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individual was found for example lie in the south santee river floodplain close to the river itself the cottonmouth isn t completely aquatic however and can sometimes be found far from water in places like fields and other random places they are an adept swimmer and prey mostly on fish and amphibians but will also feed on birds mammals small turtles and even small alligators a harmless northern watersnake not a cottonmouth photo by alayna tokash as i mentioned earlier there are no cottonmouths in ohio and yet every year people swear up and down that they saw one somewhere in ohio so what are they talking about the vast majority of the time what they actually saw was a northern watersnake nerodia sipedon pictured above these harmless snakes are very common in ohio and they are superficially similar to the cottonmouth in both appearance and behavior as their name suggests the northern watersnake is also semi aquatic but when people see a snake in the water they always seem to jump to the cottonmouth there are a few differences between the two species cottonmouths are much more bulky have a triangular head have heat sensing pits near their eyes and have vertical pupils in the shape of slits on the other hand northern watersnakes are slender have a round head that isn t overly distinct from their body have no pits and have round pupils of course telling the difference between the two isn t a problem in ohio as we only have the northern watersnake there are other nerodia sp water snakes down in the range of the cottonmouth but the general differences listed above hold true and as with any animal if you do not know for certain what an animal is give it plenty of space and leave it alone it is safer to wrongly assume something is very dangerous than to assume something very dangerous is harmless the cottonmouth was a very exciting snake to see and i m incredibly happy i ran across one while on my trip although many people hate the cottonmouth they really pose no threat to the person who s aware of their surroundings and who gives these snakes their space that s it for this post thanks for reading posted by kyle brooks at 2 51 pm 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks herpetology herping reptiles snakes south carolina swamps venomous snakes location hampton plantation state park 1950 rutledge rd mcclellanville sc 29458 usa sunday july 6 2014 some plants from calamus swamp last thursday i visited calamus swamp in pickaway county i wrote a post giving a general overview of the park and the trails which you can read here but i also promised to go over some of the plants i came across while there as i mentioned in my previous post the main attraction at calamus swamp is a 19 acre kettle lake now mainly filled with aquatic plants as shown above many unique plant species can be found in this also unique ecosystem i m going to focus on more of the showy species you can come across here in late june and early july when it comes to the actual kettle lake one of the most stand out species in the water is the common buttonbush cephalanthus occidentalis common buttonbush is a shrub that is about 4 10 feet tall that can be found in habitats such as wetlands like calamus swamp floodplains mangrove swamps moist understories and on the borders of streams and lakes common buttonbush becomes covered in these spherical flower clusters from june to august before giving way to small spherical fruits that stay on the plant from september to october interestingly common buttonbush is actually a member of the family rubiaceae more commonly known as the coffee family this is one of the dominate species at calamus swamp there s buttonbush basically everywhere you look the photo above shows a common scene while on the boardwalk a wall of common buttonbush fills in the edges of the lake offering many birds a place to nest and many waterbirds protection wood ducks are especially fond of nesting in the dense growth bees are also a very common visitor to the flowers as well as butterflies another common aquatic plant in the kettle lake is bur reed specifically the species sparganium eurycarpum bur reed is a flowering marsh plant that can either be floating in the water or emergent meaning they grow in the water but also go into the air recent phylogenetic analysis has found that the bur reed genus is actually closest related to the cattail genus which isn t surprising to learn when you see the 3 6 feet tall grasses coming out of the water the large pointy spheres are actually the fruit of bur reed they also help identify the species for example the fruit of s eurycarpum shown above are glossy and have an abruptly pointed beak versus the similar s americanum which is dull and has points that taper gently like an ice cream cone next is another aquatic plant and a unique one at that this is the flower of the bladderwort a carnivorous aquatic plant specifically this is the species utricularia gibba more commonly known as the humped or floating bladderwort calamus swamp only has one recorded bladderwort species u gibba u gibba has been recorded in 19 other ohio counties making it one of the more common bladderwort species but still not overly abundant bladderworts grow in nitrogen and phosphorous poor water and have evolved to make up for this deficiency by consuming prey bladderworts have small bladders which actively transport water out of them creating a vacuum inside of the bladder once the vacuum is great enough all it takes is one tiny aquatic animal like a daphnia or mosquito larva to trigger one of the hairs by the door the animal by hitting the trigger hair attached to the bladder door creates a small hole which breaks the vacuum seal and water along the with animal rushes into the bladder the door is shut and the trapped prey is dissolved normally within a few hours these small purple and yellow flowers belong to bittersweet nightshade solanum dulcamara an invasive vine most of the individuals i came across that day were wound around the common buttonbush shrubs this species as i mentioned previously is an invasive it was brought from eurasia as an ornamental and broke free of human control and now can be found in most of the lower 48 states bittersweet nightshade runs a bad rap for being poisonous to humans and livestock the flowers give way to small red berries which to a cow or say curious child look tasty eating only a few can result in vomiting dizziness diarrhea irregular heartbeats and other symptoms eating a good amount of the berries can result in paralysis hallucinations and even death although deaths have only been rarely recorded now let s move on to some of the species that were growing in the prairie section these familiar flowers are black eyed susan rudbeckia hirta there is also a large prairie dock leaf in the upper right corner black eyed susans are a native species belonging to the daisy sunflower family asteraceae they grow in a variety of habitats such as fields open forests roadsides gardens and so on there are a few other species that can be found in ohio that look like black eyed susan all of which have a handful of characteristics which can help differentiate them if you know where to look when it comes to black eyed susans the stems and leaves are covered in hairs that help keep other insects away that might bother flying pollinators this characteristics can help you know you re looking at r hirta versus say brown eyed susan r triloba if you ve been driving along the highway or on country roads recently you might have seen a small bright orange flower like the one above this is butterfly weed asclepias tuberosa butterfly weed is actually one of the many species of milkweed we have here in ohio closeup of the flowers of butterfly weed butterfly weed is named as such because the color and nectar attracts butterflies as well as a lot of other insects butterfly weed is a species that requires full sun exposure and can also tolerate dry soil making roadsides a great place for it to go in fact this individual was in the prairie section along the road blooming in force in the prairie was wild bergamot also known at bee balm monarda fistulosa this species is variable so the photo above is not a good representative of what it will always look like a widespread species wild bergamot can be found growing in prairies thickets clearings and on calcareous soil blooming from july to september this showy flower added a beautiful contrasting bluish purple to the greens of the grasses and the yellows of the black eyed susans in the prairie area of calamus swamp one of the more unusual plants growing was wild white indigo baptisia alba the wind was blowing probably around fifteen miles an hour that day making it incredibly hard to photograph flowers so sadly i wasn t able to get a full plant view of this tall and strange looking wildflower a southeastern species this plant has a spotty range in ohio it has been recorded in about 23 counties here and most of those counties are grouped into a circle of 4 5 counties and scattered around the state there were a handful of individuals located at calamus swamp and they offered a unique contrast to the other species there and finally we have a wildflower everyone is probably familiar with this is purple coneflower echinacea purpurea the butterfly visiting is a pearl crescent purple coneflower is known more as an ornamental plant to many people but it is a native species that can be found in prairies barrens and dry open woods throughout the eastern united states note the characteristic drooping purple petals and spiny center this kind of turned into a long post to those of you who read it thank you there will be more posts coming up as always so stay tuned posted by kyle brooks at 2 17 pm 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks botany pickaway county ohio swamps wetlands wildflowers location wayne oh usa friday july 4 2014 calamus swamp this past thursday i visited nearby calamus swamp in pickaway county calamus swamp is a private preserve owned by the columbus audubon society only a couple miles from circleville while it is privately owned it is open to the public although most people do not even know it exists this post will give a broad overview of the park for any interested in visiting when you first arrive at the park i ll give directions at the end of this post you are greeted by a small prairie filled with all sorts of goodies wild white indigo purple coneflower butterflyweed wild bergamot prairie dock black eyed susan assorted grasses and more are all around if you re interested in plants please check out my post on some of the plants from calamus swamp the trailhead is at the edge of the prairie by the parking lot the trail itself splits halfway through the prairie to offer a loop around the park the main feature for calamus swamp is a 19 acre kettle lake formed during the end of the last ice age the geological history of a kettle lake is very interesting as you probably know much of ohio was covered by glaciers during the wisconsin glacial episode which ended 11 000 years ago as this glacier receded large blocks of ice would break off and be left behind these huge ice blocks would create depressions in the land and then would get covered by outwash debris from the melting glacier eventually this ice block would melt and the debris would fall in the depression many times this depression would fill with water creating a kettle lake this is what happened in the photo above over the next 11 000 years the lake has slowly filled in with vegetation and soil shrinking in size this brings us to its present state eventually it will fill in enough to become a bog and then completely fill in and a forest will take over as you can see above calamus swamp is currently filled with aquatic vegetation and doesn t overly have open water the main trail leads around the kettle lake and much of the trail is actually boardwalk that winds over water or very squishy mud occasionally the trails are flooded and impassable so be aware of that possibility if you go after a lot of rain there s a mix of swamp and more marsh like habitats at calamus swamp you can see part of the swamp area in the photo above swamps are wetlands that are dominated by trees on the other hand marshes are wetlands that are dominated by reeds and grasses the boardwalk takes you through the swamp areas and also through the marsh areas like the one above buttonbush and burr reed dominate much of the water bladderworts a type of carnivorous plant also occupy the water many animal species of note have been recorded here as well ohio fairy shrimp an uncommon freshwater shrimp can be found here tiger salamanders also make their home here soras are relatively common here and the more uncommon king rail and the rare yellow rail have both been recorded here least bitterns common moorhens and other waterbirds have been recorded here as well occasionally ducks will make an appearance as well as the odd double crested cormorant prothonotary warblers can occasionally be found here too rusty blackbirds are almost a guaranteed sighting if you go during migration at least eight species of frogs and toads have been recorded here as well along with over fifty species of butterflies and skippers here s another higher view of the kettle lake trust me there s water out there also something to note as one might expect the bugs can get pretty bad here mosquitoes are plentiful and so are biting flies be prepared to get bit and also be prepared to get muddy part of the trail follows the old cincinnati muskingum railway which has long since been abandoned the photo above shows the old railway although the only evidence of it is some leftover coal along the sides of the trail the abandoned railway from circleville to new holland a total of sixteen miles is now owned by the pickaway county park district the end goal is to make it into a paved hiking biking trail but this will take years to finish due to money shortages however part of the pickaway trail is currently complete you can hike from calamus swamp to the nearby canal park the canal park features hiking trails along the towpath of the old ohio erie canal along the scioto river as well as a few other trails and scioto river access if you re in the area it s definitely worth checking out for the history and the sights now for some information about parking and so on there is no sign for this preserve so it takes eyes to not pass it the first time you go the red arrow above points to the parking lot the park is along sr 104 off of 22 the parking lot is a simple gravel parking lot so keep your eyes peeled for it the blue outlines the part itself the yellow arrow shows the new pickaway trail that leads to the canal park the distance between the two parks is ab...
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