Tempting Teasel

Are those frosted cupcakes out in that field, atop the tall grasses?

Teasel Cupcake

No, those are teasel pods with the blossoms forming a mirage of baked sweets.

Teasel is considered an invasive species.  It was brought to North America as an ornamental, and possibly for use in the woollen industry.   (Dried teasel pods were used to raise the nap of woollen fabric in the old world.)

The fanciful images of these coned pods caught my attention.  I have seen them brown and dried in the winter, but had never seen them in bloom before, which happens in July and August.

Wedding Cake Teasel

Teasel is a biennial plant.  In the first year of its growth, it forms a large rosette of leaves on the ground.  The second year, these tall spikes grow, averaging around six feet in height.  Such large and aggressive growth crowds out the natural species that would otherwise grown in their place.

The Nose Has It!

Birds have external nostrils, called nares.  They are not always obvious, but in this picture of a seagull below, you can see the bird's left nare quite clearly.  It is the oval-shaped hole in the upper beak.

Seagulls and a couple of other bird families have unique nares, in that you they don't have a dividing wall between them (a septum).  So in gulls, like this one, you can look through one nostril and clear through to the other side.

Some birds, like adult cormorants, don't have functional nares.  This makes sense, because they are constantly diving and it wouldn't be healthy for water to flood their respiratory system through an open nare.

Most birds seem to have exposed nares, but some are covered with feathers.  The ptarmigan is one of these.  The theory behind this is that the feathers help warm the frigid, arctic air where ptarmigans live before being taken into the body.

Beaks & Bills - Part 3

Continuing in my series on beaks and bills, we are going to take a quick look at woodpeckers and pelicans today.

Woodpeckers obviously have specialized beaks.  They are short, strong, and chisel-shaped - perfect for pecking holes in trees.  They also use these tapered beaks to get  into and under the tree bark in order to find insects to eat.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers, who are in the woodpecker family, use their beaks to "drill" holes into trees until they can get to the sap running underneath.  Rather than sucking up the sap, as their name erroneously implies, they lap up the sap with their tongues.  (For a picture of their handiwork, go to this previous post:of mine, "Evidence of Wild Animals" and look at the last photo in the post, here:   http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/search/label/Amphibians .)
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Compare those little beaks to the relatively enormous beaks of pelicans.  Pelican beaks have a flexible lower portion that can stretch and contract.  Look at the difference in beaks between these two pelicns in this picture below:

The lower bird has its beak neatly "folded", while the upper bird has just finished dipping his beak into the water, which is how they fish.  They scoop up fish and water - up to three gallons at a time.  The water drains out and the fish remain.

Beaks & Bills - Part 2

As I said in yesterday's post, some bird beaks are shaped to tear, such as this one (below).  This bald eagle was injured and is now a resident at a local zoo.  That is the only reason I was able to get such a clear shot of its beak with my camera.  You can see the sharp, pointed hook on the curved tip of the upper beak - the perfect tool to help birds of prey open their meals.  You also get a sense of how powerful this bird's beak really is when you look at it up close like this.

On the other hand, some birds have long, spear-like beaks, such as this great blue heron (below).  Heron's need such long, sharp bills for their water fishing.  They can actually spear their prey (usually fish) with their powerful, tapered beaks.

Their beak fits their carnivorous dietary requirements and their watery habitats.  That is why a much smaller, cone-shaped bill, such of that of the seed-eating grosbeak, wouldn't work on the heron.  Seeds are not generally what they are after. although they do consume them at times.

Beaks & Bills - Part 1

Can you identify this bird?  I couldn't, at first.  When I photographed it, it was too far away in the trees for me to see it properly.  When I saw this picture up close, thanks to the zoom feature in my photo program, I still had to stop and think about it.  The most easily identifiable feature of this bird was hidden from view on its breast, but I didn't know that.

The back view of this bird was not familiar to me.  All I could see was a black-head bird, a black back with white feathers, and whitish side breasts.  Woodpeckers have black and white backs, but this bird wasn't shaped like a woodpecker.  It was more round.  The beak really gave it away.  It is more massive than a woodpecker's beak.  Sure enough, when I did a little research, I was able to confirm that this is a Red-breasted grosbeak.

Had I seen it from the front, I would have been able to identify it very quickly.  To see what I mean, look here:  http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/search/label/Rose-breasted%20Grosbeak .

"Beak" is self-explanatory, but what about "gros"?  It comes from French, and means large, or thick.  Cardinals have this same powerful, cone-shaped beak.  It is a great for cracking open seeds, which is the main part of their diet.

Now take a look at this wren's bill, below.  ("Beak" and "bill" can be used interchangeably, but beaks are more for tearing, like an owl would do with their prey, and bills are more for catching insects from the air.)  You can see how thin and elongated this wren's bill is, compared to the grosbeak above.

Beak and bill shapes can reveal a lot about a bird's diet, and are key features to observe when you are trying to identify birds.

What's There?

There's lots of foliage here in Iowa, and it makes for good hiding for wild creatures.  You never really know what's out there in it.  You drive by a little stand of trees or walk in a city park, and for the most part you are completely unaware of what is hiding just a few feet from you.

Take a look here.  What do you see?

Bedded down in those cool green weeds is one of the larger North American mammals - a whitetail buck.  See him?  You can just make out parts of his antlers in the lower left-hand portion of the picture.

When I took the picture above, I couldn't see him, but I knew he was there.  He had just startled a little, when a nearby man clapped his hands together to call for his dog.  The noise cause the deer to raise his antlered head a little, and turn toward the sound.  I tried to get him in my viewfinder, but he had already sunk back into the weeds.

I stepped closer, trying to see where he was.  He raised his head up and looked around, directly at me.  Suddenly I was thinking of all those heedless tourists in Yellowstone Park who approach wild elk, bison and bears, and get trampled, gored and mauled.

As I wondered how just how many feet actually separated us, he rose and stared straight at me.

Deer have been known to attack humans, although it is rare.   You should not mess with them during mating season, or in the spring when they have their fawns, or with a sick or injured animal, or anytime, really.

To tell the truth, I was surprised that this one had not simply turned tail and run away, which is what they usually do.  That made me a little nervous.  I thought about the heat wave we'd been having, and how sever heat can cause wild animal great distress, making them even more unpredictable than usual. 

I did not approach any closer, or do anything startling.  After checking me out for a minute, he casually leapt over the log behind him, and disappeared.

There wasn't much place for him to go.  As I found out when I checked the location on Google Earth later, he had been hiding  in a narrow island of trees running between two rows of houses, in the midst of urban sprawl.  Makes you wonder what else is out there, so close by and yet unseen.

American Bellflower

This pretty flower is the American bellflower - also known as the tall bellflower.  I've passed these native wildflowers many a time on the trail at camp while walking from Eco-Con to the council ring, not knowing what they was but always admiring their color.  Today, I finally looked them up!

As you can see, they have five petals, all coming together in a white, inner ring.  The blossoms grow on long stalks, and range in color from light blue to purple.  That's one reason I like these beautiful bolts so much - those are some of my favorite colors!

It is unique in that it is not as bell-shaped as most other flowers in its group.  It's scientific name, Campulastrum americana, is taken from the Latin "campana", which means "bell".

Chillin'!

Last week we were suffering heat waves and warnings all over the state.  That's when I happened to get a picture of this guy:

We were visiting Grinnell College in central Iowa.  It was 92 degrees, and we were all baking in the sun as we took a walking tour of the campus.  But this squirrel had it figured out.  He sprawled himself against the relatively cool bark of this tree, enjoying what shade was to be had.  Staring at me with a glassy look, he did not seem phased when I turned paparazzi on him.

Adding to the humor of the moment were these Dr. Seuss -like "sweaters", adorning the trees in this little park on campus.  It made me chuckle to see this chillin' Grinnellian and these multi-colored tree adnorments.

Multiflora Rose

Due to the wet spring we had here, the raspberries were at least two weeks behind when we arrived at summer camp.  No trailside snacking for me this year!  However, this meant that there were new sights and smells to be enjoyed, such as the blossoms and fragrance of the wild rose.

I have not noticed such an abundance of wild roses before.  There were so many of them, that the sweet smell of their blossoms wafted through the air and attracted my attention as I walked the camp trails.

The wild rose, like the raspberry cane, has thorns, and sometimes a reddish stem.

This scrubby multiflora rose is an invasive species.  It was brought here in the mid-1800's from Asia, and spread pretty much like wild fire.  I've rarely taken a walk in the woods where I haven't seen them.  Farmers try to combat them, but no matter how many times you mow them down, and no matter how much livestock you have in a pasture trampling them, they keep coming back.

In spite of knowing how much trouble they can be, I couldn't help but enjoy them.  And they do have a benefit.  Birds and even deer will eat the rose hips that form later in the season.