The Walking Ferns of Warsaw Caves

The story of the Warsaw Caves in Peterborough County begins about 350 million years ago when the limestone comprising the terrain was laid down in ancient Paleozoic era seabeds. More recently (in geological terms) tens of thousands of years ago glaciers sculpted the landscape, and their meltwaters flowing from Lake Algonquin to Lake Iroquois (the remnants of which form today's Great Lakes) further shaped the terrain, creating the geological features we see today.

It's not unfair to say that a tiny bit of the glaciers remains with us in the present – even in mid-May there is ice in the caves, and one of them has ice year around.

Playing it safe and inspecting a cave to see if there might be an Ursus spelaeus lurking inside ...

The cedars hang on to every available ledge and crevice for dear life. And do not enter if you are subject to vertigo! Photographs simply can't do justice to the steep gullies and ravines around the caves.

A relic of bygone days – I believe this is a fossil gastropod with the shell seen in lengthwise cross-section. There were also what appeared to be coral fossils embedded in some of the ancient limestone.

Hard stones caught in place and swirling around in the current of the ancient riverbed eventually ate their way through the much softer limestone, forming numerous kettles a.k.a. rockmills.

"Ate their way through" – meaning literally, not just as a figure of speech.

The high point of the day, so to speak – a view of the nearby Indian River.

Or perhaps this was the high point, in any event a real treat to find! According to the Peterson Field Guide to Ferns the Walking Fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum) is rare and local and I never thought I would ever see one. There were large patches growing on the thin soil covering the limestone boulders along the Kettle Trail.

The underside of the frond. Yes, this plant is indeed a fern, a flowering plant would not have sori on the underside of its leaves.

When the tips of the fronds encounter suitable growing conditions they sprout plantlets, hence the name "Walking Fern". Incidentally, I found that frond tip already exposed and it was not uprooted just to take a photo. Flora and fauna that are rare are uncommon for a good reason and it's best to let them be and not to disturb them. – "A walking fern may have taken up to five centuries to adapt to that particular rock. Its roots extend into all the little pockets in the rock, modifying the soil beneath the moss. No other fern creates a symbiotic relationship like this.".

Although I didn't know it until the following day I did inadvertently bring home a souvenier from the Warsaw Caves, a Wood Tick (Dermacentor variabilis) hitched a ride in the rolled up sleeve of my shirt. I'm not writing this to scare people away from the great outdoors – I wasn't bitten and this species doesn't carry Lyme Disease, unlike the Black-legged Tick (Ixodes scapularis) that I picked up much closer to home. But be tick-smart: always check yourself and your pets over carefully, and shower and wash clothing after visiting places that might be frequented by ticks. Happy hiking!

Western Chorus Frog (and other signs Spring is finally here)

Often heard early in the spring – even a small chorus of these tiny frogs can be deafening – but seldom seen, Western Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris triseriata) can survive being frozen and are out and about seeking potential mates when there is still snow and ice on the marshes and temporary vernal pools that are their breeding sites.

In addition to its song (reminiscent to running your fingernail along the teeth of a comb), the dark stripe through the eye, white upper lip and long spots or blotches distinguish this species from the Spring Peeper.

Calling for a girl friend ... the frog's vocal sac distends to twice the size seen in this photo.

It looks like this male sang loud enough and long enough to capture the attention of a female, and judging by their numbers these pairings no doubt happen many a time.

There's only one way to capture a close-up image of a 3 cm long frog with a point-and-shoot camera. My pants are wet up to the knees and my shoes still aren't completely dry two days later ...

Also seldom seen (and hopefully never heard, if so, see a psychiatrist) – Sarcoscypha coccinea, better known by the fanciful name Scarlet Elf Cup. This eye-catching early spring Ascomycete is not uncommon but it's often overlooked because it's buried under leaf litter.

Never heard, generally not considered to be eye-catching and frequently overlooked, and wish it was much less often encountered – the Black-legged Tick a.k.a. Deer Tick (Ixodes scapularis). I think I picked up this unwelcome hitchhiker when I bumped my head against a shrub during the incursion into the marsh – on my own head be it, so to speak.

I was onto the little sucker out not long after she started biting me, and while I'm not certain I got the hypostome out, it alone won't transmit Lyme Disease and the tick needs to be attached for several hours in any event. So it seems I'm off the hook, but just to play it safe I'm going to monitor the bite site for the next couple of weeks ...

There's a good reason a tick's hypostome is difficult to remove once it's firmly inserted. Have a look at the macro of the "business end", as it's so nicely put, of Dermacentor albipictus at Macromite's Blog.

Distant cousins of the Deer Tick – and a lot less bloodthirsty, at least from a mammalian perspective – Habronattus spp. are among the first jumping spiders apt to be encountered in spring. The next two images depict a Habronattus calcaratus maddisoni female and male. The spiders were found only a few centimeters from one another, no doubt there was a mating in the offing.

The male Habronattus viridipes closely resembles its cousin, but note the sinuous white line on the cephalothorax and the irregular borders of the black stripes on the abdomen. The first pair of legs of both species have a bright green inner surface, used by the males to signal to a prospective mate.

As always many thanks to the experts at BugGuide.Net for their help. I was fairly certain as to the genus these small Salticids (5 cm, give or take) but I couldn't have identified them to the species (let alone subspecies) level without some guidance. Another great website for identifying Salticidae is Jumping Spiders of North America.

Both of the Habronattus spp. were encountered on open rock outcrops in high and dry pine/oak/blueberry scrub habitat – the home of the Common Five-lined Skink. The little reptiles are still with us, first sighting for 2014 was Sunday April 27th, and a friend managed to get a photo before it scurried for cover.

The stony blueberry scrub is also a good place to look for the Bumble Flower Beetle (Euphoria inda). About the size of a June Beetle, this hairy scarab not only mimics the appearance of a bumblebee, it even drones like one while in flight. The larvae live in dung and decomposing wood, and there's lots of the latter laying around; they mature and fly in late summer and the beetles seen in the spring have overwintered as adults.

It's been a long cold winter and a late cool spring, I wonder if the "immigrant" species from warmer climes that have been extending their ranges northward made it through?

Along came a Running Crab Spider ...

Always look twice! At first glance I mistook this arachnid for a Wolf Spider, but it is not. This spider is a female Thanatus sp., a Running Crab Spider of the family Philodromidae. Here's a link to an image of Thanatus sp. at BugGuide.Net.

The photo was taken near the same location I encountered the Red Efts, east of Highway #37, about one kilometer south of Actinolite – not far from Buttermilk Falls where I stumbled across the Striped Fishing Spider (Dolomedes scriptus) last autumn.

A mug shot is desirable when identifying spiders as their eye patterns are characteristic for a given family.

I found this Running Crab Spider lurking on the trees near Stoco Lake; I think it's genus Philodromus. Had the spider not moved, I never would have spotted it – its resemblance to the lichens and bark in the background is uncanny.

A tiny male crab spider, about 3 mm to 4 mm long ... I'm going to call this Mecaphesa sp. pending a response to an ID request at BugGuide.Net. However, I might be out of luck on getting an ID, my camera was unable to take a picture of the eyes.

At about 6 mm in length this female Ground Spider is also on the small side, that's my pinky finger she's sitting on. Definitely family Gnaphosidae, probably genus Zelotes. Normally a beautiful glossy black, it took a bit of a dusting when captured it for a closeup shot.

A female Nursey Web Spider (Pisaurina mira) striking a rather dramatic pose on a dead leaf.

No problem getting a good image of the eye pattern of this large spider, its body was close to 25 mm long.

Ouch!!! This is my number one photo from the trip to Presqu'ile Provincial Park back in mid-March ... a tick. I think this is a male Deer Tick a.k.a. Black-legged Tick (Ixodes scapularis), a potential vector of Lyme's Disease – I gave my little friend a nice swim in isopropyl alcohol and kept the specimen just in case.

Images of some tick species

This is not intended to frighten people or discourage them from visiting our parks and conservation areas. The parks I've visited thus far have warning signs posted, and no doubt there are ticks in the Tweed area as well. In all my wanderings through the years in woods and fields, this is the first time I've been bitten by one of these (no pun intended) little suckers. But having said that – be aware.

This is my little hitchhiker with a penny and a toothpick to impart a sense of scale. I didn't get bitten until after I got home, and the bite didn't appear to penetrate my skin. Needless to say I showered with lots of soap and water, washed all the clothing I had been wearing, went over my body with a fine-toothed comb (figuratively speaking, that is), and checked everything else I had taken to the park with me that may have come into contact with ticks.