Calliope Hummingbird

Late visitor at the feeder - Greg Swick

Greg Swick sent a story of an uncommon visitor to warm your heart on a cold day.  This played out on his Facebook page during the cold snap around November 16th.  The main character in this drama is a calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope), the first report of this species in Christian County.  The first photographs are by Greg who apparently developed the trust of his subject who we will name Cal.

Cal posing head on - Greg Swick

Cal's range - .mt.gov

Allaboutbirds.org describes the calliope as, "The smallest bird in North America north of Mexico, the calliope hummingbird inhabits mountain areas of the northwestern United States. It is the smallest long-distance avian migrant in the world, spending its winters in Mexico."  Its range is basically west of the Rockies.  As you can see on this map, Cal is way out of its range. 

Little Cal rests by leaf buds - Lisa Owens 

So what is a hummingbird doing, hanging around in the cold?  Aren't they supposed to be south by now?  Greg posted a good discussion on this which I will steal word for word.

"First of all, birds don't migrate because of cold weather. They migrate in search of food, open water, or appropriate habitat for breeding. In the case of southward migration this time of year, they are in search for adequate food and water. 

Calliope hummingbirds are a very hardy, temperate species that nest as far north as the British Columbia Rockies at altitudes from 4 to 11,000 feet. They are commonly exposed to the elements, so the cold temperatures do not bother them. They have evolved and adapted in cold/cool climates and torpor is frequently used to survive overnight or even during the day in extended cold, precipitous weather events. 

We have long suspected that many NW hummingbird species migrate through Missouri regularly. In Christian County alone, we have had Anna's, rufous, and now calliope in the late fall/winter months.
It is important to note that calliopes are increasingly wintering along the Gulf coast, so it is highly likely that this bird is simply on course and, actually, not even aberrant in timing. We just don't know much about it.  It might even be following a migration route that many others of its species have followed from the Rockies to the Gulf of Mexico. That's why it's so important to document these species, and contribute the data to the global avian database."

Wikipedia has more in depth information about calliopes.  Although we tend to think of hummingbirds as nectar feeders, they also consume insects and tree sap when available as well as Greg's sugar water.  Seeing an uncommon migrant is a real treat and it was fortunate to have visited Greg where it would be recognized as uncommon.

Final approach - Greg Swick

Calliope was the daughter of Zeus like many of the characters in Greek mythology.  At last count he had 43 divine offspring as well as many semi-devine and human progeny.  He was so busy fathering that he barely had time to run things, which may be the reason there was so much conflict and wars.  Among his offspring were the nine muses of the arts, including Calliope, the Greek muse of poetry.  Her name is pronounced Kal-yo-pee, although our hummingbird is pronounced like the familiar circus musical instrument. 

Doug Hommert takes a shot - Greg Swick

I suspect that Calliope was also the muse of photography.  Greg invited birders to come by his house to see the bird, even when he was gone.  Soon they were coming from all over the state.

This bird's rarity quotient brought in birders far from our region.  Now the guest register is over 100, and most recent guests were from Austin, Texas, Indianapolis, and a visitor from NYC.  Calliope must be the most photographed single hummingbird in Christian County history.

Unlike hunting rabbits and deer, with birders there seems to be an inverse relationship between the bird size and lens length.  Whether it is a camera or a magnifier or microscope, the smaller the "game," the bigger the lens or microscope.

Photo by Peter Kondrashov 

Many naturalists enjoy the thrill of the hunt and bagging an image.  Whether we are birders, bug people, or those who are foraying for mushrooms, we have a need to capture our own picture even though the "hunter" next to us probably has a better photograph.  In this case we can blame Cal, the Missouri muse of the camera.

Thanks to Greg and the other birders, from KC (Lisa) and St Louis (Doug) and Kirksville (Peter)  for the photographs.
Note:  Article amended to add new information of the wide range of birders coming to view Cal,
Greater Ozarks Audubon Society supports GLADE.

Mapping Carbon Dioxide

A recent posting on Ecowatch.com began with, "While most of us—and virtually all climate scientists—won’t deny that the carbon emissions driving climate change are real, they’re still abstract." Atmospheric carbon isn't something you can see or hold and as a non-point pollutant it is impossible to trace where it goes. Or is it? 
Ecowatch.com has posted this this 3 minute video of a supercomputer model of data which gives a vivid demonstration of both CO2 and carbon monoxide pathways in the atmosphere.  As you might expect by thinking about where major population centers and industry are located, much of the CO2 is swirling above the northern hemispheres.  I found the seasonal variation especially interesting, showing the effect of carbon absorption by plants in the growing season.

Don't waste any further time reading this, just click on the video.  The billowing CO2 is both beautiful and disturbing.

December Phenology 2014

Phenology - the scientific study of periodic biological phenomena

By now the male black bears will be denning up, usually a few weeks after the females.  Black bear cubs are born this month but you will never know it.  They are curled up in dens and the mothers will be sleeping through much of their nursing.  Human mothers, eat your hearts out!  The cubs won't make their debut for another few months.

Red squirrel drey

When winter weather is cold and wet with icy winds, squirrels will gather in their leafy dreys nestled high in tree forks; this is to conserve energy. Yet late December brings mating season when males can be seen chasing females, as well as chasing off other suitors. This ritual of chasing, occurs through the trees at top speed, performing some of the most breathtaking acrobatics imaginable.

 

Christmas fern is the largest of the evergreen ferns in our region.  Snow may flatten its fronds to the ground, but once the snow melts, the Christmas fern will reappear in all its green glory.

Barred Owl
- Wikimedia

Barred owls call "Who - Who cooks for you - who cooks for you all?"  Courtship begins in early December and although owls are more elusive to see at this time, their courtship “hoots” can be heard.  Two to four eggs will be laid in hollow trees or hawk nests in February or March.

Great Horned Owl - Greg Hume

Great horned owls' courtship "hoots" can also be heard beginning in early December.  Less common than the barred owls, you may want to refresh your memory of their calls.  Listen to this "Hoo  Hoo-hoo    Hoo-hoo." After mating they will adopt an unused hawk or eagle nest and lay one to six eggs in January or February.

Shelf or bracket fungi that grows on trees, stumps and fallen logs are very much part of the winter scene as they are very obvious and attractive when the foliage is off deciduous plants.  Look for the various colors of tan, brown, pink and rust found on the top surfaces.

White crowned sparrow- Wikipedia

Dark-eyed junco - MDC

Don't forget to stock up on bird food.  Winter is when the insects and fruits get scarce and nutrition is important for overwintering species.  All the usual suspects will show up at the feeder but be on the lookout for some winter species.  Dark-eyed juncos return, not dramatic in color but they make it up in "cuteness." You might also spot a white throated sparrow, visiting for a Christmas vacation.  They breed in Canada and come to "snowbird" in Missouri.

Bats Jamming for Food

Mexican free-tailed bat - Wikimedia

In a previous blog we discussed how tiger moths elude bats by jamming their sonar. Bats have poor eyesight and hunt by echo location, sending out high pitched sounds that bounce off objects.  They can judge the size and speed of prey with this.  Tiger moths can produce a series of high speed clicks that confuse the bats.  "Since the attack sequence of a bat lasts less than a second, the moths have to react fast.  Fortunately, the moths can produce up to 450 clicks in one-tenth of a second."*

While studying this phenomenon, this same team of scientists discovered that bats can jam the signals of other bats competing for their prey.  A story from  Livescience.com reports that William Conner, a biologist at Wake Forest University, discovered a strange sound that Mexican free-tailed bats made only when another bat was homing in on a moth they were competing for.

"Competition for food can be fierce, and Mexican free-tailed bats emit a special call that can interfere with the sonar of other bats that are pursuing a meal. "They get into amazing aerial dogfights," said study leader William Conner, a biologist at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "One will jam the other, and the other will jam back."

The bats would produce a "terminal buzz" just as they were about to capture their prey.  When the researchers played the interference sound, the bat was 86% more like to miss the prey.  Do other animal species use similar tricks?  Stay tuned for further research.

Other news from the bat world highlights the danger of wind turbines to bats.  They are apparently drawn to them by confusing them with very tall trees.  Birds face their greatest danger when the blades are turning at high speeds.  Although they look slow as we drive by them, the tips of the blades reach between 138 to 220 mph.  Bats are attracted when they are moving slowly, apparently avoiding the high speeds which create greater air turbulence.  Details at this link.

* More on moth jamming bats at Discovermagazine.com. 

Harvestman Mating

Gala Solari Keller sent me this picture of two harvestmen head to head, asking if this was predatory or mating.  A "female harvestman" is a bit of an oxymoron, as would be calling her "daddy longlegs" or "granddaddy longlegs."  For that reason I will refer to them by their order name, Opiliones.  Not only are there female "daddies," some species' females can reproduce by parthenogenesis without male fertilization.  Take that, you sexist naturalists!

Opilione - note combined cephalothorax and abdomen into a single body segment.- Wikimedia

Brown recluse body-
Separate cephalothorax and abdomen

Opiliones (pronounced O-pill-e-on-es )are frequently confused with spiders which are in a separate order, the Araneae.  There are two key characteristics which separate the orders.  Opiliones are easily distinguished by a single globular body segment, unlike the spiders which have their abdomen separated from their cephalothorax by a constriction.  They also have a single pair of eyes versus 3 to 4 pairs in spiders, a distinction almost impossible to make on a living specimen as most of their bodies are tiny, typically less than a quarter of an inch.

There is a common misconception, perpetuated in some web sites, that Opiliones can bite humans or that their venom is more toxic than that of a spider.  They actually don't have venom glands or even suck their food as liquids like a spider does.  They actually take in small pieces of insects, plant material, fungus, or even dung.  These are stalkers, not trappers- they don't make webs and don't even have silk glands.

As slow moving creatures they are vulnerable but have several interesting defenses.  They have scent glands which disuade predators such as ants and even birds.  They may bob up and down when disturbed.  They also will sacrifice a leg (after all they have 8), a practice called autotomy.  Because there is a separate pacemaker in the femur, the leg can twitch for a prolonged period, much like the tail of a skink, distracting the predator while the victim sneaks away. 

A predator is not the only cause of the loss of legs.  This video shows the perils of sex in Opiliones.  Males may fight over the female's charms and use their jaws to amputate a rivals legs.  Notice at each attempted mating the pair are face to face.

Mating - note the red mites, a common problem among Opiloines

The closeup of Gala's original photograph above shows the smaller male, on the left, head to head with the female.  A few mites don't seem to be slowing them up.  Mites are a common problem for them, usually one or two per customer.  The one I photographed on Bull Creek had a major infestation and was moving slowly, not attempting to escape from my camera.  These Erythraeidae mites have larvae which parasitize Opiliones, sucking fluid from their legs.

Now back to the original question - dinner or sex?  It turns out that Opiliones mate face to face as seen in this video and lots of pictures including Gala's.  The male has a penis and mates by direct copulation.  This research paper has more details on the anatomy describing how this occurs and may be more than you  want to know.  The important thing is that they know it.

Finally, Opiliones are frequently gregarious, gathering in large masses.  This video is not for the reader with arachnophobia.

Concise information about harvestmen (and women) is at  David Darling's Encyclopedia of Science.

Small World

Jumping spider eyes (20x) - Third Place, Noah Fram-Schwartz

As the cold weather settles in, it is a good time to sort through favorite nature pictures.  I was reminded of this by seeing the winning entries in the Nikon Small World 2014 contest.  My personal favorite is the jumping spider eyes at 20x above.  You can see all of the winning entries at the Nikon slideshow site, using your right arrow key to thumb through the pictures.

Each year the MDC Nature Calendar contest brings out the competitive urges among our members (Jay is a perennial favorite), and several of their pictures have been selected.  I suspect that many of you have favorite pictures hidden away on your computer.

Most of us carries a camera around daily that has more capability for high quality photography than was available 20 years ago in high end equipment.  The digital era and the cell phone has made photographers out of all of us.

Larva crawling out of a grey headed coneflower seed head after the seeds were removed.

Here is a challenge to our Springfield Plateau MN members.  Email me your favorite nature pictures for a future show of Best Shots.  You can pick them for beauty, unusual subject or just an interesting discovery you made as above.  We will all be winners. 

Slime Mold Beauty

Mark Bower shared this set of pictures from one of his early morning forays. It really begins with the photograph below.  The story is in his words.

Physarum polycephalum on a tree trunk -  all pictures from Mark Bower

Close-up of the "heads"

"This is Physarum polycephalum, the "Many-headed Slime", or the "Grape Cluster Slime". This is the plasmodial phase after the single celled organisms have "decided" to coalesce into a creepy yellow mass with bulbous areas (these are the "heads"). These pictures were taken at Valley Water Mill. The second picture (on the right) is a close-up of the "heads"."

Notice the faint streak of yellow in the green bark furrow

"The next day, I excitedly went back to the tree for some better pictures and I thought it was gone (light was dim). I thought the darned thing had slinked away. After scouring the area around the tree (20 yard radius, I gave up on finding it. However, when I went back to the tree, the light was better and it appeared that it was still there, but had changed color to a greenish hue, (see above) and it had developed the grape-like spore stalks."(see below)

  Note that most had turned dark green, now with grape-like spore stalks

"I collected some of these green spore clusters and took them home. After arriving home about 1 1/2 hours later, the green clusters had already turned yellowish. The next day, they broke open and released the brown spores."

Green clusters had already turned toward yellow

Next day - Broken open and releasing spores

Mark's notes led me into a maze of reading on myxomycetes* and P. polycephalum.  It is usually found in shady, cool, moist areas, such as logs like Mark's as well as decaying leaves. It seems to sense light causing several reactions.  While light can trigger spore growth it also can repel the slime mold.  Since it is easy to grow and has interesting growth patterns, it has become a favorite "lab rat" for myxomycologists.

Yes there are myxomycologists, and we will all have a chance to meet one who literally"wrote the book" on slime molds.  Dr. Steve Stephenson is a Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas.  He wrote Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds as well as many other books and papers on related fields.  He will be at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center on Friday, November 21 at 7:00 PM discussing "Myxomycetes- Slime Molds in Nature."  This is a great opportunity to hear more fascinating details from the expert.

P. polycephalum is not just another pretty face.  Although a single celled organism, it seems to be able as a mass to make decisions that our congress might envy.  More on that in a future blog.

*  The Kingdom Fungi, Steven Stephenson, Timber Press, 2010.