Wayne National Forest Internship

This summer I had the opportunity to intern at Wayne National Forest, Ohio's only national forest. This internship was focused on wildlife biology, and was part of a larger joint venture between Ohio University and the United States Forest Service out of Wayne National Forest. The main project that I worked on was an environmental impact assessment for a proposed mountain bike trail system.

Beginning in early May, I and another wildlife intern from Ohio University were tasked with surveying the wildlife along an approximate 30 mile section of the proposed trail route. We found many interesting animals and plants over the course of the summer, including discovering two new populations of a state-endangered dragonfly and documenting the first-ever Brown Creeper breeding attempt in the southeastern portion of Ohio.

In addition to assisting with the wildlife portion of the environmental impact assessment, I was given the opportunity to do some guest blogging about my internship experience on the Ohio University College of Arts and Sciences Forum. I wanted to share the four posts that I wrote for the Arts and Sciences Forum on my personal blog for anyone that was interested in reading them. Simply click on the links on the titles of the posts below.

First Post: Working on the Wayne | ‘I Wanted to Get My Boots Dirty’

This first post gives an introduction to the project I worked on, and goes over a few of the initial findings of note.

Second Post: Working on the Wayne | Awesome Arthropods Abound

Arthropods are cool, and I saw many an awesome arthropod this summer. This post explores a few of the stand-out species, including the Camouflaged Looper, Luna Moth, and the rare Northern Metalmark (pictured above).

Third Post: Working on the Wayne | Snazzy Snakes

What's cooler than arthropods? Snakes. This post goes over a few of the common snakes of southeastern Ohio, and attempts to dispel some of the common misconceptions about them.

Fourth Post: Working on the Wayne | An Ending Note

In my final post, I summarize the findings of the wildlife surveys, talk about the potential impacts of the trail, and offer a few musings on the importance of hands-on experiences in the field in addition to a classroom education.

Your blogger in his surveying gear. Yes, I had to wear a hard hat.

This internship was an amazing experience. Not only did I see amazing wildlife and plants, but I also learned a lot (which is really the main goal for any internship). The biggest takeaway for me, however, was that there is always something new to discover if you just take a walk in the woods and keep your eyes open. You never know what you might come across.

As for now, I am in the midst of searching for another job. Wish me luck, and thanks for reading!

Ornithology Lab, September 2

Hey everyone! This is the first installment in a series of weekly posts for my Ornithology Class at Ohio University. We go out in the field every Wednesday (weather permitting) to do some birding and bird banding. One of our assignments is to write a blog post about each of these field trips, which is what this series will be about. A note to my regular readers: these posts will most likely be very different from my usual posts. I try to have a photo for every individual thing I talk about, but I won't be able to bring my camera on these field trips. As a result, these posts will be more like a journal than anything. I'll try to post any relevant photos I have from my library, but no guarantees! I'm hoping to intersperse "normal" posts with these posts as well. This series will run until early December. Alright, back information aside, let's get started!

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The morning started early. I would say bright and early, but it's quite dark outside at 5:30 AM. I got ready, grabbed my field guide, binoculars, field notebook, and a pen, and left my dorm room at 6:30 AM. We packed up the banding equipment and drove up to The Ridges, arriving at about 7:10 AM. The Ridges lies on the edge of the city of Athens in Athens County. It's an interesting place, and I honestly spend way more time there than I probably should. Most people know it as the site of the old Athens Lunatic Asylum, but it's much more than that. The land is now owned by Ohio University, and behind the old asylum building is dozens and dozens of acres of land with a smorgasbord of different habitats. Miles of trails, utilized by the students of Ohio University and the "townies" of Athens, crisscross the landscape, cutting through mature deciduous forest, grassland, abandoned orchards, shrubby overgrowth, young forest, and more. I've previously given a quick of The Ridges, which you can read here. 

The view of Radar Hill, one of the main attractions at The Ridges. Field Sparrows nest all throughout the grassy areas you see, while more "deep forest" birds like Pileated Woodpeckers call the forests you can partially see on the sides of the photo home.

As you might expect from a place with a variety of habitats, it's a good place for birds. I mean, it's a really good place for birds. I would definitely say it's one of the best places in Athens County to go birding. To give you an idea, 224 species have been recorded in Athens County on eBird. Of those 224 species, 155 of them have been seen one time or another at The Ridges. That's about 70%. I personally have a list of around 90 species here at The Ridges, including 21 species of warblers. 

The first bird we heard this morning was a White-Eyed Vireo. This is a common species along the beginning of the Nature Trail by the Challenge Course. The White-Eyed Vireo pictured here is from April 2015 along the Nature Trail.

Now that you have some background information on the area, let's get into today. As I mentioned, we arrived at around 7:10 AM, so all of the sightings I'll mention here happened between then and when we left at 11:40 AM. The morning started off relatively warm at around 65 degrees. It was incredibly humid and only got worse throughout the morning. Light fog hung in some of the low lying areas, while a hazy sky with some cirrus clouds soared overhead. The fog and haze left between 9:30 and 10:00 AM. We were hoping for a lot of good Fall migrants, but this week was a bad week for migration. Southerly winds prevented large movements of many of the northern-breeding songbirds. 

One of the main goals of our class is to get better acquainted with bird banding, specifically with the use of mist nets. Essentially, a mist net is a thin, hard to see net that birds will fly into before getting stuck in a tiny pocket. Once caught, a bird can be removed from the net, inspected for various things such as age, sex, and weight, and then banded. When banded, a bird is given a unique number code that is printed on a tiny aluminum ring. This ring is attached to the leg of the bird. If recaptured at any other banding station, or by any other bander, the code can be looked up and they will have access to all of the previous information gathered on that specific bird. This helps ornithologists gain a better idea of the basic morphology of a species, migration routes used and timing of those routes, what species utilize certain habitats, and much more.

We set up mist nets at 5 different locations. These locations were in a power-line right-of-way with a deciduous forest on each side, by a small pond, by a shrubby area next to an area of semi-developed land, and in a young deciduous forest. Upon setting up these nets, you wait for 10-30 minutes (depends on the conditions of that day) away from the nets, and then make a round checking all the nets. You hope there's at least one bird at one of the nets, but sometimes you come up empty. On a good day and at a good location, some banding stations can get hundreds and hundreds of birds. This day was not a good day. We ended up banding 5 birds total. However, 2 of these birds were really "good" birds.

The first was a surprise. By the tiny pond we caught a waterthrush, a species of warbler. Now, the first thought by me and most others was "Oh, it's a Louisiana Waterthrush." This is by far the most commonly seen waterthrush around Athens, and the only one that breeds here. However, the yellowish wash on its flanks, streaks on the throat, and yellow supercillium (eyebrow stripe) actually meant this was the Northern Waterthrush. This was a lifer for me and a few of the other birders in the class (although I don't really "count" birds that have been caught with a net). A great start to the semester. 

The second bird that was netted was a female Northern Cardinal. This individual was caught along a slight slope in a scruffy secondary growth woods next some lawn, a normal type of habitat that you would expect a cardinal in. Right now in the year, nesting is essentially over. As a result, we have an influx of juvenile birds going through their awkward teenage years. A young male Northern Cardinal superficially looks like an adult female; however, there are a few differences. The most obvious is the bill color; adult females will have a bright orange bill, while young males will have a dull gray bill. Another feature, which you won't see unless you have the bird in hand, is a brood patch, which this female had. Essentially, a brood patch is an area of featherless skin on the stomach of a female. A female's skin is much more efficient at directly transmitting heat to her eggs than adding the feathers as a "middle man." 

The third bird we banded was a Chipping Sparrow that had hatched this past season. As a result, he had juvenile plumage and was missing that species' characteristic rufus crown.

The fourth bird was the second "good" bird of the day. In a young and scrubby deciduous forest patch by an ephemeral creek we caught a Swainson's Thrush, another migrant species. Looking similar to a Wood Thrush or a Hermit Thrush, the Swainson's Thrush is a bird of Canada. They only pass through Ohio during Spring and Fall migrations, typically in April/May and September/October, respectively. A reserved skulker of a bird, this is a species most people don't see unless they're looking for one. It was great to see one so upclose!

Hey, I actually have a picture for this species! This is a Carolina Chickadee from Pickaway County, Ohio.

Last, but not least, was a Carolina Chickadee. A very common species at The Ridges, we heard several this day but only netted one, a young juvenile. The Carolina Chickadees should be, if they haven't already, starting to form mixed foraging flocks for the winter months. These typically consist of species like the Tufted Titmouse, Brown Creeper, and others. If you hear a chickadee starting from September on through the winter, it's best to look around and see what other birds are in the area!

There were plenty of other birds that we saw and heard during our time this morning. Here's my personal list of birds that I saw or heard (also including the species banded) during the field time, in taxonomic order. Note, species with an * means "heard only."

1. Turkey Vulture

2. Red-Bellied Woodpecker

3. Pileated Woodpecker*

4. Eastern Wood-Pewee*

5. Yellow-Throated Vireo*

6. White-Eyed Vireo*

7. Red-Eyed Vireo

8. Blue Jay

9. American Crow

10. Carolina Chickadee

11. Tufted Titmouse

12. White-Breasted Nuthatch

13. Carolina Wren*

14. American Robin

15. Swainson's Thrush

16. Cedar Waxwing

17. Northern Waterthrush

18. Chipping Sparrow

19. Eastern Towhee

20. Northern Cardinal

21. American Goldfinch

Some of the other species that I did not personally see, but others in the class did include:

1.Yellow-Billed Cuckoo

2. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

3. Northern Mockingbird 

A flock of Cedar Waxwings came through at one point over the pond along the Nature Trail. The Cedar Waxwing pictured was an individual from earlier in the year taken along the Radar Hill Trail at The Ridges.

Overall, it was a really good first week out. I'm hoping that next week will bring northerly winds, and more migrants with it. I'm eagerly awaiting the return of Golden-Crowned Kinglets, Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, and White-Throated Sparrows as well, which should be around mid to late September.

The Red-Backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus

I've been wanting to do a big post on a species of amphibian that is near and dear to my heart for awhile now. With the semester coming to an end, I've finally gotten the chance to write it. This post is all about the Red-Backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus. My aim is to give a general overview, with some interesting detailed bits, of this incredibly common species. Why is it so special to me? P. cinereus is the first species I've ever had the chance to do real research on. Starting back in the fall of 2014, I began a job as an undergrad research assistant at Ohio University. I work in Dr. Shawn Kuchta's lab under Maggie Hantak, one of Dr. Kuchta's Ph.D students. It's been an incredibly fun, and incredibly educational, experience so far. I'll talk more about her research and what I do at the end of this post.

That aside, let's move on to some basics! Be warned, this is going to be a really long post.

The Red-Backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, is a terrestrial species of Plethodontid salamander. As with all other salamanders in the family Plethodontidae, the Red-Backed is lungless. Since they lack lungs, respiration instead occurs across the skin and the lining of the mouth. For these salamanders to breathe correctly, they must remain moist so gas can be exchanged freely across the cells in the skin. As a result, desiccation (drying out) is a constant threat to this salamander. In order to remain moist, they must inhabit areas that meet a certain threshold for moisture. These salamanders can be found in deciduous forests, mainly under rocks and logs where moisture is retained. When it is wet enough, they will travel throughout the leaf litter on the forest floor in search of food. During the summer months, when the heat dries out the top layers of the forest floor, P. cinereus will move into the ground, using old worm burrows or possibly making burrows itself.

P. cinereus is an incredibly abundant species in the forests of the Northeast part of the US, and it can be found in nearly every county here in Ohio. In fact, P. cinereus is thought to be the most abundant vertebrate species in the Northeast quarter of the US. They can reach densities of 2.8 individuals per square meter in good habitats, making this species more abundant than birds and mammals combined. In addition, there is some compelling evidence that the 2.8 individuals per square meter number is actually an underestimate; it might be double that number (See Semlitsch et al., 2014)! It is important to note that the bulk of a given population of Red-Backed Salamanders lives below the surface, so trying to accurately estimate a population is difficult when you can only find those individuals who are on the surface (See Taub 1961). When Maggie and I travel to a good location in Northern Ohio, we can normally find at least one individual under every rock or log you flip. It's amazing to think that all those individuals we readily find under cover objects represent only a fraction of the individuals actually living in that location.

The two common morphs of the Red-Backed Salamander, with the red-stripe morph on the right, and the lead morph on the left.

One of the really interesting characteristics about this salamander is its color polymorphism. Polymorphism is where there are two or more clearly different phenotypes (an individual's set of physical traits) in a species. Generally speaking, P. cinereus exhibits three color morphs. First is the red-stripe morph (pictured above on the right). This is by far the most common morph. The second most common morph is the lead (or lead-backed) morph (pictured above on the left). The third morph is the erythristic morph, which is very rare. The erythristic morph is essentially all red with a creamy white stomach. In addition to these three morphs, there are several other rare color anomalies: iridistic, albino, leucistic, amelanistic, and melanistic. You can read more about the different color phenotypes in J.D. Moore's paper here.

As stated previously, the red-stripe morph is by far the most common, especially in Ohio. There are, however, many polymorphic populations. Northern Ohio has a relatively high density of polymorphic populations, where one can find both the lead and red-stripe morph (and occasionally the erythristic morph) all living together in the same location. The ratios between the morphs vary according to each site. Interestingly, there are a few all-lead populations in Ohio, such as the population on South Bass Island. This is not a common occurrence by any means.

There is an extreme amount of color variation not only between color morphs, but also within the morphs and anomalies. At some locations we visit, the red-stripe morphs have a very bright and well defined red stripe. At other locations, the red stripe is very mottled and dull with high amounts of black across the body. On the other side of the coin, the leads at some locations are a very dull and subdued black, while other locations have very iridescent and beautiful leads, like the one pictured above.

Unlike many salamander species, P. cinereus does not have an aquatic larval stage. The entire life cycle is terrestrial, and that means we run into many juvenile individuals when in the field. And the juveniles are cute. Extremely cute. Pictured above is a small (yes, small) adult red-stripe individual next to a juvenile lead individual. Many of the juveniles we find could easily fit on a penny.

Most, but not all, salamanders lay eggs, and this includes the Red-Backed Salamander. When we measure the salamanders, we are able to see the eggs of any pregnant females. These eggs can be very pronounced, as the photo above shows. If you count carefully, you can see a total of 8 eggs (the white blobby things in the abdomen) in the individual above. As mentioned earlier, while many salamanders have an aquatic larval stage, the Red-Backed is completely terrestrial. The eggs are laid in a protected area, mainly in rotten logs. There is a larval stage, but this stage happens completely in the egg. Upon hatching, the juveniles are fully developed and essentially a smaller version of the adult.

How do you tell the sex of a Red-Backed Salamander? There are a few differences between the two sexes, but the easiest way is to look at their heads. Females have a very round snout. Males, on the other hand, have a very broad, square-like snout, which you can see above. Another feature to look for is the presence of cirri. Cirri (singular cirrus) are a fleshy downward extension of the upper lip. Cirri function as chemoreceptors, and the males use these for a multitude of reasons, most commonly to sense out a potential mate's pheromones. You can see the cirri on the male above; they are the two tiny, mustache-like extensions hanging down on either side of the snout. As always, you can click on a photo to view a larger version of it.

One of the incredibly interesting characteristics of salamanders is their ability to regenerate whole limbs and parts of major organs. It's a tough world out there, and salamanders can lose parts of their body due to predators, but also due to fights with larger salamanders. Red-Backed Salamanders are known for being fiercely territorial, and they will defend their territories against many different intruders like the Northern Ravine Salamander, Spotted Salamanders, or centipedes, occasionally resulting in the loss of limbs. The tail is the part that is most often lost, like in the individual above. When it comes to tails, salamanders are like lizards. When in a situation with a predator, the Red-Backed Salamander will wave its tail in an attempt to get the predator to go after that part instead of elsewhere. As soon as the predator latches onto the tail, the tail pops off giving the salamander time to escape. The tail wiggles violently for a short bit to confuse the predator even further in order to hopefully allow a safe escape for the salamander. Salamanders can regrow legs in only 7-10 weeks, but tails take a little long due to their size and how much actually comes off. The individual above (who was found in the Fall) probably has a fully regrown tail by now.

While the Red-Backed Salamander is a prey item for many other animals, it is still a ferocious predator itself. I'm currently in the middle of a dietary study that aims to find out if there is a difference in the type of food the red-stripe and lead morphs eat. The Red-Backed Salamander eats a large variety of arthropods, although I did find a weird one who ate a mushroom. The photos above give you an idea of some of their usual prey items. On the far right is their favorite type of food, mites. There's an incredible diversity of mite species on the forest flood, and the salamanders will eat many of them. In the center are Springtails, another favorite. On the far left is a pseudoscorpion, one of the more awesome-looking arthropods they eat. In addition, they also consume ants, beetles, assorted tiny wasps, spiders, and more.

One of more interesting individuals we've come across so far this Spring is the one pictured above. We had traveled to a location where around 15% of the population was erythristic (an unusual reddish or orange coloration). While we didn't find any completely erythristic individuals, Maggie did find the one above which exhibits partial erythrism. Note how most of the body is a red-orange, while the stomach is a creamy white. There's too much black on the individual for it to be considered completely erythristic, but you can tell it is definitely not a normal red-stripe individual. If you're interested in learning more, partial erythrism and erythrism in general is covered in the J.D. Moore paper that I linked to earlier in the post.

Several weeks after I wrote this initial post, we came across another interesting individual, pictured above. This is what has been called the "Silver-Striped" or "Silver-Backed" variant of the Red-Backed Salamander. As you can see, the stripe running down the back in this individual is a silvery-grey color instead of the normal red color. Sadly there's not much information I can find on this color abnormality other than assorted photos of similar individuals. Vincent Farallo, an Ohio University graduate student, did tell me that he has seen a lot of individuals like this at Strouds Run State Park in Athens County.

Maggie Hantak measuring a Red-Backed Salamander using a method termed "Mander-Mashing." Seriously. (No salamanders are harmed in this process.)

As I mentioned earlier, I currently have a job as an undergrad research assistant. My job is essentially to help Maggie Hantak, a Ph.D student at Ohio University, collect data at her field sites in Northern Ohio, as well as working independently on a dietary study for her. In a nutshell, Maggie is exploring multiple facets of the evolutionary ecology of the Red-Backed Salamander with regard to the differences between the red-stripe and lead morphs. She's been a wonderful mentor to me and has helped me get involved in real research. I'll be spending the first half of this summer in Northern Ohio as her field assistant, with the last half spent down in Athens to try and finish the dietary study. I'll also hopefully have the opportunity to begin my own research on Plethodon electromorphus, the Northern Ravine Salamander, this summer.  As of October, 2016, I am beginning my own independent project on the Northern Ravine Salamander. Stay tuned for more information in the upcoming months!

I've got several more salamander posts in the works that I'll hopefully be finishing up sometime during Summer, so if you're a herpetology person, stay tuned! Otherwise, I'll be covering the usual interesting things I come across this summer, including flowers, birds, insects, parks and more. Thanks for reading!

Yet Another Snapper

I was walking around Ohio University several days ago with Olivia Brooks, who runs the Twitter account Wild Earth, a new all-around nature account. We were specifically checking out the small creek that currently runs through Emeriti Park, along the Oxbow Trail road, and out around West Green. This waterway wasn't always a small creek; this is actually the remnant of the Hocking River. The Hocking River used to cause major flooding for Athens and Ohio University. In the 1960's they began to reroute the Hocking River around the university, thereby making sure that it would not cause such major flooding in the future. What was left in the old riverbed was this tiny creek which helps feed two ponds in Emeriti Park, as well as helps divert rainwater to the Hocking River.

Find the turtle.

Even though the mighty river no longer flows here, the creek is still teeming with life. There's a muskrat who patrols the waters around West Green. I, along with many others, have seen Northern Watersnakes hunting for prey in the water. Many frogs call the creek home, as well as many small fish (I don't know the species present, but would love to find out). Dragonflies and damselflies patrol the skies above the creek hunting down other insects. But those aren't the only things lurking in or near the creek. This past Spring I found a hatchling Common Snapping Turtle in the creek and made a post about it. This time around, as Olivia and I were patrolling the creek, she pointed out a turtle up ahead of us.

As we got closer we saw it was another Common Snapping Turtle, a decently-sized one at that. The Common Snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpentina, is the largest turtle species in Ohio. Their carapaces (the upper part of the shell) can reach lengths up to 20 inches, although 10-18 inches is the average. They usually weigh 10 to 35 pounds, although the largest wild specimen caught weighed about 74 pounds. Although we couldn't measure this individual exactly, it's carapace was about 9-11 inches long. Notice the long tail, one of the initial characteristics that might tell you you're dealing with a "snapper."

I decided to get some close-up shots since he (or she) decided to just stay put as we watched him. I've never been able to inspect an adult Common Snapping Turtle so closely, so I definitely jumped on the chance to do so. This species has a large head with a pointy snout, as you can see above. Notice how rough the skin is around the neck. Also notice the black streaks around the eye. The eyes actually have similar markings, helping add to the camouflage. This camouflage not only helps to protect the individual from would-be predators (although an adult does not have many predators), but also helps it to be a better predator. Adults typically employ a "wait and ambush" technique when hunting. They will sit in the water without moving in an attempt to look like just another part of the creek or pond bed. Whenever some sort of prey gets close, they will lunge out and grab it. This species is opportunistic and will eat just about anything it can get, whether it be fish, insects, birds, or even small mammals. 

Another interesting aspect of the turtle that many people don't get to see is the serrated backside of the carapace. The carapace is also keeled, meaning it has raised, pointed parts of the shell. These are very pronounced when the turtle is young, but tend to wear down as they get older. An old individual might appear to have a flat carapace. The individual we found still had the keels present, but they were not overly pronounced. As a result, I would say this individual is probably between 5 and 15 years old. (Also to note, unlike box turtles and tortoise species, you cannot count the rings on their carapace scales to determine the age.) Dr. Sue, one of the professors at OU who specializes in turtles and turtle reproduction, said she had seen this individual a few years back, so it's definitely been hanging out in the creek and ponds. It makes me wonder if the hatchling I found earlier this Spring is the offspring of this individual. I am pretty sure there is at least another larger individual that lives in one of the ponds at the Emeriti Park as well.

As you probably know, Common Snapping Turtles are not a species you want to mess with. They are very aggressive out of water, and typically much more relaxed in water; however, even in water they can and will hurt you if it perceives you as a threat. Honestly, just don't touch these guys. There's really no safe place you can touch them, as their neck is extremely flexible and can reach just about anywhere on their body. If you see one, give it space.

A Nature Hike at The Ridges

This past Monday I co-led a trip to The Ridges with the Ohio University Wildlife Club, of which I am the secretary. This trip was a nature hike that was aimed at finding herps, finding insects, doing some birding, and basically looking at whatever else caught our attention as we made our way through The Ridges, which is on the outskirts of Athens. We had a much, much larger group than we expected (we had about 15 members show up but were honestly only expecting 5 or so), most of which were freshmen.

While up on the Radar Hill Trail earlier last week, I noticed a lot of Common Milkweed individuals. I thought it would be fun to fan out and search the plants for any caterpillars (especially Monarchs) that might have been chowing down.

Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, is probably the most common milkweed species here in Ohio. The photo above (Taken at Rhododendron Cove SNP in Fairfield County) shows what they look like earlier in the Summer as they are flowering. I've previously covered Common Milkweed, and other milkweed species, in a post that you can read here. At the time of the trip up to The Ridges, the flowers were long gone and the plants each contained a few "seed pods," better known as follicles. These follicles contain many silk-like hairs that are attached to seeds. These silky hairs are known as pappus, which help scatter the seeds when they are caught by the wind. 682 acres of the land at The Ridges is actually set aside as a land lab where Ohio University faculty and students teach and conduct research. As a result, I'm pretty sure all these Common Milkweed plants have been planted there and did not just occur naturally. That is actually a very good thing, as I will get into here in a moment...

The main goal I had in mind, as I stated before, was finding Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus, caterpillars. We fanned out and began searching the milkweed individuals for the caterpillars. A few minutes in, a voice called out exclaiming they found one. We all closed in to get a closer look at the nicely-sized green-white-and-yellow caterpillar. Monarchs are completely dependent on milkweed species for survival. Eggs are laid on milkweed, the caterpillars hatch and eat the milkweed, they metamorphose, then the adults mate and lay more eggs onto more milkweed and the cycle begins again. In fact, there are 4 generations of Monarchs a year. The overwintering adults migrate from Mexico up to the US each Spring and lay eggs; this is the first generation. Then, those of the first generation lay the second generation, and those lay the third. The interesting ones are the fourth generation. Unlike the first three generations, which die after laying their eggs, the fourth generation actually migrates over a thousand miles to Mexico. This migration happens in October. As for our individual, I'm pretty sure he (or she) is part of the 4th generation, which means after he metamorphoses in his chrysalis, he will begin his very long journey to Mexico to overwinter!

The milkweed the caterpillars consume isn't just important as a food source, however. Milkweed species contain a type of toxin known as cardenolide glycosides. Cardenolide glycosides in the plant are consumed by the caterpillars and stored, rendering the individual toxic to predators. After metamorphosis, they still retain the toxin, but they move much of it to the wings as some predators will attack the wings first. This toxin makes the wings taste very bad, and will also make the predators, namely birds, sick. Other species simply tear off the wings of butterflies and eat the body right away. As a result, Monarchs store the most potent toxin in their abdomen, which upon ingestion will make a predator quite sick. Although the Monarch individual might be killed, this will most likely ensure that predator will never again eat a Monarch, thus overall improving the chance of Monarch survival. The bright coloration of the adults warns predators of such a fate that might come from eating them. Monarchs aren't the only species to capitalize on this toxin; many other insect species which feed on milkweed are also toxic and brightly colored to warn predators of that toxicity.

An adult Monarch Butterfly from Pickaway County a few years ago.

Now, many people on the trip were surprised when I told them Monarchs are badly in trouble. As in "their population has declined by 90% over the last 15 years" badly. Yes, 90%. Their population, which had a high of over 1 billion overwintering individuals in 1996, was only 33.5 million in 2013. The average is about 350 million overwintering individuals a year. This decline is so bad that many are pushing to list Monarchs as threatened, a move I am for as well. So why the dramatic decline from 2012 on? Well, there are many factors. One is the 2012 drought which killed many. Another factor was the cold temperatures of the Spring of 2013, which slowed the growth of the first generation and messed up that year's schedule. Monarchs are also facing a severe loss of habitat in their overwintering grounds in Mexico, which is hurting overwintering survival. However, they are hurting for breeding habitat too. Monarchs require milkweed, and milkweed population has declined by about 60% in the last decade. This is due to many factors such as drought, new agricultural methods, and the mowing of roadsides (a favorite place for milkweeds to grow). As an aside, please consider growing milkweed on your property. Any bit helps. Anyway, all these factors have come together to decimate the population. You might have noticed that you haven't seen many, if any, Monarchs this Summer. That's not because you're missing them, that's simply because their population is that low right now. It's horribly sad, and if this trend continues their future looks very, very grim.

We also were able to relocate a deer skeleton that I stumbled across last Spring semester. I found a semi-decayed carcass in probably March or so, and the months following that had gotten rid of everything remaining but the bones. I led the group back along a small creek and had them look for any remains of the White-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus, among the tall boneset flowers. We scanned the area once and found nothing. We gave up and turned back to the main trail. A few seconds later someone called out they saw bones. I parted the 2-foot tall plants covering the area and saw a rib and some assorted bones. A quick search of the immediate area found much of the skeleton, including the skull and both jawbones. We decided to take those back with us to show others during the next club meeting. The photo above shows the skull with the jawbones in the place they would normally be.

As Alayna, the president of Wildlife Club, pointed out, the skull was quite small. She suggested it was a fawn. I looked at one of the jaw bones and sure enough it was a fawn. How can you tell quickly? Take a look at the photo above. Deer are just like humans; new teeth form and erupt as they grow through childhood. The photo above, which has one of the molars removed, shows another molar buried in the bone. A thin piece of bone partially covers the molar. Eventually, this bone would shrink back and the molar would erupt through the gum. You had the same exact process happen as your molars formed when you were young.

So just how young is this fawn? Well, the teeth give can help us find that out. I put the above photo together quickly to help explain. So, we know it is young, but is it a yearling (1.5 years+) or a fawn? Well, a yearling has 6 fully erupted teeth. This individual only has 5, so that means it is a fawn. So, how old of a fawn? Well, the first two permanent molars, M4 and M5, have erupted completely. This places the fawn in the 6 month to 14 month range at least. We can close this gap even farther by examining how far along the third molar, M6, is. In this individual, it has not begun to erupt yet, so that closes the range down to 6-11 months. The M6 molar is, however, close to beginning to erupt, so that puts it a little bit ahead of 6 months. As a result, I would age this individual at 9-10 months, +/- 1 month.

Overall, the nature hike was really fun and really productive. I will definitely do a few more this school year hopefully. Thanks for reading! I know this was a wordy post, but there's just so many interesting things to talk about. I could have gone on much longer, but I tried to keep it somewhat sane! Thanks again!