American Crow

Happy Halloween from Louisville Naturally!

Posted in: American Crow

Louisville Birds

The weather is starting to change and I've been seeing a few different types of birds around Louisville, but I've only been able to get pictures of the most common birds!  Oh well.  In the last week I've seen several species of sparrows, such as: White-throated, White-crowned, Swamp, Vesper, Lincoln's, and Chipping, along with several Dark-eyed Juncos.  Also saw a Northern Harrier for the first time this season.  So lots of movement lately, especially with the sparrows.  Here are a few of the most common birds in Kentucky I've seen this past week.

Song Sparrow

Mourning Dove

Northern Cardinal

It is getting that time of year when the berries are becoming ripe on the exotic honeysuckle.  I've read where the berries offer very little nutrition for the birds but they sure seem to devour it and defend their honeysuckle patches with determination.  The two Northern Mockingbirds below were fighting over a small patch of honeysuckle berries.

A Northern Mockingbird on his territory...

...a rival is eying his honeysuckle patch...

...they take turns signaling to each other by flashing their tails...

...and when that doesn't resolve the problem they take to the air and battle it out.  These two birds were fighting for some time before the challenger decided it wasn't worth it and flew off. 

Posted in: Mourning Dove,Northern Cardinal,Northern Mockingbird,Song Sparrow

Common Sunflower

Most of the Common Sunflowers have shriveled up and been devoured by American Goldfinches by now, but there are just a few that continue to bloom as if it was the middle of the summer.  This Common Sunflower in particular was going strong despite the cold and the wind, ignoring the fact it is almost November.  Look closely and you can see there are still buds getting ready to bloom.

Posted in: Common Sunflower

Shepherdsville Birds

I took a trip to Shephardsville to visit the Cedar Grove Industrial Park a couple weekends ago to scout for birds for my upcoming field trip this Sunday.  I found a few birds that were nice enough to come close for photographs.  It looks like the weather is going to be colder this weekend so I don't expect to see too many warblers on this trip.  Usually I can count on a couple Palm Warblers or Common Yellowthroats on the trip, but this year it is later than usual and the cold weather will likely encourage any remaining birds to flee south in search of warmer climes.  There should be plenty of sparrows as usual.  Last year we saw dozens of White-crowned Sparrows and in years before we have logged White-throated, Savannah, Swamp, Vesper, and more.  We could encounter some Dark-eyed Juncos as well.  Some come on out and get your FOS sparrows with me and the Beckham Bird Club.  Without any further ado, a couple birds from my scouting trip.

American Crow

Northern Mockingbird

Common Yellowthroat

Posted in: American Crow,Cedar Grove Industrial Park,Common Yellowthroat,Northern Mockingbird

Immature Horned Lark

 

Posted in: Horned Lark

Mussel Fatigue

For the last two weeks I have been working on a survey for endangered mussels in the Ohio River. I usually enjoy snorkeling in smaller streams for these mollusks, but in the big rivers commercial divers have to do the fun work. They descend up to 60 feet (usually more like 30) into the brown depths. Divers are tethered to a long hose called an “umbilical”, which supplies air from a compressor on a boat at the surface. They often find themselves with their umbilical tangled in submerged piles of trees in water that is so murky that they can’t see more than an arm’s length in front of their face. It’s definitely a job for the adventurous.

Unfortunately, my job on this trip was to sit on the boat listening to the compressor rumble and breath exhaust all day while waiting for divers to bring up mussels. After spending a few 12-hour days on the bottom of the Ohio, several of the divers took to calling the way they felt “mussel fatigue.” Over the course of several of these mussel surveys I’ve been genuinely impressed with the interest that divers begin to show for mussels. It seems that if you have the opportunity to get aquainted with freshwater mussels as something more than stationary filter feeders, you find a group of very colorful animals that have a very interesting life cycle. Apparently you don’t have to be a complete nature geek to appreciate them!

It is much harder for the average person to become aquainted with the mussels of the Ohio River today than it once was. According to a map drawn in 1797 this part of the river was once four feet deep. It was probably a relatively clear, gravel-bottomed run with strong current. It’s hard to imagine this nowadays when you’re standing on a boat looking at a 30-foot deep, brown pool. Humans dammed the river, dredged it, and cleared much of its watershed for the plow. Sediment from farm fields and other eroding areas continues to clog the gills of mussels (mussels breathe through gills—like fish). These developments, plus industrial chemicals, sewage, fertilizers, pesticides, and other pollutants were hard on mussels. As a result several mussel species went extinct, and many others are considered endangered. Sixty percent of the remaining 300 (approximately) species of freshwater mussels in the eastern United States (which is the most mussel-diverse place on earth) are considered to be imperiled (endangered or threatened at the state or federal level). The mussels are definitely fatigued. That’s why we were doing this particular mussel survey—to help steer dredging activities away from healthy mussel beds and places occupied by endangered species.

Divers prepare to begin a mussel survey at sunrise.


A boatload of mussels of many shapes and sizes. In the end, we found evidence (live mussels and dead shells) of 30 different mussel species in one stretch of river.


The pistolgrip, a common mussel species of Ohio River drainages.


The sheepnose, a species that is a candidate for the federal threatened and endangered species list.


A relict shell of the ring pink, a species that is almost extinct.


A relict shell from a group of mussels (genus Epioplasma) which are mostly extinct as a result of changes humans wrought on our waters.

A freshwater snail (hornsnail) that is covered with zebra mussels, an invasive mollusk that is choking many aquatic organisms. The snail can barely get out of its shell, and this isn't even a really bad case of zebra mussels.

Posted in: barge,freshwater,mussel,Ohio River,water,zebra

Fall Colors

Fall colors have been popping up around Louisville. It's a beautiful time of year and I love being outside as much as possible right now! I recently went on a walk with my daughter around the Anchorage Walking Trail and we even visited the church memorial down the street. As I was leaving the church, the light was just shining beautifully on this tree changing colors.



Mums are also out right now...



It's pumpkin pickin' time! I really enjoy Gallrein Farm in Shelbyville. A small time farm with an abundance of charm.








And my most favorite part of fall colors.... sunsets. I swear they're more brilliant in the fall!

Posted in: Anchorage Trail,Cron field,Fall,Flowers

Not so Itsy Bitsy Spider....

Ryan had a great video of a spider on his web... which creeped me out to no end, thanks Ryan. BUT, in the interest of Halloween coming up and spooky critters aloft... here's my macro shot of a rather large Garden Spider hanging out on my house. Nothing like turning the corner and having this guy (or gal) greeting you at the garage. *shudders* I have to say, I was a little apprehensive in getting close to this guy, but if he moved an millimeter, I would have been outta there!

Oh, and sorry for the arachnophobic folks out there like myself.... I couldn't resist this rather large spiders beauty...

Posted in: Spider

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Okay, so maybe it's not so itsy bitsy after all.  Sorry to all the arachniphobes for the close ups of the spider.  It was really cool watching him run around the web and wrapping up gnats for future consumption.  Watch close in the video and you will catch a couple gnats smacking into the web.  This spider won't have to worry about where his next meal is coming from for some time.  This really makes me want to get a macro lens for such occasions.


Itsy Bitsy Spider from Ryan Ankeny on Vimeo.

Posted in: Spider

Blackacre Nature Preserve in Louisville

On my "vacation" from work, my wife and I took a trip to Blackacre Nature Preserve in J-Town off of Taylorsville Road.  This was the first time I had ever been and it was a nice quite place full of history.  Blackacre is an old farmstead that has been preserved so current generations can have an idea of what living in Kentucky was like in the past.  We mostly stuck around the old barn and pasture fields, but there are trails to hike as well.

Top of the old barn

Sun lights the path

Mostly what I wanted to go for was to take some pictures of the horses and farm animals.  There were all types of critters running around, it kind of looked like the state fair!  There were horses, donkeys, goats, and cows.  I focused mainly on the horses as the good light was fading fast.  I also took quite a bit of video of the goats and other animals, which I may get loaded on here soon if I'm not too busy.

This horse had burlap over its eyes.  I don't know why.  Maybe he gets nervous when he sees all the people staring at him.  He was very gentle and sweet to us though.  I think it gives the pictures an eerie touch.

I will definitely be going back to check out the rest of the estate and trails.  Be sure to stop and say hello to the kids when you're there, and by kids I mean baby goats!

Posted in: Blackacre Nature Preserve,Horse

Fall Warblers in Louisville

Lots of fall warblers have been moving through the woods the past few weeks.  As fall migration starts to wind down I thought I'd share some pictures I managed to get recently.  Below is a Palm Warbler in winter plumage.  Palm Warblers are common warblers, in spring they have bright chestnut caps atop their head.  In fall, like all warblers, they are less colorful but retain the bright yellow undertail coverts.  They also are known for pumping their tails up and down, a good characteristic to look for to identity Palm Warblers.

The three birds below gave me some trouble when trying to identify them.  The first bird is clearly a Tennesse Warbler in winter plumage.  It is tinged yellow all over and the eye-stripe give it away.  The last two birds are a bit more difficult to ID but I am *pretty* sure they are Tennessee Warblers as well, just birds that are in various stages of molting into their winter plumage (or they could be something else entirely).  If you think I am wrong be sure to leave a comment and set me straight.  :)

 

Next, the only warbler that regularly spends the winter in Kentucky, the Yellow-rumped Warbler, affectionately known by some as "Butterbutts" for their bright yellow rump patch.  I found a group feeding in some walnut trees this weekend along the Salt River in Shepherdsville.  Check out World Bird Wednesday for more bird photos.

Posted in: Palm Warbler,Tennessee Warbler,Walnut Tree,Yellow Rumped Warbler