Now, Back to the Spiders

My apologies for the delay in getting back to explain the handful of spiders pic. Let me just say that work has been quite hectic lately and I was simply too tired to post. Seems I am not the energizer bunny of cyberspace ;)

Now, for the spiders' tale of woe...

On Sunday Treebeard accompanied me to work. He is a park volunteer now and quite handy to have around. Not only is he very knowledgeable about all things natural, he really enjoys sharing his knowledge with others -- a valuable asset! He is also extremely observant. Just before closing time he noticed the spiders floating on the canal and called me over. We fished them out and I immediately suspected we had found the contents of a mud dauber's (or dirt dauber, if you prefer) nest.

If you are not familiar with daubers, let me give you a brief rundown...A dauber is a spider wasp, she builds a nest of mud that consists of a series of individual chambers. The wasp hunts spiders, stings them and crams several into a chamber, laying an egg on the last one before sealing the chamber. The spiders are not dead -- dead ones would decay and that would be a bad thing. When the egg hatches, the young grub begins to munch on the bounty left by its mom. After it eats what has been provided and grows sufficiently, it pupates and then emerges as an adult the next spring. Pretty cool, eh?

If you look at the pictures below you will notice an egg on a spider's leg in the first photo and in the second you will see a grub munching away on a spider's abdomen.

 

 

How the contents of a dauber's nest ended up floating in the canal is a mystery. Some critter looking for a snack may have broken open the nest or perhaps the wake of a passing boat saturated a nest that had been built under the dock, causing it to dissolve. It's anyone's guess.

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Addendum:

Jason tells me that the terms dirt dauber and mud dauber refer to two very different types of wasps. Dirt daubers use dry dirt and regurgitated water to construct their nests while the mud daubers use actual mud. Jason was afraid I would be offended by his contridiction of my use of the terms -- silly Jason.
My post deals with mud daubers by this definition, so if you preferred to call them dirt daubers, don't. ;)

Check out Jason's most excellent photos on his web page: http://www.xenogere.com
He also has some very nice cats...

Where'd It Go?

Yesterday found us at the work swamp slogging around doing an inventory of a new piece of property. It's always good to know what's growing where and what's living there, too. We saw plenty of wildlife sign and even added several new plants to our list. One thing that cracked me up, though, was this northern black racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor.

Initially, I thought the snake was dead. Its head was at an odd angle and when I touched it on the tail it didn't move. A closer look revealed that the racer was indeed alive. It was checking out a hole down under the leaf litter and when I tapped its tail a second time, zip, down the hole it went.

Another One!

Different porch, same species of frog. I found a lone spring peeper on the back porch at work today. Initially, I mistook it for a curled, dried leaf ;p
Pseudacris crucifer crucifer

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On a completely different note, Treebeard has taught our cat Friday how to play catch.
It is hilarious to watch -- she is crazy for her "crack" mouse and nuts over her little superball. He will throw one of them and off she'll go to get it, bring it back and drop it so he can throw it again.
That's my kitty!

Work Swamp Monday

Today was a crazy, busy Monday. Lots of odd-ball things took place.
For example, I wasn't expecting to, but I ended up spending part of the day with a two-man crew as they surveyed a new piece of property at the park. I will have to mark that boundary, so I wanted to know exactly where it is. The guys were a lot of fun and I learned a little about surveying, too. The little blue speck in the center of the photo is the lead surveyor. I was amazed at how straight a line he was able to maintain through all that vegetation. Those guys work hard!
Other events today included two staff members experiencing family emergencies and having to leave early. I'm beginning to think the moon has something to do with events...

Eggs

 

This egg mass is on a dead tree along one of the trails in the work swamp. I happened upon it in December when I was out scouting in preparation for a hike I planned to lead. The total surface area of the mass is a tad larger than a dime. I'll keep my eye on it and perhaps we will be lucky enough to find out what type of bug will emerge when the weather warms.

Birds I noticed today, in no particular order:
tundra swan
northern pintail
mallard
wood duck
great blue heron
bald eagle
red-tailed hawk
red-shouldered hawk
American crow
grackle
red-winged black bird
starling
robin
northern cardinal
red-bellied woodpecker
white-throated sparrow
dark eyed junco
pileated woodpecker
eastern bluebird
blue jay
rufus-sided towhee
goldfinch
mockingbird
turkey vulture
black vulture
pigeon

Track of the Cat

 

The bobcat that made these tracks was about half mile ahead of me on the trail. I watched him through my binoculars for about 10 minutes. Sometimes our super-straight, long trails offer up wildlife viewing opportunities you don't get on more picturesque hiking trails. This was one of three bobcats I was able to observe this week -- have I mentioned lately that I love my job ;)

Flower for a Rainy Day

The weather today was damp and chilly -- not what some would consider ideal walking weather. Me, I like damp and chilly provided I am dressed for it and I was today. So, while out on patrol, I decided to park my truck and walk a four and a half mile loop. Sometimes it is a good thing to take the time to do foot patrol, it reconnects one in a way that driving can't.

Not much was out and about today. The deer were bedded down, the bears where probably snoozing a bit, and the bobcat were being sly. I found plenty of tracks and some pretty impressive scat, but I never laid eyes on any critters other that birds. It was quiet and I was alone with my thoughts - not a bad way to spend a Tuesday morning. Of course, I was aggravated when I happened upon some litter on the trail. Please someone explain to me why an individual can carry a full beverage can eight miles out into the park, but that same individual is unable to carry the much lighter, empty can back?!? But I digress...

As I was walking I spied a yellow blossom on the ground - Yellow jessamine.

 

I looked around for the vine it had fallen from and found this little face peering back at me. A bud, waiting to open. Isn't life grand?

 

A Small Foray

For a brief time today I escaped the confines of the office and did a little trail scouting for a hike I am leading tomorrow. It was glorious! Blue, blue skies and milder temps made for a perfect day. Hope you had an equally awesome Tuesday.

Currently I am stuffed to the gills with some most excellent Vietnamese food - courtesy of SIL. She visited our favorite Vietnamese restaurant before she left Charlotte this morning. Such a considerate sister-in-law. Plus she came bearing gifts from the city, including a bottle of my favorite brandy! Two of the gifts came from one of our nieces. I will take a picture of them and post that tomorrow. She made one especially for Treebeard and one especially for me. Such a sweet niece!

The offspring will be coming in tomorrow, Hippie is coming in from Wilmington and Flamebrain is heading in from Raleigh. I have to work all day so there will be a cooking prep frenzy when I get home. Got to have everything ready for Thanksgiving dinner for my "babies." ;)

Naughty Bear

Bears gone bad. What are you gonna do? A naughty bear has been tasting the platform at the end of our boardwalk. See those black hairs caught in the wood?
So far it's been just a little nibble and a little pawing...but bears have a thing for treated wood. I have a feeling this misbehaving fellow will be back!
Oh well, it makes an interesting teaching point during interpretive programs ;)

Such A Turkey

We've been having nearly daily afternoon thunderstorms. While we appreciate the rain, the lightning is troublesome. Frequent lightning strikes lead to a greater probability of wildfire so we have to stay on our toes and keep a constant vigil. Wildfire is not necessarily a bad thing - it is a natural and often beneficial event in the swamp -- but things are still really dry out there. A wildfire now has the potential to get very hot and hard to contain so we do daily patrols to scout for signs of fire.

The upside of these patrols is the increased opportunity to make regular observations of wildlife. Even wild animals become creatures of habit - at least while the food supply is abundant in the same place. I can pretty much count on seeing this particular turkey working the roadside in the afternoon. I still can't get close enough to get a decent photograph, but it never fails to make me smile when I see this turkey trotting down the road - long legs in constant motion.

Timberdoodle

Luckily, I saw this cryptic fellow in the middle of the road and stopped my truck before I hit it. American woodcocks are such cool birds and they have an amazing variety of common names: timberdoodle, bog sucker, hookum pake, and night peck. Awesome, don't you think?
Woodcocks probe in the soil for earthworms. Their bills are flexible at the tip.
Plus they can see a full 360 degrees without turning their heads.
How cool is that?

Going In To Work

Traffic was a real bear today...three bears, actually. This is the only one I was able to get a picture of however. Sorry about the grainy quality -- we are having air issues here thanks to the fire that is still burning.

Yummy!

Deep in a particularly rugged part of the swamp I happened across a blueberry bush that the bears hadn't found. High bush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum.

What's Shakin'?

 

Things are very busy, both at home and at work, so I don't have time to do a proper post. But I can't let you go without a swamp fix for too long :) So here you go -- this is a picture of the south end of a rattlesnake I saw at work today. I didn't get any good shots of the whole snake -- sorry :(

On Edge

 

I stood at the boundary line and watched the smoke. The fire is still a mile or so away from our boundary and thus far the winds have been in our favor. There are no homes nearby, just swamp. About 1000 acres have burned -- not necessarily a bad thing. The swamp needs fire from time to time. But still, it's hard to think of the animals out there losing their homes (at least temporarily), if not their lives. Plus, the smoke is killer.

Please keep the fire crews in mind. There are about 100 people working this incident. To our south another fire continues to burn. Over 300 people are working that one. It's hot, dirty, dangerous work. If you have some to spare, send positive energy this way...

A couple of other smoke views from a distance.

 

 

Big Bear Butt, Little Bear Feet

Moth Moments

Upper photo: Hubner's Pero, Pero hubneraria
(please mentally insert two dots over the "u" in "Hubner")
Lower photo: Light Marathyssa, Marathyssa basalis

I try to take a few minutes each day at work to walk around the decks of the visitor center and see what the security lights attracted the night before. Lights left burning all night are not among my favorite things, but I guess this is one of those "lemonade from lemons" things. Since I am not high enough on the food chain to change policy, I will make the best of the situation and use it as an opportunity to add species to the database :)

The moths above represent two of the seven species observed one morning last week. The pero uses willows and alders as host plants. The photo is included because I find the moth to be very pretty -- I'm such a girl ;)

The second moth is included because it is so darn peculiar-looking. When I first saw it, I thought I was seeing the remains of a moth that had been gobbled up by some nibble predator. Upon closer examination I discovered that the abdomen wasn't missing as I had presumed, it was just curled up and over. And the wings weren't ragged, just folded. Sneaky, eh?

The coolest thing about this Light Marathyssa? Its caterpillar feeds on poison ivy! Now, I know that will bring a smile to the faces of many.

Slow Smolder

The fire continues to burn, but it is now a smoldering ground fire. Ah, the joys of peat soils...

Forestry anticipates the fire will burn for some time to come. We continue to keep our fingers crossed that a spark doesn't find its way onto the park.

Spring fire season is just around the corner. Its gonna be a tense one, I'm afraid.