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ore going dormant again so hopefully you re in the right place at the right time next we have a flower that has one of my favorite plant names dutchman s breeches dicentra cucullaria the curious name comes from the shape of the flower which looks like white breeches this plant contains toxic substances that have an interesting effect on cows if they choose to accidentally graze on it upon ingesting the plant the cow will begin to stagger along like it is drunk among other more severe symptoms while it rarely kills cows this is definitely a plant they do not want to eat dutchman s breeches can be found throughout all of ohio in deciduous forests this is squirrel corn dicentra canadensis at first glance it appears similar to dutchman s breeches but upon further inspection one can see the differences for example notice the heart shape at the top half of the flower this species is found in more of the southern and eastern portions of the state in deciduous forests the individual in this photo was found at the ridges in athens county next we have rue anemone thalictrum thalictroides a common wildflower in ohio this species has been recorded in all but 4 counties scattered around the state i m sure it can be found in all counties here but that requires people having to go out to find a population and then sending that observation in to be recorded this species can be found in deciduous forests and old fields this particular population was found at rema in vinton county these were also found at rema in vinton county this is creeping phlox phlox subulata it is also known as moss phlox moss pink and mountain phlox creeping phlox is a common wildflower in the eastern portions of north america but is mostly found only in the eastern portion of ohio this is one of the many phlox species found in ohio next we have dwarf cinquefoil potentilla canadensis this species is found in the eastern half of ohio and can be found in fields roadsides and forests in that region the name cinquefoil comes from a combination of the old french and middle english words for five and leaf to describe how many leaves the flowers in this genus normally have like in the photo above finally we have one of my favorite wildflowers azure bluets also known as quaker ladies houstonia caerulea these are very tiny flowers about 1 centimeter wide which many times grow in little clusters like this this species can be found in the eastern and southern portions of ohio in forests and among grasses to help id take notice of the four petals which have a yellow center this long post is now at an end finals are this week and i ll be heading back to circleville in pickaway county this friday with school over for the moment i should be able to get more posts hopefully so keep an eye out thanks for reading posted by kyle brooks at 5 51 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks botany wildflowers tuesday april 15 2014 eastern fence lizards last sunday i joined up with some fellow ohio university students and traveled to the raccoon ecological management area rema in vinton county the goal of the trip was to capture as many eastern fence lizards as we could in order to collect habitat data and later collect data on the individuals themselves here are 7 of the 9 individuals we captured that day i ll explain how the capturing process worked later in the post anyway those are all eastern fence lizards sceloporus undulatus now you might think lizards in ohio but it s true most people don t think of ohio as a home for lizards but we actually have 5 species eastern fence lizard common five lined skink broad headed skink little brown skink and the non native common wall lizard eastern fence lizards are found in southern and eastern parts of ohio where hills and forests are the norm eastern fence lizards are a smaller lizard they only reach lengths of 4 7 25 inches long as you can see they can easily fit in the palm of your hand they like to bask in the sunlight on rocks fallen logs and other similar things in the forest you will also find them on trees in fact they will many times run up trees to get away from anything this is the underside of a male individual this view is something most people don t see unless you have a lizard in hand like we did the sparkling blue is brilliant even more so in person than in the photo above males also have some blue under their head but the females will get blue there as well so how in the world did we catch a small quick lizard have you ever seen people on tv try to catch alligators by putting a snare around its head that is basically the same thing we did except the snare was very tiny as you can see above one of the students is holding a fishing rod out toward the lizard which is the tiny thing on the right side of the base of the tree at the end of the fishing rod is the tiny snare you would simply try to get as close as you can to the lizard without scaring it off reach over with the fishing rod put the snare around the lizard s head then carefully yank it so the snare closed around the head and now you have a captured lizard the hardest part though is trying to find the lizards in the first place to snare they blend in so well with their surroundings that it takes a very sharp eye to find one this is the lizard that i personally captured it was a very calm individual it never tried to bite me when i was holding it i was however bitten the next day when i was helping gather stamina data their mouths are so tiny that it only feels like a small pinch we also looked for snakes but sadly only found one this is a wormsnake carphophis amoenus i believe this individual is one of the midwestern wormsnakes a subsecies wormsnakes are small snakes found in the southern parts of ohio wormsnakes burrow in the dirt and leaf debris searching for food as a result people do not see them often even though they can be really common this one was only found because someone decided to flip the rock it was hiding under timber rattlesnakes have also been found in the area we were at and we were all really hoping to find one but sadly we didn t see any reptiles weren t the only things we came across on the trip spring bird migration is really starting to pick up and this trip turned up a few singing black and white warblers and a singing prairie warbler keep on the lookout for migrants these next few weeks posted by kyle brooks at 1 52 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks herping lizards reptiles snakes vinton county ohio thursday april 10 2014 the wilds last sunday i went out with the university wildlife club to the wilds in muskingum county normally i cover native ohio plants animals and the like but this post is a bit different for those of you who don t know the wilds is a wildlife center it houses endangered and non endangered animals in large pastures that used to be exposed strip mines aep donated the top 6 8 inches of land they kept the underground to still be able to get oil and natural gas so it could be converted back to a more natural environment now the wilds is a massive expanse of land over 9 000 acres that is dedicated to conservation of endangered species and public education it is open to the public from may to october and is well it s sort of like a zoo except instead of people looking at animals in an enclosure the humans are the ones in the enclosure while the animals are free you tour the facilities in a bus that drives through the giant pastures so animals can literally be outside the bus window you get amazing views of many animals like the sichuan takins above the wilds was not open to the public when we went they open in may and as far as i could tell we were the only non worker people that were on the grounds that day as a result we were able to get some special treatment and behind the scenes access one of the activities we were able to experience was the columbus zoo s animal ambassadors program the wilds works alongside the columbus zoo and aquarium the animal ambassadors is a public outreach program where people can get up close with some interesting animals like the tamandua above they also brought out a young american alligator hedgehog cornsnake and three banded armadillo and allowed us to pet the alligator cornsnake and armadillo we were then taken behind the scenes to the rhino house i had no idea this was going to be part of the trip but it was definitely the most amazing part not only did we get up close with indian and southern white rhinos but we were allowed to pet the 9 individuals too petting a rhino was definitely on my list of things i ll probably never get the chance to do but sometimes life surprises you we were also allowed to hand feed one of the rhinos their upper lip is prehensile and was almost like an elephant trunk it would reach out and grab the grass out of your hand they currently had two baby rhinos as well they sort of acted like dogs they loved the attention and would run and jump trying to play with you it wasn t all fun and games though rhinos have a very poor sense of body awareness and as a result you had to be very careful around them there was a big metal fence between us but that didn t do much the mom of this individual sneezed at one point scaring him i was petting his horn stub at the time and the baby jumped from fright and almost smashed my hand against the metal fence the mom almost hit a few people with her massive horn on accident too it s not that they re trying to hurt you though they have poor eyesight and couple that with huge bodies and unbelievable power and you get an animal that doesn t always realize what it s doing to other things around it fear aside it was completely exhilarating to be this close to such amazing animals it honestly felt like the part in jurassic park where dr grant and dr sattler have their first encounter with a dinosaur the sick triceratops and they re overcome with amazement as they pet it of course the wilds isn t just for captive animals the wilds is also known for its amazing birding and i along with two other birders were birding the entire time the swan above is a trumpeter swan one of the three species of swans that normally occur in ohio of those three only two are native the trumpeter and tundra swan the other the mute swan is an invasive species the trumpeter swan almost went extinct decades ago but has since began rebounding due to conservation programs the wilds is part of a trumpeter swan conservation program and has raised and released many individuals this one however is a wild born one as can be told by the lack of a green band on its neck other species from that day included dozens of eastern meadowlarks buffleheads ring necked ducks tree swallows eastern phoebe and many more and here is the group that went i am the one on the very left with a gray ohio university shirt on it was definitely an amazing trip and i hope it will happen again next year if you re looking for a zoo like experience but want something a little bit different from the usual zoo trip definitely think about going to the wilds you won t regret it posted by kyle brooks at 2 42 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks birding mammals muskingum county ohio zoos and wildlife centers location the wilds 14000 international road cumberland oh 43732 usa friday april 4 2014 even more salamanders i went out herping once again thursday night april 3 with some fellow wildlife and conservation biology students from ohio university we went to the same place as last time state route 356 in athens county sadly there wasn t any salamander migration going on like there was the other night but we did find some salamanders and some other interesting things let s start with the star of the night this is a marbled salamander ambystoma opacum this one raised quite the stir among our group besides being a lifer for almost all of us the coloration of this salamander is amazing this species does not migrate in the spring and instead breeds in the fall we only found this one because we decided to flip a large chunk of concrete on the side of the road the marbled salamander is uncommon in ohio it has been recorded in 26 counties of the 88 but some of the counties that have no records surely have populations that just haven t been found for example hocking county has no record of them but i m sure hocking county has them somewhere the thing is marbled salamanders spend most of their year underground which obviously makes it hard to find them these two slender slimy salamanders are the eastern red backed salamander plethodon cinereus these are really common salamanders in ohio there are two different color morphs that can be found in ohio the red backed shown above and a lead morph not shown they are found most often underground and under rocks and logs in moist forests red backed salamanders need a moist environment because they are lungless salamanders since they do not have lungs they instead breathe through their skin which must be kept moist since their skin is so permeable these guys like the eastern red spotted newt i mentioned a few posts back are very sensitive to pollutants in their environment as they will absorb them directly into their body okay so this one isn t from thursday night this photo is actually from a few weeks ago at the ridges in athens athens county the salamander in question is a southern two lined salamander eurycea cirrigera this one was found in a small creek under a rock this species is found in the southern two thirds of ohio there were actually a couple within a pretty small area of the creek i found two adults and a juvenile one that still had external gills this is not a salamander if you couldn t tell regardless i love these little guys and wanted to throw one in this is a spring peeper pseudacris crucifer as you can see from the x on its back i ve covered more on these guys on another post of my blog which can be found here if you re interested herping frogs a toad and more these were so loud thursday night which is when this one s photo was taken that my ears were ringing for over an hour when i came home this is also not a salamander but i m still throwing it in while walking through a swampy area along the road i came across a small patch of tiny wildflowers this is the harbinger of spring erigenia bulbosa this is actually the first wildflower i ve come across this year and i was very excited when i stumbled across it as the name implies this is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring i almost passed it these are so very tiny think clover sized alright that was a long enough post hopefully you enjoyed it thanks for reading posted by kyle brooks at 5 38 pm no comments email this blogthis 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