This month, Bill and Steve look into the fall and (potential) rise of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata), and they’re joined by Erik Danielson, Stewardship Coordinator of the Western NY Land Conservancy. The Conservancy recently embarked on an effort to acquire the Allegany Wildlands, a unique piece of property that harbors, among its many abundant ecological treasures, remnant American chestnuts. Erik guides Bill and Steve through the property, and, in part 1 of this episode, they discuss the history of the chestnut and the blight that caused its downfall. In part 2, they share how past and present research come together to create a realistic plan for bringing the American chestnut back. Throughout both parts, Erik shares how the Allegany Wildlands fit into the Conservancy’s ambitious effort to create the Western NY Wildway, a network of connected protected lands stretching from Pennsylvania to the Great Lakes and beyond.

This month, Bill and Steve look into the fall and (potential) rise of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata), and they’re joined by Erik Danielson, Stewardship Coordinator of the Western NY Land Conservancy. The Conservancy recently embarked on an effort to acquire the Allegany Wildlands, a unique piece of property that harbors, among its many abundant ecological treasures, remnant American chestnuts. Erik guides Bill and Steve through the property, and, in part 1 of this episode, they discuss the history of the chestnut and the blight that caused its downfall. In part 2, they share how past and present research come together to create a realistic plan for bringing the American chestnut back. Throughout both parts, Erik shares how the Allegany Wildlands fit into the Conservancy’s ambitious effort to create the Western NY Wildway, a network of connected protected lands stretching from Pennsylvania to the Great Lakes and beyond.

This month, the guys set out to discover if daddy longlegs really are the most poisonous spider in the world, but, along the way, they uncover a fascinating array of arachnids and adaptations in the group known collectively as harvestmen. Join them for some mythbusting and a deep dive into the little-known order of arachnids called Opiliones.

Episode Notes

Steve referred to the American toad as Bufo americanus, and Bill agreed. But they were both wrong because its Latin name has been changed to Anaxyrus americanus.

At one point, Bill made a comment where he seemed to be saying that all reptiles have teeth. They do not. He wants to clarify that he was speaking specifically about snakes. What he should have said is “Most snakes have teeth, but not all snakes have fangs.”

Steve mentioned that he didn’t know much about Dick Walton, so we looked him up! Turns out Dick Walton is a naturalist and teacher living in Concord, MA. He considers himself a generalist but has focused on birds, butterflies, dragonflies, solitary wasps, and jumping spiders. He coauthored Peterson’s seminal Birding By Ear audio field guides, the go-to guide for budding birders in the pre-app era. Check out his work at http://www.rkwalton.com/ The guys have great respect for his work and hope that Mr. Walton was not offended by their joking around in this episode..

What is the origin of the name “daddy longlegs”? No one seems to know for sure, but some sources point to the book, Daddy-Long-Legs, a 1912 novel by the American writer Jean Webster. But the book, as far as we can tell, has nothing to do with arachnids. So, we’re still scratching our heads on that one.

Steve wondered if crane flies are dipterans – they are!

Also, during this episode, Steve had a couple questions about the mouth parts of dipterans (flies) and hemipterans (true bugs):

Do all dipterans have sucking mouth parts? Yes! “Flies have a mobile head, with a pair of large compound eyes, and mouthparts designed for piercing and sucking (mosquitoes, black flies and robber flies), or for lapping and sucking in the other groups. “ from Wikipedia

How are wheel bugs killing? The wheel bugs is a species of assassin bug and is a True Bug (Order Hemiptera). “Most hemipterans feed on plants, using their sucking and piercing mouthparts to extract plant sap…but some hemipterans such as assassin bugs are blood-suckers, and a few are predators” from Wikipedia

Steve wondered if mites were the largest group of invertebrates, but it turns out that arthropods. Ok, then, are mites the largest order of arthropods. Nope, that honor belongs to insects. Alright, maybe Steve meant to say that mites are the largest group of arachnids, but, still no, spiders are.

Do spider legs have chemical receptors? Spiders, in fact, do taste, and also smell, through special sensory organs on their legs, as well as on their pedipalps.

Steve was correct when he said that our five local species of ashes (black, white, green, blue, and pumpkin) are critically endangered.

Steve mentioned seeing a kissing bug covered in dust in his house, but a search did not turn up any records of this behavior in kissing bugs. Maybe Steve was referring to an insect commonly called the masked hunter (Reduvius personatus). Masked hunters are given this name because the immature masked hunter carries dust and debris on its body to camouflage itself.

What are the hairs in pitcher plants called? Trichomes 

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Works Cited

Pinto-da-Rocha, Ricardo, Glauco Machado and Gonzalo Giribet. 2007. Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Shear, W.A. (2009) 'Harvestmen: Opiliones--which include daddy-long-legs--are as exotic as they are familiar', American Scientist, 97(6), 468+, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A229835627/AONE?u=nysl_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=680b9445 [accessed 25 Jun 2021].

Zobel-Thropp, P.A., Mullins, J., Kristensen, C., Kronmiller, B.A., David, C.L., Breci, L.A. and Binford, G.J., 2019. Not so dangerous after all? Venom composition and potency of the Pholcid (Daddy Long-Leg) spider Physocyclus mexicanus. Frontiers in ecology and evolution, 7, p.256.

The northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) is a common bird that has some exceptionally uncommon behaviors. Unlike most bird species, male flickers take an equal share of egg incubation and feeding, and, in up to five percent of females, a lady flicker will take up with two mates - an older male and a younger male - raising young in two different nests at the same time. In addition, flickers will sometimes lay their eggs in the nests of other flickers, a behavior called intraspecific brood parasitism, another habit rarely seen in birds. Join the guys as they delve into studies exploring the wild and swinging world of northern flicker reproduction.

This episode was recorded on May 11th, 2021 at Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park, NY.

Episode Notes:

Bill fully realizes that he mispronounced monogamous as monogyoumous. He doesn’t know why he did this, but he is appropriately embarrassed about it.

Bill and Steve were both amazed to learn that belted kingfishers nest in burrows. Find out more here.

At one point in this episode, Bill wondered about all cavity nesting birds having pure white eggs. They do not, and this article provides a nice overview of egg coloration in cavity-nesting species.

Around the 32:40 mark – Bill said that of the bird species that have biparental care, 90% have extra pair paternity (EPP), and, in describing it, he said that it occurs when a female mates with another male outside her pair bond, but, to be clear, both sexes can engage in EPP.

Steve asked about their longevity. Some info from one of Dr. Wiebe’s studies: Flickers have a relatively fast life history with an annual apparent mortality rates of 60%. The rate doesn’t vary with age. A 2006 study looked at mortality rates of male and female flickers over a 6-yr period and observed only 1-2 birds out of every 300 adults were 7 or more years old. There was no significant differences between male and female survival rates for the general population. The oldest known flicker was 9 years, 2 months old.

The New World blackbird family is Icteridae.

Why are these birds called flickers? As best as we can tell from a quick google search, the name is another effort to mimic their call - flicka flicka flicka.

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Works Cited

Wiebe, K.L., 2002. First reported case of classical polyandry in a North American woodpecker, the northern flicker. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 114(3), pp.401-403.

Wiebe, K.L., 2018. Age-related improvements in fecundity are driven by the male in a bird with partially reversed sex roles in parental care. Oecologia, 188(4), pp.1095-1104.

Wiebe, K.L. and Kempenaers, B., 2009. The social and genetic mating system in flickers linked to partially reversed sex roles. Behavioral Ecology, 20(2), pp.453-458.

Image credit

Yellow-shafted northern flicker (female) (Colaptes auratus), Cabin Lake viewing blinds, Deschutes National Forest, near Fort Rock, Oregon

Permission details: Nature's Pic's (www.naturespicsonline.com) explicitly releases for copying under Attribution-ShareALike 3.0 (see copyright release webpage: http://www.naturespicsonline.com/intro.html).

Episode Notes

Spring is here! So, what better time to talk about winter-active insects?

Steve recorded this one in February with entomologist and all-around-great-guy Dr. Wayne Gall, and there was no way we could wait until next winter to share it!

Join Steve and Wayne as they head into the winter woods, peeling back the snowy curtain that conceals the ecology of these fascinating invertebrates.

This episode was recorded in February 2021 at the Deer Lick Conservation Area, a Nature Conservancy property, located in Gowanda, NY.

Timestamp of sightings in the episode

2:34 – Small Winter Stone Fly – Genus: Allocapnia

12:20 – Snowfleas in the Order Collembola

12:33 – Snow Scorpion Fly in the Genus Boreus. Possibly Boreus Brumalis

45:16 – Winged Winter Crane Fly in the Genus Trichocera

51:59 – Snow Fly in the Genus Chionea

55:06 - Chironomid Midge

Two other species - an unidentified spider and a second, unidentified Allocapnia species - were encountered

 Corrections

Polystichoides is not the correct name for Christmas Fern. It’s Polystichum acrostichoides.

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This winter (2021) marked the first time a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) was spotted in New York City’s Central Park in 130 years. Why was it there? Where did it come from? Since 99.9% of the population immediately just thinks of Harry Potter when Snowy Owls are mentioned, the guys wanted to cast the proverbial “Lumos!” and shed some light on the subject.

Join them and guest Daniel Mlodozeniec (photographer and naturalist) as they delve into the Snowy Owl’s ecology in part 1. Then, in part 2, come along as they look into the research behind what drives Snowy Owl irruptions, those irregular migrations that cause Snowies to end up in Central Park and even in places like Bermuda and Hawaii!

This episode was recorded on February 1, 2021 in Buffalo, NY at the Erie Basin Marina (part 1) and Tifft Nature Preserve (part 2).

This winter (2021) marked the first time a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) was spotted in New York City’s Central Park in 130 years. Why was it there? Where did it come from? Since 99.9% of the population immediately just thinks of Harry Potter when Snowy Owls are mentioned, the guys wanted to cast the proverbial “Lumos!” and shed some light on the subject.

Join them and guest Daniel Mlodozeniec (photographer and naturalist) as they delve into the Snowy Owl’s ecology in part 1. Then, in part 2, come along as they look into the research behind what drives Snowy Owl irruptions, those irregular migrations that cause Snowies to end up in Central Park and even in places like Bermuda and Hawaii!

This episode was recorded on February 1, 2021 in Buffalo, NY at the Erie Basin Marina (part 1) and Tifft Nature Preserve (part 2).

Now that Bill’s done droning on about animals, we can finally talk about PLANTS! and CARNIVOROUS plants at that. Steve reviews carnivorous plants in general and then breaks into examples of carnivorous plants that have evolved to eat poop: Roridula spp. in South Africa, Sarracenia purpurea in North America, & Nepenthes spp. in Southeast Asia.

00:00 - Intro
02:00 - Carnivorous plant review
14:20 - Roridula spp. & Pameridea spp.
23:10 - Sarracenia purpurea & its inquilines
26:00 - Gumleaf USA ad
28:35 - Nepenthes lowii, N. macrophylla, N. raja & mountain tree shrews
36:45 - Nepenthes hemsleyana & Hardwicke’s Woolly Bat
40:10 - Nepenthes bicalcarata & diving/swimming ants
45:05 - Concluding remarks
46:20 - Outro

Image credit:
"Nepenthes raja, eine freischfressende Kannenpflanze. Gesehen im Botanischen Garten beim Gunung Kinabalu Headquater, Sabah, Borneo" by anschieber

Useful Links:
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Work Cited:
Byng, J.W., Smets, E.F., van Vugt, R., Bidault, E., Davidson, C., Kenicer, G., Chase, M.W. and Christenhusz, M.J., 2018. The phylogeny of angiosperms poster: a visual summary of APG IV family relationships and floral diversity. The Global Flora, 1, pp.1-35.

Ellison, A.M. and Adamec, L. eds., 2018. Carnivorous Plants: physiology, ecology, and evolution. Oxford University Press, Ch. 1, 3, 13, 24, 26.

Groover, A.T., 2005. What genes make a tree a tree?. Trends in plant science, 10(5), pp.210-214.

McGhee, G.R., 2011. Convergent evolution: limited forms most beautiful. MIT Press.

With the high-end guests we’ve recently had on, we’re concerned that the podcast is getting a bit too classy. So, this month, we’re getting down and dirty, delving into the delightful topic of defecation. Specifically, animals that eat poop. We know, it seems gross. We thought so, too. But once we started exploring this surprisingly common behavior (called coprophagy), we were amazed at what we uncovered!

Links

Fecal sac video

More info about World War 2, the Germans, and Camel Poop

Check out The Stuff You Should Know episode about fecal transplants

Find out more about Michel Lotito, the man who could eat anything

More on Dung Beetles:

American Kennel Club article about dogs eating poop

Two excellent (and damn funny) videos from True Facts:

Dung beetles

Tree Shrews

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Welcome to part 2 of our field trip to the Roger Tory Peterson Institute. In this segment, Bill and Steve take a hike with Twan Leenders, Senior Director of Science & Conservation at the Institute. Twan has had a career in conservation that deserves to be made into a movie. From researching wildlife in the treetops of Central American rainforests to corralling ornery spiny softshell turtles in post-industrial rivers, Twan’s stories, as well as his personal philosophy on science communication, make for a fascinating listen. Enjoy!

Links:

Find out more about the famed entomologist Terry Erwin.

Bill mentioned the journal called The Ecological Citizen. If you are interested in ecological philosophy, especially biocentrism, he can’t recommend it enough.

Explore Twan’s field guides and other books!

Sponsorship of this episode provided by Gumleaf Boots, USA
Free shipping offer code for Patreon supporters: TFG2019

Support The Field Guides through Patreon!

As always, check out Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop), who usually provides the artwork for our episodes!

Works Cited:

Kappel-Smith, D., 2002. Rereading: My Life with a Field Guide, American Scholar

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