Euro Trash

Several years ago, the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest got out of the trash hauling business.  With limited staff and resources, hauling visitors' trash to the dump was consuming an unreasonable amount of time and fuel several times a week.  Communities around the country struggle with the issue of waste management and local newspapers report nearby counties struggling with diminishing landfill space.  Europe, with its longer history of habitation and limited land space has had to scrutinize its waste stream.

In Ober-Ramstadt, Germany, the trash is collected once a month.  In the image above, the blue can is for recycling paper and the gray can is for trash.  Glass must be taken one of the collection sites around town.  All plastics (not just #1 and #2) are collected in designated plastic bags and collected at the curb.  As only one couple lives at the house where the image was taken, the bottom half of the gray container is blocked off with a board.  Therefore, a month's worth of trash for two individuals must not exceed the capacity of the gray container's upper half!  Obviously, recycling and composting are absolutely necessary and excess packaging can be costly to consumers.

Not only is getting rid of the non-recyclable, non-compostable trash expensive, water is expensive.  One can fertilize the garden of flowers or vegetables with compost from the kitchen, but plants need water too.  Rain barrels capture and store water running off of the roof via the gutters.  Whenever the garden needs a drink, one can simply dip into the barrel and extract some stored rain.  Inside water-efficient appliances, low-flow toilets and low-flow shower heads help keep down the water bill.

Recycling and composting will not eliminate our waste stream or eliminate the need for landfills.  However, both will reduce the amount of the waste stream heading to the landfill and thereby prolong the lives of existing landfills.  The next landfill will be more expensive to operate and will inevitably be in an unhappy someone's backyard.  As the dumpsters in London show, being a TREEHUGGER should not be a derogatory term as it actually makes financial sense for the entire community.

While you're thinking about how you can keep your waste out of the landfill, ponder over what "nasties" the Brits are keeping out of their carbonated beverages.

Images by Mark Musselman

Back From Europe!

This blog has been silent during the last two weeks while the Education Department at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest took a break to visit Europe!

Our travels began with the aircraft landing in Frankfurt, Germany with our base of operations being in the small, nearby town of Ober-Ramstadt.

Although train travel took us to Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium; and London, England, the cities offered few bird sightings beyond Wood Pigeons (Columba palumbus), native House Sparrows (Passer domesticus), and Carrion Crows (Corvus corone).  St. James Park in London did have a collection of waterbirds including white pelicans, various species of ducks and geese, Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus), and Eurasian Coots (Fulica atra) shown below with a fuzzy-headed chick.

In Paris, we noticed a feline high above the street and theorized that its presence may be having an impact on the local bird population.

We also spotted a familiar friend in London's St. James Park.  Although the tag identifies the tree as a Swamp Cypress, the scientific name, Taxodium distichum, informs us that the Bald Cypress too is merely a tourist from the southeastern United States.

Most of our bird sightings occurred in the fields and woods around Ober-Ramstadt.  Actually, we first heard the birds.  Many of the sounds reminded us of birds we knew from our surroundings in South Carolina.  There was a chickadee-like call, a red-bellied woodpecker sound-alike, and a red-shouldered hawk cousin.  Upon inspection with our binoculars, we spied Blaumeise (Parus caeruleus) and Kohlmeise (Parus major), which are unmistakable cousins of our Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) in the Family Paridae.  The woodpecker was a Buntspech (Dendrocopos major), which shares the Family Picidae with our Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus).  The Maeusebussard (Buteo buteo) stationed on the fence post ignoring the large European Hare (Lepus europaeus) loping by is related to our Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) and Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).

Unfamiliar birds included the European Magpie (Pica pica), which is in the crow family (Corvidae) and has a reputation for stealing shiny objects for its nest treasure collection.

In the local fruit trees, we saw the Serin (Serinus serinus).

At the field's edge, a Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) picked seeds from unharvested crop.

Farther into the field was perched a European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), although the Amsel's (Turdus merula) size and behavior is more likely to remind one of the American Robin (Turdus migratorius).

Throughout the countryside, we saw large flocks of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in their native habitat (no need to add European to the head of their common name).

Although happy to be back in the swamp, we did not miss the humidity!  Fortunately, the humidity here does not bring out European Red Slugs (Arion rufus).  Even the slightest rain in Germany would cause thousands of these 4-inch mollusks to ooze out onto the trails and sidewalks.  Not a pleasant experience when encountered by the tread of a running shoe or the wheel of rolling luggage.

Images by Mark Musselman.

Summer Camp Session #3

Summer camp session #3 is underway at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest.  The heat and humidity are slowing down everything, including the reptiles and amphibians, but we did manage to collect a few specimens for the campers to identify.

Spotted Turtle

Green Treefrog

Three-lined Salamander

Carolina Anole

Musk Turtle

iPod Touch with Audubon field guides

Eastern Mud Turtle

Tomorrow, we will check the baited minnow traps.  Hopefully, the sardines have attracted something other than crayfish and diving beetles.  During session #1, we caught a Lesser Siren and hopes are high that a Greater Siren is out there or even a snake not yet seen by the campers.

Maybe the incoming storm front will cool down things in the swamp, bump up the water level and get some creatures moving about!

Images by Mark Musselman

Rain in the Swamp

Although there was no rain at any of our homes from Ridgeville to Summerville to West Ashley, there was plenty of weather action at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest.  The seasonal naturalists living at the cabin at Mallard Lake reported over 2" of rain, high winds and multiple nearby lightning strikes!  Fallen snags and branches littered the driveway on the way into the center, so we took a quick trip around the boardwalk to check for damage.

Nature's pruning service deposited hundreds of small to medium branches throughout the length of the boardwalk, but all of the fallen snags and large branches missed hitting the boardwalk.  The rain filled all the depressions in the higher ground along the swamp's edge and raised the level of water across the swamp.  Only a few places of earth remain above the water (shallow though it may be) within the swamp's floodplain.  We saw numerous species of fish and turtles exploiting the newly-submerged territory and its potential sources of food.

We also encountered an adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) and what appeared to be its fledgling.  Both flushed from the shallow water at the swamp's edge with the fledgling landing midway up the canopy and the adult landing on the handrail of the boardwalk.  As we were taking images of the adult, a Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) called as it flew overhead.  Though herons are not even a possibility on the kite's dinner menu (mostly insects with an occasional bat, amphibian or lizard), the adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron took a keen interest in the kite's presence.

Just past #15, we arrived at a Golden Silk Orbweaver's (Nephila clavipes) web shortly after a moth had blundered into it.  The large female was in the process of dispatching and wrapping up her meal.  The considerably-smaller male remained at the top of the web and appeared interested in the meal, but maintain his distance as not to become part of the meal!  The female will continue to grow throughout the summer reaching an arachnophobe's nightmare proportions.

 

The timing of the higher water in the swamp is perfect for the start of the final summer camp session on Monday.  Monday's activities include a herp identification activity, so we should have little trouble finding amphibian and reptile specimens this weekend!

Images by Mark Musselman

Ebony Jewelwing Study

Several months ago, Dr. Chris Hassall of Canada's Carleton University biology department asked if we would assist with his Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) damselfly study by collecting male specimens from the old-growth, cypress-tupelo swamp at Audubon's Francis Beidler Forest.  Dr. Hassall is looking at variation in morphology of the Ebony Jewelwing damselfly across its range, which includes the eastern two thirds of the United States and eastern Canada.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to head out into the swamp and collect Ebony Jewelwings along the boardwalk (Site A) and downstream along the canoe trail (Site B).  In the Google Earth image below, Site A is shown in red and Site B is shown in yellow.  The collection sites were not as large as the shaded area as we were never more than 10 meters from the boardwalk or the canoe trail.  However, the graphics were expanded slightly so that they would show on the map.

Although damselflies are in the same order (Odonata) as dragonflies, there are differences.  The wings of a dragonfly are horizontal to the body when the insect is perched, while a damselfly's wings are held vertically when perched.  A dragonfly's wings remain nearly horizontal as it flies, while a damselfly flits about like a butterfly with its wings ranging from horizontal or vertical as it flies.  They can remain still for long periods, which makes them difficult to locate when perched.  Damselflies eat insects, mostly gnats, but they are a prey item for some species of dragonflies.  Therefore, the Ebony Jewelwing's ability to remain motionless protects it from predators and net-swinging, for-the-day researchers.

Male and female Ebony Jewelwings can be identified by their wings. Males, our target, have all-black wings, while the females accessorize with a white dot (stigma) at the end of each wing.

Once a male Ebony Jewelwing was spotted, we approached the damselfly with the insect net at the ready.  As noted earlier, the damselflies would remain motionless as we approached.  However, if we missed on our first attempt, the jig was up!  The damselfly in question would know that we were a threat and flit away just as we reached the appropriated distance for another strike attempt.  How foolish can a small insect in a swamp make a mammal look in pursuit?  Ah...let us count the ways.  There are more than a few male Ebony Jewelwings that will be passing along their escape and evade DNA!

For those male Ebony Jewelwing less adept at evasion, the insect net was likely (but not always) the last stop before being quickly euthanized in a jar of nail polish remover (acetone) fumes.  We collected and packaged 11 male Ebony Jewelwings from each site.  That number will not have a detrimental effect on the population at the Francis Beidler Forest, but it will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the species across its range.

"...and you call that work?"  We did!

Images by Mark Musselman

Carolina Wren Nest

Over the years, the sand-filled cigarette disposal container by the front door of the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest has been selected as a nest site by Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus).  Although eggs are laid and incubated for two weeks before the chicks hatch, a predator (raccoon or snake) makes a meal of the brood within the first few days.  Additionally, the nest is located in a high-traffic area, which has to be stressful on a predator-paranoid parent!

This morning, we arrived to find a two leaves in the sand meant for cigarette butts.  With frequent, short forays, the pair or wrens quickly incorporated the two starter leaves into a small pile of other leaves, rootlets, and moss.  The video below shows only a few seconds of their feverish activity!




Hopefully, this pair will have better luck.

Video and images by Mark Musselman