The Bio Observer

 We were sitting in our hotel room in Cambridge, OH in the midst of a deluge when Murphy got the message from her supervisor. “NOOOOOOO,” she yelled out as she looked at her phone.  “What??” “Steve said the release is canceled because of the rain!” I had come down to Southern Ohio to help Murphy and the rest of the team at The Wilds release Eastern Hellbenders into streams in West Virginia. The Hellbender (AKA: snot otter, devil dog, Allegheny Alligator)  is the largest fully aquatic salamander in the United States and is listed as Near Threatened according to the IUCN Red List . The Wilds, a non-profit that operates in Cumberland, OH, conducts a head starting program for these unique organisms. Some of the Hellbenders that were going to be released were individuals that Murphy herself helped raise several years ago when she worked as an apprentice for The Wilds .  She had been back this summer as a volunteer to help with various projects and was especially ex...

Hillsdale county sits directly next to the county I grew up in. Wait, actually no; I just realized it sits two counties away from my home county. So obviously I know nothing about Hillsdale county, let alone have ever been there. But that changed on June 23rd. For about a month on the Birding Michigan Facebook page, people had been posting the most stunning photos of a Red-throated Loon that was in Lake Baw Beese in the city of Hillsdale. This was strange, however, the Red-throated Loon is just a migrant here, it should’ve been up in the high Arctic with a mate and fledglings. But here it was an hour and a half away and it seemed like I had such a good chance of seeing it up close. Nevertheless, I made up excuses for not driving out there, Ehh work was hard and hot today It’s going to be too late by the time I get back I’ve got laundry to do Need to go to the grocery store today! For over a week I made up excuses not to drive out there to see this bird and to my disbelief the bird wa...

The river was sandy, perfect for Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtles , well that’s what I had read at least; I had yet to see one. This was the herp I wanted to see most this summer and I had little faith that I would in fact get to see it. I assume most people would be shocked to know a turtle like the softshell occurs in Michigan, it is really unlike any other turtle that we have here. When you think of a turtle, you think of a creature with a hard shell and scaly skin; the Softshell group throws that notion out the window. Instead, they have a low profile, rubber like shell, webbed feet that enable them to swim faster than most fish, and a snorkel like nose; quite exotic seeming for Michigan. A quick scan of the river showed few logs or shoreline and no basking turtles whatsoever. We turned our attention to the trees for birds and continued on down the path. A hatchling Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle ( Apalone spinifer spinifera ). Photo from Reptiles and Amphibians of the Great L...

Rick hadn’t been to this park before and was counting on it having a small and empty parking lot. He had been working all day and only had the evening to get out and put up some numbers. Since Rick had just started birding last spring, today was his first Big Day, the day in birding to try and record as many bird species a you can. He was excited to participate, although he wasn’t going to be going with anyone and didn’t anticipate meeting any other birders at the park he was going to. He had wanted to have the day off, but he didn’t want to try and explain the Big Day to his boss. Getting out of the car, he walked over to the trailhead that had the map, took a quick glance at it and went on his way. He didn’t get 10 ft down the trail when he realized, Goddamnit, I need to take a piss...every time.   No bathrooms at this park, on par with many of the other county parks. You can’t waste money on a bathroom when you can barely pay college grads minimum wage to cut and dab buckthorn...

Here are some photos from my outings in the month of April. I may do this at the end of every month, assuming I get some decent photos each month. Some of these photos may have appeared in previous blog post, relate to previous posts or be featured in future posts. Hope you enjoy! Michigan is home to eight native crayfish species and one invasive one. I have not taken the time to learn the ID on this one, but it was by far the largest Crayfish I have ever seen. Crayfish are important pieces of aquatic ecosystems. This one was pulled out of a small creek that feeds into Fleming Creek. An almost good photo of a very large Common Snapping Turtle. Seen basking on one of the first truly warm days of the year. While these turtles are common, they can be locally rare, due to humans over harvesting (yes, people unfortunately eat them) and can fall victim to vehicular fatalities when traveling to lay eggs or mate. A Garter Snake out basking in a woodland. While...