The Eye of a Naturalist

Perhaps the most influential book I've ever read (I'm not exaggerating!) was the memoir published by E.O. Wilson.  I have to credit Mr. Parker, a high school biology teacher, for suggesting it to me as a senior at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.  A few years later, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Wilson at Oberlin College at the invitation of Dr. Prudy Hall.  In his memoir, Wilson explained what it really means to have the "eye of a naturalist".  Scrutinize everything.  Be absolutely curious.  Scan nature and ask questions about everything you see.

Above all, this has been my driving mantra throughout my professional career as biological diversity professional. I think the eye that Wilson discusses comes to me somewhat naturally, but I absolutely have those dumbfounding moments when I tell myself "why did I miss that?"  It actually happens frequently- for example, when another botanist in the state recognizes a new and different species that all the other botanists just were lumping into something else.

That brings me back to the photo above.  Yes, I've seen the little grayish brown leps flitting about the bog mat for years at Little Pond, Maine.  I've been going there for a decade.  But did I ever give them a second thought?  Never.  WHY NOT!?!  Probably because I thought they moths?  I don't know. Finally, on this July trip, after a cloudy interlude, the butterflies of the bog mat took flight en masse one late afternoon after hunkering down for a while.  I had pretty much exhausted photographing the dragons and damsels in the area, and thought, let's give that ugly gray lep a shot?

And the results?  When I finally really saw them, in person, and on the camera screen, it hit me hard that I have been missing this incredibly beautiful animal.  I believe this is the bog copper, Lycaena epixanthe.  And it turns out that the host plant for this species is the native cranberries, which are plentiful in the acidic sphagnum bog at Little Pond. These butterflies were at the pond every summer I have visited; they just hadn't caught the my naturalists's eye.

Finally, I leave you with the following: Do you have the eye of a naturalist?  Did it come easily? Was it hard? What have you done to hone your vision?

-Tom

A Quick Nature Walk

 

May 29, 2012- Delaware County, Ohio.

--Tom

Red Admiral Underwing

Also from yesterday- There are so many cool things out right now. Here's a bonus morning post that I actually scheduled to go up this morning last night before I went to bed.  Have a great weekend.

-Tom

Peck's Skipper

I think- Let me have it if I'm wrong!  Nectaring on teasel.  This one is also from my lunchtime photo foray this past Monday.

-Tom

Pearl Crescent- An Underappreciated Butterfly

The Pearl Crescent is a tiny little butterfly that's easy to miss.  But it's common almost in every grassy habitat in Ohio, including the Worthington Olentangy Parklands near our home.  They're small and you'll miss them if you're not looking for them - the grass blades give a nice scale to this image

We're tired in the Arbour household- today Weston had minor outpatient surgery to have tubes installed in his ears.  Hopefully, the tubes will help prevent ear infections and help him hear better.  You can tell the little guy's hearing is different already, as he was talking and yelling at a higher volume this afternoon.  Let's hope it works- he actually had an ear infection today when he went in to get his tubes, so we're really glad we made the decision to go ahead with them.  Speaking of Weston...I hear his voice upstairs with Momma...it looks like he wasn't ready for bed after all.

Tom

Two Tiger Swallowtails

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus

Shawnee State Forest, May 1, 2011

Images of Shawnee

 

Our trip to Shawnee State Park and Forest, September 4-6th, 2010.

Tom

Canada Thistle, Gray Hairstreak

Since I'm just a butterfly beginner, everything that I see is interesting and new.  I believe this is a Gray Hairstreak,  Strymon melinus.  I captured this image last Friday afternoon, August 27, on the Delaware Wildlife Area.

Tom

Clouded Sulphur

For some reason, I've never really seriously photographed butterflies, but now that I have a fantastic telephoto macro lens to do just that, I can't get enough.  I'm a newbie when it comes to identification, but I'm assuming that this is the common clouded sulphur, Colias philodice.  I have posted a super-duper large image at TA Photography.

Peck's Skipper

Olentangy Week- This week I'll be presenting images from my most recent trip to my old stomping grounds, the Olentangy River at Kenney Park while I'm away at Yellowstone National Park.

Last, but not least, a nectaring Peck's Skipper, Polites peckius

 I should be back by Yellowstone by now!  Maybe I've even had a few updates!

Tom

Common yet still Beautiful

Megan and I can count on seeing a pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharo) in just about every hike we go on, including the weedy field in Kenney Park. I've always noticed the greenish metallicness on this species' thorax, and I was trying to focus on that in this image. This weekend I finally got to do some serious macro shooting with my Canon 60mm EFS macro lens. Since I'm shooting with early morning natural light, I had the lens set wide open to F 2.8, set my focus to 1:1 magnification, and slowly creeped my head amongst the fescue and in towards the insect until just the head and thorax were in sharp focus. I need to do this more often. Yes, it takes some time and can be tedious, but it is really fun. What a lens the canon 60mm macro is.

Tom

Sharon Woods Metropark

Yesterday afternoon, Megan and I went to Sharon Woods Metropark in Westerville. We arrived in the parking area near Schrock Lake, and Megan asked if there would be any "fake fishing" going on. She is from Maine, where there is a pristine lake or ocean in everybody's backyard, so she laughs when she sees people fishing in concrete ponds and artificial lakes like we do in Ohio. Sure enough, there was fake fishing going on, right off the nice wooden docks seen here.



When Megan and I do go on a hike, we are constantly looking for animals. We usually don't see felines in central Ohio, but there were four of these little beasts near the fishing dock. Perhaps they were fishing cats looking for a meal? Nope, this pint sized little kitten and its siblings had been abandoned at the park. Its strange what people will do to get something off their hands. Even though I'm ridiculously allergic to cats, I couldn't help feeling for these guys.



We did the Ed Thomas State Nature Preserve Hike, but the most interesting was a side trail which took us through an expansive goldenrod meadow, which gave plenty of opportunities for viewing all types of animals. This little creature, perhaps a wooly bear larva( the Isabella Tiger Moth, Pyrrharctia isabella), was moving really quickly across the trail. This one might not be a wooly bear, since it didn't have the typical brown spots at each end.



Fall is the time for goldenrods and asters. These plants grow all year, and finally, in fall, they bloom. The field that we were hiking through was awash in yellow from Canada goldenrod, Solidago canadensis, with the occasional New England aster, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae.



The blooming asters and goldenrods make a great nectar source for butterflies like this clouded sulphur.



Goldfinches were attracted to the seeds of bull thistle.



A few bull thistles were still flowering, and this male black swallowtail took full advantage of them.



There are a ton of things to see on these wonderful fall days, just like today.

The Silver-spotted Skipper

A few days ago I noticed a neat butterfly hanging around our backyard, attracted to our basil plants and our sedum. This little flying creature was a silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus). This species is really easy to identify, and they are fairly common. I've seen them throughout Ohio on my travels, mostly in Old fields and other weedy areas. Chances are that you have them in your backyard too. This species has a bright white or silver spot on the underside. This one was fun to photograph. One thing that I really noticed when I downloaded the images from my camera was its tongue, or what I'm guessing may be more properly be called its proboscis.

 

Look at that tounge reach into the basil flower. I wonder what the nectar of a basil plant tastes like? Is this bug getting pesto for dinner?

 

 

This skipper would work the flowers from all angles. I watched and photographed it for about ten minutes before the sun dipped below the trees. Megan and I walked down to the river, and I saw this great blue heron. I showed her some of the other pictures, and she was like "when did you take that one! I didn't see that." We consistently see herons in the river here in the heart of the City of Columbus. A good sign.

 

North Bass Island

I definitely have one of the greatest jobs available in the State of Ohio. I have had the opportunity to travel this summer to North Bass Island, in Lake Erie, three times this year. With my co-worker Rick Gardner, I'm working on a vegetation survey of the island for the Division of Parks. Here are a few of my shots from this past Monday-Tuesday trip.

We leave from Catawba State Park, where I can remember fishing when I was a teenager. There is a nice cobble limestone beach there which really looked great in the morning sun as we were waiting for our boat.



We arrived at the Island and were greeted by Dale Burris, and, well, grapes. Even though many of the vineyards have been removed, grapes are still a big presence on the island.



After saying goodbye to our hosts, we loaded up the utility vehicle and drove to the lodge. Here to greet us outside near the deck was a large Lake Erie watersnake.



But today was not all fun and games. We had some serious work to do. One of my goals was to find a chinquapin oak on the island, a limestone loving oak species, but we were not able to come up with one. There are very few oaks on the island, but there is this large red oak in the woods just to the south of the chapel.



Also in this woods grew Smilax illonensis, or Illinois greenbrier. This plant has globular blue fruits that look like a little bit like grapes.



Next it was onto Honey Point, the southeast tip of the island. Here, waves come at the point from two directions.



Growing on the beach was seaside spurge, one of Ohio's potentially threatened plants. In Ohio, this plant is found only along the shoreline of Lake Erie. I usually see it in sandy situations, but here it was growing amongst the cobbles.



After our vegetation work was done for the evening, I had an opportunity to photograph insects in a nearby field. There were many interesting little creatures, including this pearl crescent whose color seemed washed out and faded.



Several other interesting insects were present, including a chickweed geometer, a colorful larval lepidopteran, thousands of grasshoppers, and even some female damselflies, possibly familiar bluets.







The sunset was fairly spectacular, and it cast amazing light on everything, including several Jerusalem artichokes and the back wall an abandoned house on the island.




Finally, the sun set, creating up more photo opportunities.




With no light left, I retreated to the lodge, watched a bit of Ontario television and learned about the Green Party in Canada, and was off to bed. We were treated to a spectacular sunrise the next morning.



Tom