Earthstar fungus

A bizarre but strangely showy earthstar fungus, Astraeus spp. (probably A. hygrometricus) graces dry sandy soil in the Oak Openings of northwest Ohio. From my experience these interesting fungi are not very common, and thus always a treat to come across.

Although I've got - as always - an abundance of material, it's been tough to make time to share much of it here. Lots of things going on, including some big new endeavors that are taking much time. More on that stuff later.

Back on October 19, I made an all too rare foray into the biodiverse habitats of the Oak Openings just west of Toledo, Ohio. This expansive sandy region, carpeted with prairies, wetlands, and savannas, is a treasure trove of unusual flora and fauna. I have spent untold hours in this region, but not much time in recent years. Thus, it was great to connect with local natural history enthusiast and fellow blogger Kim Smith and venture into a new addition to The Nature Conservancy's fabled Kitty Todd Preserve. Our main target was the day-flying buck moth, Hemileuca maia, which occurs there in big numbers. There were plenty of distractions along the way, one of the most notable being this cool fungus.

One of the dry, open sand prairies hosted dozens of earthstars, and naturally it was incumbent upon us to stop and admire them, and make some photos. This fungus resembles a starfish, or perhaps a muted ground-dwelling flower clad in tones of ocher. The whitish central disk or ball contains the spores, and the one in this image has already ruptured. The jagged opening in the center of the puffball is where the windborne spores exited en masse.

While the earthstars often grow on barren sand or dirt, they'll sometimes be in or near mosses such as this haircap moss in the genus Polytrichum, which makes for showier photo ops. And we're all about showier photo ops here.

I fear this bit of photographic expression might be getting a bit overplayed but what the heck. Here is the same photo as the previous, but "twirled" using a recipe of various Photoshop trickery. It does look pretty cool if you ask me, but the fungus sans the artistic license probably looks even cooler.

Macro and micro in the Oak Openings

The scene yesterday along Krause Rd, just west of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. We were looking for very distant Upland Sandpipers. At times, the best birding locales were absolute gridlock. That's fun for a while, but I desperately needed a break from the mobs today.

Wild Lupine, Lupinus perennis, paints a sandy oak openings. This rare - for Ohio - member of the pea family is the host plant for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly.

So, it was off to the Oak Openings west of Toledo. These ancient dunes harbor some of the most interesting flora and fauna to be found anywhere in the Great Lakes region. And there are far fewer people.

There are lots of tiny and obscure rarities to be found in the Oak Openings. This is one of them, and it may suggest a dandelion to you. And it is the Dwarf Dandelion, Krigia virginica, a threatened species in Ohio. A lover of open sands, it thrives in the Oak Openings but few other places in this state. A big one might stand a few inches in height, but masses such as above tend to draw even the eye of the botanically disinclined.

While exploring the sandy barrens along Girdham Road, we were whooped at by this Great Crested Flycatcher. These cinnamon, gray, and lemon flycatchers are the only of their ilk to nest in cavities in the eastern U.S. They have the potential for a long life - one banded bird was found again, 14 years later.

I was accompanied by two guys who had never seen a Lark Sparrow, which is one of the rarest breeding birds in Ohio. There are perhaps a few dozen pairs nesting in the Oak Openings, and they represent the easternmost breeding population. Big and showy, Lark Sparrows are relative extroverts in a family of skulkers. We had a pair nearly at our feet, completely ignoring us while they gathered nesting material.

The bird above is surrounded by clumps of a rather rare native grass - Starved Panic Grass, Panicum depauperatum. This is the same genus of grass that gives us millet, and I noticed the sparrows were gobbling its fruit.

I was excited to find this plant, although I suspect few others will be. While poking about on the sparsely vegetated fringes of some dunes, I noticed this tiny "weed" scattered here and there. It is Western Hairy Purslane Speedwell, Veronica peregrina var. xalapensis. Now that's a mouthful for a three-inch tall plant - about 20 syllables between common and scientific name! Ack!

I had never seen this variety before, but remember Dr. Tom Cooperrider mentioning that it should be found in Ohio, years ago. So I've always given a bit more than a casual glance to purslane speedwells, especially in sandy habitats. Variety xalapense is named for Xalapa, Mexico, and is much more common to the west. I don't know its status in Ohio, or what if any prior records might exist.

The typical variety of Purslane Speedwell is ubiquitous and widespread - I'm sure you've stepped on some plants at some point. After hearing an Alder Flycatcher sing while driving another road, we stopped and I noticed a patch of the common form of this speedwell growing in some roadside gravel. Sorry for the less than stellar photo - raging wind gusts - but you can see how smooth it is, quite unlike the copiously hairy variety in the preceding photos.

So, lots of good birds and an interesting new speedwell. Not a bad day.

Oak Openings field trip!

Last Sunday, following the OOS conference, groups of birders radiated out to about ten different sites in the Oak Openings and the western Lake Erie marshes. Sunday dawned cool, sunny, and perfect. Above, the most birders that I have ever seen along Girdham Road in the Oak Openings Metro Park congregate. Their main target is the Lark Sparrows that breed here, but those harlequin-faced seedeaters got trumped when a group of thirteen Red Crossbills dropped into the distant pines along the left side of the road, top of the photo. Not everyone got to see these erratic X-bills, which have been confounding birders in this area for the past three days.

Peter “The Desert Fox” King scans the sand barrens. We could hardly see him, and only when a sharp-eyed birder shouted “Hey! That pile of sand just moved!” did we realize what we had. We then wondered how many other Peter Kings might be concealed amongst the dunes.

As is often the case when I am put in charge of a field trip, it degenerates into a natural history free-for-all. This is an American Copper, and probably the most admired and photographed copper in the world at that particular time.

We were antagonized by Lark Sparrows. Our group had spent a lot of time searching for good views, and was rewarded only with distant scope views of singing males teed up, often partially obscured and in less than stellar lighting.

Then, as we were leaving the dunes after two and a half hours, the sharp-eyed and aforementioned Desert Fox whisper-shouts “Lark Sparrow”! We stopped in our tracks, and two of these beauties came waltzing out into plain view, about 30 feet out on the open sand. Those people with the mega-lenses, such as Dave Lewis, probably got awesome photos. This was a life bird for a number of our crowd, and a state bird for others.

Lest you live in the Great Plains or elsewhere westward and not understand the enthusiasm, Lark Sparrows are very rare in Ohio. We list them as endangered, and the Oak Openings is the only reliable spot one can find them. These birds represent the easternmost breeding population.

A great thing about birding Oak Openings Metro Park is all of the Red-headed Woodpeckers. Family groups are all over, chortling, scolding, and kirring, flashing huge white wing patches and satin scarlet heads. Sometimes, one will sit tight and appear to watch the birders, as this one is. We had wonderful extended scope views of red-heads on a number of occasions.

Right as the trip was nearing conclusion, Andy Jones spotted a Summer Tanager. We had been hearing them all morning, and getting fleeting glimpses, but no great prolonged views. This bird cooperated, and we had him in several scopes and all got superb looks at this bright brick-red bee-eating machine. The group signals their satisfaction, above.

Finally, as if on cue, as everyone was saying their farewells and plotting the next stop, the eagle-eyed Kathy Mock spotted these six Sandhill Cranes high up and far off. They circled closer and closer, putting on quite a show, as they thermaled their way up into the ether. Certainly not expected, and a real treat.

It was another fantastic morning in the Oak Openings, and thanks to all who came out and everyone that made the OOS conference.

Shifting Sands

Last Saturday was International Migratory Bird Day, and it was great. I spent the day at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, along with ten or fifteen thousand other people. A good time by all, and oodles of birds, but I needed some serious solo time after that. So, on Sunday, I went over to the Oak Openings, just west of Toledo to botanize and otherwise explore. The Oak Openings is about 130 square miles of old dunes and beach ridges from a time long ago, when Lake Erie far exceeded its present boundaries. In general, there are more rare plants and animals here than anywhere else in Ohio.

The Ohio Ornithological Society will be holding its 5th annual meeting here on Saturday, and all the details ARE HERE. If you would like to attend, please e-mail me at: ambrosia@columbus.rr.com

The Girdham Road Sand Dunes, part of Oak Openings Metro Park, and one of the coolest slices of classic Oak Openings habitat. This is one of my favorite locales in the state, and it is loaded with interesting flora and fauna. I'll be hanging out here on Sunday, and if you are up for the OOS conference I'll be glad to show you some of the highlights. Among others, Red-headed Woodpecker, Summer Tanager, and Lark Sparrow were singing away as I took this shot.

The Oak Openings is a giant sand box, and nowhere is this more visible than at Girdham Road. These open sands have been shifting about for the last 12,000 years, and most blowouts like this have long been colonized by plants in a process known as vegetative succession.

Here's how the transformation from open sand to oak woods begins. This is the start of a tough plant called Low Sand Sedge, Carex rugosperma. It is one of few species able to get a foothold in hot shifting sands. Note how it grows in the pattern of a concentric ring, growing outward. This growth habitat is essential to the process of ecological succession.

Here we have a somewhat older sedge, and note how it has formed a tussock as sand builds up around the plant. As the core center area of the sedge tussock becomes more stable and protected from the elements, other plants begin to colonize the middle of the sedge plant. In effect, Low Sand Sedge is a vegetable moat staving off the attacking sands, and allowing stability and other growth to occur within the center.

A mature sedge. Doesn't look like much, even though this specimen is in full flower, and fruits have even formed. So obscure is Carex rugosperma that it was completely missed when the first book that attempted to thoroughly cover this segment of Ohio's plants was produced in 1967. Many a botanist had walked right over top of it, probably just thinking the plant was an immature tuft of grass. Rather ironic, given that this species is one of the most important plants in the process of Oak Openings ecological succession, and the Oak Openings are one of Ohio's most significant habitats.

We dive down into the depths of the tussock, and the flowers and fruits of the Low Sand Sedge are revealed. These reproductive parts cannot be seen standing upright; one must get down on hands and knees and part the blades to see what is going on. The purplish column-like structure is the staminate, or male, flowers; the plump greenish scaled part to its right is the perigynia, or fruit. Ants and other ground-crawlers are undoubtedly the vectors for dispersal.

As the Low Sand Sedge ages and expands, various herbs begin to take advantage of the relative stability formed within the concentric ring of sedge. This is one of those herbaceous pioneers, the Dwarf Dandelion, Krigia virginica. A dandelion in name only, it is vastly different than the lawn weed and is listed as threatened in Ohio. Dwarf Dandelion is one of many sand specialists adapted for the Gobi-like conditions of Oak Openings sand barrens.

Eventually, woody plants begin to invade the areas where our sedge began the process of stabilization. The one above is a great rarity in Ohio: Sand Cherry, Prunus pumila var. cuneata, which is state-endangered. There are some nice colonies at Girdham Road, and they are now in fine bloom. These shrubs will eventually succeed to larger woody plants, such as oaks, and then the climax stage of the Oak Openings will have been reached, and interesting sand pioneers such as the sedge will be long gone.

But while the short-lived shrub communities persist, interesting birds abound. The above may be the most coveted of Oak Openings specialty birds, the Lark Sparrow. This male is on territory at Girdham Road, and was flying all about giving his curious whistly buzzy song. Last year, a Clay-colored Sparrow was on territory here.

Once again, if you are interested in our OOS conference, or even wish to take advantage of the room rates that we've secured at the beautiful Holiday Inn-French Quarter, please feel free to contact me.