Toad Bug

I was sitting at the edge of the river seeing what interesting animals might wander by, when this little creature hopped out in front of me. At first, I thought it was a frog. I leaned over for a closer look, it hopped again, and at second glance, it still seemed like a tiny frog. I slowly moved over to examine it closer again, and realized that it was… an insect? I watched it for a few minutes, and I finally saw its legs as it crawled out onto these small pebbles. What in the world is this amazing little animal?! I just had to watch it hop again, so I nudged it with a leaf. It seriously hopped just like a frog or a toad.

Meet the Toad Bug! It has a small, oval shape. It is 3/8” long and is two-thirds as wide as it is long. It could easily fit within the space of my thumbnail. It has bulging eyes at the sides of the head and the sides of the prothorax are projecting. Its legs are yellowish with brownish bands. Its mottled dark gray color blends in well with the surrounding stones and gives it great camouflage. Its diet consists of smaller insects which there are plenty of along the shore.

Seeing this interesting creature was a reminder that I never really know what wondrous lifeforms I will encounter or the inspiring experiences I will have every time I am out in nature. I hope to see you out there.

Resource
Milne, Lorus Johnson, and Margery Milne. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders. Knopf : distributed by Random House, 1980.

Grasshoppers

By the River
I found this grasshopper on a stone down by the river. It seems more like a rockhopper rather than a grasshopper. Maybe I’ll name it the River Rockhopper. Along with moths, grasshoppers have superb camouflage, and most often, they are hopping away as I unknowingly walk up on them. There is plenty of grass and small forbs growing in between the rocks, so it should be easy for this grasshopper to stay on or close to the rocks to hide in plain sight.

Out in the Meadow
I have been seeing lots of grasshoppers out in the meadow and they blend in well with the dry, yellow grass. This one reminds me of a grass seed head. Notice that the wings on this grasshopper are not completely developed. Robins were scattered throughout the meadow this morning. They were scurrying about lunging for grasshoppers. They were successful too. It is hard to see, but the one in the photo just caught one and has it in its beak.

Planaria Eating a Crawdad

I was down by the river today poking around and found what looks like a dead crawdad being devoured by planaria. I thought this would be a nice follow-up video to the July 23rd post. Remember that their mouths are about halfway down their bodies.

Water Penny Beetle

Lately, I have been poking around the edge of the river turning over stones, watching birds, listening to the river, and whatnot. There are many aquatic animals living and hiding out underneath rocks. My latest discovery is the water penny beetle. Along with the stonefly (posted on Aug. 1), this is another animal that is an indication of good water quality. The water penny thrives in flowing, unpolluted water that is also free from lots of sediments and algae. You will find them clinging to the undersides of rocks and logs in the water because they need to stay moist, stay hidden from predators, and are sensitive to light. That said, they will come out from hiding at night to eat on the upper surface. The larvae’s diet consists mostly of algae which are scraped off using rasps on their legs. They have dome-shaped bodies with flexible plates that allow them to hug closely to the surface and hold on. They have feathered gills under the abdomen that take in dissolved oxygen from the water.

It is interesting to realize that a larval stage of a beetle can be aquatic because I usually imagine it as a terrestrial grub underground or tunneling through the wood of a distressed or dead tree.

The adults resemble typical beetles. They are black or brown, oval, and have somewhat flattened bodies. The lifespan of the adults only lasts up to a couple of weeks—long enough to mate and for the female to lay eggs. Not only is there a short window in which to find an adult, they are only 4-6 mm long. I imagine it could be kind of tricky finding and identifying one.

As always, I hope this short post sparks your curiosity to do more research, go out to find one, and make more discoveries along the way.

Resources
Bug o’the Week – Water Penny Redux – Riveredge Nature Center. https://www.riveredgenaturecenter.org/bug-othe-week-water-penny-redux/#:~:text=The%20larvae%20of%20some%20species,into%20adults%20the%20next%20year. Accessed 15 Aug. 2023.

Hammond, George. “Psephenidae (Water-Penny Beetles).” Animal Diversity Web, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Psephenidae/. Accessed 15 Aug. 2023.

“Water Penny Beetle Larvae.” Missouri Department of Conservation, https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/water-penny-beetle-larvae. Accessed 15 Aug. 2023.

Skippers

Skippers are butterflies that partially resemble a moth because of their hairy bodies and small, triangular wings. They have noticeably large eyes and short antennae. When they perched, they would either hold their wings flat and parallel to their bodies or open with the forewings angled above the hind wings like a plane. The yellow-orange color of the underside of their wings was so beautiful and captured the warmth of the summer sun. It allowed them to blend well with the surrounding dry vegetation. I liked the contrast between their soft, quiet bodies and the crispy, crunchy grass. I often stirred them up from the ground before I saw them. They quickly skipped through the air and lit nearby. They were friendly and gave me a feeling of levity when I was around them. If I moved slowly, they allowed me to kneel down to get a closer look. I found them drinking nectar on small flowers like the nonnative teasel that has spread out across the south meadow.

Sources
Family Hesperiidae (Skippers) | Butterflies and Moths of North America. https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy/Hesperiidae. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.

Inosculation

Inosculation is a natural phenomenon in which trunks, branches, or roots of two trees grow together. This event usually occurs between trees of the same species but can also happen between trees of different species.

In the first photo to the right, you can see what looks like a clump of oak trees. This photo shows two limbs or trunks of this cluster fusing together. There are many examples out at the arboretum where there are multiple trunks of an oak tree that are joined at the base. I haven’t been walking around the arboretum over the past hundred years to watch all of these trees grow, but I imagine that a small cache of acorns sprouted, grew up together, and literally grew together.

In the next three photos, there is an example of two different species. I have walked past this Oregon oak tree and Douglas-fir many times. The other day I noticed that they appear to have grown together at the base. They look to be about the same size so they probably sprouted at the same time. This pair is just past the barn on the left. The Douglas-fir winds up through the canopy of the oak tree and has an interesting wavy trunk. Both of their canopies lovingly intertwine with each other.

The word inosculation is derived from the Latin word osculum, which translates as “to kiss.” I recommend reading the biology behind how inosculation works. In a nutshell, it is about the bark layers coming in contact with each other, especially the cambium layer which is the tissue responsible for growth. The bark layers wear away and can come in contact with each other as they slightly rub together from the movement of the wind. My understanding is that it also happens through the pressure of trees growing into each other as they expand. The two touching parts can be two branches, two trunks, or a branch to a trunk. It can happen between roots too. To me, it essentially sounds like grafting trees together which is done all the time with fruit trees.

Summer Spirits

Sitting at the edge of the meadow, a sleepy afternoon is seeping into my eyes. I close them for a moment. The song of the Western Wood-Pewee is a warm and dry rhythm. I hear the soft brushing of the leaves of the trees and the soothing voice of the river’s braiding currents. I catch the slight sighing sound of air pushing through the messy warp and weft of grasses in the meadow. I open my eyes to the brilliant light of the blazing sun. I am in a basin saturated with crisp yellows, vast blues, leathery greens, dusty browns, and warm grays. Sitting at the edge of the meadow, summer is soaking into my spirit.

Stonefly Shed

Immature stoneflies live underwater (technically they’re called naiads), then crawl onto shore to go through their last molt and become a winged adult. The final molt leaves behind a beautiful and fascinating shell called the exuviae.

The naiad feeds on plants, decaying organic matter, and other insects. The nymphal stage lasts from one to four years. The adult stage lasts only for a few weeks, long enough to mate and lay eggs.

The adults are earth tones mostly some hue of brown or yellow. They have fairly long antennae, wings that fold back along their body, and two long cerci (tail-like appendages).

The presence of stoneflies in a river system is a sign of good water quality because they require clean, well-oxygenated water. A rocky aggregate bottom with high dissolved oxygen levels is often a productive area for stoneflies.

Rattlesnake Plantain

This evergreen perennial is in the orchid family, and its leaves are the most striking part. They have an electrifying white pattern set on a deep blue-green background. They are thick and supple and cool to the touch. The flowers are dull-white to greenish and grow on a long, terminal, hairy spike with most of the flowers interestingly oriented to one side. The plant grows from short creeping rhizomes, and like to live in coniferous forests in a shady, dry to moist habitat.

I am not sure of the flowering cycle of this plant, but I have only seen it bloom once over the last three years. That said, the flowers are small and subtle and can easily be overlooked. The flower petals are succulent and fleshy to the touch, and even though they are in the shade, I find it interesting that they are blooming in the middle of the dry, hot summer. I have been visiting them all week wondering if any pollinators would show up. So far I haven’t seen any.

Planaria

I was sitting on the bank of the river poking around in the water. I flipped over a rock and found all of these flat creatures clinging to the bottom. Once exposed, they immediately began to move around to the other side of the rock. On the top side of the rock, two of them are fleeing and you can see how flat they are. Many of them would detach from the rock once they came back in contact with the water. The current of the river’s edge would gently sweep them away, and then they would slowly sink, reattach to another rock, and move underneath. Every good-sized rock I turned over had a small gathering of them underneath.

I didn’t know what these animals were. I thought they might be some sort of leach. I looked up the photo with a friend at the arboretum and discovered that they were planaria. In the photo, you’ll see that its head is triangular. Not all species have this shape, but if it has this spade-shaped form, then it is definitely a planaria. It can also be identified by its flat body and two eyespots on top of the head. Maybe they are small, but I don’t see any eyespots on these. I will go back and see if I can get a close-up photo.

Planaria are carnivores, feeding on a variety of smaller invertebrates or other small worms. Its mouth is not located on its head, but halfway down its body. It doesn’t have a respiratory system so it lacks lungs or gills. They receive oxygen by diffusion through their body surface. If you think that’s fascinating, check this out. If you cut up a planarian into pieces each piece will regenerate into a new one! I can’t even believe this little creature is real.

Bat Skeleton

This little bat was found dead last fall clinging to the side of a tree. Since then, I would occasionally remember to check to see if it was still there. I was always surprised to see it still remained attached to the tree. Apparently, it was sheltered from the weather, and no other animals disturbed its body. So there is stayed, slowly withering away. The last time I checked, its body was a small, indistinguishable mass of fur. I thought about this little bat today and was amazed to find this delicate, beautiful skeleton hanging on the tree. It seems remarkable that the bones of its foot are still intact and grasping the bark!

Seeing this bat skeleton, reminded me that it is so beneficial to regularly return to a place over days, weeks, months, or years. If I take the time to truly observe, there is always something new and marvelous waiting to be discovered. Nothing is commonplace.

Sitting By The River

I sat on a gravel bar along the river one morning. I watched birds come and go for hours. Goldfinches stopped by quite often to drink from shallow pools. They dipped their bills down in the water, raised their heads up, and slightly tilted their heads back to swallow. A Robin hopped along the rocks gathering insects. Once its beak was full it would fly back to the nest. Its babies immediately reached their heads upward. Their outstretched, yellow mouths were ready to be stuffed with food. Cedar waxwings swooped back and forth over the river catching insects. Across the river, an American Kestrel was using an old cottonwood as a perch as it hunted in the farm field. A female common merganser was zigzagging across the river diving for fish. Just upstream, I could see a green heron stalking along the shoreline. Killdeer were downstream gleaning insects on the gravel bar. A lazuli bunting was singing from the willows to my right and occasionally came down to the river to drink. A pewee was calling and hawking flying insects from over the river. A song sparrow hopped about the river stones in front of me catching insects. Towards the end of my time sitting there, a pair of California Quail quietly appeared out of the willows. I don’t get to see them very often out at the arboretum. They like to stay hidden, are well camouflaged, and are easily startled. They only spent a minute or so out in the open then moved back into the willows. I could occasionally see their silhouettes as they moved through the thicket. Seeing these quail reinforced the approach to birdwatching in which you quietly sit and let the birds come to you.

Hope you are finding time to get out and do some birding this summer.

Reflections

A small stained glass window is resting on a leaf. The opalescent panels shimmer with the slightest breath of wind, reflecting the radiant halo of mother nature. It is a passageway, an opening to a locket. Inside are luminous keepsakes. The song of the Chickadee. An inchworm measuring your arm. A sweep of wind across a meadow. An unrestrained river. An expansive sky. The quaking of Aspen leaves. Drifting clouds. The moon. The chirp of a cricket. A blanket of morning dew. The yawn of a coyote. The warmth of the sun. The falling rain. An old tree. A swimming tadpole. A marching ant. The tapping of a woodpecker. The changing leaves of fall. A starry night. The smell of the ocean. A patch of moss. The track of a deer. You.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Chemical Weathering

I found this rock broken in half on a small gravel bar along the river at the arboretum. The rock’s radiant colors and gritty texture gave it a cosmic impression. I felt caught between deciding if something was being created or destroyed.

It turns out that it is both. One way that rocks are broken down to contribute to the formation of fertile soils is through chemical weathering. Rocks that contain iron are highly susceptible to the chemical reaction known as oxidation. When iron is exposed to any type of moisture, the iron atoms react with the oxygen molecules in the air to form iron oxide, also known as rust. The rust will weaken rocks and cause them to crumble. As the rock deteriorates, the small bits of rock and minerals will be carried away by the river and dispersed into the ecosystem.

Pocket Gopher Digging

Pocket gophers are found throughout the arboretum. You can see the evidence of their presence from all of the dirt mounds. In this video, they launch the dirt from their tunnels leaving a fan-shaped mound around the hole. If you are walking slowly and quietly, you can often see one excavating. I am usually able to sit right next to the hole and watch them dig. Their eyesight must be fairly limited from a life spent mostly underground. You will often see them pausing at the surface and sniffing the air. Its sense of smell might be one of its more attuned senses. It is always enjoyable to watch them and get a glimpse of their huge curved teeth.

Cicada Shell

I’ve been hearing the sound of cicadas buzzing as I walk around the arboretum, and I will occasionally see one buzz by me. Hearing them buzz recalls memories of the hot, humid summers of the East Coast where I grew up. There were pine trees around my maternal grandparents’ house that always had these shells attached to the bark—the nymphs crawl out of the soil to molt into an adult, leaving this amazing papery exoskeleton behind. It is a treasure to come across one of these sheds out at the arboretum. It reminds me how nature is powerful at building connections to memories and feelings of my life.

Ants & Aphids

While hunting for acorn weevils, I came across small groups of aphids and ants on the stems of the oak trees. The aphids feed on the sap of plants and secrete a liquid known as honeydew. Ants are drawn to this sugar-rich substance and harvest it as a food source. In return, the ants will protect the aphids from predators like ladybugs. In reading about this symbiotic relationship, I found some fascinating articles. One article talked about one ant species storing the aphid eggs in the colony to protect them over the winter. Another article reported ants moving aphids to other plants to feed and clipping off their wings so they are unable to fly. One article talked about how ants will stroke the aphids with their antennae to stimulate them to secrete honeydew. As a result, some aphid species lost the ability to naturally secrete waste, and depend on ants to do it for them.

This is fascinating! I encourage you to read about the interesting research and discoveries being made about the relationship between ants and aphids. My intentions are always to pique your interest to explore, discover, wonder, enjoy, etc. the natural world. See you out there!

Common Yellowthroat

The Common Yellowthroat is a beautiful bird. The male has an olive-brown body with a striking, black mask that is bordered by a bright yellow throat below and a brush of white above. The female is elegant with an olive-brown body and a gentle yellow wash on her throat, breast, and under tail.

Sometimes this bird is tricky to see. It likes open areas with thick, low vegetation. It usually stays concealed as it shuffles through tall grass, thickets of blackberry, and low-growing shrubs of the meadow. It’s fond of the area past the old Quonset hut in the bristly fields of teasel I call Teaseltown. That is the plant you see it perched on in the photos.

While you patiently wait for a glimpse of this magnificent warbler, listen for its rhythmic, fluid song that Peterson describes as a “bright rapid chant, witchety-witchety-witchety-witch.”

The Common Yellowthroat has a pointy bill that is excellent for gleaning all the nooks and crannies of leaves, bark, branches, etc. Its diet includes spiders and a variety of insects, such as flies, beetles, ants, termites, bees, wasps, grasshoppers, dragonflies, damselflies, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, and other larvae.

In the margin on the website All About Birds, it lists other common names which I think are interesting and fun: Mascarita Común (Spanish) and Paruline masquée (French).

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Resources
Common Yellowthroat Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Yellowthroat/overview. Accessed 25 June 2023.

Peterson, Roger Tory, et al. Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. 4th ed, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

Canadian Geese & Goslings

I was sitting on the bank of the river. It was a quiet morning. It was slightly cloudy and the temperature was a little cool. There were bird songs filling the air. The song of the river saturated the background. A family of Canadian Geese was casually floating downstream next to the shore foraging on grass. They were graceful and calm and also keenly watchful of their surroundings for any danger. I often hear their clamorous honking as they fly along the river, but today they are quiet. They are vulnerable to predators. It takes about 10 weeks for a baby to mature and be able to fly. It is nice to see them nesting out here. In my time observing nature over the past few years at the arboretum, I don’t recall seeing them breeding. That said, there is so much life occurring here, and I know that I miss infinitely more than I discover.