Old-Field-Blue Jay

Blue Jay

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Genus: Cyanocitta

Species: C. cristata

General Characteristics: The blue jay is between 9 and 12 inches long. It is bright blue on top and white to gray on its throat, chest and belly. It has a gray-blue crest on its head and black and white bars on its wings and tail. Its bill, legs and feet are black. It also has a black "necklace" on its lower throat. The blue jay is omnivorous. It eats fruits, acorns, seeds, nuts, insects, mice and frogs. Sometimes a blue jay will raid a nest for eggs and young birds. When a blue jay eats nuts, it holds the nut with its feet and cracks it open with its bill. The blue jay is a seed spreader. It often buries food to eat later.

Special Characteristics: Blue Jays are known to take and eat eggs and nestlings of other birds, but we don’t know how common this is. In an extensive study of Blue Jay feeding habits, only 1% of jays had evidence of eggs or birds in their stomachs. Most of their diet was composed of insects and nuts.

Maple Dust Lichen-Bog Ecosystem

Bleeding Fairy Helmet

Order:  Agaricales

Family:  Mycenaceae

Genus:  Mycena

Species:  M. haematopus

General Characteristics:

This fungus is saprobic on decaying wood of hardwoods and conifers (usually on logs that are well decayed and without bark).  It grows in dense clusters (sometimes singly or scattered); causing a white rot.  It is distributed in North America; spring, summer, and fall; common.  The cap is 1-3.5 cm; oval, becoming broadly bell-shaped or conic; the margin often with a tiny sterile portion, becoming tattered; dry and dusted with fine powder when young, becoming smooth and tacky; sometimes shallowly lined or grooved; dark reddish brown at the center, lighter towards the margin. The gills are narrowly attached to the stem; close or nearly distant; whitish, becoming grayish to purplish; stained reddish brown. The stem is 4-8 cm long; 1-2 mm thick; equal; hollow; smooth or with pale reddish hairs; exuding a purplish red juice when crushed or broken. The flesh is pallid or colored like the cap; exuding a purplish red juice when crushed or cut.

Special Adaptations:

If you combine blackberry picking with your mushrooming, you may not notice the feature that defines this little mushroom: it exudes a purplish juice that stains your fingers. Sometimes called the "Bleeding Mycena," Mycena haematopus is one of the few Mycena species that is easily recognized. The purple juice comes out readily when the mushroom's flesh is squeezed--especially in the base of the stem. It grows on dead wood, separating it from the other Bleeding Mycena, Mycena sanguinolenta, which is terrestrial.

Orange Fairy Cup-Bog Ecosystem

Orange Fairy Cup/Orange Peel Fungus

Order:  Pezizales

Family:  Pyronemataceae

Genus:  Aleuria

Species:  A. aurantia

General Characteristics:

This fungus usually grows in clusters on the ground, often in clayey soil or disturbed ground (roadbanks, landscaping areas, etc).  The fruiting body is cup-shaped, often becoming flattened or irregularly shaped as a result of the clustered growth habit; reaching widths of 10 cm, but often smaller; bright orange and smooth above.  The undersurface is usually whitish-fuzzy, when young, but often orange and more or less smooth.  There is no stem, or odor.  The flesh is orange and brittle.

Special Adaptaions:

This mushroom was used in a study to target M cells for oral allergen immunotherapy.

Marsh Fern-Bog Ecosystem

Marsh Fern

Order:  Polypodiales

Family:  Thelypteridaceae

Genus:  Thelypteris

Species:  T. palustris

General Characteristics:

This native perennial fern has erect to ascending compound leaves about 1–2½' tall and 4-7" across. Fertile leaves tend to be a little smaller in size than infertile leaves; they are both deciduous and die down during the winter. The compound leaves are pinnate-pinnatifid in structure and lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong in outline; their petioles are pale tan or pale purplish tan and mostly glabrous. The blade tissue of these leaves is light green and hairless on both the upper and lower sides. In contrast, the central stalk (rachis) of the compound leaf and the lateral stalks (rachillae) of the pinnatifid leaflets are finely pubescent on their lower sides. Each compound leaf has 10-40 pairs of leaflets; these leaflets are deeply pinnatifid and narrowly lanceolate-oblong. Often, a compound leaf and its leaflets are slightly curved and twisted. The lobes of the leaflets are oblong or oblong-lanceolate in shape, while their margins are smooth and strongly involute (curved downward). The lobes are spaced close together along the length of each leaflet. On the lower surface of each lobe, there is a central vein with several lateral veins. Each lateral vein becomes forked and divides into two veins. On fertile leaves, round sori (spore-bearing structures) are located above the forks of each lobe. Immature sori are covered by an indusium (protective membrane) that eventually withers away. The spores are produced and released during the summer or fall. The root system is rhizomatous and fibrous. Dense colonies of compound leaves are often produced from the spreading rhizomes.

Special Adaptations:

The caterpillars of Fagitana littera (Marsh Fern Moth) feed on the leaves of this fern. The Marsh Fern is the only known host plant of this uncommon moth. Because this fern often forms dense colonies of leaves, it provides good cover for the smaller kinds of wildlife.

Red-bellied Woodpecker-Bog Ecosystem

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Order:  Piciformes

Family:  Picidae

Genus:  Melanerpes

Species:  M. carolinus

General Characteristics:

It is easy to spot by its red crown and back. It also has gray under parts, zebra-striped back and a white rump. Its wings are patterned with black and white. The white-patched base of primary flight feathers is recognizable when in flight. It grows to about 9”-10.5” long with a wingspan of 123-139 mm and weighs 72.5 grams.  Red-bellied woodpeckers tap their bills together when they are courting.  Both male and female birds help build the nest cavity. The cavity is lined with wood chips and is about a foot deep. It is usually built in a dead or dying tree. The female lays three to eight eggs and both the male and female incubate the eggs and care for the young. The male incubates at night. The chicks hatch in about three weeks and they fledge in about a month. The chicks usually stay with their parents until the fall.

Special Adaptations:

The male has a wider tongue tip and longer bill than the female, allowing him to reach deeper into crevices to find prey. Studies have shown the male forages on the tree trunk, while the female forages mostly on limbs.

Earthball-Bog Ecosystem

Earthball

Order:  Boletales

Family:  Sclerodermataceae

Genus:  Scleroderma

Species:  S. citrinum

General Characteristics:

Scleroderma citrinum, the Common Earthball, is a poisonous fungus similar in appearance to a warty potato. Acid soils, especially on the paths in forests, are its main habitat. The false puffballs all have a thick tough skin and are generally dark inside (the gleba) even from a young age. They are not severely poisonous, causing a somewhat unpleasant gastrointestinal upset. Fortunately most of them are less than 15 cm diameter. The rounded fruitbody is attached to the ground by white mycelial threads, visible in this picture. The thick skin of the earthball is initially white, cream or yellow and may turn ochre-brown or green as it ages. Inside the earthball the spore mass is almost white at first and then brown with white marbling before turning purple-brown throughout.

Special Adaptations:

At maturity the skin ruptures leaving a large, irregular opening. Wind and rain disperse the spores.

Hairy Woodpecker-Bog Ecosystem

Hairy Woodpecker

Order:  Piciformes

Family:  Picidae

Genus:  Picoides

Species:  P. villosus

General Characteristics: 

Hairy Woodpeckers have a black forehead and crown; males have a red patch on their nape, whereas females have a black nape.  A wide white supercilium with a broad black band extends through the eye to the ear coverts, then down the neck. The moustachial stripe is black, broadening on the neck. A black comma extends from the side of the neck to the upper breast. The chin and throat are white. The lower neck, sides of mantle, rump, and uppertail coverts are black. The back is almost entirely white. The upper coverts are black with large white spots. Flight feathers have white barring. The tail is centrally black with white outer tail feathers.

Special Adaptations:

Hairy Woodpeckers find their food by feeling the vibrations made by insects moving about in the wood. They also can hear the insects munch on the wood!