Hellbenders and Hemlocks- Flora-Quest 2015

Flora-Quest is still a major topic in my conversations... mostly folks asking, "How did it go?"

Honestly, all the Flora-Quests in the last 9 years have been amazing, informative and fun, but this year's was almost magical.  Whether the  good fairy of ecology put us under a spell or we just had the precisely the right combination of people, presenters and places to go, the results were superlative.

Greg Lipps studies a "first capture" Hellbender. Photo by Jeff Belth

Seriously, it is a no brainer that getting Greg Lipps involved in any program means it will be informative and fun.  He is Ohio's #1 cheerleader and head scientist for all things amphibian (and reptilian.) He said he couldn't promise he would find Hellbenders, but instead he found two.

The aquatic team returns victorious. Photo by Jeff Belth.

Both aquatic teams had a session in the field with Lipps and Josh Dyer and a second session with Semroc and Rosche, the dragonflies experts from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Needless to say these folks couldn't have been flying any higher with their successes in the field.  The guides' ultimate goal was to convey an understanding of how Hellbenders and dragonfly larva are bio indicators,  creatures which monitor water quality in our rivers and streams.

The Clear Fork State Nature Preserve hike. Photo Michelle Goodman.

It is the flora of Mohican that makes all the difference: trees protect watersheds. The giant old-growth trees (some of them 300 year old!) in the Clear Fork Nature Preserve survived all those "bad old days" of deforestation and erosion.  Those were the days before the 1940's and the Civil Conservation Corps,  a government program set people to work during the depression, restoring the lands denuded by poor farming and forestry practices.

Cheryl Vargas, Chris Riley and Mary Lee Minor study the forest floor. Photo Michelle Goodman.

Steve McKee opened Flora-Quest with a program that discussed the uniqueness of the Mohican forest and its history of development, deforestation, reclamation and the ongoing efforts to protect Mohican from poor industrial practices and timbering.  Much of the story can be found in the excellent short video (15 minutes)featured during Steve's progam:  Mohican: The Long View.  

Mohican still has much to offer for nature lovers, and should be preserved for the Hemlock Forests, pine plantations, unusual breeding bird populations, mammals and all of the biota which occurs here.

Mohican's Little Lyons Fall of the Appalachia to Canada tour.  Photo by Mark Dilley

The best waterfalls in the area were featured on two tours: Appalachia to Canada and The Waterfall Tour.  The Little Lyons Falls is likely the most hiked trail in all of Mohican.  People love to see this well-known site, but our guides were able to show the lesser known botany and bugs on the trip in and out.

The Barn at Malabar served us well. Photo by Ed Lux

The second day of Flora-Quest convened at Malabar Farm State Park.  We gathered in the barn and split into groups for tours of the Big House, the Farm, the Doris Duke Woods and the wetlands at Junglebrook Trail.

Jim Berry speaks of the Bromfield family in the cemetery at Malabar. Photo by Ed Lux

We had the good fortune to have Bromfield historian and past Malabar Farm manager Jim Berry as a Flora-Quest guide.  Jim is recently retired from the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in New York. He is  an expert birder and excellent botanist and his love for the workings of Malabar Farm is well-known.

Steve McKee orients his Doris Duke Woods group on the steps to the Big House.  Photo Ed Lux

The Doris Duke connection to Malabar is a lesser-known story, but one of great interest.  In fact, Steve McKee's brother, Tim McKee, made a lovely short video about the woods and Bromfield.  You can find that story here:  The Woods at Malabar.

The Junglebrook wetlands in bloom. Photo by Mark Dilley

The little known Junglebrook wetlands at Malabar was one of our attendees' favorite sites. It was an explosion of floristic color and featured a wealth of Ohio's wetland experts and naturalists: Mark Dilley, Jim McCormac, Lisa Rainsong, Larry Rosche and Judy Semroc!  Everyone found something of interest on this trip.  I even learned later that a few individuals sneaked back for a second tour!

Thank you again to all the fabulous Flora-Quest guides and our patrons.  YOU made it magical by your attendance and participation.  Thank you, too, for all the wonderful photos provided to me by our talented attendees! It is said a picture is worth a thousand words- and what a story that first photo tells.

Let me leave you with one important thought: our watersheds matter.  Let us not be doomed to repeat past mistakes of poor farming practices and short-sighted forest management.  Let us cherish the surviving natural areas we have and reclaim more areas for nature, for the health of our watersheds and for future generations.

To learn more about the Hellbender- click on this link below to see an incredible video by the US Forest Service on their efforts to protect this prehistoric animal. It was the one featured by Greg Lipps in his program for Flora-Quest 2015.

OOS Conference in Shawnee

There was no limit to the good times being had in Shawnee State Park and Forest during the Ohio Ornithological Society's 11th Annual Conference.  It was cool and often cloudy, but our spirits were not dampened.

Birding at Picnic Point, with leader Tim Colborn (left, in blue) with conference speaker
Lisa Rainsong next to him. Marilyn and Michael Shade, and Dwayne are warbler watching.

Tim Colborn was the bird leader on our field trip, Birds and Butterflies. Tim expertly led us though the low lands and forest, accruing a decent bird list in spite of some overcast and occasionally downright wet weather.  

Female Purple Finch vocalizing against a gray sky of doom.

We had some great looks at a Worm-eating warbler and this female Purple Finch who was vocalizing from an elm tree.  She was burbling her little heart away and  might have been mistaken for a young male- due to all of that song.  But fortunately for our group, Wil Hershberger was along and knew exactly who we were dealing with.  In fact, he was somewhat impressed by the efforts of this female.

Clusters of Slippery Elm seeds.

Our group was wondering what type of tree that finch was perched in.  Those nearly floral-like seeds were throwing me for a loop.  They looked to be an elm, but quite unlike the American Elms with which I have a familiarity.  

Daniel Boone (yep, he is related to the one-and-only) and Andrew Lane Gibson set me straight. The Slippery Elm, sometimes called Red Elm,  Ulmus rubra has very robust seed grouped in large clusters. Thanks to that Purple Finch, we gained a botany lesson as well!

Wil Hershberger, walking toward us in camo.  Can you see him?

This is a good time to explain that author, Wil Hershberger, was our conference keynote speaker.  He gave an amazing program on the songs of birds and his recordings were a joy to hear. His expertise in the field of sound recording is undeniable and his field knowledge: encyclopedic.

Lisa Rainsong also spoke on bird song during the break out sessions of the conference.  She was amazing as usual, and the other offering was Andrew Gibson's program on Orchids.  Being the weedpicker that I am, it was my privilege to introduce Andrew's program and see his gorgeous orchid photos. 

The late afternoon speaker was the OOS' past-president, Jim McCormac.  He delighted the audience with photos of birds and all other manner of nature.  He taught us quite a few tips, which should improve our photos from the field.

Weedpicker, Cheryl Harner holds a Tiger Swallowtail

We heard and saw a myriad of singing birds, but butterflies were a little harder to produce.  The temperatures were downright unfriendly to them, as lepidoptera are flightless under 50 or so degrees.

However, one sharp eyed member of our group found this Tiger Swallowtail going for a swim in a mud-puddle.  She thought it was dead, until the temperature of her hands warm the poor fellow's body temperature.  Once it started to crawl around a bit it was passed off to me. Our group showed proper admiration for its stamina.  After our close inspection he was safely retired to a nearby hemlock tree.

Using the binoculars to magnify caterpillars.

 Although we were near skunked on butterflies, both days we were able to get good views of Eastern tent caterpillars.  The pre-moth life forms live communally in a white, sticky "tent" and tend to specialize on wild cherry trees.  Viewing them though a reversed binocular allowed our folks to see the stiff hairs which make them unpalatable to most birds.  However, the Baltimore Oriole and both Cuckoo species are known to whack them about to remove the hairs before eating them. So even our lepidopteran studies were placed into a birding context.

The streams of Shawnee were lined with blooming Redbud, Cercis canadensis.

The beauty of Shawnee is startling, with picturesque natural stream-beds where nature abounds.  Yet it is a fragile ecosystem which deserves our concern and protection.  It is subject to invasive plants, insect and even bird species when the canopy of the forest is pried open by man. Subtle changes in road maintenance, forestry practices and mowing have profound results on the land.  Most of those results are negative, like erosion, siltation of streams and reduction of biodiversity.  Our treatment of this very special land should be gentle. We will want to leave something beautiful for our children, and their children to visit as spring unfolds in the decades and centuries to come.

These babbling brooks with flowering banks, the morning song of birds and the flight of colorful butterflies should make us reflect upon the honor endowed to our species.  We were given the ability to care for this land. 

Let us not disappoint.

Not just another pretty Bobolink

This is not just another pretty Bobolink.  Much more than a grassland bird, this is also a symbol of conservation in Ashland County. Once we reveled in the sighting of a few Bobolinks at Byers Woods; now we enjoy a cacophony of the males' burbling song. As many as fifty bobolinks were recently seen fluttering above their grassland gals on the methane mountain* at Byers Woods.

* This grassland is a result of capped landfill mound.

A Bobolinks at Byers Woods....photo by Lisa Rainsong.

Bobolinks at Byers Woods is a little festival the Greater Mohican Audubon Society has been putting on since 2006.  It is a successful blending of teamwork, conservation, education, tourism and a whole lotta fun.  Most of all it is a success story.  Byers Woods is a landfill which has been re-purposed into an Ashland County Park which holds an abundance of wildlife.

Bluebirds tending young in the nest.

Byers Woods is not just for Bobolinks! There are plenty of close-up looks at other birds tending their young.  Many locals go to Byers to look at wildflowers, walk their dogs, or to visit the ponds, and they undoubtedly encounter something new on every visit!

Jim McCormac's group celebrates great looks at a rarity. (photo provided by Jim)

The Bobolink festival increases the odds for nature interaction by providing -at no charge- some of the the best bird guides in Ohio. Jim McCormac is legend for his hearing ability, and no doubt his keen ears led this group to the rare Black-billed Cuckoo hiding out at Byers Woods.

 

Later that morning, Jim regrouped for a second trip, specializing in butterflies and dragonflies.

Jim shared an up close and personal look at a dragonfly. (Photo by Irv Oslin)

Jim is one of Ohio best known and experienced trip leaders. We appreciate all he has done to promote this park from its earliest days, and his willingness to participate at our festival. Jim was the keynote speaker at the very first one.

 

Tim Leslie of the Ashland County Park District (Photo Irv Oslin) 

Plently of Ashland County Park District (ACPD) folks helped too, like trip leader Tim Leslie and Kolleen Crall who made crafts with kids.  The ACPD provides food service, parking help, and tables for the vendors.

I wish I had a photo of all the vendors and displays, as it was wonderful. (You'll notice most of these photo were sent to me; I only had time to snap a few on my phone.)  Bianca Davis handed all the educational displays and vendors this  year, and she and her son Derrick did a magnificent job.  They were the first ones there in the morning and the last Audubon members left folding tents and cleaning up long after the party was over.  A VERY SPECIAL thanks goes out to them!  

Weedpicker Cheryl points out butterflies with Lisa Rainsong. (Photo Irv Oslin)

Music professor, Lisa Rainsong, led our first "Bird Song" trip for this festival.  There have been rave reviews on her abilities as a leader and guide.  Greg Miller and Su Snyder also helped people find Bobolinks  in their spotting scopes.  We appreciate their volunteering as well.

Sure, it is all fun and guides now, but the fact remains, this little festival is a conservation effort in progress.   In the early days, Bobolinks were dying on this field during the annual early summer mowings.  Our efforts to educate the public and raise awareness have resulted in pseudo-sanctuary for grassland birds.  This is why it is important that the Bobolink festival remains free and open to the public.  But to run a festival like this -with tents, banners and top quality leaders- it does take money.   

Fortunately, some folks cared enough about grassland birds to help us raise some funds for the effort.

Michelle Goodman and Cheryl Harner with  Michael Godfrey, videographer from Virginia.
Photo by Randy Harner

Michael Godfrey was gracious enough to show a video and lead a discussion on conservation and climate change and its impact on grassland birds. The audience was charmed by his narrative which included photos from his farm in Virginia.  This special benefit program helped Greater Mohican Audubon Society raise funds to continue our educational efforts at Byers Woods.

Participants enjoyed the benefit held at Gorman Nature Center.

 Thanks to those to joined us for a casual evening and contributed generously to the cause.  We would like to especially acknowledge the support of Ohio Ornithological Society, Black Swamp Bird Conservancy and the North Central Ohio Land Trust.  Your generous support has helped us take this festival to the next level.

New Guest Leader at Byers Woods!

We are introducing a new guest leader at Byers Woods!

Each year we feature special speakers and have big name guides Like Greg Miller and Jim McCormac at the Bobolinks at Byers Woods bird Festival.  If you have been living under a rock and haven't heard about it yet,  here's the plan:

Something altogether new this year is the addition of a Bird-song walk led by Lisa Rainsong, a very talented music professor.  

Lisa Rainsong listens to birds.

Join Lisa  at Bobolinks at Byers Woods Festival for a 10:00 interpretive walk focusing on bird song. And to get you warmed up for the adventure, go to her blog page Listening in Nature  to read her fascinating findings on our feathered friends, the Bobolinks.

For general information and maps go to the Greater Mohican Audubon Society web page and "Events" link.  Hope to see you there!

Right now, I have to go chase butterflies at Mothapaloosa!