and water right at the edge of icing up doesn't faze them. In fact, the scores of common goldeneye drakes were busily courting the hens. This behavior is a true harbinger of spring, and if you've not seen goldeneye courting, it is a treat. The amorous drake throws his head back till it touches his tail, while emitting a loud squeaky buzz. Sometimes he'll kick his bright orange feet/legs from the water. There might be a half-dozen guys doing their aquatic break dancing for one hen, the latter of which seems to studiously ignore them (but she's not).

It was interesting to watch the group dynamics. At times, big flocks of ducks would fly/paddle across the water, barely getting airborne, and move a few hundred yards or so. I assume they were trying to stay over schools of fish such as Emerald Shiners (Notropis atherinoides).

A drake Greater Scaup flies over a duck-filled section of Lake Erie. A hen of the same species floats just to his right, and a drake Canvasback dozes in the rear. In the upper lefthand corner is a hen Common Goldeneye. Many Greater and Lesser Scaup were present, and it was a great opportunity to observe their differences. At first, the two scaup are confusingly similar. In flight, the extent of white on the wings is a good field mark, illustrated by this drake in flight. The white wing stripe extends well out into the primary flight feathers, while on the Lesser Scaup the white stripe is limited to the secondary flight feathers - the wing stripe is much shorter and less conspicuous.

The much hardier and more northerly breeding Greater Scaup is in general much scarcer in Ohio, with large numbers only occurring on Lake Erie in winter. During migration, especially in spring, Lesser Scaup can be abundant, and over 100,000 can accumulate on Maumee Bay near Toledo.

It won't be long, and these birds will have pushed on north and west. This was the first truly cold winter that we've had in a few years, and winter waterfowling on Lake Erie was great.

A snowy day

Today was a superbly showy (or snowy) day. About 3-4 inches of sticky snow fell on central Ohio, blanketing everything with a white coat. Shauna and I visited Highbanks Metro Park, just north of Columbus (Ohio), and hiked three miles through the wintry landscape. Photo ops were everywhere, but it was just nice to be out in a real winter, like they should be.

Your narrator leans against some sort of large plant along one of the many miles of trails at Highbanks. Thanks to Shauna for the photo.

The last few winters have been mild, with very little snow and not much in the way of truly cold temperatures. For the next week, lows will be in the mid to low teens (tomorrow night's low is supposed to be 6 F!), and highs from the mid-teens to mid 20's. This winter reverted back to normal winters of not so long ago. I hope this trend returns for future winters.

Coyotes rescued from deplorable captive environment

 

A coyote glances over her shoulder. This animal was rescued from brutal conditions at a fur farm.

This was one of 128 coyotes rescued from an Ashtabula County, Ohio fur farm in late January. Also found at this animal hellscape, called the Grand River Fur Exchange, were 124 red foxes, 88 skunks, 52 "wolves" (wolf hybrids) and lesser numbers of several other species. They were being mined for various musks and urines (used in hunting, as repellents in gardens, and probably other purposes), for furs, and for sales to captive breeders. The coyotes and many others were in cages hardly big enough to turn around in, and often not enough room to stand upright. Numerous dead animals were found during the raid, including a gray fox (listed as a Species of Concern by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Gray fox has declined significantly in recent decades). This was animal cruelty in the extreme. No animal deserves such treatment, and similar operations need ferreted out and shut down. I have heard that many others exist within Ohio.

Fortunately, there are people like Gwen Hoogendoorn, who organized the rescue mission on the heels of law enforcement raiding and shutting down this monstrous operation. She also (with permits, of course) took four of the coyotes to much more capacious housing. I was able to visit these four coyotes the other day and admire the tough survivors. Thanks Gwen and everyone else involved in this rescue operation. There were numerous partners, and I don't know who they all are. Or I'd list them all. But the operation was originally spurred by the Humane Society of the United States, who were tipped to the conditions at the operation. Gwen was tapped for her leadership due to her logistical and organizational abilities, and widespread contacts within the wildlife rehabilitation community. The Ohio Wildlife Center played a role, as did Nature's Nursery and many other individuals and organizations.

Bobcat Talk: Next Saturday at Cedar Bog

 

A Bobcat (Felis rufus) pointedly ignores the photographer. I made this image last October, in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. After a bit, the cat stalked off in the insouciant manner that only a cat can muster.

Shauna Weyrauch, who teaches at Ohio State University's Newark Campus and does research involving Bobcat den sites and is an authority on Ohio's only remaining wild cat (Lynx and Mountain Lion once occurred), will speak on these fascinating felines next Saturday, February 8 at 10 am in the visitor's center at Cedar Bog. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Shauna, along with wildlife photographer Dutch Gordon, recently published a book entitled The Boy and the Bobcat. It's geared towards kids, and I doubt the kid exists who wouldn't be interested in Bobcats. Shauna will have books on hand ($20), and her talk will be of interest to the younger set. Please feel free to bring any kids you have or know.

After the talk, Shauna, myself, and Cedar Bog volunteers will lead a foray around the boardwalk. Cedar Bog is one of Ohio's most remarkable natural resources and is chockful of rare species. Bobcats have been documented there, and though our odds of connecting with one are slim to none, we will see oodles of other interesting stuff. Skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpos foetidus) abounds, and I won't be surprised if some plants are already in flower. Located just south of Urbana, Cedar Bog is easily accessible from Columbus and anywhere else in central Ohio.

Hope to see you there!

 

A female Slightly Musical Conehead (Neoconocephalus exiliscanorus) rests on someone's heavily used field bag. Note her extremely long, sword-like ovipositor. It's not there to stab enemies. She uses it to inject eggs deep into plant tissue where, safely ensconced, they are safer from predators.

The group of katydids known as coneheads (long before Saturday Night Live came up with the skits of the same name) are charismatic, and mostly LOUD. While many of the orthopteran singing insects create quite pleasant songs (by rapidly scraping their wings together), melodious is not a word most would apply to many conehead species. Some of them sound like an electric line that has shorted and is loudly buzzing.

The mildly pejorative "slightly musical" in the case of this species is somewhat justified. While not as abrasive as some other conehead songs, it is not a song that one would put on the same plane as a Baltimore Oriole, or Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Nonetheless, it has a pleasant soft buzzing quality, albeit a tune that could easily be overlooked among the scads of singing insects in late summer and fall.

To hear a Slightly Musical Conehead for yourself, now, visit the Songs of Insects website, RIGHT HERE. This site, and the book that it is based off, are the works of Wil Hershberger and Lang Elliott, two of the most knowledgeable naturalists and best recordists of natural history sounds in North America. The accompanying video at the website linked above features a video of a singing male (only males sing) showing how it rubs its wings together (stridulates) to create its song.

I've been attempting to catch up with archival of images shot over the last year, and this conehead came from a trip to a wonderful new Arc of Appalachia acquisition in the Killbuck Valley region, in Holmes County, Ohio, aptly named Killbuck Swamp. A group of us visited there last August 8 to participate in a bio-blitz of the property. Scads of interesting organisms were found. Seeing the image of this conehead made me long for warmer days. We've gone through what - in modern times - has been a pretty frosty, snowy winter. But the days are getting longer, birds are increasingly singing, and it won't be long at all until the first Skunk-cabbage is blooming.

More sparrows, and a sparrow talk!

 

An American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea) plunders seeds from a Virginia mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) plant this morning. The bird may only weigh 20 grams, but it is tough as nails. It was minus 2 F when I made this shot early on the morning of January 19. We walked a fair bit through a large prairie remnant north of Columbus and saw dozens of tree sparrows. They were unfazed by the frigid temperatures. There was plenty of Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) at this site, and the sparrows were also feasting on that.

The plucky sparrow in the act of plundering seeds from the mountain mint. A major goal of mine is photo-documenting birds interacting with the native plants that they rely on. 

Sparrows are utterly dependent upon plants and are largely vegan for much of the year. I'm giving a talk about sparrows and their ecology at the Midwest Native Plant Society's "Creating Living Landscapes" conference near Dayton, Ohio on March 29. Registration is open and all are welcome. There are a number of other speakers presenting on interesting topics, and it should be a great time. The event website, with full details and registration info, is RIGHT HERE.

Hope to see you there!

Birds eating native plant fruit

 

A gorgeous White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) perches on the leafy stalk of a tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima). This seems to be a great winter for them in Ohio. I've had up to a dozen at once in my backyard and have seen/heard scores of them on nearly every field outing, no matter where. This individual is of the white morph, which in my experience, in this part of the world, is greatly outnumbered by the drabber tan-striped morphs.

In spite of the frigid temperatures of late, the jaunty little sparrows are already tuning up their voices. I hear the mournful whistled songs daily now, even in single digit temps. Lengthening daylight is stimulating the males to hone their voices. I miss them when they return to the north woods to breed.

I should note that when I made this image, in late October in Champaign County, Ohio, several dozen White-throated and White-crowned sparrows were gorging on the seeds of tall goldenrod (often referred to as Canada goldenrod, but that's another story) and various asters. These native plants are a vital source of food for seed-eating birds and should be conserved whenever possible. There are about 37 native goldenrod species in Ohio, and perhaps 46-47 native asters, a number of which are available in the native nursery trade, and any of them are great additions to the yardscape for those interested in spiking biodiversity. Leaves for Wildlife Native Plant Nursery, Scioto Gardens, and Monarch Meadows Native Plant Nursery are good central Ohio sources for native flora.

A White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) feasts on tall goldenrod. It and its comrades were also snacking on the fruit of purple swamp aster (Symphyotrichum puniceum), which is an utterly stunning plant when in bloom.

An American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) plunders seeds from the capsules of a senescent common evening-primrose (Oenothera biennis). This native likely will pop up in your yard with no assistance. If it does, consider yourself fortunate and protect it. This primrose is also alluring to some very cool moths, including the spectacular primrose moth (Schinia florida). Read about that marvelous insect, along with an interesting photo, RIGHT HERE.