Halls Creek Woods

I found a little nature preserve I'd not been to before by way of a Flickr photo group I was invited to join last week (Ohio Dedicated Nature Preserves). Halls Creek Woods is near Morrow and Oregonia in southeast Ohio. It's a little park, just under 300 acres and not much trafficked from what I could tell. There was only one other car in the parking lot when I arrived and I didn't encounter any other people while hiking around. I startled a flock of wild turkeys and a small herd of deer while I was walking, which was only fair since they startled me a great deal.

The trail, which was not blazed, would be a bit hard to pick out after a fresh leaf or snow fall. The website says the trail is two miles long, but my pedometer told me about 1.5. There's a steep climb to get up to the main loop of the trail and I would imagine it would be a bit treacherous descending after a wet spell; wear something with good traction! The trail doesn't follow along Halls Creek itself, which is a shame because it's a lovely creek with lots of small waterfalls and an abundance of fossil-bearing Ordovician stone. However, Halls Creek Road, just around the corner, follows along the creek and there are a couple of spots to pull off and snap photos.




After Halls Creek I drove over to Caesar's Creek and hiked the gorge trail loop. I did my best to find a decent specimen of bryozoan to photograph (or pocket) but it eluded me. I found scads of brachiopods though, and a bit of crinoid stem and a partial cephalapod shell, but no good bryozoans. I think I'll have to hit Keener Park in West Chester - I know there's loads in that creek.

My new waterproof Kamik boots did well! They are slightly too big for me, nothing a thicker pair of socks won't cure. They felt really stiff at first but I got used to them quickly. I've been needing a proper pair of winter boots.

New Year's Day

I'd love to say that I bounced out of bed at six AM to greet the dawn of a New Year with an invigorating hike in the woods. But, that would be a lie. I got off to a slow start, but I did get in a couple of hikes in my two nearby city parks for a total of 4.5 miles this afternoon. Somewhere along the way my scarf slipped from my shoulders; I'll try hiking the same trail tomorrow to see if I can find it. I liked that scarf.

It was the first time I'd hiked French Park since Hurricane Ike blew through back in September. The park was closed for weeks after and today I could see why - there is still plenty of evidence of the massive damage done by the winds.

I also made a big pot of black-eyed peas and sausage stew today - the peas and the pork are supposed to bring luck and prosperity in the new year. I could use a little of both.

I hope to get back to my regularly scheduled blog in the coming weeks. In the meantime, an inspirational quote:


"No matter how slow you run, it's faster than someone sitting on a couch"

Weekend Roundup

After running 5K Saturday morning, I spent the afternoon walking along my little street gathering signatures in order to have the city look into putting speed bumps in to slow down the traffic. Every neighbor I've talked to has a story to tell - everyone who has had to park on the street has had their cars hit and several people have lost pets to speeding cars. Cincinnati received a grant this year to spend on street calming initiatives and hopefully ours will be one of those to benefit.

I went hiking around Caldwell Nature Preserve early Sunday morning and I was the only person on the trails the entire hour. I spent a good fifteen minutes with the trio pictured - the fawns were very curious about me and kept inching closer as I stayed as still as possible and kept snapping photos.

This preserve has scads of pawpaw trees and I spotted lots of unripe fruit in the canopy. I'm planning a return visit once the fruit starts to ripen later in the year.

I also joined up with the Cincy Paddlers group on Sunday for an easy five mile run down the Whitewater River in Indiana. I hadn't been on that river for many years and was pleased to find how clean it was (notwithstanding the case of beer cans I picked up from the banks) compared to how I remembered it. The highlight of the trip for me was spotting a lone osprey hunting along the river. I also picked up a good tip from another new member; the Elkhorn Creek down in Kentucky looks like a lot of fun.

A couple of Seventeen Year Cicada photos

I hiked a couple of trails around the Cincinnati Nature Center on Sunday and spotted scads of Seventeen Year Cicadas emerging. They weren't so numerous in the woods yet but along side the meadows there were hundreds.

The newly emerged adults are cream colored before their exoskeleton hardens:



And here's an adult with the nymph shell left behind:

Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker
Originally uploaded by lilysecret42

No blogging today, just a little video I shot of a Pileated Woodpecker excavating a dead tree.


Edited to add:

As I was walking Caldwell Nature Preserve today, just before taking this video, I came across a man out hiking with three adorable little girls, who were probably five years old. They were sitting on a fallen log while the guy chatted into a cell phone. I was kitted out in my usual gear: day pack, binoculars, walking stick. I said hello to them and one of the girls looked at me in wide-eyed amazement, as if she'd just seen a mythical being, and said "You must be - a girl scout!"

On Shrews

I was lucky enough to spot this shrew hunting in the leaf litter when I was at Cedar Bog a couple of weeks ago. Shrews have rather poor eyesight, so by moving slowly I was able to get down on my hands and knees on the boardwalk and follow its movements for nearly fifteen minutes. It took a good ten minutes just to get this shot, as it was in constant motion and usually obscured by leaves.

Although they superficially resemble rodents, shrews are insectivores and close relatives of moles. They are voracious predators, possessed of an incredibly high metabolism - some species can starve to death in as little as seven hours. They are constantly on the hunt and their primary prey consists of various invertebrates, including earthworms, centipedes, spiders and insects of all varieties. Some species produce a toxic venom, making them one of the very few venomous mammals in the world.

Judging by its size (two inches long, not including the inch long tail) and the range map in my mammal field guide, I believe the pictured animal is a least shrew, but positive identification is tricky. My guide says the least shrew has thirty teeth, which is of course useless as a field mark. I was quite content to have the pleasure of watching it for a while without taking it apart to identify it.

Cedar Bog

I'm not sure how Cedar Bog managed to elude me all the years I've been hiking around Ohio, but it had until today. It's located just outside Urbana and it's largest calcareous bog (actually a fen) in Ohio. I learned from Sally, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, that a bog is a geographic formation characterized by standing water while a fen is flushed at least periodically by fresh water and therefore the soil in a fen is richer in nutrients and less acidic than that found in bogs. Cedar Bog was formed when a retreating glacier left a shallow depression in the earth at the end of the last ice age. It is home to several species of plants and animals seldom found elsewhere in Ohio, including the Massasauga Rattlesnake and the endangered Spotted Turtle.

The preserve is protected by the Ohio Historical Society and there is a nearly mile long boardwalk winding through the fen. The plant life is spectacular and there were loads of wildflowers in bloom today, including Jack-in-the-Pulpit, White Trillium, Bent Trillium, Bishop's Cap, Wild Columbine, Golden Ragwort and Starry False Solomon's Seal. I'm already planning another trip in about four weeks when the Showy Lady's Slipper, one of our native orchids, will be in bloom.

Weekend Report

Saturday morning I got up bright and early and dashed down to Findlay Market to see what goodies were available. I found (and brought home) asparagus, spinach, sorrel, eggs and a pot of thyme, all locally grown. I also found fresh fava beans at Madison's so I grabbed some of those as well. I'm going to make sorrel soup from the recipe I found on the Cincinnati Locavore blog tomorrow night.


I'd planned to spend the rest of the weekend at home finishing my spring cleaning, but today was just too nice outside and I dropped everything this afternoon to get in a quick two and a half mile hike over at French Park. I'm glad I did; I heard reedy calls of Gnatcatchers several times and I also heard the first Red-Eyed Vireo and Hermit Thrush of the season. Larkspur and Blue-Eyed Mary were in bloom as well. Unfortunately, French Park seems to be a bit sparse on native wildflowers and heavy in the introduced and problematic Garlic Mustard; there was scads of it blooming on the hillsides. I guess deer don't care much for its flavor.

Around town

I found trillium blooming for the first time this spring during my quick walk around the Caldwell Nature Preserve yesterday after work. Digital cameras are terrible at photographing white objects; the nuances tend to get lost. Trying to photograph a white flower is difficult for this reason and I was crawling (carefully, so as not to smush other wildflowers) all over the hillside trying to find a trillium in just the right amount of shade. I think I'll start carrying a sheet of paper with me for creating my own dappled sunlight in the future.

Early this morning I went down to Findlay Market and blew my grocery budget for the week. I brought home a few things I've not cooked with before, including rhubarb, ramps ($18 a pound!) and the spice Grains of Paradise. The afternoon was spent in the company of friends down at the Earth Day celebration at Sawyer Point. Somehow the rain held off and we managed to score a few good freebies, including CFL light bulbs. Here's a tiny handful of useful links I picked up today:

• Get a bin, find out what items can be recyled and find information on hazardous household waste drop-offs - Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services
• Soil fertility testing kits are available for a nominal fee from the Hamilton County Soil & Water Conservation District
• The Ohio River Sweep will be held this year on Saturday, June 21st
• Enright Ridge is an Urban Eco-Village is a community fostering a sustainable urban neighborhood, located on the west side of Cincinnati
• Although I didn't see them at the Sawyer Point Earth Day celebration I'm posting a link to Little Miami, Inc. - dedicated to preserving my favorite local river

There were many, many more and I certainly don't mean to exclude any worthy organizations. It's beyond the scope of my tired fingers to list them all.

Bloodroot

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is blooming in our area now, but I've been thwarted in my efforts to get a decent photo this year. I have one good picture of the blossom and another of the leaf, but not both at the same time.

Bloodroot is so named because when the root is damaged it emits a blood red juice. This liquid was used by Native Americans as a dye for baskets and clothing and for painting their faces and bodies.

Although, or perhaps because, the plant has toxic properties it has long been used as a medication. Bloodroot is known to contain an escharotic, a substance that kills tissue, and the juice has been used in preparations to kill ringworm, fungal growths and warts. It is also used in mouthwashes to kill gingivitis and plaque. Despite its useful properties, self-medication is an exceedingly bad idea due to the plant's poisonous substances. It's far too lovely a plant to destroy in any case.

Spring Ephemerals

Harbinger-of-Spring
Originally uploaded by lilysecret42

I finally ponied up the money and purchased a membership to the Cincinnati Nature Center. It's one of my favorite places to hike in the area and today I squelched my way across the two and a half mile Redwing Trail. I found lots of Harbinger-of-Spring (pictured) and Trout Lilies blooming in the woods, though it's still a week or so too early for other spring ephemeral wildflowers. Trillium, Dutchman's Breeches, Bloodroot and several others were above ground but still in bud today. We are expecting a warm week so next weekend should be peak time to take in these fleeting blossoms.

The morning started off chilly but quickly warmed as the sun rose higher into the sky. I happened to be hiking along a stream bed surrounded by a meadow when the temperature passed a certain threshold and suddenly the air was filled with the calls of Spring Peepers. That is the sort of thing that makes getting up before dark on a Sunday morning and heading out into the woods completely worthwhile.

Spring Peeper photo by Myriorama

A great place to bird...

Texas is a great place to bird. Most of the migratory bird species that nest in North America will pass through Texas at some point. I visited the San Antonio Botanical Garden my second day in town and the birds appeared to be as thrilled with it as I was. It's a gorgeous park, sprawling over 33 acres, it includes several greenhouses featuring different collections as well as trails which pass through representations of three of the typical habitats of Texas: South Texas, Piney Woods and Hill Country. Before I knew it three hours had passed and I was a bit tired and hungry. Fortunately for me the Garden has a nice cafe where I was able to revive with a bowl of lamb caldo and some tea.

On Saturday, a wonderful woman I met through the Yahoo! Group SATXbirds forum picked me up at my hotel and we spent the day birding together. We visited the headwaters of the San Antonio River, then headed for Warbler Woods, which is a private estate that is kept as a nature preserve and sanctuary. The birds were pretty quiet that day, but it was still an incredible spot and I hope to return for another visit. After that we had lunch at a fabulous Texas barbecue joint called Harmon's. The chopped pork sandwich was to die for and the ambiance couldn't be beat - there were even horses tied to a hitching post out back. Following lunch we headed out to Mitchell Lake Audubon Center where we found a couple of wonderful birds - a Green-Tailed Towhee and a Least Grebe.

I haven't sat down and completed my trip checklist yet but when I do I'll be updating this post with it. You can see plenty of photos over at my Flickr account in my San Antonio Collection.

Hiking the Shaker Trace Loop

Today I walked the long loop (7.8 miles) of the Shaker Trace trail at Miami-Whitewater Forest. It's not my favorite path; long stretches of it pass through miles of corn fields, which make for rather dull walking. It has the advantage of being paved, however. Between the melting snow from last week's blizzard and the following rain, I thought I would be ankle deep in mud on most of my favorite trails. There were just loads of birds making themselves known today and it made the walk enjoyable; there's a list of what I saw (or heard) below, haphazardly ordered. Still, I was quite footsore by the end; walking on pavement tires me out much more than walking on dirt and leaves.

I spotted the pictured large tree obviously felled by a beaver along the Dry Fork Creek. Extirpated from Ohio by 1830, beavers started making their way back into Ohio in the 1940s and have been expanding their range ever since. The range map on this page doesn't even show Hamilton County as confirmed for an active beaver population, but I suspect is is simply out of date. I saw signs of a beaver family living in this area ten years ago.

On a different note, one of my favorite authors was in the news these past couple of days for having donated a million dollars to Alzheimer's research. Terry Pratchett was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease himself. His legions of fans have started a campaign to match Terry's donation called Match It For Pratchett. There you will find links to donate directly to the Alzheimer's Trust or you can buy a t-shirt, decorated with elephants and the Great A'Tuin. It's a worthy cause even if you're not a Pratchett fan. If you've not read any of his work, you should do so; he's brilliantly funny.

Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Phoebe, American Crow, Blue Jay, Song Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Mallard, Canada Goose, Cooper's Hawk, Killdeer, Red-Winged Blackbird, Red-Tailed Hawk, Kestrel, Wild Turkey, Grackle, Turkey Vulture, Rufus-Sided Towhee, Eastern Bluebird, White-Throated Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker

Alder Catkins

Alder Catkins
Originally uploaded by lilysecret42

Somehow I managed to walk four and a half miles today - a workday no less. The weather was sunny and in the sixties and I couldn't stay inside. I spent my two breaks during the day doing laps around the office building (five laps equals one mile) and after work I went over to Sharon Woods and walked all the way around Sharon Lake.

There are many alder trees bordering the lake and they are already in bloom. This photo depicts long catkins, which are the male flowers of this tree. You can also see the woody remains of the female catkins from last year, still clinging to the tree. They look like tiny pine cones.

Alder trees are water loving and their oily wood is found throughout Venice, Italy in underwater foundations and pilings. It was also commonly used to build bridges. The wood does not rot in water, instead becoming hard as stone. Alder trees are also very useful in environmental reclamation projects, as the nitrogen fixing nodules on their root system improve soil fertility.

Blue-Stemmed Goldenrod

Blue-Stemmed Goldenrod
Originally uploaded by lilysecret42

It's not the greatest photo in the world, I know. Back in the old days, before I carried a digital camera on all my hikes I used to carry several field guides in case I came across a bird/tree/flower/mushroom I didn't know. It made for a very heavy pack. Now I take pictures of the things and identify them later. Sometimes much later. I took this photo last October and have just now got around to looking it up. As best I can tell, this is a Blue-stemmed Goldenrod (Solidago caesia). I found it growing in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore park (which is a lovely place) and there was a lot of it around at that time of year.

In other news I had my yearly performance evaluation at work today. It was all very positive; there were about a dozen anonymous comments from various co-workers singing my praises and saying how much they like working with me. I'm going to file them away and pull them out on those days when I feeling all blue and unlovable.

California Woods

March has decided to come in like a lamb here in Cincinnati. After last month's bitter cold, snow, ice and slush, today's sixty degrees felt heavenly. I grabbed my camera and binoculars and headed out to California Woods to hike the trails. I was hoping to catch some early emerging wildflowers but there were none that I saw. I did spot my first Turkey Vulture of the year though. Of course, some of them don't migrate all that far south in the winter; they just mosey down to Kentucky or Tennessee for a couple of months before heading back this way.

The park is collecting maple sap for syrup and many of the trees near the nature center had buckets attached. One was overflowing so I helped myself to a few drops of the faintly sweet sap. It helped convince me that spring is truly on its way.


There was a nice stand of horsetails in the park and I hunkered down to get a few snaps of them. They get the name horsetail from the feathery fronds that sprout up later in the year. Horsetails are primitive plants, reproducing from spores or rhizomes and they have been around since the reign of the dinosaurs. The stalks contain crystals of silica and were at one time used for polishing and scrubbing pewter ware; their other common name is scouring rush. They prefer wet soil and I found these growing along the flood plain of the Lick Creek.

Farms, Movies and Fava Beans

Yesterday I drove out to Red Sun Farm in Loveland to see what they had to offer. They had beef, pork, chicken (frozen) and fresh eggs for sale, as well as a small selection of organic cheese, honey and various other natural products. I ended up spending about $40 on bacon, pork country ribs, ground pork, stew beef, ground beef, a whole chicken and a jar of dried basil. That's probably enough meat for two months for the likes of me.

I cooked an egg this morning for my breakfast and I'm happy to report it was fantastic. The yolk was a deep, almost orange, yellow and the taste was wonderful. Plus, they were about a dollar cheaper than the organic eggs I've been buying a Trader Joe's; bonus. Tomorrow I'm going to cook up some of the pork ribs in a orange-garlic-chile sauce in the slow cooker. I have high hopes.

I did a quick mini-bird count for the Great Backyard Bird Count on the Kingfisher Trail in Winton Woods yesterday too. I totaled 12 species and 36 individuals, the most numerous being Carolina Chickadees. Nothing rare made an appearance, but I did hear a Barred Owl calling in the distance.

I also went with some friends to see The Spiderwick Chronicles last night. I enjoyed it; it was a good story and the movie was fast paced and action packed. I need to read the books now; it seems the entire fourth book was left out. Go, take the kids, you'll all like it.

I've been thinking about fava beans today. I have a jar of dried fava beans (called broad beans in the UK) and I was thinking about tossing them out. I cooked up a batch of them some time ago and I just didn't care for them. But I really hate to waste food so I'm going to try making ful medames (one of the national dishes of Egypt) before I give up on them entirely. I've heard that fava beans are best when they're fresh but they are only available for a short time in the spring here. I'll try to grab some this year. I also came across a tidbit of information which said that fava beans are the only bean native to the Old World, but I haven't had time to delve into that yet so I'll leave it for another day.

Hiking in Germantown

As usual, I decided to forgo any Super Bowl related activities today and went for a seven mile hike instead. I walked the long loop at Germantown Metropark, which is southwest of Dayton, Ohio. It's a great trail, wandering through old growth forest, cedar groves, riparian bottom land, a meadow and across a dam. It circles a portion of the valley through which the Twin Creek flows. The Twin Creek itself looks like it might be a tidy little river to try in the kayak during warmer weather.

The deeper woods were full of the calls and hammerings of Pileated Woodpeckers. I even saw a group of three cavorting through the treetops. It may seem like the dead of Winter out there but the Pileateds have Spring in their blood. There were other woodpeckers about as well, the common Red-bellied and the less common Hairy Woodpecker made themselves known. I even spotted a grizzled possum trundling along through the leaves in broad daylight.

It took me a ridiculously long time to walk the trail though, about four hours. The combination of having short legs and a naturalist's curiosity make for some mighty slow walking. Also, the last mile or two of the trail was often steep and icy; after I'd slipped and fallen twice I slowed my pace even further. During the second fall my trusty hiking staff saved me from crashing onto one knee and so I arrived home without injuries, not even a bruise. I sometimes get odd looks and comments from other hikers in regards to my stick, but it's saved me from nasty falls on more than one occasion.

Signs of the Pileated

I managed to get in a hike at Caldwell Nature Preserve today. The ground was rock hard except where I was crunching through frost heave. I didn't see another soul on the trails, although it was a balmy 27^o today; a far cry from the 4^o it was just yesterday morning.

I came across this scarred tree trunk on the Pawpaw trail. The large, elongated holes and the massive damage were clear signs that a Pileated Woodpecker had been at work here. They are huge black and white crow-sized birds with a magnificent red crest. I didn't actually see any today, but just a couple of minutes after I'd photographed this tree trunk, I did hear at least one calling from across the ravine. They are shy birds and are much more often heard than seen, so learning what their calls sound like is most helpful when searching them out.

Edited to remove broken link.

More About Squirrels and Oaks

I decided to do an "Urban Hike" today and walked around Eden Park, roughly following the route I mapped out a couple of days ago. It was quite a nice walk, but I find I really prefer trails to sidewalks. People drive too fast through the park and I found myself wanting to shake my tiny fist at them and shout at them to slow down. And get off my lawn.

I was still thinking about squirrels and oaks today, probably because I live in close proximity to both. When I took my laundry to the basement this morning (I have to go outside to do this) there was a squirrel chattering at me from the security of a hundred year old oak tree.

Every few years, oak trees produce a synchronized bumper crop of acorns, a process known as masting. The abundance of food for the squirrels in turn causes a furry population boom the following year; well fed squirrels produce more squirrel pups. In colonial times, when the forests were more extensive and less fragmented, this often led to huge mass migrations during September as the squirrels left the area in search of new territories. In 1803 Lewis and Clark witnessed one of these mass emigrations, noting squirrels swimming across the Ohio River. Lewis assumed they were moving south for the winter. Other historical records report masses of gray squirrels so dense that it would take a month for the army to pass through.

The following text was copied from this website, but I can't find the author's name, else I would attribute:

During modern times, squirrel emigrations have not been as spectacular because of the cutting and fragmentation of the vast hardwood forest does not normally allow the build up of the same size squirrel mess as previous eras. But in 1964, millions of squirrels emigrated from the north of Georgia to the south. "One squirrel was reported swimming across the Allatoona Reservoir and encountered a boat in his path. It didn’t stop him. He just ran up an oar, jumped in the boat, ran across the man in the boat, and jumped back into the water continued his swim south. Normally wild squirrels in the woods are scared of man but during migration they lose their normal fear.

In 1968, a migration of squirrels occurred in most of the eastern United States; Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. In New York, one hundred thousand drowned squirrels were pulled out of one reservoir. The number of squirrels killed by automobiles was a thousand times as high as usual. Some estimates of the squirrels number went as high as eighty million.