Flora-Quest invades Marblehead

It was a perfect time to pair two of my great interests, Flora-Quest and Marblehead, Ohio.

This was our eighth year for Flora-Quest and it was time to change things up.  Coincidentally, May 13th was also the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Marblehead Lakeside, Daisy Preserve.  Perfect timing for a pairing.

Lakeside Daisy Preserve in full bloom on May 13th, 2014.  Photo by Paula Harper

Back in 1988 the rarest flower in the United States- Lakeside Daisy, Tetraneuris herbacea- acquired its own preserve carved out from quarry land.  This seemingly unpretentious yellow daisy is only found naturally occurring in Marblehead/Lakeside Ohio and in Ontario, Canada.  It is a globally rare flower.

Lakeside Daisy was named for the town of Lakeside on the Marblehead Peninsula. Photo by Paula Harper.

For a few short weeks around Mother's (early May) these daisies turn the preserve's rocky ground into a carpet of gold.  Except for some stunted Red Cedar trees, this gravel lot looks more like a place to park than a habitat for unusual botany.

Dick Moseley tells she history of the Lakeside Daisy Preserve. Photo by Paula Harper.

 Flora-Quest gets the most knowledgeable guides to lead our trips, and this year was no exception.  The daisy preserve had three excellent guides: Dick Moseley, retired Director of Ohio Division of Natural Resources.  Allison Cusick is the retired Ohio Heritage Botanist, and Rick Gardner, the current Ohio Heritage Botanist, led our tour.

Guy Denny was prepared to lead trips into real adventure. Photo by Paula Harper

 Guy Denny, past Chief of Division of Natural Areas and Preserves is also one of our guides.  These leaders have a life-time of experience in interpreting naturals areas.  People love to learn from them.

The Monday morning field trip to Meadowbrook Marsh.  Photo by Kevin Joyce.

 We had a botany/ birding trip to Meadowbrook Marsh.  Jason Larson (yellow shirt) and your blogger (coral shirt on right) had more fun than should be legal.  We both like birds and botany, although he probably missed the other "Sunshine Boy," Pete Whan.  Jason and Pete led the popular Flora-Quests to Adams County for several years.

"Miss Paula" Harper brandishing her umbrella. Photo by Cheryl Harner

 Jason steps up to do his guide duties and tells a bit about the American Bladdernut, Staphylea trifolia  growing along the parking lot at Meadowbrook.  It is one of our under utilized, decorative native shrubs. Paula wasn't actually poking him with that umbrella, although the photo does look incriminating!

Allison Cusick gave an excellent program on  "What is an Alvar?"

 Our lunch time meals were a welcome retreat from Monday's rain and Tuesday's heat.   On Monday, Allison Cusick, the retired Ohio Heritage Botanist kept us enthralled with his story-telling ability and tales from Marblehead's glacial impacted topography. He also gave brief accounts and locations of the very few other alvars in the world. So how do the glacially scraped surfaces of an alvar differ from a parking lot? They are likely to have plants, very rare and stunted plants.

Doty Twyford, long time Questor in front of the Marblehead Lighthouse.  Photo by Paula Harper

 Many of our questers ended the workshop at the most photographed location in Ohio: the Marblehead Lighthouse.  Built in 1821 by the Kelley brothers from Sandusky, our longest operating light on Lake Erie is a popular tourist gathering.

Looking out from the rail surrounding  of the beacon.  Photo by Ian Adams.

It was a special occasion to have the lighthouse open for tours, and Ian Adams participated in Flora-Quest by giving photography tips to the eager questers.  The 80 degree weather and bright sunshine made for a welcome surprise in May.

All in all, the event couldn't have been any more fun or successful, and we thank our partners, sponsors and patrons for making Flora-Quest the place to be in May.

Biggest Week Birding and more-

This is the week the "Walleye Capital of the World" becomes the "Warbler Capital of the World." Anyone who is remotely connected to birding in Ohio knows that Magee Marsh in North-west Ohio is the epicenter of bird watching for the first two or three weeks in May. The boardwalk was built thirty-some years ago and has been the pilgrimage trail for birders and photographers alike.

About 4 years ago, Black Swamp Bird Observatory endeavored to make sense of some of the Magee Mayhem by organizing The Biggest Week in American Birding trips beyond Magee.

Large-flowered Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum

 So why would the Weedpicker post a photo of Trilliums to represent this event?  Because first and foremost, birds do not live in a vacuum.  They live in forests and woodlots filled with flowering trees and vegetation.

To really understand birds one should look to understand and appreciate the eco-system in which they dwell. That includes the pretty flowers. This explains why Flora-Quest is proud to be a sponsor of "Biggest Week" and why a Weedpicker (with a birding addiction) loves to help with the field trips.

We want our visitors to take in all of the natural history the North Coast has to offer.

Window on Wildlife at Pearson Park in Oregon, Ohio. 

Pearson Park in nearby Oregon, Ohio is always a favorite stop.  The "Window on Wildlife" gives a up-close view of our favorite spring migrants.  In the early spring, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings enhance the complement of local birds found at these feeders.  It is always an enjoyable and educational stop on our trips.

Clay-colored Sparrow beneath the feeder.

Yesterday our tour was fortunate enough to watch a Clay-colored Sparrow as it fed beneath the bird feeders.  My poor photo includes a photo-bomb by a White-crowned Sparrow (in the foreground), also vying for our attention.

Another group of birders gather outside.

After getting the local news and birding information, another tour driver clued me into a trip highlight: a fox den with young.  Erik Brunkhe and I soon watched as a congo-line of birders looked into a scope trained on three of the most adorable baby fox kits one could imagine.  

Fox kit at Pearson Park

 Apparently, a couple of foxes have been raising kits on this raised mound outside the wildlife viewing area for several years.  Those pipes are the supposed access to the den.  If you visit in person, you can orient yourself with the green electrical box seen in the foreground of the photo.

"Helloo, my mommy left me here with something yummy."

This youngster made quite a display of shaking a muskrat corpse, and brutalizing it upon the ground.  We were so scared. The mighty "hunter" pounced upon the muskrat skin, working up a fury. His mother would have been proud.  

It was mighty good entertainment, even for people who though they were just "birders."

One last look at happy faces...

Another group of perfectly nice birders survived the day with a "Weedpicker" who also looks at plants, trees and mammals, as well as spectacular birds.

We are having a great time at the Warbler Capital of World and I hope you will consider join in on the fun!

Butterflies of Shawnee

 Some of the best of spring butterflies can be found at Shawnee State Park and Forest.  Fortunately, this weekend I got to help lead trips for the 10th Annual OOS Conference with a couple of excellent butterfly experts.

Falcate Orange-tip 

One of our earliest lepidopteran fliers in Ohio, the Falcate Orange-tips can be quite a challenge to photograph.  It usually involves much running and shouting.  We were pretty lucky this day.

Leah beams upon her first Falcate Orange-tip

One young conference attendee, seemed to have a mesmerizing effect on the little bugs.  Leah is a Zane State student of one of our keynote speakers, Scott Albaugh.  She has a real love of butterflies and spent several years monitoring them at The Wilds.

 Dean and Patty look on as leader Troy Shively displays a salamander for the group.  Sam (in green) was ultimately the luckiest guy at the conference, and now a big fan of conservation!  We filled the cooler early morning hours with birding and salamandering, until it was warm enough for the butterflies to fly.

Dave Horn displays his belt net-carry system.

 Dave Reipenhoff and Dave Horn also led this trip.  We were flush with butterflying talent!  Dave Horn is a retired professor OSU entomology professor with degrees from Harvard.  We soon enjoyed some friendly banter about his Ivy League education being far more impressive than my "poison ivy" league degree!

Henry's Elfin

 We found another southern Ohio specialty butterfly, the diminutive Henry's Elfin.  We were able to find a total of ten or more for the tour.  Henry's are what we call "rare but locally-common."  Once you develop a search image for them, one can find them in good numbers, where they occur.  Their host plant is the Eastern Redbud, which was in full bloom for our conference along many forest roads.

Thanks to my fellow guides, we had a great time and amassed a respectable list of both birds and butterflies. Let's not wait ten years before we do it again!

Happy Earth Day!

Greetings Fellow Passengers of Space-ship Earth!

We are traveling on the most beautiful and amazing vehicle in the cosmos.  If you are not already aware of this fact, it is time to look about and see the miracles which surround you, everyday.

Scarlet Wax-cups, unite.  Fungus- rule the world!

 Even before the microscope, men of science knew of the powerful effects created by things we could not even see.  Spores of fungus are barely perceptible to the human eye. Yeast for example, gives us bread and beer; it makes our world a wonderful place! 

Often the tiniest organisms have the most profound impacts!  Virus and bacteria can make or break us. The bite of our smallest- pepper sized- tick can infect man with a disease that can rule his life and ruin his health. The Black Death, bubonic plague, was transmitted by fleas.  A bacteria or virus can wipe out an entire species of trees or people, for that matter.

Trees are living history.

We take for granted our trees.  Yet, they are our historians, telling us of conditions of the land and the people who came before us.  Some lands were tended by native peoples. Consider the prairie remnant at Daughmer Prairie, which is crowned with a grove of burr oaks.  Fire was used to clear the lands, providing new grazing for Bison, and these trees remain to tell that history.  The thick bark of Burr Oaks protected the trees from being consumed by fire. These sentinels remain.

Some mountain top trees tell of 600-1000 years of weather and rocks which twist and stunt their growth.  Some trees, or the lack thereof, tell of man's disregard for ecosystems and his desire to exert his will to profit from the land. Even to the detriment of other humans.  

"This land is our land." Will we continue to frack it, hack it and consume it until it can no longer support our species?  

Rufous Hummingbird is featured on a Google Doodle today.

I would rather join Google and celebrate its diversity in life forms.  I hope you will check out today's Google Doodle and watch the animal life parade.

Veiled Chameleon also appears.

Click on https://www.google.com/ to see the clever show and then treat yourself to the breath taking photos at My Beautiful Earth.  The beauty of this planet is beyond my meager descriptions.  Our diverse ecosystems and biomes, countries and cultures are worth celebrating.

And please remember, there is no Planet- B.

Let's be good neighbors.  We are all in this together.

Respect the plants and animals that were here before us.  Be good stewards of the land.  Pick up after yourself and don't poison your neighbors, friends and family with chemicals.  Earth was a garden of Eden, before man came along.

Spring into Action

Spring teased us with a sneak preview this past weekend, before snow slapped us back to the realities of April.  But even a couple inches of snow and near freezing temps can't diminishing my joy.

A Red Admiral butterfly basks in the sun.

 For I have looked into the eyes of spring, as it came in the form of a butterfly.  
This Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) butterfly is collecting sun rays in order to start the day.  Butterflies, like many insects and reptiles, are exothermic. Most butterflies will not start flying until it is near 50 degrees outside. Frequently, you can find them warming their wings in this fashion on cooler mornings.  They gather heat from the sun.

Trout Lily  in full bloom

The Trout-lilies (Erythronium americanum) were in full bloom at the Highlands of Ohio Sanctuary near Bainbridge, Ohio.  Our spring display of ephemeral flora is generally short lived, and this year will probably be shorter than ever, due a long lasting winter.

Look closely!  Not all pollinators are bees.

"Now" is your opportunity to study the pollinators of these short-lived spring flowers.  It is fascinating to note that most are pollinated by creatures we do not see the rest of the year! Much of our local flora is pollinated by tiny fly-like bees.  Some are pollinated by beetles! If you look closer you will see two beetles* working around the pollen laden stamens of this miniature lily.

* It turns out these beetles are Red-necked False Blister Beetles, Asclera fuficollis. It is more likely they are feeding upon the pollen.  Maybe they do some "collateral pollination" in the process!

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers like insects too.

 We were not the only ones looking for insects.  This yellow-bellied Sapsucker was tending some sap "wells" he had drilled on a Sugar Maple tree.  Insects are also attracted to the sap, where they often become a little "protein side dish" for Mr. Sapsucker.

Dolomite outcroppings festooned with flora.

If you are into outrageous displays of spring ephemerals and rock-covered flowers are your thing, you simply must go here: http://arcofappalachia.org/events/wildflower.html   All spring-starved eyes will be sated in the preserves set aside by the Arc of Appalachia.  If you are not already otherwise engaged this Easter weekend, you may still be able to register for their Wildflower Pilgrimage by calling ahead.  Don't miss the trip to Barret's Rim!

Look deep into the "eye" of this trillium.

This weekend will be prime for Ohio's state wildflower the Large White Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum. The weather should be lovely and the pollinators will be in full force.  How many "new" pollinators can you find?

Please notice there is much more in our forests than "trees."  A healthy forest ecosystem is filled with biodiversity. Forests include everything from salamanders to butterflies, and all the creepy-crawly, buzzing, bumbling pollinators that service our flowers, shrubs and trees.  Where would we be without them? 

Too often our state and national forests are "managed" for the benefit of one species or another; the losers are often the innocent and very essential forces that make life in the forests bloom.  Birds and small mammals feed on caterpillars and countless moths, gnats and beetles round out the Masterpiece Theatre of everyday life and death struggles in the forest.  Generally they don't need us to intercede in their ecosystems. They have been at this a long, long time.

If you have not done so ready, please read my last blog post and consider signing the Sierra Club's form encouraging the state to stop spraying in our forest.  Our much needed pollinators are trying to make a living out there!