Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
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I am a lifelong Ohioan who has made a study of natural history since the age of eight or so - longer than I can remember. A fascination with birds has grown into an amazement with all of nature, and an insatiable curiosity to learn more. One of my major ambitions is to get more people interested in nature. The more of us who care, the more likely that our natural world will survive.
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
1w ago
The inaugural Spring Botany Blast! takes place this April 11 - 14 in and around the incredible New River Gorge in West Virginia. This region is a plant aficionado's paradise. A diversity of habitats, mostly wooded, in stunning mountain environs, harbor scores of wildflower species, often in great profusion. We'll be based at Hawk's Nest State Park, which is convenient to all of the special hotspots that we'll be visiting.
Spring Botany Blast! was started as an offshoot of the New River Birding & Nature Festival, in which I have participated as a guide and speaker for about 20 years. So, I ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
1w ago
Hi all, and thanks as always for reading! Sorry for the long (for me) lapse in posts. Things have been a bit busy of late, and it's been tough to carve time out to sit down and craft a new piece. But here we are, and away we go.
An Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis) nestles among the leaves of an American Beech (Fagus grandifolia). This species is the consummate tree bat, and its range mirrors that of the great eastern deciduous forest, which spans the eastern half of the U.S., stretching from the Gulf Coast into southern Canada.
Shauna Weyrauch and I have had some interesting field excursi ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
3w ago
A quintet of Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus) prepares for landing.
I attended the annual Ohio Bluebird Society's annual meeting last Saturday, March 2, to speak about moths. Little known fact: The majority of the Eastern Bluebird's non-winter diet is moth caterpillars. Shauna and I had a great time, met lots of people, and I saw scads of friends that I haven't seen in a while. The Society is quite active and about 140 people were in attendance.
Afterwards, Shauna and I took the long way home, in order to visit Killbuck Marsh - one of the largest interior wetland complexes in Ohio. Ki ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
1M ago
Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Veronica hederifolia) was in full bloom on south-facing slopes of the Ohio River last Saturday, February 24. Shauna Weyrauch and I visited the deep south of Ohio last weekend seeking, among other things, early flora. This species was not a primary target. Little Eurasian weeds such as this speedwell are always among the first flowers to bloom, and some of them, such as Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) can be found in flower any month of the year. On this excursion, native plants were our goal, but I could not resist an image of the showy speedwell flower.
Our fir ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
1M ago
A juvenile Cooper's hawk, perhaps upset that its name is changing/Jim McCormac
Nature/Opinion: American Ornithological Society set to rename honorific birds
Columbus Dispatch
February 18, 2024
NOTES: The following column takes an oppositional viewpoint to the initiative launched by the American Ornithological Society (AOS) on November 1 of last year. While my initial gut reaction to this mass renaming was negative, I waited some time to think about this, and better process all sides before opining. While from nearly all metrics opponents probably far outnumber proponents, that did ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
1M ago
I'm giving a talk on bird photography - The Art and Science of Shooting Birds - tomorrow evening, February 21, at 6:30 pm at the Cincinnati Nature Center. It's for the center's camera club, but guests are welcome. It's free to members of CNC; $10 if not. Preregistration is required, and more details in the following link: Cincinnati Nature Center (ticketapp.org ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
1M ago
A female white-banded fishing spider guards its nest/Jim McCormac
Fishing spiders in Ohio? It's true.
Columbus Dispatch
February 4, 2024
NATURE
Jim McCormac
Arachnophobia, the irrational fear of spiders, is widespread. Some estimates claim that about 6% of the population are arachnophobes. If you are one, my apologies for this column. But you’ve probably already stopped reading.
Spiders are all around us. About 650 species are found in Ohio alone. Numerous species, most likely, are on your property and in your house. In warm seasons, a gentle rain of spiderlings wafts through the air. Th ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
2M ago
A male Kirtland's Warbler sings from a jack pine. One of the rarest warblers, its population is only about 4,500 birds. I photographed this one on May 24, 2019, in northern Michigan. If the American Ornithological Society goes through with its proposal to end eponyms, this warbler will get a new moniker.Many of us are aware of the American Ornithological Society's (AOS) decision to rename about 80 species of birds that are eponymously named (named for a person). These species are primarily found in the U.S. and Canada, at least as breeders. Apparently, that's just for starters - d ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
2M ago
I had to change the format of this listing, thanks to Blogger's (my platform) unfortunate decision to require html coding to do even formerly simple tasks like add a sidebar of speaking engagements. That's beyond me and at this point, I'm not taking time to learn how to do that. I will provide this roster as a live link at the top right side of the blog, that's the best that I know how to do it for now. Also, Blogger got rid of the email notification service about new posts. I regularly get queries about what happened, and that's the answer. I don't know a work-around at this point. I thought ..read more
Ohio Birds and Biodiversity
2M ago
This Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) was part of a small troupe occupying pines in a park in Hickory, North Carolina. Shauna Weyrauch and I recently took a week to visit southern Georgia and a few points in between here and there. We went to this park on January 1 with the specific goal of drumming up some of the tiny nuthatches. The Brown-headed Nuthatch is a personal favorite. Shauna had never seen one and was understandably delighted by them.
Highly social, the little nuthatches stay in small bands, and there were about four of them in this group. They are vociferous and I heard them ..read more