Chasing Tigers in the Blue Ridge

The Blue Ridge harbors so many treasures.

In the Central Virginia Blue Ridge exists a phenomenal ecosystem, one that was probably shaped by raging braided mountain streams during the last iceage. It contains many disjunct species. In fact, over 90 species that are well outside their typical range have been documented here. It’s an odd mix of coastal plain, Appalachian and northern plants and animals. While several rare and endangered species exist here, today we focused on a well known Blue Ridge phenomenon: Salamanders.

The Rivanna Chapter of Master Naturalists hosted its annual salamander hike to this part of the Blue Ridge. With a strong group of nearly 30 people, we headed to the George Washington National Forest and into the heart of the 30,000 acre wildlife management area known as Big Levels. While we expected to see several species, the one that had our hearts was the State Endangered Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum). It has been documented at this site but rarely has it been seen.

We found a single Tiger salamander, along with two other species of the same genus, the Marbled and the Spotted. The tiger was just under 7 inches long, and thus a small one. They are typically anywhere between 7 and 14 inches in length! For all involved this was a very special day; a once in a lifetime experience. Thank you John Holden for leading the walk! Excellent, as usual.

For more information about the Tiger Salamander:

http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/eastern-tiger-salamander/eastern_tiger_salamander.php

Other noteworthy plants and animals

observed on the walk:

• Hooded merganser
• Ring-necked duck
• Pine Warbler
• Marbled salamander
• Spotted salamander
• Northern redback salamander
• Northern dusky salamander
• Redbellied snake
• Cricket frog
• Red eft
• Fox scat
• Coyote scat
• Bear scat
• Citronella ants
• Trailing arbutus (tightly closed flower buds)
• Spotted wintergreen
• Eastern teaberry (in full fruit)

D. Floyd

Bird Sleuth: Chapter 2

After weeks of often interrupted effort, snow, sleet and hail held off for Bird Sleuth's grand finale on Friday, March 21st.  Bird Sleuth, an educational tool box designed by Cornell's Lab of Ornithology is a project managed under Avain Adventures, a BRDC program.  Eight study groups from two Grayson County High School classrooms offered their presentations to each other, their teachers, and a delegation of school dignitaries.  Ms. Greif made the celebratory cake seen above.  And below, we observe the students working on their presentations.

The work process combined indoor research and outdoor observation and experimentation.  Each group followed through on their question and hypothesis, and after collecting enough data to either support or negate their educated guess, they then began work on their final product...the presentation. Among the study topics were comparisons of bird eyes to human eyes (most avian bird vision is superior to human), choices birds made on food offerings (difficult to assess due to the aforementioned weather interruptions and mammal disturbances to the feeders), what causes lie behind same sex behavior in birds (found to be mostly normal), and do birds have bellybuttons (only in the egg sac).  What always needs to be understood under the scientific method is:  all results are of value, regardless of whether the hypothesis is proven or not.  The absence of data is data.  There are no 'right' answers.

All but one presentation was delivered through PowerPoint.  The group above chose to create a poster with hand drawn pictures of the focus birds.  Michael is the artist, seen at the left.

In the educational tradition of BRDC, journaling and sketching as documentation tools were encouraged...as was spending as much time outdoors as possible.  The group below is studying a song sparrow and its flight style (as compared to the black vulture).  Both species were commonly seen on or above the school campus, and provided strong comparisons between a bird with small wings and one with large wings.

 So, on Friday, it all came together.  Shannon Holdaway (school board member), Stephen Cornett (

Director of Instruction and Assessment), Brandi M.Ray (principal of GCHS) and Kevin Chalfant (Grayson County School Superintendent) made up our delegation of dignitaries, and we were all pleased that they had and made the time to be there!  Mr. Cornett converses with Allen (student) below.

Again, we wish first to thank the teachers who were willing to share their classrooms with us...Deborah Greif, Becky Absher and Kathy Davis, along with back-up from Sheila Jones.  From BRDC, besides myself, we had support through our volunteer in Carol Broderson and guide Sarah Osborne.  A huge gratitude goes to the Jack Matthews Foundation for their trust in BRDC through generous funding.  And finally, THANKS, KIDS!  You were great.

Scott Jackson-Ricketts

Executive Director

Blue Ridge Discovery Center

Plethodon complex salamander

Yesterday, March 12, I photographed a salamander in the yard. After I did an initial search for an ID, I sent the photos to Bill Dunson. He forwarded them to a couple of experts and recommended that I send the pics to the president of the Virginia Herpetological Society, which I did.

Slimy salamanders (Plethodon) are lungless and do not have an aquatic larval stage. They live under logs and wander leaf litter in wooded areas, feeding on insects and other small invertebrates. Their skin is covered with a gummy substance that is difficult to wash off if you get it on your fingers.

Here are the pics.

Winterlude

I apparently went to sleep last night before the weather forecast changed.  Needless to say, I was a bit surprised by the amount of snow this morning...and inspired.  I headed out about mid-morning, with camera, even as the snow was both still falling and melting. 

Tracks are always fun to follow and extract a story from.  The unmistakable Spring songs of male Northern cardinals, robins and a tufted titmouse contrasted with the tiny footprints of juncos and song sparrows beneath the sunflower seed feeder. 

I am always impressed by the delicacy of these small songbird tracks.  For a comparison, check out the wild turkey prints below, quite fresh.  Later this afternoon I flushed 15 turkeys, near where these pictures were taken.

Hiking a short ways into the woods, I quickly noticed these scrapes, and thought...turkey!  Probably not, as the only tracks anywhere nearby belonged to deer.  If one looks carefully, the foot dragging can be seen, typical of a strolling deer in the snow (not to mention the scat).

Not far from the scrapes, I also found two spots where deer had bedded down, probably overnight, as snow had partially filled in. 

Though it is not always productive to have your dogs along for a nature walk, they love the company.  And so I leave you with, not wolf, not coyote, but some mut prints. 

Scott Jackson-Ricketts

Snow and Birds on March 7

Today, March 7, was a good day to stay inside, enjoy the falling snow, and watch the birds. The first unexpected arrivals were red-winged blackbirds, three of them—a female and two first-winter males. The first photo shows the female.

The second photo shows a first-winter male. It's basic plumage is so dark that, with snow as the background, what is left of its juvenile striping doesn't show.

Here at the house song sparrows are infrequent visitors because the habitat isn't right. Any time I really want to see them I can drive several miles to her place, complete with pond, tall grass, and brush. I was happy this morning to photograph this one.

Starlings are a nuisance and a small flock has been around for a month or more. One showed up today with a flock of brown-headed cowbirds, the first of the year for my wife and me.

In case you're interested in photography, I took these photos through the window in my study. The feeder is maybe ten feet away, enabling me to use my standard zoom lens to provide more depth of field than my telephoto zoom provides.

FINALLY...The Elusive Red Crossbill

In the birding world, folks talk about their nemesis bird, the one that got away, that elusive, irritating species that everyone else sees but you.  Bragging rights and chest pounding are not uncommon.

So it has been for me, after many many forays to the highlands of our area, my search for the red crossbill has been but a bitter disappointment.  Not anymore.

Some background and one good story should precede today's successful discovery.  Prior to Glen Eller's moving back to his home turf in Tennessee from Grayson County, he (among others) was a great birding mentor to me.  For him as well, the crossbill was for years a nemesis bird.  These finches move around a lot, seeking the high pastures of red-spruce and other pine species cones, flying about in small flocks, not staying put in one place for dependable observation.  Their presence in our area is exclusive to where an abundance of heavy cone crops occur, mostly in our highlands.  They are more of a boreal species, but as we should all know by now, the Blue Ridge is a relict community extension of that ecosystem.  Glen and I spent hours searching for this bird, but I never hit pay dirt.

Our son's good friend, Jessica Cheng, painted me a picture of a red crossbill for this year's Christmas.

For inspiration (and with Damien's help), Jess looked up a former blog post describing my quest and gifted me 'my red crossbill'.  I am not one big on luck, but somehow Jess's gift encouraged me to not give up.

Yesterday afternoon, Joyce and William Roberts made a spontaneous run to Whitetop, after which they emailed their sighting of crossbills.  That was all it took, so I called Allen Boynton, and the two of us headed up this morning to make good on the expectation of my first life bird in over three years.  Half way on the service road to Whitetop, we found our first flock of at least five, flying about, but eventually landing in good light on the high tips of red spruce.  At the very top of Whitetop, we found another small flock, minimum of three, but much lower down and close enough for Allen to photograph.  Here are the results!

Thank you Damien, Jessica, Joyce, William, Glen and Allen.  We form our own societies around shared pleasures...even though for some...might seem peculiar.

SJR

Bird Sleuth, chapter one

Bird Sleuth is a program designed by Cornell's Lab of Ornithology (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Page.aspx?pid=1478).  Blue Ridge Discovery Center decided to offer a first run of this investigative and hands-on citizen science project to two classes at Grayson County High School.  Through the able assistance of Rebecca Absher, Deborah Greif and Kathy Davis, we launched Bird Sleuth on the 13th of January.  As all teachers in the Blue Ridge understand, weather events conflict with continuity and focus, but we have persevered to the best of our abilities. 

Bird Sleuth is based on birds, naturally, and begins by giving the students some investigative tools, including a basic understanding of how data is collected and documented.  For our work at GCHS, we studied narratives of real scientists, what excited them, and how they went about their work.  Inside of these first steps, we learned about creating a hypothesis based upon targeted curiosity, various forms of graphs and other data assimilation devices, and how to walk through the mounting accumulation of evidence.

Then the students must devise their own questions, hypotheses and methods of investigation.  Documentation and end-products will eventually be shared with the community as well as the Lab of Ornithology.

An important aspect of any BRDC sponsored program is to spend as much time outdoors as possible.  Our other philosophical advocacy is to give kids/students/audience a stake in the learning process. To that end, Bird Sleuth seemed a perfect fit.  Scientific investigations require a combination of skills, including components of observation, experiment, and research. Depending on what each group of kids decides, their investigation might weigh heavily on one or two aspects, but rarely on all three.

Each class divided itself into these smaller groups, in order to remain both intimate and manageable.  As classes, we explored the school campus with an eye to the habitats that might be more productive bird-wise, while scoping out relatively good places to hang bird feeders for closer examination of what species were readily available for closer study. 

Behind the school, a small branch runs the entire length, and along the edges on one side are scrubby vines, small bushes and trees, thickets of brambles such as blackberry, and on the other side, a decent wood lot rises up the hill.  We labeled the branch 'Stinky Creek' for good reason, and that is where the avian action was happening and where we placed our first and most productive feeder.  Nearby we hung another feeder behind the nurses' station in a more open area.  Since initially choosing these feeder spots we have added some behind the ball stadium and further up the hill in a more defined wooded area.  It was gratifying to witness how quickly the feeders were discovered.  Keeping them full of seed has become another good reason for a walk outside, and while we walk along the trails, parking lots and ball field, we always keep an eye to the skies for soaring birds. 

At this time, all of our groups have decided upon an hypothesis and will soon begin their chosen investigations.  Stay tuned for chapter two.  And lest we forget, this is supposed to be fun!

We wish to thank our volunteers and guides Carol Broderson, Sarah Osborne and Sheila Jones...and a special thanks goes to our sponsors through the Jack M. Matthews Foundation.