The Ohio Nature Blog

The Mossman

2009-11-09T20:41:00.004-05:00

Just call me the Mossman!

I spent the weekend at the Edge of Appalachia Preserve in Adams County attending a moss identification workshop taught by Dr. Barbara Andreas, who I have had the fortune of botanizing and naturalizing with several times in the past. She knows her mosses!

I'm completely exhausted after spending the weekend looking through a compound microscope- it was intense. Mosses are so small that they are identified looking at really tiny parts- like the shape of their leaf cells, and weather or not there are any bumps on the cells. Pretty cool stuff!

I had a great deal of fun, learned a ton of new things, and after three days, I was completely wiped out, hence the lack of pictures in this post.

More to come soon, including photos of the incredible Edge of Appalachia Preserve and other botanical wonder sites in Adams County, Ohio.

Enjoy your week. We government employees get a big day off right in the middle of it, thanks to Veterans Day.

Tom

Midway, Message from the Gyre, by Chris Jordan

2009-11-03T20:42:00.003-05:00

I must say I had never heard of photographer Chris Jordan before this morning, but after viewing some of his work, I don't believe I'll ever forget these images. Powerful and gut wrenching, Chris travels around our coasts and produces images of what he sees as a "slow-motion apocalypse in progress."

Although I usually stay upbeat and positive about nature and our connection to it, these images affected me so much that I felt obligated to share them.

www.chrisjordan.com

The Gray Jay, a Bird from the North

2009-11-02T21:10:00.009-05:00

Streaked Mountain, Maine, October 2009

Hi everyone- how are you adjusting to daylight savings time? I'm loving the early morning sun, but the evening blackness will take some time to get used to. I was telling Megan this evening that it isn't all bad. The early night makes me want to settle onto the couch at about 6:30 and do nothing for the rest of the evening. I'm not going to be able to keep that pattern up for long without consequences, so perhaps a re-commitment to the Worthington recreation center will be in my future on these upcoming dark winter nights.

Speaking of dark nights- when Megan and I visit Maine come Christmas time, the north woods sky will be pitch black by 4:30 or so. It's amazingly early. I can't imagine living a full winter with that little light, but this bird is probably used to it. Megan spotted this avian friend on the top of Streaked Mountain on October 2009 near South Paris, Maine. This was a new one for me, and observing it and photographing was thrilling. Do you recognize it?

Tom

P.S. The pronunciation of the Mountain in question is not the same as if I were to say "I just streaked through the streets of Worthington." It is decidedly said with two syllables, as most words in the local vernacular of western Maine are drawn out into two, three or four syllables where here in Ohio they would just be one syllable.

Say Stree-ked mountain, and you've got it down.

Tom

HDR Photography How To- "On Golden Pond"

2009-10-28T19:13:00.004-04:00

Click for larger image.

First of all, I'd like to thank Tom aka Fishing Guy, from Kent Ohio, and Heather of the Hills, for inspiring me borrow the original "On Golden Pond" film from the library. I was explaining that I'd never seen a loon at Little Pond, Maine, and Tom was surprised, since the movie "On Golden Pond" portrays them as a regular sight and sound for the Thayers. Not so for Little Pond- I just don't think it is big enough to support loons.

Getting back to the movie- Megan and I watched it, and although it is a bit dated, a bit slow, and a bit cheesy- it was really worth our time. The movie does a superb job of illustrating what the lake life is like in Maine- idyllic.

Now, onto how I created the picture above. Obviously, this type of view is something that an ordinary camera cannot capture with a single image. However, using a photographic technique called high dynamic range photography, or HDR, we photographers can take multiple exposures of the same scene and merge them in a software called Photomatix. The resulting merged image can then be tone mapped, also using Photomatix, to allow the bright areas and the shadow areas of the image to be exposed as the eye would see them in nature.

Let's see how this works- here are the three images that went into making my On Golden Pond- Little Pond photograph-.

The three shots are not exactly impressive are they? One reason for this is that they're minimally processed RAW files, straight out of the camera. Photomatix, with a great deal of input from the user by adjusting many features with sliders and buttons, can really make magic.

Tom

P.S. I'll give 10 points, yes, 10 points, to the commenter that can correctly identify the scientific name of the deciduous tree prominently featured in the right hand portion of this image.

Horizontal Panorama- Dusk at Little Pond

2009-10-27T19:12:00.003-04:00

First vertical panorama photography, and now a horizontal panorama of Little Pond, Maine, from our Mid October 2009 visit.

This shot was taken well past sunset. At this stage, the clouds are entirely backlit from the last tiny bit of the day's sunlight. I've found that this period, just before pitch black, is one of my favorite picture taking times at Little Pond.

Tom

Vertical Panorama Photography- The Bur Oak

2009-10-25T10:57:00.007-04:00

Hi All- Megan and I are settling back into Ohio. There is just something about a week long vacation in Maine that made me wordless upon our return for a few days, but now that we're here and living our lives once again, I'm getting back into the swing of things.

As a photographer, have you tried shooting multi-image panoramas? If you haven't you really should. It's just crazy fun. I made this seven image composite of our backyard oak tree in Adobe Photoshop CS4. I've also used Canon PhotoStitch to make panoramas. PhotoStich is a free program that came with your Canon camera software (other camera owners will have to help me out with this one- does Nikon offer a free photostitch software?) Even if you don't have a Canon camera, you can download it and use it all for free.

As you can see, even with multiple photographs, I wasn't able to get the whole tree in the frame. Maybe I can? What if I took multiple vertical rows of images stacked upon each other, and then tried to use the Adobe CS4 photomerge tool?

Also- If you do go and try to do this- make sure you shoot in manual and turn off autofocus. You'll want the images to have identical exposures and focal point- if they don't, your finished product could look very strange.

All of this panoramic photography has been prompted by two things. First, this incredible composite image from the latest National Geographic that must be seen in the magazine to be appreciated. And second, I have been tasked to shoot a vertical and horizontal panoramic photograph for my most recent assignment at Columbus State.

Although this type of photography might sound gimmicky, it allows us nature lovers to present the natural world in interesting way that captures so much more information than a single frame image. It's almost like being there, but not quite, but just close enough to be really interesting.

Tom

Also- Here's another free panoramic maker, that a reader pointed out to me, this one from Microsoft.

Metroparks Challenge Hike #5 Glacier Ridge

2009-10-23T19:36:00.002-04:00

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Welcome Back to Ohio

2009-10-21T20:26:00.007-04:00

Ok- I'm not welcoming you back to Ohio, per se, but myself. Living a week in the cool, clean, and quiet air of the Maine woods was amazing, and it has taken some time to acclimate back to the city life. I'm giving it my all though.

Perhaps one of my greatest reminders of how wonderful Ohio is came this evening, as I scrolled through the wonderful images submitted to the Ohio Nature Photographers group on FLICKR. If you are a photographer and enjoy shooting the natural world of Ohio, I encourage you to join us. In under a year, we've gathered 227 members that have submitted over 3000 fantastic photographs of all things natural in Ohio.

And for everyone that has joined and contributed, I must thank you for creating such great photographs and reminding me that my home state is absolutely wonderful.

Tom

UPDATE- I myself have found the above slideshow mesmerizing. I dare you to watch it for only 10 seconds.

Good Night and Goodbye from Little Pond

2009-10-16T19:37:00.001-04:00

Our stay has come to an end. Tomorrow we will head back to Columbus and leave Little Pond for Megan's Parents to enjoy. The next time we'll be back, ice will cover this pond and the geese that descended upon the water today will also be long gone. We've had a great vacation here in western Maine- we scaled two mountains, did the obligatory trip to L.L. Bean, and even ate a genuine New England boiled dinner held in the basement of the church where Megan and I were married. And Weston loved every bit of our stay. Can we ask for anything more?

When we visit here for a full week, we get a taste of what life in rural Maine is like- clean air and lots of nature, but the drive to town, to the store, to church, to the gas station- well, that just gets old. At home in the city, I never wish for more activity, more civilization, more things to do. But after a week in the Maine woods, I'm somewhat longing for our city once more. I know this feeling will be short lived- once back in the hub-bub of Columbus, I'll be wishing for the clean air and orange post-sunset glow reflecting into little pond.

Tom

Loon Fake Out

2009-10-16T08:29:00.001-04:00

Megan, Weston, and I have had a wonderful time visiting Little Pond this week in Otisfield Maine. One bird that I'd always wanted to see swimming on the water here is a loon. I haven't yet seen one, but when we first arrived last Saturday, this cormorant got my heart beating quickly. It was far across the water, and without binoculars, its silhouette was mighty loon-like. A quick look through the resident Nikon bins and my excitement level dropped as soon as I saw the hooked bill of a cormorant.

Still- I hadn't seen cormorants in the past four years of exploring nature here, so it was interesting to watch them this week. A pair flies in very early in the morning and begins to fish, diving down and surfacing after 30 seconds or so. One afternoon, as we were about to leave for a hike, I looked down to the dock and saw this bird basking in the sun. A slow stalk with the camera ensued, and I was able to come within about 30 feet without it ever really caring that I was there.

Tom

Sky Watch Friday- A Night at Little Pond

2009-10-15T14:44:00.001-04:00

October 14, 2009, Little Pond, Maine.

For more sky watch, go here.

Snowfall on the Presidential Range

2009-10-14T18:25:00.001-04:00

This afternoon, Megan and I hiked to the summit of Mount Pleasant, near Bridgton Maine. A 1.8 mile hike that ascends over 1500 feet, the view from the top of the mountain is spectacular. To the west lies the Presidential Range of New Hampshire, most famous for Mount Washington, home to the world's worst weather. And today was no exception. We were high above the hills of Maine and hovering in the low forties, but across the way on top of these mountains, it was snowing. The high temperature for Mountain Washington today was a cool 20 degrees, and when I just checked the temperature at 6:19 p.m. Wednesday evening, it was down to 10 degrees with a -16 windchill.

From our vantage point, the mountains were shrouded in what looked like icy, snowy fog, which was quite a contrast to the valley below that was experiencing the peak of autumn.

Tom

Good Morning

2009-10-14T07:41:00.000-04:00

Wow it was cold this morning at Little Pond-frost covered everything in the bog. I took this image just as the sun had risen high enough to illuminate the entire forest and bog across the pond. The Tamaracks are really starting to glow yellow, and the maples are all shades of yellow, scarlet, and orange.

Tom

The View From Streaked Mountain

2009-10-13T13:16:00.001-04:00

The View From Streaked Mountain, originally uploaded by Tom Arbour.

October 12, 2009

Above South Paris, Maine

Evening Light at Little Pond

2009-10-11T11:56:00.002-04:00

Evening Light at LIttle Pond, originally uploaded by Tom Arbour.

We're enjoying the clean, cool, air here in Maine. It's wonderful to get away from everything once in a while.

Life in the Goldenrod

2009-10-09T20:17:00.005-04:00

Solidago canadensis and various insects, shot over several weeks in our backyard during late summer and autumn, 2009.

I accidentally uploaded each image full size- my bad will lead to your viewing pleasure. Click on each image to see these insects up really close.

Tom

Metroparks Challenge #4 Blendon Woods in the Rain

2009-10-06T19:30:00.002-04:00

Just pictures this evening, I hope you enjoy what Megan, Weston, and I saw on our quick but fruitful walk to Thoreau Lake at Blendon Woods Metropark on the Columbus' northeast side. September 26th, 2009.

Tom

I'm Back

2009-10-05T19:32:00.003-04:00

I'm back to the blogosphere- I took a long weekend and didn't even look at any blogs- I must say, it was somewhat refreshing to throw my total concentration to something else for a while. And what might that something else be?

Wedding photography- And here is the happy couple.

I photographed Bec and Ben's wedding this past weekend in Perrysburg, Ohio. Bec is Megan's first cousin, and they trusted me with doing my first full blown wedding. For those of you out there that dabble in photography- let me tell you, it was intense. I now have a real appreciation for what it is like to be a professional photographer for a day. And although I often shoot pictures of Megan and Weston, working with a bride, groom, wedding party, families, friends, and many other people throughout the day was quite a different experience.

My main worry was battery power, and believe it or not I took over 1400 pictures and my camera is still reading full power with the second set of two lithium batteries in my external battery grip. The AA's in the flash was another story- The flash was also hooked up to a battery pack around my waist. It was using 12 rechargable AA's at one time, but it still didn't last all that long. Luckily I have a 15 minute quick charger, plus I had two redundant sets of batteries- 36 AA in all.

Now, I'm back to nature. This week Megan and I'll will blog about our hike #4 to Blendon Woods, which happened in the rain, plus I'll start my backyard goldenrod series. Hopefully we can get a short metropark hike in one evening this week, because, we're not going to have all that much time left. You've guessed it, it's leaf peeping season in Maine, and we'll be heading there Saturday for a week.

Tom

A Few of my Favorites

2009-10-01T20:59:00.004-04:00

I'm taking a three day hiatus from the blogosphere- I encourage you to explore The Ohio Nature Blog. I have written over 700 posts, and here are some posts of note.

My Very First Blog Post from January 20th, 2006 where I discuss my aspirations of being a political blogger (it lasted one post) and mentioning my wonderful girlfriend Megan. It wasn't very good. Let's just say I think I met my main objective of starting this blog- to improve my writing.

Prepping to go to Maine to get Married Yep- that's right Megan and I were married in an white-clapboard wooden church in small town Maine, and had our reception overlooking Little Pond. Some proof to me I was single. Megan and I have a fantastic relationship. My brain finds it hard to remember what my life was like before we met.

Regarding One's Home, the story of my home, and one of my favorite bits of writing that I've done here.

Every once in a while I paint or draw Before I purchased a digital SLR camera, I also dabbled with watercolors throughout the winter. I should do this once again, I miss it.

The Birth of our Son Weston Images from his first day breathing air, exactly seven months ago tomorrow.

and

My Best Photographs of 2008

If that last past didn't satisfy your need for natural eye candy, be sure to take a look at the long key word listing below and to the right on the blog's side bar.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Tom

Farewell to the Ambush Bug

2009-09-30T20:23:00.003-04:00

I discovered this little creature hiding amongst our backyard Canada goldenrod two weeks ago this evening. Many of you asked how I ever found such a tiny, well camouflaged insect. This itself is quite a story.

I happened to notice a little bit of discoloration at the edges of one of the clusters of goldenrod heads. Interesting- it deserved a closer look. In the center of this area was a little tiny bee, wasp, or ant that I photographed. But when I went inside that evening to download the photos, I had a closer look at that tiny little dark insect. And wow was I surprised when I saw the bright yellow creature pictured above, grasping the small brown creature with its powerful looking front legs.

I've been lucky enough to watch this Ambush bug for a week and a half. This past Monday, I wasn't able to find it. Until then, it had stayed on the very same square inch of goldenrod. It would occasionally catch small insects, but I was holding out that someday I'd find it with a gigantic bumblebee in its claws. That didn't happen, but I hope this creature enjoyed its stay in our backyard.

I've been photographing all the insect types that have visited our small patch of goldenrod and I'm slowly working through them. I am amazed at just how many interesting things visited our small patch of backyard this year.

Tom

Columbus Welcomes Autumn

2009-09-26T19:48:00.000-04:00

Blendon Woods Metropark, Saturday September 26th, 2009

Mussels and their Mantles

2009-09-25T18:58:00.007-04:00

In my post of our hike to Battelle Darby Creek, Jennie left the following comment:

"I'm interested in the "beautifully colored fish and fresh water mussels with their bizarre life histories". Recently read about the bitterlings laying eggs in the siphons of mussels, but didn't think that was a local phenomena. Love hearing all the co-evolved mutualisms. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction!"

Well Jennie- Instead of the fish laying their eggs in the mussels, the mussels actually have to get their larvae onto the gills of fish- believe it or not. And they have actually evolved lures to do this. I have photographed this phenomenon in May, 2008 with a plain pocketbook, Lampsilis cardium, as pictured above, and presented in video below.

I also quickly found these other videos on YouTube- These are great views Also- Dr. Tom Waters of Ohio State has posted these amazing videos on his website that are also must views.

A look at the lures of the wavy rayed-lampmussel.

And this video shows a smallmouth bass pecking at the mantle lure of a wavy rayed lamp mussel.

And this clip shows three fish, but one isn't a fish at all, it is the mantle lure of an unidentified mussel species. And I agree with Jennie. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Tom

This is my contribution to this week's Camera Critters.

Metro Parks Challenge #3 Battelle Darby

2009-09-24T19:22:00.007-04:00

A curious goldfinch greets us along the trail

If you live in Ohio, or quite possibly if you really like aquatic ecosystems and live in another state, you may have heard of the "The Darby". This gem of an ecosystem lies just outside Columbus and drains the Darby Plains, once home to a great expanse of natural tall grass prairie, and now home to some of Ohio's richest agricultural land.

Even so, the Big and Little Darby Creeks are still amazingly rich in biodiversity- if I were at work I could tell you exactly how many rare species live in these streams, but safe to say it is dozens. The streams were designated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as State Scenic Rivers back in 1984 and recognized as national scenic rivers in 1994. I have to say that these two creeks are the biological gems of central Ohio, and I just simply need to visit these areas more often.

Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park is where to go to see the Big Darby, and even some of Little Darby, as the two streams reach their confluence in this Metro Park.
The streams are quite unassuming. But underneath their surfaces is a rich diversity of beautifully colored fish and freshwater mussels with bizarre life histories.

So what better place to introduce Weston to a world class ecosystem AND complete our third Metro Parks Hike for the year? Here he is in the backback- If you remember back to our Sharon Woods hike, we forgot the sun shade- but not this time.
However- We DID forget his bib! How fun it was to watch Mom get food all over the place. Murphy's law was certainly in place this day- forget the bib and he'll be sure to be extra messy with his baby barley cereal.

On our way along the trail, we encountered things like cutleaf coneflower, Rudbeckia laciniata.
And in higher drier meadows we saw one of the cudweed species in the genus Pseudognaphalium.

And we also got to introduce Weston to map turtles. This female was basking on a rock in a large pool created just downstream from the confluence of the Darby Creeks. She was absolutely huge, probably 10 inches long- dwarfing her male counterparts at the other end of the rock.

As we returned north through the most mature woods along the trail, I happened to spot the plant pictured above. Weird, I thought to myself, I've never seen this. I thought it might be an orchid. A quick e-mail to my colleague Rick Gardner after we returned home and he confirmed that my suspicion was indeed correct. He identified this as the autumn coralroot, Corallorhiza odontorhiza. Some plant species produce flowers that never open and are self fertilized- botanists call these cleistogamous flowers. Autumn coralroot can produce both types of flowers, so it is possible that these flowers will open eventually, or it is possible that they will remain closed and self fertilize.

Megan, Weston, and I had great fun at Battelle Darby Creek Metropark. We parked at the Cedar Ridge area and followed the Indian Ridge trail south to the Indian Ridge Picnic area and back. Here's an aerial view of the day's adventure.

View Metroparks Challenge in a larger map

Tom

The Coolest Thing I've Ever Photographed in the Backyard!

2009-09-16T20:12:00.003-04:00

Hot off the Compact Flash card- I took this image on Wednesday evening while shooting insects on our Canada Goldenrod patch in the backyard. Absolutely amazing! This is an ambush bug, in the subfamily Phymatinae , and possibly in the genus Phymata. Isn't it cool?

Check out a larger image on black that I have posted at TA Photography.

Tom

Metroparks Challenge Hike #2: Sharon Woods

2009-09-15T12:32:00.016-04:00

I have caught a cold! Oh Joy! I just love being sick. I hope I don't pass it on to anyone else.Fortunately, the cold hit last night, so it didn't mess up our weekend. Megan, Weston and I continued our Metroparks challenge- which is to visit every one of the 15 Metroparks in the system here in Columbus and Central Ohio. Two down, thirteen to go!

Sharon Woods a short drive from our home- just two exits off the beltway (i-270) that circles our great metropolitan area. Megan and I have been here before- pre Weston.

We decided that the 1.8 mile Spring Creek loop trail looked perfect for a nice hike with our little guy. The trail offered a variety of habitats- upland old fields and forests, lowland headwater streams, and even a small created wetland. Although none of these habitats were stellar- I wasn't expecting to see an amazing array of biodiversity, the hike was still interesting and fun.

As you can see over Megan's shoulder, the first portion of the hike led us through an old field dominated by Canada goldenrod.

I kept an eye out for butterflies, but the only one I observed was this pearl crescent, one of the most frequently encountered butterflies in Ohio.

After the old field, we entered a young woodland with several "wolf trees". These trees, often much bigger than most of the forest, were remnants of a time when this land was probably pastured or farmed. The old trees would have been surrounded by crops or grasses. At sometime in the past, the land was abandoned, allowing tree seedlings to become established. Since they were all competing against each other, these trees grew quickly and very straight, in contrast to this large open grown oak.

A little further down the trail brought yet another old field opening, this one much smaller. It supported a nice population of grease grass, Tridens flavus. This species seems to be relatively common in central and southern Ohio especially in old fields and infrequently mowed roadside habitats. If you run your hands up and down the stem and panicle, you'll feel why this plant is given the name grease grass- it somehow produces an oily substance- if you haven't felt it, it's really neat.

Another species growing in this meadow was Sorghastrum nutans, or Indiangrass. One of our showiest native grasses, I'm not exactly sure what it was doing here. It is native further west in Franklin County in the Darby prairies, but here it may have been planted or introduced from mowing equipment. It could have been a natural population, but I'm guessing that it is more likely introduced at Sharon Woods.

With Megan carrying Weston, she kept continuing hiking on, especially after my grass photography. It was taking too long- and he is heavy.

It's hard for me to not take a photograph of a honeylocust trunk covered with protective spines. I just find those spines amazing. The honeylocust is considered an example of an anachronistic species, first described by Dan Janzen and Paul Martin in 1982. The gist of this theory is that this tree species' protective spines are no longer needed because the giant herbivores that this tree evolved with and developed these spines to protect against are now extinct.

We crossed over a small stream that was full of minnows- although I've only dabbled in identification of Ohio's fish, if I had to guess- this is a creek chub.

Out of the forest and back into the old field, I did spot a few birds, including this field sparrow.

And, what I think is a song sparrow.

After just short of two miles of hiking, we finished the loop, and stopped to take a break before we got into the car. "Dad, that was fun hike, but I really just want to eat your camera!"

If you'd like to visit Sharon Woods, here is a Google map with aerial photography that shows the lay of the land. I've placed a pin where we began the trail, and roughly the traced our path. Overall, a nice little place for a quick getaway from life in the city.

Also- Megan is also blogging about our Metroparks Challenge with pictures of me not seen here.

So, two Metroparks down, thirteen to go. The next hike will be Batelle Darby Metropark, home to one of Ohio's highest quality stream ecosystems, the Big and Little Darby Creeks.

View Metroparks Challenge in a larger map

Batelle Darby Creek
Blacklick Woods
Blendon Woods
Chestnut Ridge
Clear Creek
Glacier Ridge
Heritage Trail
Highbanks
Inniswood
Pickerington Ponds
Prairie Oaks
Scioto Audubon
Sharon Woods
Slate Run
Three Creeks