The Nature of Delaware

By Derek Stoner, Middle Run Reforestation Coordinator

Red Maples along the edge of a pond at Brandywine Creek State Park. (photo by Derek Stoner 10.25.09)

When asked what is my favorite time of year, I am often torn between the months of May and October.  Both have profusions of color, wildlife spectacles, and great scenery.  But the magical days of October when trees reach peak fall color are hard to beat.

The reds, oranges, and yellows of Sassafras line a hedgerow at Woodlawn Preserve(photo by Derek Stoner 10.25.09)

Today was one of those perfect October days.  After a gray and rainy day Saturday, a front cleared the skies for abundant sunshine and fantastic lighting on Sunday.  Travelling the backroads of northern Delaware, one stunning vista after another greeted my eyes.  Maples, tulip polars, sassafras, sycamores, oaks, witch hazels, and other spectacular native trees poured forth with color as a signal of the death of their leaves. (Technically, the shortening photoperiod forces a stoppage of chlorophyll production, causing leaves to reveal their true pigmentation “underneath” the green.)

Sycamores and Ash lend brown and yellow to the vibrant red of the Smith's Bridge over the Brandywine River (photo by Derek Stoner 10.25.09)

While May is a season of re-birth and the start of the growing season, October brings us the death and end of a growing season.  While it is tough to see all the leaves finally fall to the ground, they provide a magnificent curtain call to honor another season of growth. 

Maples, Ash, and Spicebush color up the banks of the Red Clay Creek (photo by Derek Stoner 10.25.09)

 Bravo for the great show!

By Derek Stoner, Education Program Assistant and Sheila Vincent, Group Programs Coordinator

Brightly-hued maples color up the hillside on a rainy day at Parker Dam State Park.

Part of the large colony of White Birch at Marion Brooks Natural Area, the largest such stand in Pennsylvania.

On our first venture into the Quehanna Wilderness, we visited the largest colony of White Birch known to exist in Pennsylvania.   Primarily a northern species, these tree thrive in areas of disturbance.  In fact, this section of wilderness is part of the vast Allegheny Plateau, created by the grinding of glaciers during the last Ice Age.  The birches are part of the Marion Brooks Natural Area, a preserve that also features unique plants such as Cucumber Magnolia,  Lady’s Slippers, and an array of ferns.  

A cluster of Redcoats or British Soldiers, a type of fruticose lichen.

In the disturbed soil around a man-made pond, we encountered a tremendous concentration of Redcoats, a striking lichen.  A lichen is the pairing of a fungus and algae in a mutualistic relationship.   Most lichens are gray or dull green– few are as vivid as the Redcoat.

A blooming Gall-of-the-Earth, also known as Tall Rattlesnake Root.

A mysterious wildflower drew our attention.  With purple stems, asymetrical leaves, and straw-colored blossoms, the Gall-of-the-Earth is a distinctive member of the Aster family.  There is disagreement as to the origin of the plant’s name.  One camp holds that the drooping flowers look away from the sun, thus symbolizing the bitter descent of fall into winter.   The other camp suggests that the bitter-tasting roots, used to treat dysentery and rattlesnake bite,  gave the plant both its names.

A paper wasp nest seemingly impaled on a hawthorn bush.

For a bunch of naturalists exploring an unusual ecosystem, every discovery seemed noteworthy.  This bizarre paper wasp nest, built just a foot above the ground, had the extra protection of hawthorn spikes.   

An incredible sunset greeted us on our first evening in elk country. The elk grazed in the misty valley below while we watched.

The botanical diversions were great, but of course the big attraction up here is of the four-legged variety.   Would we see any elk?  Would we get to hear the haunting bugle of battling bulls?  Stay tuned for the second half of our story…

Photos by Derek Stoner

By Joe Sebastiani, Members Program Team Leader

Yesterday, I co-led a trip to the Nottingham Serpentine Barrens in nearby Chester County, PA with botanist Janet Ebert.  Each year, the Delaware Nature Society offers a few trips to this recently designated National Natural Landmark. 

This rare ecosystem of pitch pine, scrub oaks, and rare wildflowers and grasses is a bizarre and fun place to visit if you are a naturalist.  Serpentine rock is the dominant feature here, but is rare at the surface on earth.  In North America there are 3 main areas where it occurs…California and southern Oregon, western Newfoundland and the Gaspe Peninsula, and southeastern PA and northeastern MD. 

Serpentine aster (Aster depauperatus) is common at Nottingham, but is a globally rare plant, growing only here and a few other locations nearby.

The soil is barren, rocky, low in essential nutrients, and high in heavy metals like nickel, chromium, and magnesium.  These conditions make it difficult or impossible for most of the plants in our area to grow.  Therefore, the Serpentine Barrens plant community is a rare collection of plants that can handle the tough conditions.  These include prairie grasses that live mainly in the mid-west, plants that usually live on the sandy coastal plain, and tiny plants that can handle living on bare rock and gravel.

Other than the globally rare serpentine aster pictured above, we saw lots of other specialized and very rare plants.  Our walk took us through open savanna habitat and recently burned-over areas dominated by grasses and scattered pitch pines.  In other areas we found strange oaks, some of which shorter that us at their full-grown height.  Oddities such as bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia), blackjack oak (Q. marilandica), dwarf chinkapin oak (Q. prinoides), and post oak (Q. stellata) created shrubby thickets among the pines.

Striped gentians (Gentiana villosa) were blooming among the grasses at the serpentine barrens.

This area was once greenbriar thicket and pitch pines, but a severe fire 2 years ago turned it into beautiful savanna.

Janet Ebert is a freelance botanist who knows her stuff!  As she pointed out one rare species after the next, the group soaked it up and took notes.  Names like big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, prairie dropseed, purpletop grass, whorled milkweed, wild indigo, swamp thistle, tall sunflower, black huckleberry, and gray goldenrod were eagerly written into personal notebooks.

Tall sunflower (Helianthus giganteus) were in bloom along the trails.

Yellow-eyed grass (Hypoxis hirsuta) was found blooming in a few locations.

Make your way over to Nottingham County Park in southwestern Chester County, PA to experience this wonderful and beautiful serpentine barrens.  This unique area is close in proximity to Delaware, but you feel like you are out in the mid-west or on the southeastern coastal plain.  It is a nice and inexpensive way for a naturalist to “get away”.

By Jason Beale, Manager, Abbott’s Mill Nature Center

I look forward to summer thunderstorms in August for two reasons.  First, they provide a welcome respite from the heat and second, they bring the Meadow Mushroom, Agaricus campestris.

Meadow Mushrooms and a toddler, in their natural habitat. Sasha examines the chocolate brown spores on her left hand.

 The Agaricus mushrooms are well known to most people through  Agaricus bisporus, the cultivated button mushroom.  The genus is fairly easy to identify.  Many are white and possess a ring on the stalk or annulus.  The gills are pink when young and dark when mature, producing a chocolate brown spore print.

The pink gills darken with age. Note the fading rings on the stalks.

 They can be readily told from the Amanita genus which is responsible for 80-90% of mushroom fatalities though they share a superficial resemblence.  Amanitas possess an annulus, but the stalk usually emerges from a cup-like volva.  They are associated with tree roots and aren’t common in lawns.  Additionally, they always possess pale gills and produce a white spore print.

 

Another common lawn mushroom that the would-be mushroom-eater should know is the Green-spored Parasol, Chlorophyllum molybites.  It is one of the most common causes of mushroom poisoning (severe gastrointestinal distress) in the United States.    It has an annulus the conical cap is flecked with brown scales.  The gills are whitish to yellow and ripen to gray and green in old age. 

Easily overlooked, the Meadow Mushroom is a widespread and choice delectable.

 

By Derek Stoner, Education Program Assistant

Japanese Wineberries are a common wild berry found in local woodlands and field edges. Photo by Derek Stoner.

A cluster of blueberries, some ripe and some getting ready. Photo by Derek Stoner.

A young Orchard Oriole pauses on branch before resuming its raid on a blueberry patch. Photo by Derek Stoner.

Birds like the appropriately-named Orchard Oriole, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and other frugivores visit the berry patches to gorge on the fruit, and in turn they hasten the spread of these fruits across the landscape. 

By: Joe Sebastiani, Members Program Team Leader

You don’t have to go far for a nature-study field trip, so over the holiday, I decided to see if I could find some small organisms in the yard that I could photograph. 

I turned my yard into a native thicket, which was bare grass 10 years ago.

Walking slowly, I was able to photograph some small organisms, both familiar, and new to me. 

Long-legged Fly.

I identified this little colorful fly as a Long-legged Fly.  These metallic-looking predators are only about 1/4 inch long, and feed on very small prey like aphids, mites, and smaller flies. 

Blow Fly.

Another fly I found was a Blow Fly.  Blow Flies are used in determining the age of death for crime scene investigators, since their larva are carrion feeders and arrive at a carcass at predictable times after death.  The adults are usually pollinators of flowers.

Asiatic Multicolored Lady Beetle

This species should be familiar to you, but did you know that this species is an import from Asia?  This aphid predator is used in biological control of aphids in certain agricultural industries, but could possibly be displacing our native Lady Beetles.

Enchanter's Nightshade.

This is a common native flower called the Enchanter’s Nightshade.  You might notice the little  seeds stuck to your socks on a nature walk later this summer, but right now, they are flowering.  A good close-up look at small flowers can reveal intricate details.
 

Take a slow walk in your yard and see what surprises you can find!   Take along a digital camera for close-up photography and use Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide and the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America for flower and insect identification.

Upcoming programs with the Delaware Nature Society include: Pine Barrens Wildflowers – July 18; Butterflies for Grownups – August 1; Dragon Run Full Moon Canoeing – August 6; and Hike and Happy Hour at Newark’s Cooch-Dayett Mills – August 14.  Visit www.delawarenaturesociety.org for more information.