Wahkeena Nature Preserve
"… to be used for nature study and as a preserve for birds and other wildlife."- Carmen Hambleton Warner
Farmer’s Almanac vs. Wacky Weather Wisdom
The Old Farmer’s Almanac, an entertaining booklet which predicts the climate for the coming year, has forecast a colder than normal winter for Ohio. In contrast, many ‘traditional’ methods of predicting the weather have determined… Well, they have not determined much of anything, but they are still fun to read!
The Old Farmer’s Almanac
The Almanac’s history goes back to 1792. In the 223 years since, they have claimed about an 80% accuracy in predicting the weather.
Bad news for those who dislike winter, the Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a colder than normal season, with plenty of ice and snow. It also foresees a white Thanksgiving, with more snow through Christmas, and plenty more until mid March. Remember, “colder than normal” temperatures are really only a 2 to 5 degree difference than ordinary winters.
Wacky Weather Wisdom, Folklore or Fact?
Traditional methods for predicting the weather have been around for hundreds of years. Some are based on science, while others are not based on much of anything. Let’s explore some of these eccentric weather indicators.
The Caterpillar Knows
The Woolly Bear caterpillar has the reputation of being able to predict the coming winter. Woolly Bears have 13 body segments, corresponding to the 13 weeks of winter. The dark brown/black indicates bitter cold with a lot of snow, while the light brown foresees a milder time.
The above Caterpillar indicates a cold and snowy periods of time at the beginning and end of the season, and moderate weather in between. To date, there has not been any scientific evidence to prove that Woolly Bears can predict winter weather, but watch this winter to see if it is true!
The New Moon
This legend states, the nearer the New Moon to Christmas Day, the worse the winter. This year, the New moon falls on December 21st, just four days from Christmas. To compare from last year, the closest new moon to Christmas was 7 days away. Even though there is no scientific evidence, this legend helps to back up the unusually cold and snowy winter that the Farmer’s Almanac predicted.
Find Yourself a Dead Goose
For this method, acquire the breastbone of a (previously) dead goose, good luck. The length of the breastbone indicates the duration of the coming winter, while the color reveals the harshness. A white bone prophesies a mild season, while a darker one foresees cold temperatures and lots of snow.
If it is early in the winter season, and you cannot find yourself a goose. Instead, watch them fly south. The sooner the geese leave an area, the harsher the winter. If plenty of geese are still “obtainable” in late November, spare a goose because the winter will be a peaceful one.
Foggy August Mornings
Tradition says, for every foggy August morning, there will be a snowfall in the winter. So, mark your calendar for next year to see if this prediction comes true. Or, if you are not a morning person, count the number of days from the first snowfall until Christmas. The number of days will indicate the number of snowfalls to expect. At Wahkeena, our first snowfall was November 14th, showing that we will have 41 snowfalls this coming winter. Like all of the others, there is no scientific evidence to date that help to back up this theory.
There are many other ways of predicting winter weather, do you have any of your own? Have you had luck with any of the legends listed above?
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
-Nora
Don’t Fear…
Not to worry, the Wahkeena blog will live on!
Wahkeena blog followers, do not worry, the blog will continue to be updated regularly throughout the coming winter months and into our next season. Look out for some new features that will help to keep you up to date on all the happenings here at Wahkeena.
To help you get in the mood for Halloween, here are some spooky critters found here at Wahkeena that people typically find scary.
Barred Owl
Strix varia
“Whooo-Who-Cooks-For-You, Who-Cooks-For-You-All” is the typical call of the Barred Owl. This type of Owl is one of the most common types of Owls in Ohio, and can be found in all 88 counties. They eat many types of small animals including mice, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
The Barred Owl pictured above is our resident, education Owl. We have her here at Wahkeena because she was struck by a car, lost sight in one eye, and might have difficulties surviving in the wild.
Marbled Orbweaver
Araneus marmoreus
Marbled Orbweavers are among our showiest spiders. Early in the summer, as juveniles, the spider is a pale yellow that darkens to a bright yellow with a black marbled pattern throughout the season. Around Halloween, the yellow on their abdomen becomes bright orange, often resembling a jack-o-lantern.
Marbled Orbweavers feed at night, and are often hidden away during the day in a folded leaf retreat.
Black Rat Snake
Pantherophis alleghaniensis
Also known as an Eastern Ratsnake, this is Ohio’s largest snakes, often exceeding 6 feet in length. The above snake is a juvenile Black Rat Snake, as the snake grows its bold patterns fade, and its color becomes darker. The bottom picture is of our educational Black Rat Snake, who turned 25 years old earlier this month.
Have a Happy Halloween everyone!
Happy Trails
As many of you know by now, I am no longer at Wahkeena. While I miss Wahkeena greatly, I am having lots of new adventures, and learning lots of new things. I will especially miss sharing Wahkeena happenings with you over this blog, and also seeing you all visiting the preserve! While I do not know what the future of this blog will be, keep checking in. We have 6 years worth of stories and photos to keep us going through the often dreary months of winter. To close, I leave you with the very appropriate lyrics to Roger Dale Evan’s song, Happy Trails. Happy trails everyone!
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, ’till we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here’s a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, ’till we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, ’till we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here’s a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, ’till we meet again.
Favorite Photos Part 2
Hope you enjoyed Part I of my favorite photos! Here is Part 2. This is a combination of the Summer and Fall seasons.
Adder’s Mouth Orchid
a foggy Lake Odonata
Heal-all
Monarch butterfly on Purple Coneflower
Orange Coneflower
Jewelweed
Lake Odonata in summer
Monarch butterfly on asters
Hemlocks
Tiger Swallowtail butterfly
another Tiger Swallowtail butterfly
a skipper on Obedient Plant
a Bowl and Doily spiderweb
Cardinal Flower
grasshopper on Purple Coneflower
asters
Turbulent Phosphila caterpillars
early fall at Lake Odonata
pink Swamp Rose Mallow
Halictid Bee on Orange Milkweed
Golden Ragwort and Wild Blue Phlox
Autumn Coralroot
Skimming Bluet damselfly
Aphrodite Frittillary butterfly on Monarda
Club-spur Orchid
Bullfrog
Weevil on Cranefly Orchid
red Swamp Rose Mallow
Silvery Checkerspot butterfly
Twayblade Orchid
Great Laurel Rhododendron
Silvery Checkerspot butterfly
Climbing Rose
Favorite Photos Part 1
As we come to the end of year six of the blog, I thought we’d have a bit of a photo review. I have a lot of favorite photos, some of which have been seen on the blog before. Since there are so many, there will be a couple of installments of this. We’ll go by season, so first up is Spring!
Rue Anemone
Wild Bleeding Heart
Giant Blue Cohosh
Blister Beetle
Canada Violet
Dwarf Crested Iris
Harvester Butterfly
Rue Anemone
Shelter Trail with Crab Apple and Redbud
Redbud
Smokehouse with Flame Azalea
Yellow Iris
a Pink Azalea
a Really Big Snapping Turtle
a native bee on Snowdrops
Marsh Marigold
Bloodroot
Foam Flower
Puttyroot Orchid (above and below)
Wild Geranium
Goslings
Indian Cucumber Root
Pennywort
Pink Crabapple
Garter Snake
Pink Lady’s Slipper
Showy Orchis
a Snail
Three-lobed Violet
Large-flowered Trillium
Creepy Crawly!
Don’t be alarmed, but the following post is all about spiders! Our much anticipated spider workshop with Dr. Richard Bradley is coming up and I though we’d get a head start on things. (The workshop is full-up by the way.) I don’t know a lot about spiders, but I had some interesting photos lurking around the computer files and thought we could take a look at them. Here we go!
We’ll start with a nice big one! This is a Six-spotted Fishing Spider. We often catch these during the pond study with our school groups. Most of the time, the ones we catch are quite small. But, as you can see, they are quite handsome…you know…for a spider. 🙂
I’m not sure what the name of this spider is, but it is frequently seen in the spring. It’s quite small, but has a brightly colored abdomen.
Here is a medium sized spider with prey much bigger than he/she is! This unfortunate Promethea moth is having a bad day. However, the spider is having a great day! What a meal!
Again, an unknown spider for me. I took this picture because of how translucent the legs looked against the leaf. This is some nice camouflage if I ever saw it!
Many folks know this large spider, the Garden Spider. The familiar black and yellow markings along with the white zigzag pattern down the center of the web, make for a striking combination.
Here is the same kind of spider busily wrapping up her prey in silk. She’ll then take it back up to the center of the web and suck out the liquefied insides of her meal. Mmmm! Yummy!
Okay so as far as spiders go, I’m not a huge fan. They are cool and I value what they do in the ecosystem. But I have to say Crab Spiders have my vote. Named for their long front legs that they hold out just like a crab, these guys are pretty neat. Above is a nice sized yellow one sitting on some Goldenrod. With that kind of camouflage, the food will just come to you! It’s just like having a pizza delivered, except we don’t eat the delivery person!
In this picture is another yellow crab spider. This one is smaller and with the photo taken from farther away, the ability to blend in is much more noticeable. Click on the photo to make it bigger for a closer look.
They are all around us and even in our homes, but remember, spiders are eating other insects and things that we don’t want around anyway. So go spiders go!
Two Cool Bugs
Here are two cool bugs for your enjoyment! The first is a very captivating fellow. A small, stocky caterpillar that belongs in a group call slug moth caterpillars. The name of this group comes from the fact that they do not have any prolegs to move about with. When the travel, the really look like they are just gliding or sliding along the leaf.
The other cool thing about this group of caterpillars is that they all possess stinging hairs. Don’t Touch! The sting from these guys can be unpleasant. The picture below shows off those stinging hairs pretty well.
So this guy is the Saddleback caterpillar. His brown saddle is well placed in the center of his back, surrounded by a smooth blanket of lime green. A handsome devil! Saddlebacks are generalists, meaning that they can and do ear a wide variety of plants. I found this guy on a spicebush but commonly see them on redbud. I have even found them on the corn leaves in my veggie garden.
Another cool bug is one we are all familiar with. The Praying Mantis. There are many different species of mantids and can be found all over the world. The one were are most likely to see around here is this one, an Asian species.
These large insects are often used in garden settings to help control pests. However, these big mantids will eat anything they can catch. They don’t care if it is a “good” bug or a “bad” bug. I can’t say I’ve ever seen one at night. This guy (or girl) was hanging out near my front porch light. No doubt waiting for some moth or other unsuspecting morsel to come within its reach. The thing that really caught my attention was its eyes! Of course in the daytime those large eyes are the same green as the body to help camouflage the insect. But with the light from the porch shining on it, the eyes were a really cool black!
And probably my favorite thing about mantids is all the ‘tude they can give you! 🙂
Late August Wildflowers
We are definitely over do for a new in bloom list, so today’s post is going to focus on those fabulous wildflowers that are showing off their colors. There is a lot to look at right now, and even more to come. Despite the heat, this is a fantastic time of year. Our main areas of summer wildflowers are at the beginning of the boardwalk, the front yard, and conveniently, down the driveway! So as usual, let’s highlight a few of the bloomers and then I’ll have the complete list posted at the bottom. Here we go!
Blue Mist Flower
Boneset
Great Blue Lobelia
Ironweed
Prairie Dock
A close-up look at Prairie Dock
(There may be a few repeats from the last posted list.)
White Snakeroot
Blue Mist Flower
Great Blue Lobelia
Boneset
Flat-topped Aster
Tearthumb
Cardinal Flower
Sneezeweed
Jewelweed
Ironweed
Goldenrod
Prairie Dock
Orange Coneflower
Indian Tobacco
Wingstem
Invasion of the Tree Octopus!
Hey everyone! This is Nora, the intern here at Wahkeena. Robyn will be out of town for the next couple of weeks so I will be the one discussing a new species to the preserve!
We found a Tree Octopus this spring here at Wahkeena, and later identified it to be Polypoda arborialis. Which is an eastern species of Tree Octopus that is closely related to the Pacific Tree Octopus. Since the first was found, several others have been recorded throughout the Preserve.
Tree Octopi are ‘amphibious,’ meaning that they only spend the early part of their lives, and the mating season in the water, which is similar to several species of salamanders. These solitary cephalopods prefer humid, dense woodlands that remain moist, so as to not dry out. If their skin does begin to dry, the octopus will search out streams, ponds, other small bodies of water, or they may bury themselves in moist soil.
In springtime, the Tree Octopus will return to the body of water in which it matured. There, they congregate and find a mate. After a brief courtship display, the male deposits a sperm packet into the female using a specialized arm used only for mating. After fertilization, the female will attach the eggs to herself and defend them for 17-21 days until just before the eggs hatch. She releases the eggs one by one, and they float away in the water. Scientists believe that separation of the eggs results in less competition for the baby octopi and a higher success rate for the species. Even so, the mortality rate is very high. Females lay between 1,000 and 2,500 eggs. Out of that number, only about 2% of those Octopi live to reach adulthood. Tree Octopi are endangered due to water pollution, inbreeding, and over harvesting for sale in markets overseas.
You should stop out to Wahkeena soon, so you can catch a glimpse of these mysterious creatures before they head to hollow trees in the fall to wait out chilly weather.
Remember! Tree Octopi are not pets! If kept in dry environments, they will deteriorate and quickly die. They will not hurt you if handled, but be sure to return them to the proper habitat!
New Orchid! Yea!
Thanks to our hawk-eyed intern, Nora, we now have a new species of orchid to add to Wahkeena’s list! Whorled Pogonia, Isotria verticillata is a native orchid that, when not in bloom looks a whole lot like Indian Cucumber Root. We’ve known that we should have this species here, but just hadn’t seen it before now. The population we found is off-trail, up on the ridge. Ironically, it is in an area that for an off-trail spot, we are in on a fairly regular basis. Admittedly, it is mostly in the fall and winter that we are there. Anyway, here a few pictures of what they look like right now. We will be keeping a close eye on them next spring, and hopefully we’ll have some pictures of the flowers to show you! In the meantime if you would like to see what they look like in bloom, check out the images at wildflower.org.
