OUT!! #23: Turtle Crossing

After my visit to Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware, I got to see Eastern Mud Turtles (Kinosternon subrubrum) for the first time ^_^.

Here's a sample of the photos I took during my afternoon there.

My guess is that they were migrating to breeding areas or maybe to better feeding areas. Very cool to see though. Sorry about not posting yesterday. I was really beat from two hours of driving, along with all the sun I got to experience after a long winter/spring's cold. When you've felt nothing but chills for a few weeks and then suddenly it's warm, it takes some adjustment. Hope you all have a lovely week. ^_^

OUT!! #22: That's not a Penny!

After returning from doing laundry this evening (having neglected it this weekend), I stopped for a bit to listen to the Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) outside the house. The chorus of chirrups and peeps can be heard for quite a distance and I'm certain there were hundreds of them chorusing for mates in the wet patches in the darkness beyond. As I walked inside I pondered what I was going to do for a blog posting here for this week. Being midweek, I wanted something easy to do that would pertain to the message of the blog, but substantive enough that it would be worth reading. I actually considered using the peepers as my inspiration for this week's blog posting, but what I experienced next would provide the basis for it instead.

As I entered the house and headed to my room, nothing unusual occurred. The same can be said when I opened my top drawer to open my coin/keepsake box that had my loose change rolling around in it. I had a large collection of quarters in my sweater pouch that I'd exchanged while at the laundromat and was eager to deposit them in their rightful place in the box at bottom of the drawer. However, as I lifted the lid, disaster struck. Having not been secured properly the last time I had closed it, the lid flew open sending a tide of pennies and nickels to the bottom corner of the drawer. I cursed as about 30 or so accumulated there and frustrated at this problem, began to hastily clear them up.

Out of the corner of my eye however, I noticed something orange and fast moving away from the drawer and towards my desk. At first I thought it was an errant penny I had missed, but after a second or two I realized it was something different all together. The mystery orange streak fled under my desk and paused for a moment. I rushed over to my bedside table and picked up my head lamp. Heading back to the desk I focused the light beam on the mystery object. Several wispy legs and a mottled orange and brown body froze in the corner. I then realized what I'd seen.

Come closer my dear...

Closer....

That's close enough!

The mystery streak was a House Centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata), a species that had colonized much of the human settlements of the world. They originate from the Mediterranean region and are generally seen speeding across open ground looking for cover. Like most invertebrates that live among us, they mean us no harm and only want to care for themselves and their young. It was a cool thing to see, but as long as they leave me alone, I'm more than content to leave these creepy crawly floor walkers alone too.

Have a great week y'all!

OUT!! #21: A Trip to the Sourlands

Despite sounding like lemons home domain, this place actually exists. It is a little above Hopewell, NJ and occupies a huge area of forest, riparian areas, and boulder fields. While I'm not sure how big it is, I'll definitely visit again to see what else it up there. Here are a few (slightly overexposed) cellphone photos of what I saw up there yesterday.

After looking through the first two photos, you might be thinking, "Why did he take a closeup picture of those saplings? Who does that?" In this case as you scroll further, you should be able to see the subject of my photos appear.

 

If you haven't seen it by now, you're either nearsighted like me or you don't know your Scolopax genus very well. This fine game bird is called an American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) and can be infrequently encountered in wet forests and the tangled edges of old, abandoned fields. Their courtship display is amazing to watch. On colder evenings in March and early April, the males will issue a short nasal call, peent.....peent....peent before rocketing into the skies above in a spiraling, twittering display before returning to his spot in the dirt below and continuing to call. This typically only lasts about 20 min or so and is largely weather and temperature dependent.

I've always heard about Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), bu I'd never seen its blooms up close before. It would have been even better if the camera had taken a photo of the blooms and not the background.

A Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) slowly growing in the nearby melting snow. I'm so ready for this first day of spring too.

River foam. I think it might be a sign of pollution further upstream.

Jelly fungus

Easily being one of the most common mammals here apart from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) easily colonized habitat both within wilderness and proximity to humans. Their habit of placing their scat in the middle of a walking trail is a good indicator of their presence.

A large vernal pool

A burly insect gall that I found on a branch near the trail

Salamander eggs/sperm packets(?) litter the bottom of this vernal pool. Migration occurred and finished in one night last week. The spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) should be underground by now and the wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) have largely stopped calling.

Another clear sign of spring are the appearance or increased activity of certain insects. This midge was certainly noticeable sitting on the lower trunk of this tree.

A mouse's hideout in a log is revealed by the presence of chewed seeds and nuts.

A strange afro fungi we saw in the tree. Have no clue what this was.

More moss!

Romantic tree damage. Everyone loves romantic tree damage...

Sheep lichen!

Hope you guys enjoyed that. I've only just restarted this blog so the subject content will vary week by week. It might be prose one week while another it's mostly pictures. Hopefully, I can post about something more concrete really soon. Until then, have a great week!

OUT!! #20: Signs of Spring

As I mentioned in last weeks On the Wing, I'm revamping the OUT blog by posting on here once a week. I've recently gotten an internship that allows me unlimited time outside and the ability to teach others about the environment, the natural world, and the creatures that inhabit it. However, due to not getting enough sleep last night, I am instead inside writing the first entry I've put up here in a while.

Over the past week, my roommate and I have been tasked with looking for "signs of spring" that signal the end of winter and the beginning of the slow transition from the cold, dark times to the happy, warm times. This isn't to suggest one can't have fun in the winter, but to be honest after the snow we had up north, I'm ready for the buds and blooms of spring.

Today was rainy. As such, I had to go out to do a journaling activity which involved log rolling and invertebrate investigation. It was great! Despite the puddles of water and torrents of rain soaking me from head to foot (although my Carhartt kept me nice and warm throughout), I noted several types of  invertebrates, as well as, rubs on the trees from last years deer rut and saw a flock of White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) and Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) mingling together in the wooded tangles. As I traversed back, I managed to flush an American Woodcock that was roosting in a nearby thicket (Scolopax minor) and could hear the incessant peeping cries of Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) in the wet areas near the meadows. It was an entertaining walk and I look forward to our hike to another part of the property tomorrow.

Less friendly signs of a warm up were also apparent as I found my first Deer Tick (Ixodes scapularis) crawling on my back today. Looks like bug spray will be a necessity from now on. Despite this little pest, much of my trips have been joyous exercises of nature observation and enjoyment. I've been fiddling with a new camera and have been putting most of the photos on my Flickr account and I've been keeping a bird list of what I've see on the property (38 so far and it isn't even migration season yet!) Most of all, I'm pleased I've found an internship that fits me so well and will hopefully provide me with the path I want to follow in life. Have a great week y'all and I'll see you over at On the Wing!

OUT!! #19: Final Entry

This has been an interesting adventure, but it's time to move on. I'll continue to update my other blog at On the Wing: A Life Inspired by Birds with the regular two week updates. Thank you for all the page views and I hope I have been a good writer enough to warrant such attention. Have a good day.

OUT!! Disclaimer/Walk Back

With the recent job search I'm conducting as well as the demands of my current work/lifestyle and the needs of the sister blog, I'll be updating here less. Don't worry though. I'll update this once a month starting next year owing to the title of the blog. I just thought I'd make that clear before you guys thought I'd vanished. The need to do two entries for On the Wing takes time and because I'm running the Babe Ruth of Ornithology tournie right now, that eats up some time too. Just some clarification. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

OUT!! #18: Wild Suburbanites and the Domestication of Humankind

Suburbia is the greatest threat to wildlife in regards to habitat loss, shrinking wild spaces, and increasing tensions between the humans that want to live in an area and the wild animals that already do. Or is it?

After taking a walk with a family friend of mine to Earthplace, a nature discovery museum and conservancy in Westport, Connecticut, we looked up to see a White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) bounding across one of the nearby lawns and later walk calmly over to the backyard of one of the neighboring houses. This is hardly surprising after all. As of the year 2000, there was estimated to be over 76,000 deer in the whole of Connecticut with the highest densities in areas with high residential populations, mixed growth forests, and reduced predator populations. This isn't surprising considering that the line between suitable wildlife habitat and resources have been blurred ever since people have lived side by side with wild places.

I remember sitting in my room late one night earlier this fall and had the windows open to have some air flow. The neighbourhood pup was barking up a storm when suddenly it went quiet. I furrowed my brow. "Finally." I thought to myself. The thing barked most nights and it was nice to have some quiet. Instead it was replaced with a different sound. "Yip-yip-kayoooooo!" The howl was followed by a cackle of answering howls and whoops. "Coyotes." I thought to myself. "I've never heard them so close to the house." I listened for a while more as they transitioned through the neighbourhood and faded into the dark of the night. Having such wild creatures so close to our homes, lives, and experiences makes me so glad. It means that regardless of what structures and changes man makes to the environment, animals can adapt (some better than others, but for the sake of the argument I'll continue with what I'm saying) to these new areas and still flourish despite these changes.

Not everyone agrees however. Recently a story in the New York Times caught my attention (see link here) that made me both angry, yet sympathetic. What annoyed me about the article initially was the title. The use of the word "guardian" in relation to the wolves that were being hunted seemed to immediately polarize the audience into those supporting the hunting of the wolves involved and those who think wolves are the symbol of wilderness in need of love and understanding and never to be threatened by the barbarism of hunters who are only doing what's legal under the current laws within that state. As you can probably guess, I'm more sympathetic to the hunters on this one. I do this primarily because anytime a story about hunting hits papers on both coasts, animal rights folks take to the airwaves announcing the cruelties and injustices that these "barbaric" humans do to these creatures.

While I'll let you read the rest of the article, I have come to some conclusions about this whole issue. While this post started out nicely enough, this particular issue has been bugging me for some time. The general gist of the whole issue centers around appropriate use of resources and what our role on the Earth is. I've come to reason that humans with our advances in technology, medicine, architecture etc. have effectively bred ourselves out of the standard problems facing most organisms on this planet. For the most part we have become quite domesticated with cozy houses, plentiful foodstuffs, and the ability to travel easily where ever, when ever. Even those that spend more time outside and possess even a modest set of survival skills can at best be called feral. We're no longer the wild creatures that once fled from the plains to escape Short-faced Bears (Arctodus spp.) and Sabertooth Cats (Smilodon spp.), but instead get worried when gnats and spiders invade our homes. While its certainly a good time to be alive in the more built up areas of the world, I have to say that we're ill-prepared when it comes to disaster. As aftermath of the recent hurricane that devastated parts of New Jersey and New York has come to pass, I waited to hear stories of hope, but also of the ever present news of people who thought that the storm wouldn't be that bad and decided to hide in their houses and apartment blocks. Some had no choice while some knew better, but they stayed nonetheless. There was tragedy, loss of property and lives. People mourn and while I'm saddened by the loss, I know that had they not gambled in the presence of Mother Nature's wrath, they might still be alive today.

I've always marveled at people who return to the place of a coastal natural disaster. The neighbourhood ripped to shreds by wind and water, the soil mixing with sand and destabilizing the roads, and random debris causing chaos throughout. The strength it must take to rebuild your house once, twice, three more times when a blow comes through and levels everything. I still don't know how people in the Midwest deal with tornadoes all summer! What I suppose I'm trying to get at is that people seem to have misplaced priorities when it comes to where it's a good place to live. Next to the beach is cool until it floods during a storm or gets washed away by a hurricane. In the woods is fine until people start complaining about their animal neighbours because they weren't aware that it was their home before they built a luxury cabin nearby. Even in the cities with animals like coyotes (Canis latrans), deer, Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), and others coming in from shrinking habitats and are finding homes in our yards and gardens, there are some who welcome them, while most are scared of the wild creatures that seem to be stealing ground back from the humans who took it from them. We all have our place in this world, but I think its time we prioritize on what and where ours is. Is it in dominion over the creatures of the Earth or is it in a sustainable manner that allows us to experience those wild lives, but still have ourselves to count on as well. Just a thought.