Reptiles on the Road

"Just leave me alone"

The reptiles were busy at Bull Mills this weekend.  Three-toed turtles were crossing the roads with regularity.  I marked three different ones and Barb saw another one.  Lifting up a small water tank, we found this little lady dug in to hide.  The hole fit her perfectly and there was no sign she was laying her eggs.

I am calling it a female based on its orange brown eyes and small tail.  My turtle sexing skills don't go much further than that.

When I went to check out the vulture babies I found the barn entrance guarded by a 4' black snake.  It was in no hurry to get away and only left when I walked up close to get a better picture.  Hunting ought to be good as I routinely scare up mice and wood rats when I enter.

The reptilian highlight occurred as we were driving out Sunday evening.  I saw this timber rattlesnake in the road and slammed on the brakes to avoid running over it.  It was laying on our gravel drive where it turns by the barn.  I spotted individual rocks where its tail and head were to measure it later.  It started moving into the grass before I could get my camera out.  Once it was half way in it stopped and laid still, probably on the theory that if it couldn't see me, I couldn't see it.

We waited until it disappeared before I measured the distance between the head and foot rocks - 62 inches.  That makes it the largest timber rattler we have found at Bull Mills, although 8" short of the one the previous owners killed in 1994.  We found a dead 3' timber rattlesnake about 30' away from this site last month.  We had run over it when we drove in while it was dark the prior evening.

We have seen a similar timber rattlesnake at the same spot 4 times over the last three years.  On one side there is a grassy glade with a lot of shelf rock.  The other side of the road is dense warm season grass, sedge and weeds 3 feet tall.  Walking in there several minutes later to cut a thistle I scared up a wood rat.  I may have saved its life!

Boxelder Bugs

Box Elder Bugs- 1st Instar- 12 font

Spring brings a common annoyance into our Springfield home.  We get really bugged by tiny red bugs, the size of a period on a 12 font document seem to be crawling silently everywhere.  They are most prominent on the brushed aluminum of my computer notebook.  Barb identified these as the first instar of the boxelder bug.

Boxelder bugs, Boisea trivittata are commonly seen true bugs.  The first instars we see are miniature versions of the adult.  Boxelder nymphs grow through molting with five nymphal stages (instars) before reaching the adult stage (imago).  They are wingless, gradually taking on the adult's characteristics and color with each molt.  Like pilots, when they hit the final stage, they get their wings.

5 Instars and adult- University of Rhode Island

True bugs are characterized by specialized mouth parts modified for piercing and sucking juices.  Although most attack plants, some like the assassin bug specialize in predating insects and caterpillars.  Another characteristic is the hardened proximal portion of the upper wing.  For those of us who are etymologically challenged, the easy thing to remember is that their wings overlap, unlike beetles whose wings fit together along the center of their backs.

University of Minnesota

Their primary breeding home is female boxelder trees, as well as maple and ash trees. They are sometimes called "garage bugs" for a good reason.  They tend to cluster in human structures to hibernate for the winter.  No nearby box elder trees?  No problem, as they are capable of flying up to two miles to find a nice place to spend the winter.

They do not cause significant plant damage and are primarily just an annoyance.  When squished they leave a tiny water soluble orange-red stain.  They do not have an odor but do have a bad tasting chemical that deters predators, allowing them to hang out in large clusters unmolested.

They are said to lay their eggs outside under bark and not in houses.  This is a little hard to believe considering the constant flow of 1st instars throughout our house.  In season there is always one crawling across the surface of my computer notebook.   With no nearby box elder, they may chose it because it is an Apple!

There are management suggestions from the University of Minnesota Extension.

Butterfly Boom Year

The most common question in the last few weeks has been "Where are all these butterflies coming from?"  Even friends whose view of nature is through a windshield have noticed the swarms along roads and gravel drives.  My guess is that the mild to non-existent winter dramatically reduced the normal cold weather mortality.  Fewer freezes means fewer dead eggs, larvae and even over-wintering adults like the Mourning Cloak.

Mourning Cloak- Chris Barnhart

Last Friday, a 100 foot stretch of gravel road east of the old red bridge was covered with 300+ butterflies.*  There was a mix of Mourning Cloak, Red Admiral, Comma and Question Marks, Zebra and Spicebush Swallowtail as well as smaller species.  They were all collecting minerals off the gravel in preparation for their next breeding.  They were so engrossed in their task that they flew off only when we crept by in the truck, then immediately swarmed back to the same spot.

Mourning Cloak Caterpillars

Mourning Cloaks over-winter as adults and start laying eggs immediately.  That hatch breeds again, and the second batch emerges as butterflies prepared to face the winter.  They nestle under bark, treasuring our shagbark hickory and other loose barked trees.  On a warm winter day you will see one go fluttering by, catching some rays while it can.

In a normal year, I will see Mourning Cloaks infrequently, but this spring they are almost as common as other dark butterflies such as Spicebush and Pipevine Swallowtails.  It will be interesting to see what happens to these abundant populations later this summer.  If nature balances as usual, we may see fat birds and an increase in the tiny wasps which lay their eggs on caterpillars.

Caterpillars drop when startled

Two weeks ago we were out hunting caterpillars and found these beautiful Mourning Cloak caterpillars, decimating the leaves on a dwarf hackberry.  Like many cats, their defense mechanism when disturbed is to drop to the ground.  Normally this is a good strategy but when there is a waiting net below, not so good.  I am happy to report that they will eclose (emerge from the chrysalis) in a better place with lots of loving kids to watch.

Tom Riley reports observations on the early migration of southern species in the FOG News Blog.  Not only are they arriving early but some species are now breeding farther north as might be expected with the warming temperatures.  Who knows, some day we may be advertising "Ozarks- the new Costa Rica."

*  How do you count 300 butterflies?  I learned this trick from our Master Naturalist Buck Keagy.  You count their antennae and divide by two.

Raising Zebras

Frass Happens

We assumed the responsibilities for raising 50 orphaned Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars several weeks ago, a gift from Chris and Deb Barnhart.  They needed a place to feed on pawpaw and we had a large grove on our ridge top woodland.  We are sworn to secrecy on their paternity, but were assured that they were legitimate.

Each dozen (or more- who knows with these tiny caterpillars) were in a container with leaves nestled on a coffee filter.  The filter was to be attached to the trunk of a small pawpaw and then the tree covered with a white mesh bag.  It is designed to let in air and sunlight but exclude birds and small predatory wasps that might want to lay their eggs on our cats.  Once the bag is secured, the cats crawl all over the little tree, devouring the leaves and producing an awesome pile of frass in the bottom of the bag.  Yes, frass is just what you think it is, known among school children by the other scientific term, poop.

Note Silk Trapeze

Friday was the scheduled birth date.  Like most dates of spontaneous delivery, (there are no C-sections or inductions for our organic caterpillars) there is a lot of variability.  We took off the first two bags and found that while most of the cats had formed their chrysalis, several in each bag were still crawling around, looking for a good place to "hang out."

We waited 3 more days before opening the last bags.  Most of the cats had formed their chrysalides and we put the other few cats in a container with some sticks and leaves for them to attach to.  All but two of these pupated over the next 24 hours.

When butterflies form a pupa (called a chrysalis), they weave a silk trapeze around the top to hold their future body upright.  (See picture)  Inside, the caterpillar turns to a mass of goo, then miraculously reconfigures into a butterfly.  The silk keeps the butterfly head up so that when it emerges, gravity will help pull its wings as they inflate and dry fully extended.  Chris and Deb will hang the chrysalides in the house in this same position.

Friendly Zebras

Newly Emerged

Chris Barnhart's Zebra color wheel

For a beautiful set of Zebra Swallowtail pictures at all stages, go to Chris Barnhart's page.
His unusual facts page is on the FOG News Blog.
Details of the Zebra/Pawpaw connection are at Blueridgediscoveryproject.blogspot.com

Eagle's Nest Trip

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,"
                -Shakespeare

Green frog- unaltered photo

The Master Naturalist field trip to the Schanda's to see the young eagles in their nest was a huge success.  If Macbeth's three witches had been there they could have scored three ingredients for their potion.

We were greeted by Nancy who led us to a water feature in the front yard.  It was guarded by a handsome green frog (Lithobates clamitans) that sat patiently still for pictures.   The unaltered picture to the right looks like Hammons had been practicing his dental extraction on it.  I cannot otherwise explain the color pattern on its jaw.

How a green frog found this scenic spot high up on a rocky Ozark hillside above Lake Taneycomo, I will never know.  With the water garden and lush green lawn fertilized by an advanced septic system, it should have plenty to eat.

Next we were ushered into the kitchen, bypassing the goodies to get to the deck.  There a spotting scope was focused on the eagle nest with its three young dark eagles and a regal looking adult.  It was out of camera range so you will have to take my word for it.

Hammons led us to the lower level where there were bats sleeping beneath the floor of their deck.  They were hanging between boards 14 feet up in a dark area so I couldn't tell if they had any wool.  They did leave a nice layer of guano on the ground, an odorous habit that will soon lead to their eviction.

Bats picture taken from below

 And the third element of the potion listed above?  If the grand kids' Labrador retriever continues to shed, I don't know about its tongue but the rest of it is in real trouble.

Egg Season

Black Vulture on eggs

In the spring, a young bird's fancy turns to thoughts of... making babies!  Evidence of this trend abounds along Bull Creek this week.

The most dramatic has been the return of the Black Vulture family.  I first saw them close up in March when I drove within six feet of a pair sitting on the corral fence.  They didn't budge when I stopped, suggesting that they were the ones that became acclimatized to us during their nesting last year in the old barn.

Black Vulture Babies- Day 1

We waited patiently for three weeks, afraid we might scare them away, then looked in the barn on April 1.  Our patience was rewarded by the sight of two large blotchy eggs.  We didn't see them again for a month as one of the parents remained on them full time.  Last year they would flush on our entry, further evidence that they had lost fear of us.

On May 1 the chicks first appeared, cute fuzzy little balls that are sure to elicit a response of "awhhh."  Unlike the bluebird and chickadee babies in bluebird boxes who lay still with their eyes shut for the first few days, vultures are born with their eyes open and their feet moving.   They still aren't a ball of energy yet, their main tricks are limited to turning their head and a little wiggling. 

At the other end of the field, we came across a turkey nest with eight eggs in a elderberry thicket.  We returned two days later to see if there was any activity and Barb crept up on the area to investigate.  (See turkey flush above)  It was like flushing a quail on steroids.  If you think that the flushed turkey was startled, you ought to try being the "flusher."

Turkey Nest

This time there were just 6 eggs in the nest.  Sadly, when we returned today, we could see from a distance that the nest area was trampled down and empty aside from a few small dark feathers.  The good news is that incessant gobbles ring throughout the Bull Creek valley, advertising the opportunities to love and mother again.

Looking for Ladies

Love is in the air

I spent last Monday looking for pregnant females... Spicebush Swallowtail (SBS) butterflies to be exact.  As Friends of the Garden gears up for the opening of the Butterfly House at the Botanical Center, the butterfly "wranglers" begin rounding up the livestock.

We are looking for female SBS willing to lay their eggs on spicebush host plants in the Butterfly House.  Once deposited, they can grow into caterpillars and pupate in the relative safety of the mesh walls, away from birds and hopefully parasitic wasps.  The pupae (chrysalis) are then collected and stored to time their coming out as adults for all to see.

Unlike some butterfly species, it is relatively easy to identify female SBS.  On the back of the hind wing they are a deep blue while males have a lighter blue-green coloration.  It is hard for me to detect the females on the wing and apparently the males have the same problem initially as I will occasionally see one buzz another male or even a similarly colored Pipevine Swallowtail before leaving for greener pastures.  The males also can detect pheromones to help them find the ladies.

Swallowtail butterflies tend to continue to flap their wings as they nectar on flowers, unlike most other butterflies.  When the females land on a spicebush or sassafras to lay eggs (oviposit), they will drum on the leaf with their front legs, sampling the plant with chemoreceptors on the tips (think "front feet"). 

Male SBS

SBS are said to cruise at lower levels that other swallowtail species.  By concentrating on nectaring butterflies rather than those cruising rapidly through the woods, I was able to catch only females.  I suspect that those darting around nonstop were males looking for lonely ladies while the females were busy storing up on prenatal nectar.

The older butterflies tend to lose scales and have more tattered wings.  At this time of year, I bring these to the Butterfly House as they are more likely to have mated.  I have released specimens that could barely fly but managed to stagger to the nearest spicebush and immediately start laying eggs, answering the call to motherhood. 

Photography by Dr. Chris Barnhart
The Butterfly House will open on May 11th.