Category Archives: Wildlife

Reptiles, Wildlife

Eastern Red-backed Salamander – Plethodon cinereus

General – The Red-backed Salamander is the most commonly encountered salamander throughout most of its range. The Red-backed Salamander is characterized by the red stripe which begins immediately behind the head and extends nearly to the tip of the tail. The red stripe is usually very straight throughout its entire length along the body and generally covers the entire back of the salamander. In some populations the red color of the stripe is replaced by dark gray (above right). This is called the lead-backed phase. The belly is finely mottled with equal amounts of white and black creating a “salt and pepper” effect. Red-backed salamanders have 16 to 19 grooves on their sides. They have no circular constriction at the base of their tails, and they have five toes on their hind feet and four toes on their front feet. Males and females look the same.

The Red-backed Salamander along with all salamanders within the family Plethodontidae are lungless. Nearly all of their respiration takes place through cutaneous gas exchange. This means that they breathe through their skin. The remaining gas exchange takes place through buccopharyngeal (within the mouth) respiration. Unlike most salamanders, Red-backs do not spend any part of their lives in the water. They are completely terrestrial (though dependent upon moisture). (Note that these salamanders sometimes lose portions of their tails during encounters with predators).

Average Size – Red-backed normally reach a length between 2 1/2″ to 5 ”

Life Span – Red-backed salamanders can live for several years, in some cases up to 10 years.

Diet – Red-backed salamanders feed on a large variety of invertebrates. These include mites, spiders, insects, centipedes, millipedes, beetles, snails, ants, earthworms, flies, and larvae. They forage by thrusting out their tongue in a quick, forward motion to capture their prey.

Normal Behavior and Interaction – They are relatively solitary and defend small territories in which they feed. Red-backed Salamanders protect their limited food supply by marking out territories. This behavior occurs most often when moisture levels are low and the salamanders have to hide under logs or rocks. Both males and females leave scent marks on the ground as well as leaving their droppings. Other salamanders can learn a lot from these clues. They learn each others territorial boundaries, the size and importance of the salamanders that live in the area, and their identity, including whether or not they are related. When finding food is very hard due to dry conditions, adults who have their own territories will sometimes allow young salamanders that are related to them to use their territories. Intruders are also warned away by seeing the size of the salamander and watching it give threatening displays.

Red-backed salamanders come out from their hiding places at night after a rain. This is when they do most of their hunting. Red-backed salamanders can survive these times with little food because they are pulse feeders, which means they eat large amounts when conditions are good and store the extra nourishment as fat to live off of when conditions are bad.

Range – Red-backed salamanders are native to the Nearctic (temperate) region only. They live in Eastern North America. Their range extends west to Missouri; south to North Carolina; and north from southern Quebec and the Maritime Provinces in Canada to Minnesota. They are most common in areas of appropriate habitat throughout the midwestern United States. Red-backed salamanders are found in deciduous forests throughout their range. They live in fallen leaves as well as under rocks, logs, or in small burrows. When disturbed, they will crawl into tunnels or under leaves.

Like many other amphibians, salamanders can be hurt by high levels of acidity. Red-backed salamanders respond the same way to acidic surroundings as amphibian larvae do when exposed to acidic water, their sodium balance is disrupted. They are rarely found on soils with a pH of 3.7 or lower.

Breeding – Red-backed salamanders mate in the fall but the female does not lay her 3 to 14 eggs until the following spring. The eggs are laid in a cluster in naturally occurring cracks and crevices. Eggs can also be laid in or under rotting wood. The mother wraps her body around the egg cluster until they hatch. The baby salamanders come out of the eggs looking like small adults. Upon emerging from the egg, young salamanders are independent. Salamanders recognize their relatives through smell and although they are solitary, mothers will allow their young to stay in her foraging area. Female salamanders mate every other year.

Red-backed salamanders make up an important food source for a wide variety of snakes, birds, and mammals. They have the ability to drop all or part of their tail if under attack from a predator and can grow a new one afterwards. The tail that grows back is often lighter in color than the original tail.

Red-backed salamanders play an important biological role in both providing food for their predators as well as consuming large numbers of invertebrates.

Fish, Wildlife

Summer Flounder (Fluke) – Information

Flounder

General:

Summer flounder are also called Fluke.  When summer flounder are large they are known as “doormats”.  The summer flounder is considered to be a “left-handed” flatfish because its mouth and eyes are on the left side of the body when viewed from above. They are excellent tasting fish, one of my favorites. They are caught by both commercial and recreational fishermen.

Life span:

Females live to at least 14 years, and males live to 12 years (1)

Flounder have the habit of burying themselves while waiting for unsuspecting bait fish to come by.

Identification:

Summer flounder usually grow 15” – 30” and average between 3-6 pounds, although there are larger specimens. Females are larger than males. Summer flounder have a flat rounded body.  Its topside is brownish on top with 10 to 14 eye-like spots. This upper side can change from light brown to almost black, allowing the fish to blend in when it is lying on the bottom. The bottom of the fish is white. They have sharp teeth. The dorsal fin of the summer flounder stretches from the head to the tail.

Summer Flounder overlap range with the southern flounder. The southern flounder however lacks the eye-like spots of the summer flounder.

Habitat:

Once the summer flounder metamorphoses, it becomes a bottom-dweller. Adults usually live in deep channels and ridges while young are more common in shallow waters and on sandbars. Usually migrates offshore for winter as water temperatures decrease.

Diet:

Summer flounder eat shrimp, squid, worms, crustaceans and other fish.

Territory:

Summer flounder are found in waters from Nova Scotia to Florida. They are most abundant from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Cape Fear, North Carolina – even as far south as Florida.

Migration:

Summer flounder migration occurs in late Autumn possibly due to decreasing water temperatures and declining photoperiods. They move offshore but stay on the continental shelf. When spring comes along the flounder move back to shore.

Reproduction and Life Cycle:

Spawns in autumn and mid-winter in coastal ocean waters. After hatching, larvae look like regular fish fry – one eye on each side of the head. Eventually,  the right eye moves to the left side which becomes the upper side of the fish.
Reproduction:, Depending on their size, females can have 460,000 to over 4 million eggs. Summer flounder spawn several times throughout the spawning season. Eggs are buoyant and released in the water column and hatch in waters of the continental shelf. Larvae are transported by prevailing water currents toward coastal areas where they develop into juvenile summer flounder.
From winter through early spring, larvae enter estuaries and coastal lagoons and develop into juveniles that bury in the sediment. Juveniles use estuarine marsh creeks, seagrass beds, mud flats, and open bay areas for habitat. Juveniles are most abundant in areas with a predominantly sandy bottom or sand-shell substrate, or where there is a transition from fine sand to silt and clay. Adults spend most of their life on or near the sea bottom burrowing in the sandy substrate. They can also be found in marsh creeks, sea grass beds, and sand flats.

Fishing:

When I lived on Long Island (NY), we would go out at night into the Great South Bay spotlighting for eels. I was amazed at the numbers of flounder we would encounter in 6’ – 8’ of water, almost always on sandy bottoms. It got to the point where we were able to spot the fish when they were partially buried into the bottom. These flounders were not tiny either – they were good sized fish. Why I say this is so the reader can understand the areas where you can fish. You can make fishing for flounder simple, a pole and bait fished from shore, or more expensive – out on a boat.

There are many ways you can fish for summer flounder. These include drifting, fishing at anchor and using chum, trolling, casting from shore, and angling from piers and banks.

Drifting is an effective method. Basically you let the boat drift with the wind or tidal current. Drifting can be particularly effective diagonally across channels, where summer flounder move along lanes in search of food. Drifting increases your chances by covering the areas where summer flounder are. It also keeps the bait or lure in motion. Summer flounder find moving bait attractive. The optimum drift speed is about 1 mph.

Chumming, or fishing at anchor and using chum, is a popular method for both summer flounder and winter flounders. It also can be done while drifting, provided the drift speed is not too fast; and it is effective when the fish are scattered. Chumming for summer flounder is accomplished in either of two ways.

1. A chum pot, fashioned from netting or other material. I use an old bucket with a lid that I have drilled ¼” holes all around.  I use cracked mussels but cut bait such as bunker or even the guts etc. of fish carcasses / guts can be used. The chum pot is attached to a length of rope and bounced on the bottom at intervals to release the tiny bits of meat and juices to attract fish.

2. Chumming also can be done by dropping a cracked mussels or bits of chopped fish every few minutes. You will need very slow current when doing this. If the current is too strong the chumm will not get to the bottom.

If you cannot drift, anchor in a likely spot and cast out your bait. Retrieve your line to keep the bait in motion. If you’re anchored in a channel where the tide is moving at a fair clip you can let it carry the bait away from the boat (use a round or oval sinker for this), then reel it in along the bottom.

Trolling has an advantage in that it also covers ground and you determine the area covered. Summer flounder-trolling speed is a matter of opinion, but best results are obtained with a speed of about 1-2 miles an hour. Remember you want the bait down on the bottom so a weight is necessary.

Pier, shore, and bank angling can produce summer flounder in channels and deep creeks, at inlets, and in close in shore ocean zones. Channels and inlets can be particularly productive of summer flounder. Occasionally summer flounder will come very close to shore, and at such times surf and jetty fishing with natural baits work well.

The Basic Summer flounder Rig: The basic rig starts with a three-way swivel tied to the line. To the middle of the swivel’s remaining two loops attach a hook on 2-3 feet of monofilament leader. To the lowest loop tie a sinker. A refinement can be added to this rig by attaching one or two shiny spinner blades to the leader not far above the hook. Their motion and glitter provide an extra eye-catching attraction.

Two-Hook Rig: This is essentially the same as the basic rig except that a second hook is added. The first hook is rigged as before. The second hook is tied into the first hook’s leader at about the midpoint or slig

Bait: When drifting or fishing from shore / piers, spearing and squid work well as does small live bait fish. When fishinf from a boat you can also slow drift and jig with bucktails and fluke balls. Remember, your line must be on the bottom!

1. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/summer_flounder.htm

2. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/fishfacts/summerflounder.asp

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Fish, Wildlife

Chain Pickerel – Esox Niger

Chain Pickerel Ken Hammond, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Esox_niger_1.jpg/460px-Esox_niger_1.jpg

General: The Chain pickerel is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family. The chain pickerel has various local names such as: federation pike, federation pickerel, southern pike, jack and jack fish.

This fish that got me really hooked on fishing. As a 12 year old fishing on a small lake in Vermont, I hooked a pickerel while fishing for sunfish in a weed bed.  I threw a small red devil spoon alongside the weeds. I almost finished reeling in and was about to lift the spoon out for another cast when the pickerel hit. In the fight that ensued, it jumped, tail danced and fought.

Identification:  The chain pickerel can grow up to approximately 31” long and weigh almost 8 lbs. The chain pickerel has a distinctive dark chain-like pattern on its greenish sides. Its body outline resembles that of the northern pike. They have a conspicuous dark bar beneath each eye. The pupil of the eye is yellow.  The snout is long, broad, and rounded with a large mouth full of teeth. Its lower jaw extends further forward than the upper jaw. One identification marker to distinguish the chain pickerel from pike is the number of sensory pores on the underside of the jaw. Chain pickerel have 4 pores on each side of the lower jaw while pike have 5. Pickerel have sharp teeth!!

Their dark upper side is interrupted by light vertical bars.  A large dorsal fin is located back towards the forked caudal fin. The caudal fin is deeply forked.

Territory: The chain pickerel can be found in the eastern USA, from Maine to Florida, into eastern Canada and west to west to Texas. You can also find them in the Mississippi Valley into southern Wisconsin and into the Great Lakes.

The chain pickerel has been introduced elsewhere – a practice that has caused problems due to competition with and predation on native species.

Habitat: Pickerel can be found in streams, ponds, lakes and rivers. They can be found in or near cover such as submerged aquatic vegetation, tree limbs or any other form of structure. Pickerel tend to be solitary fish, lurking hidden in the aquatic vegetation, waiting for prey to swim or drift by.

Diet: The main diet of the pickerel consists of fish, crayfish, frogs, mice, newts and insects. It is a carnivore that is opportunistic to say the least, in fact they are cannibals when the opportunity presents itself. There are pictures of chain pickerel trying to swallow a fish almost as big as themselves – a testament to just how voracious they are.

NYS Dept of wildlife

Birds

Pileated Woodpecker – Dryocopus Pileatus

Pileated Woodpecker – Dryocopus Pileatus

General:

Once you have seen the Pileated Woodpecker in the wild, watched it climb trees and fly through the forest you will always be able to pileated woodpecker in a tree hunting insectsidentify it. I know of no other bird that size and with that silhouette. As far as woodpeckers go, this is the largest North American woodpecker there is. Like other woodpeckers, its excavating plays a crucial role in many forest ecosystems in North America. A diverse array of other animals use its cavities for shelter and nesting.

Pileated Woodpeckers excavate large nests in the cavities of dead trees. Females lay approximately 1–6 white eggs. Incubation is approximately 15-18 days. The chicks are born naked and helpless. They fledge in about 26-28 days

Their call is a loud cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk. It is very similar to the Northern Flicker.

Identification:

The Pileated Woodpecker Adults are 16” to 19” long with a wingspan of 26” to 30” and weigh 8 to 12 oz. They are almost crow sized. It is best recognized by its large, dull black body, red crest on the head and a white line down the sides of the throat. The males have a red line from the bill to the throat, in adult females these are black. In flight the wings show pale bases to primaries on upper-wing and entirely white under-wing covert.

Pileated WoodpeckerHabitat: Pileated Woodpeckers inhabit deciduous and coniferous forests with mature stands of trees. They can be found in suburban areas and farmland with stands of trees. I live in a small Upstate New York town. The pictures are of a bird that was on a neighbor’s maple tree digging for ants and grubs.

Territory:

Pileated Woodpecker’s territory ranges from eastern North America to the Gulf coast, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific coast.

Migration:

Pileated Woodpeckers are year round residents of their territories.

Food:

Pileated Woodpeckers eat insects, carpenter ants, wood-boring beetle larvae and to a lesser extent fruits, and nuts. They often chip out large and roughly rectangular holes in trees while searching out insects

Footnote

USGS website