troll cat vomit

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Do you want to hear something gross but really is quite remarkable?

I often ask that question of 7-year-olds and always get a resounding, "YES!"

Imagine then if you will, a lifeform here on planet Earth that is neither plant, animal nor fungi but rather exists outside those known worlds. Yet, it is common place, found around the globe and really is quite harmless and ephemeral. It has no brain nor legs yet moves about freely and in laboratory settings can find food even navigate a maze, with remarkable efficiency.  

In its basic form it is a single amoeba-like cell that is haploid, meaning it only has half its compliment of chromosomes (like egg and sperm: Biology 101). Without a mouth, it eats bacteria and other microorganisms found on rotting logs, yet if need be, can pool its resources and join with other amoeba-like cells like itself to form a mass that works for the common good. In this form, it moves or oozes along as a mass mob.

I was so pleased to arrive home two weeks ago and find such a mass mob, collectively known as dog vomit slime mold (Fuligo septica) on a stump beside my driveway. Naturalists are thrilled by such a thing, so I was thrilled. And forgive the common name, that's the gross part. Naturalists are also thrilled by such crudeness. 

As a haploid amoeba-like cell it reproduces asexually but if it encounters a proper "mating-type" they can indeed mate and produce diploid (having a full compliment of chromosomes) zygotes. These then grow into plasmodia that contain many nuclei not divided by cellular walls that can spread to become several feet in size although the one I found was about the length of my hand. Without the proper mating-type the colony of asexually produced clones are pretty much confined to their rotten wood location.   

Yet, as Wiki relates, when and if a "sexually" produced "mass is formed, the cells reconfigure, changing their shape and function to form stalks, which produce bulbs called fruiting bodies. The fruiting bodies contain millions of spores, which get picked up and transported by the wind, a passing insect or an animal. There, they start the process again as single-celled haploid organisms. Meanwhile, the cells that formed the stalks die, sacrificing themselves."

Dog vomit slime mold is found all around the planet where there is rotting wood. In the Scandinavian countries, it is known as troll cat vomit. And in case you do not know as I did not, a troll cat is either in the shape of a cat or a ball. Troll cats suck milk from cows and spit it out into a witch's milk pail, and they sometimes go into homes to lick up cream which I do not have, but apparently, their upchuck is yellow like butter.

Thank you, Nick for introducing me to the wondrous world of slime molds.

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cicadas: coming attractions

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I shan't let this one get past us.

In the middle of last week, Ijams education director Jen Roder was leaving work when she heard the unmistakable drone of a male cicada in the trees around the parking lot.

But the only cicadas that emerge from the ground in May are the 17-year periodical cicadas yet our Brood X is not due until 2021. So these stragglers or eager beavers were three years too early. Climate change? Or sloppy timekeeping? How do they even know the passage of time deep underground anyway?

I write at great length about these natural wonders, ephemeral as well every 17 years, in my first UT Press book Natural Histories.

Then last Sunday I found one lone golden-winged, red-eyed beauty on the Universal Trail near the solar panels.

Gorgeous true bug in the insect order Hemiptera. Bug season is here!


The last emergence at the nature center was May 2004, so we cannot wait until May 2021 when there will be thousands dripping from the trees, droning around the plaza. 

Pandemonium. Or should we say Cicademoniom.

Mark your calendars.


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Being a Good Shepherd

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Good Shepherd Episcopal Church

My warmest heartfelt thanks go to the friendly folks at the local Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Fountain City. And to Ruth Anne Hanahan for inviting me to be the Good Shepherd & the World last speaker of the season. 

My talk was about ephemerality—"For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away"—and my new book Ephemeral by Nature published by the University of Tennessee. 

"Everyone loved it, especially the information about the fresh water jellyfish. I didn't know they existed! And, I learned not to put them in my mouth..." emailed Harry Wade.

Yes, indeed. The freshwater jellies come and vanisheth away in a matter of days. The penny-sized Cnidarians are virtually harmless but they can sting your tongue, if you give them the chance!

Freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii) 

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Albion College visit

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Ijams would like to thank Dr. Doug White with the Center for Sustainability & the Environment at Albion College in southern Michigan for arranging their recent field trip to our nature center. White received his masters degree in ecology from the University of Tennessee in 1977. 

The group was interested in how a former industrial site, namely Ross Marble and Mead’s Quarries, could be reclaimed by nature and converted into a public use recreational hub.


I was happy to play host and tour guide. We visited all four former quarry pits, discussed the formation of the 400+ million year old limestone itself, the history of the quarrying in Knoxville and all that has been accomplished since Mead’s Quarry became part of Ijams in 2001. A lot!

From 1881 until 1978, this area was a heavily used, and no doubt loud, industrial complex. Over 30,000 cubic feet of industrial-grade limestone marketed as Tennessee Marble was being shipped by barge and railroad annually. Post 1945, the sites began producing agricultural lime with kilns being heated to 1000c. Now the location has reclaimed much of itself. Wildlife has returned.

The three-hour hike and tour included undergrad students “aiming towards a variety of environmentally-related careers, some perhaps in some sort of environmental education,” plus faculty members Dr. Doug White, Dr. Wes Dick, Dr. Sheila Lyons-Sobaski and Kim Jones.

Ijams hopes you had a safe trip home.

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fuzzy baby owl pictures

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We have cute baby pictures!

Ijams Nature Center is pleased to announce that the first photos of a young barred owl were captured by our own Rex McDaniel last Thursday.

The nest cavity is high in a tree on the Ijams Homesite near the Lotus Pond built by H.P. Ijams for his daughters to use in 1924.
 
Barred owls preferred habitat is woods near water. They feed their young a variety of cold-blooded animals like frogs, salamanders, crawdads and even fish (in this case, our unwanted goldfish) plus mice, moles and shrews.

At this point, the young are called branchies, because they are too big to remain in the nesthole and move out onto the tree's branches to await their next meal, and the next, and the next; well you get the idea. The parent owls even hunt during the day to feed their ravenous youngsters.

The TN Naturalist@Ijams bird class that I taught last Saturday afternoon was also able to see glimpses of the branchies in the high canopy on our walk in the woods.

Thank you, Rex who always has the patience it takes to get the perfect photo. We know birdman H. P. Ijams would be so proud to know he built a barred owl magnet pond nine decades ago.

TN Naturalist@Ijams bird class

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Annual visit to Tremont

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Huge thanks to Tiffany Beachy, the Citizen Science Coordinator at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, and her green-cheeked conure Rico—who spent the last part of the class on my shoulder—for inviting me to speak at their gonzo bird class recently.

Our topic of the day was Secrets of Backyard Birds. We're talking cardinals, chickadees, titmice, robins, blue jays and their ilk. The goal of the discussion was to make the class aware that all birds have fascinating lives. Just because they are common doesn't mean they are dull. We discussed communication, courtship, mate selection, parental duties, the bright red color of male cardinals  and even bird divorce.

I also spoke briefly about my three books Natural Histories, Ghost Birds and Ephemeral by Nature, all published by the University of Tennessee Press.

The cover of the newest depicts a cerulean warbler and Tiffany even appears in the opening pages of that chapter. Her graduate thesis at UT was based on her studies of the sky blue wood warbler whose population is in decline.

Thanks, Tiffany!

Why am I so red?

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Ephemeral phantoms

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Northern saw-whet owls 
Ephemeral phantoms of the high mountains

Sometimes, just knowing they are there is enough.

Yes. Northern saw-whet owls live and nest on the top of Old Smoky, but they are secretive and I had never been up there at the right season, or right time of the day or in the right conditions to hear one. So for that matter, they might as well nest on the moon.

Dr. Fred Alsop knows the issues. He spent weeks on the Appalachian Trail during grad school at the University of Tennessee under the tutelage of faculty advisor Dr. Jim Tanner.

“The peak of singing activity is from the first week of April through the third week of May,” Alsop writes in his small red treasure, “Birds of the Smokies.”

“Weather conditions seem to be a major factor influencing singing, with most vocalizations coming on clear nights with little or no wind. Rain, fog, low clouds, and other inclement conditions make the chances of hearing this owl almost zero.”

If you know the higher elevations of the Smokies, you know that inclement conditions are a daily occurrence; things change hourly, clouds move in, clouds move out. Perfect conditions are never a guarantee. Karen Webster had worked for a year at LeConte Lodge in...

For the rest of the article I penned, check out the May/June issue of The Tennessee Conservationist magazine.

As always thank you Louise Zepp, editor.

Look for it at a Tennessee State Park near you!

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17 years this time humming

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Farragut Garden Club

Special thanks to the Farragut Garden Club for inviting me to speak to their group yesterday. The first time I did so was on September 11, 2001.

This time we talked about hummingbirds and the plants that lure them to your yard: red buckeye, coral honeysuckle, crossvine, trumpet vine, et al. The hummers are drawn to red tubular flowers because they coevolved together to serve each other's needs. The little pixies are so unique there's a chapter in my new book Ephemeral by Nature dedicated to their vaporous habits. 

Thank you again ladies.

Yes. That would be my thumb!

Coral honeysuckle

Red buckeye

Crossvine

Trumpet vine

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meeeeowww

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Perhaps I am wrong, but I do not remember ever seeing a gray catbird around my home in the woods. I really have no shrub layer, no thicket, just high canopy. Anyway, this morning on my walk to the mailbox I heard the unmistakable phrase "meeeeowww." I paused to look, and at eye level to me, there the gray cat sat on a branch.

Like mockingbirds and thrashers, catbirds are open-ended learners, that learn to mimic other bird songs. Ultimately,their songs can last several minutes with many song phrases. But, wait for it, they will drop in "meeeeoww" ever so often. 

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Twenty times talking

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My heartfelt thanks goes to my friends at the Tellico Village Garden Club. Last Thursday I spoke to their group for the 20th time. And to my recollection, I have never repeated a topic. Of course, most all were bird related. The secret about being a good presenter is to talk about something you love.

Much to my surprise, this year they presented me with a plaque depicting a wise old owl to honor the occasion. But more than just any old plaque, this one was hand-crafted by the woodworker in their midst, Rick. 

And I am going to keep speaking to their group until I get it right. Next year we talk about the "Birds of Summer." 

Thank you, Tim for arranging my visit.
 

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