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<u>EXPRESS-TIMES</u> (Easton, New Jersey) 05 August 06 Signs of fall already in the air (Arlene Koch)
One pesky fly kept landing on my bare leg when I sat down to write this column.
I should've been grateful that it was only one but sometimes just one can drive you crazy.
The office air conditioning made me temporarily forget how hot and sticky it still was outside this morning. We've had tropical weather, which I don't mind but only when I'm in the tropics.
In spite of oppressive heat and humidity, the first signs of a season changing are appearing. Look around or under any walnut tree now and you'll find shed yellow leaves.
Walnuts don't leaf out until the weather really warms up and then before you know it they start dropping them again.
It's August and rubythroated hummingbird migration is in full swing. Again this year, I've found a banded bird at one of my feeders.
And once again, with the help of Devich Farbotnik and his video camera and scope, I have a band number, albeit only five of the six digits. Scott Weidensaul can't be 100 percent sure this adult female rubythroat is one that he banded here on Aug. 10, 2004 but everything points to it.
Farbontik came up from Quakertown three times before we got enough information off the band on the bird's right leg to identify it. While sitting outside on the lawn in the heat waiting for it to appear, he told me about a recent outdoor "experience" he had with a biologist studying <u>hellbenders</u>}.
Unless you're into reptiles, amphibians and other creepy, crawly things, you probably don't know that a hellbender is a very large and very slimy salamander. It's entirely aquatic and found under rocks in rivers and large streams where the water is constantly running.
Like so many other wild creatures, this one's becoming scarce in many areas where it used to be common. The range maps show it to be found in the western part of Pennsylvania but not in New Jersey although it may be present there in isolated or unknown spots.
In human terms, a hellbender is someone who runs wild and ignores all rules. I'm not really sure why this salamander is called a hellbender but no doubt it has something to do with its size and the fact that it's carnivorous.
The hellbender record is of a 29-inch female. Devich said the biggest one he saw was about 20 inches, which is the norm.
Hellbenders aren't the biggest salamanders in the world, however. That honor goes to the Japanese giant salamander, which measures three to five feet.
The only way to catch a hellbender -- and for the life of me I can't imagine why any normal person would want to -- is to put your fingers around its neck and then interlock them around its front legs. It's so slimy that unless you do this it will slip out of your grip.
Fishermen's tales abound about the "Allegheny Alligator" but most of them aren't based on fact. Hellbenders aren't poisonous and they won't eat your little dog.
http://www.nj.com/columns/expresstimes/koch/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1154837361215670.xml&coll=2
One pesky fly kept landing on my bare leg when I sat down to write this column.
I should've been grateful that it was only one but sometimes just one can drive you crazy.
The office air conditioning made me temporarily forget how hot and sticky it still was outside this morning. We've had tropical weather, which I don't mind but only when I'm in the tropics.
In spite of oppressive heat and humidity, the first signs of a season changing are appearing. Look around or under any walnut tree now and you'll find shed yellow leaves.
Walnuts don't leaf out until the weather really warms up and then before you know it they start dropping them again.
It's August and rubythroated hummingbird migration is in full swing. Again this year, I've found a banded bird at one of my feeders.
And once again, with the help of Devich Farbotnik and his video camera and scope, I have a band number, albeit only five of the six digits. Scott Weidensaul can't be 100 percent sure this adult female rubythroat is one that he banded here on Aug. 10, 2004 but everything points to it.
Farbontik came up from Quakertown three times before we got enough information off the band on the bird's right leg to identify it. While sitting outside on the lawn in the heat waiting for it to appear, he told me about a recent outdoor "experience" he had with a biologist studying <u>hellbenders</u>}.
Unless you're into reptiles, amphibians and other creepy, crawly things, you probably don't know that a hellbender is a very large and very slimy salamander. It's entirely aquatic and found under rocks in rivers and large streams where the water is constantly running.
Like so many other wild creatures, this one's becoming scarce in many areas where it used to be common. The range maps show it to be found in the western part of Pennsylvania but not in New Jersey although it may be present there in isolated or unknown spots.
In human terms, a hellbender is someone who runs wild and ignores all rules. I'm not really sure why this salamander is called a hellbender but no doubt it has something to do with its size and the fact that it's carnivorous.
The hellbender record is of a 29-inch female. Devich said the biggest one he saw was about 20 inches, which is the norm.
Hellbenders aren't the biggest salamanders in the world, however. That honor goes to the Japanese giant salamander, which measures three to five feet.
The only way to catch a hellbender -- and for the life of me I can't imagine why any normal person would want to -- is to put your fingers around its neck and then interlock them around its front legs. It's so slimy that unless you do this it will slip out of your grip.
Fishermen's tales abound about the "Allegheny Alligator" but most of them aren't based on fact. Hellbenders aren't poisonous and they won't eat your little dog.
http://www.nj.com/columns/expresstimes/koch/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1154837361215670.xml&coll=2