As many of you now know, Headwaters Park is carefully and thoughtfully creating a Master Site Plan to assist in the future care and maintenance of our park. Part of the creation is knowing what we already have in the park and WOW, what we are coming up with is amazing. Throughout the summer, we have been fortunate enough to enlist the assistance of very generous and knowledgeable scientists regarding the wildlife and plants within our boundaries. Periodically they will send a photo or notification of something of great interest that was discovered within Headwaters - what a better place to share than our blog?
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| Photo by Mark Lethaby |
Back in April, this cache of cottus eggs was discovered under one of the rocks in Mill Creek.
Side note: we are currently doing weekly water quality testing at five locations in our park - check back for more information about our findings. Cottus are a species of fish, the sculpins that are found in freshwater. They are a smaller fish that lays their eggs on the underside of rocks in the spring, guarded by the male for 2-3 weeks until hatched.
Snakes abounded in July (and may still!) throughout the park. On your hikes, you may have discovered several plywood boards or corrugated metal pieces to the sides of the trail recently. They have been placed there by one of the scientists leading the inventory in an effort to create a temporary habitat for reptiles for counting. You will see the board in the background -
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| Photo by Mark Lethaby |
A bright and gorgeous
green snake was captured by photo on a sunny day. The green snake is nonvenomous and slender, perhaps reaching between 18-30 inches in length. They are well camoflaged by their coloring when in the grass, trees, and shrubbery.
An especially unique discovery were the
red-bellied snake and its unusual variation, the red-bellied snake with a black belly.
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| Photo by Mark Lethaby |
As evidenced by the photo, this particular species is on the smaller side, growing to approximately 12 inches. They dine on slugs and earthworms and give birth to live young (imagine how small!)
Moving on to the very end of July, our reptile discoveries continued. How about a milk snake?
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| Photo by James Buchkovich |
The coloring on the
milk snake is very eye-catching, but also similar to the rattlesnake. It could be suggested that humans are an unintentional predator for the milk snake in that they kill them in mistaking them for a timber rattlesnake. They are non-venomous and are one of the several reptile species in PA that lay eggs.
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Photo by James Buchkovich
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What a striking
Hemlock Varnish Shelf fungus! While it is an unpleasant term in regards to a human fungus, fungi found in nature can have a great number of valuable purposes, from medicines to antioxidants to its natural job, decomposing plant matter and turning it into rich, new topsoil for new plants to grow. In working with children, I liken the job of fungus to their local recycling pickup. Fungi - nature's recycling agent!
Another knowledgeable scientist heading up the insect/arachnid inventory is James Buchkovich, finding these two inhabitants of the park:
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| Photo from Internet |
AND:
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| Photo by James Buchkovich |
Who knew these two spiders shared Headwaters with us? The top photo is lifted from the Web; keep in mind the spider is roughly the size (and shape) of an ant. According to Mr. Buchkovich, we are looking at a "
non-native (European)
jumping spider Myrmarachne formicaria (Salticidae)". The ability of this spider to mimic an ant, both in body shape and also by waving its front legs to resemble ant antennae is fascinating to observe.
Regarding the white arachnid in the above photo, here is a detailed description of the habits of this species of crab spider:
"What we have here is a Misumena vatia crab
spider with its ambushed prey---an ill-fated bee. This is the white form of Misumena vatia
which matches the color of the white flower cluster it is on (wild carrot). Later in the year when goldenrod appears,
Misumena vatia tends to migrate to that plant and turns into its yellow form to
match the color of the goldenrod. It is
capable of returning to its white form if it finds itself on a white
flower. The color change does not occur
rapidly and requires days to complete.
The color changes from yellow to white faster than from white to yellow."
Check back in with the blog to find out more about our discoveries and future plans, especially about the upcoming Pumpkin D'Light Night on October 5th!!
