Newsletter title

July 2014

In This Edition

A Note from Ann Whitehorn

—Ann Whitehorn

A note from Ann Whitehorn

A Tribute to Ann Whitehorn

—Dwight Thomas

Ann Whitehorn

As a Docent at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, I found that one of the most important persons for me to know was Ann Whitehorn, the Manager of the Visitor’s Center. To a Docent, Ann was a little scary at first with her brisk manner and voice, but at the same time. she was reassuring to both new and seasoned Docents. No matter how experienced a Docent you are, something will happen during almost every work session — some problem will crop up that requires the expert knowledge of the Manager. Problems such as: I over-under-charged a customer on the Credit Card Machine. What do I do now? Ann always had an answer; often her answer was: don’t worry about it, I will fix it. I don’t ever remember being made to feel any more incompetent as she solved the problem.

But Ann provided more than just How to run the Gift Shop. I remember one day when I was working alone, Ann came by to check out everything as she usually did and I sure was glad to see her. This particular day, a cranky old visitor was giving me a hard time about the Preserve’s existence. I was trying to be nice, but in the back of my mind, I was thinking, if he doesn’t like the Preserve, why doesn’t he just leave. Then Ann arrived. She recognized the visitor and initiated a lengthy conversation with him that mostly consisted of: How’s such-and-such doing?, Did you know what’s-his-name?, and so on. Eventually he left in a relatively happy state, thanks to Anne’s smooth talk. I learned a bit about handling visitors, but I also recognized that Ann is a one-of-a-kind and a real asset to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.

I am sure most Docents have a similar list of stories they could relate about how Ann helped them. We will surely miss her. We wish her well in retirement.

Prairie Watching: A Walk on the Prairie in June

—Dwight Thomas, Ph.D.

As I described in Field Trip Report, May 18, 2014, Tallgrass Prairie Docent Newsletter, June 15, 2014, the cool Spring weather had delayed the 2014 Spring bloom of wildflowers. As a result of the delay, I was really looking forward to June, expecting to see the delayed Spring wildflowers as well as the normal June wildflowers. Sadly, I didn’t get to see the prairie in June 2014. On May 28, 2014, I had a bicycle accident and suffered a badly broken leg. I have been homebound since then. I hope those of you who visited the Preserve in June found that it met expectations.

Prairie Trail

Being homebound prompted me to look back at photographs from previous years to provide me with a sample of what I would be seeing. Last year (2013) the prairie was wonderful in June, remember, we had all that good rain in May, so let me share last years walk on the prairie with you:

Yarrow

The morning air was cool, but very humid. As I left my car and walked along the trail around the meadow starting at the right of the Gazebo, I saw that the grasses had already grown to about two feet tall. The grass leaves were covered with drops of dew that were sparkling in the morning Sunshine. I knew from having been at this spot in September and October, that these grasses were mostly a mixture of Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash). These are easily identified when they are flowering in the Fall, but identifying them from vegetative features in the Spring requires examining them closely for the special characteristics that are unique to each species. It can be done, but at the moment, I was looking for wildflowers.

Woodland and Prairie Petunia

The grasses weren’t all in just a vegetative state, I recognized flowering stalks of Eastern Gama Grass (Tripsacum dactyloides L), one of the few tall grasses that blooms in the Spring and early Summer. I described this species in Eastern Gama Grass: Another Tall Grass. Tallgrass Prairie Docent Newsletter, April 15, 2014. Intermixed with the grasses were a number of forbs, some of which were in bloom. One that stood out was Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L) with its fern-like leaves and white-flowered flat-topped heads. The only other forb blooming in abundance was the Green Milkweed (Aesclepia viridis Walt.). It had been blooming since early May even though the Spring weather had been unusually cool.

Showy Beardtongue Purple Coneflower

From the meadow, I walked up the trail by the stream through the tall oaks and hickories of the bottomland forest. Here along the trail were isolated flowers of the Prairie Petunia (Ruellia humilis Nutt.) These two-inch wide tubular purple flowers stood out among the green of the undergrowth. I continued to see these as I left the bottomland forest and emerged onto the open prairie.

As I climbed the hill where the trail leads from the stream bottomland to the open prairie, I looked to my left toward the crest of the hill just above the woods. Here, the soil is rocky and thin. As I had seen in the past, there was an abundance of Penstemon blooming — mostly Showy Beardtongue (Penstemon cobaea Nutt.) and some Trumpet Beardtongue (Penstemon tubiflorus Nutt.) Both of these species can be seen from a distance with their tall spikes of white flowers about two-feet tall. The Showy Beardtongue flowers are each about one inch across and have purple stripes an yellow hairs inside. The Trumpet Beardtongue are smaller with more tubular flowers, and they are more dense in the spike; they are mostly white. A larger population of the Trumpet Beardtongue can be found a little farther along the trail near the Bison statue.

Trumpet Beardtongue

Just to the side of the Showy Beardtongue population, I found a stand of Purple Coneflowers (Echinaceae pallida Nutt.). The Purple Coneflowers have light purple ray flowers surrounding a deep brown center of disc flowers. These four-inch flower heads stand out whether alone or in a mass. The roots of this plant have a history of medicinal use as a powerful anesthetic.

Trail and Blackeyed Susan Dicksissel

As I followed the trail through the prairie, the trail was lined with Blackeyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta L.), Yarrow, and Trumpet Beardtongue. But the wildflowers were not alone in claiming attention, the prairie was full of Dicksissels (Spiza americana) that were perching on stems and singing solos. Each solo was loud, and the multiplied effect of many birds singing at the same time created a world of sound — somewhat like an orchestra tuning up.

A short walk on the prairie like this shows me that the prairie is not only beautiful, but is also a wonderfully diverse and complex ecosystem. Doing this walk from memory and photographs was good, but not quite as good as being there. I know that when I take this walk in the future, at anytime of the year, I will see a set of wildflowers in bloom, or evidence of them, and probably a different set of birds and insects. Then, when I talk this same walk next year in June, these old friends that I just pointed out will be still be there. That is the gift we continually receive from The Nature Conservancy preserving a part of the prairie, ensuring that these old friends will still be there tomorrow, next year, and next century.

Red-tailed Hawk, (Buteo jamaicensis)

—Nicholas DelGrosso

Red-tailed Hawk via Wikimedia Commons

The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of open country, and as a result of this preference they are often seen at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve soaring in the distance or perched atop a power line pole staring at the ground. No they are not contemplating the beauties of the prairie; rather they are searching for the movement of voles and rabbits in the grass. Small mammals comprise the majority of this buteo’s diet. It has been estimated that in a good year it is hard not to see one Red-tailed Hawk for each road mile traveled. Next time you drive to the Preserve try playing Count the Hawks and see what you come up with. During the winter this number swells as northern migrants stop in Oklahoma to help consume the state’s abundant rodent population. These migrants are pushed down by the cold winter weather from Alaska, Canada and the northern plains. Northern Red-tailed Hawks are short distance migrants, while southern birds remain in their territories all year long. In fact the Red-tailed Hawk is Oklahoma’s most common breeding raptor. It is probably the most common hawk in North America.

Buteo jamaicensis is the archetypal hawk described by Gmelin in 1788. There are actually fourteen recognized subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk. These different subspecies have adjusted to all the biomes in their range which spans from Alaska and northern Canada’s frozen tundra south to tropical Central America and the West Indies. One can imagine that a hawk with a range covering multiple biomes has made evolutionary adjustments in its plumage to exploit the differing habitats in its range. The southern populations are also sedentary which limits exposure to a large gene pool, allowing them to interbreed in a smaller gene pool resulting in multiple subspecies. As a result the Red-tailed Hawk plumage can be variable across subspecies. The key to identification is the Hawk’s basic design. It is a blocky and broad bird with what seems to be a small head on such a broad body. It is the second largest Buteo after the Ferruginous Hawk. It typically has a whitish under belly with a dark band across the belly. This band is present in most color variations. The red tail is a cinnamon to brick red color above and light buff orange below. However this reddish tail may be absent in some color variations. What is present in all subspecies is a short and dark raptor like bill, short broad tail and chunky wings. The cere, a small area of bare skin above the upper mandible, legs and feet are all yellow and not covered by feathers like the Rough-legged Hawk.

Krider's Red-tailed Hawk by Bill Bossman

The resident Red-tailed Hawk in Oklahoma is the eastern subspecies, but several distinctive subspecies appear here during the winter: Krider’s Red-tailed, Harlan’s Red-tailed and western Red-tailed Hawk subspecies. Each has a distinct color pallet making it difficult for the novice to identify as a Red-tailed Hawk. The eastern Red-tailed hawk is a rich brown above and pale below with a streaked belly and a dark bar on the wing underside between the shoulder and wrist. The tail is usually pale below and cinnamon red above. As it soars the red tail is very visible.

Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk by Ken Bryan

The Krider’s Red-tailed Hawk breeds in Canada and the northern Great Plains, but are present in Oklahoma during the late fall and winter. The Krider’s head is usually completely white, but intergrades may have narrow dark malar stripes, dark streaking on the crown and nape and narrow dark eye lines. White underparts are unmarked, lacking a belly band; rufous markings on the sides of the upper breast often appear as a partial collar on flying hawks. The tail is pinkish to whitish, often washed with rufous near the tip. I have seen Krider’s Hawks on the eastern side of the Preserve during the late fall and winter, they usually are perched high in the crowns of trees growing along the fence row gazing at the pasture.

The Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk is a dark morph Hawk, it is all chocolate brown with a marbled white, brown and gray tail. The Harlan is also a winter visitor from Alaska and northwestern Canada.

Buteo Calurus via Wikicommons

The western subspecies (Buteo j. calurus) breeds from the central interior of Alaska through western Canada south to Baja California, so some northern birds could turn up in Oklahoma. The western subspecies is a light-morph form and may not have a red tail. Look at the basic hawk’s structure to identify this bird.

This covers the subspecies you will most likely encounter in Oklahoma during the year. Winter is the most confusing season because of the color variations in the northern migrants. During the Christmas Bird Count light-morph, dark-morph, Harlan’s and unknown Red-tailed Hawks are tallied The following table summarizes the average observations over the past 15 years:

The light-morph is the most prevalent subspecies at the Preserve during the winter months this would indicate that the majority of the Hawks seen are northern migrants and not resident birds.

Red-tailed Hawks are sexually dimorphic; the female is about 25-percent larger than the male. They mate for life; mated pairs typically stay together until one of the pair dies. The Red-tailed Hawk can be aggressive especially when defending nests or territories. They will chase away and attempt to steal food from other hawks and eagles and I have seen a large female Red-tailed Hawk confront and attack a Great Horned Owl at the Preserve one evening. But even with all this aggression I have also seen a Northern Mockingbird pair mobbing a Red-tailed Hawk that got too close to their nest and the Mockingbirds prevailed.

Courting birds fly with legs hanging beneath them or chase and swoop after each other, sometimes locking talons and falling in a spiral toward the ground before separating and pulling away. It is quite a sight to see these three pound birds with four foot wing spans engage in these aerial antics. These courtship flights usually take place in late February and early March, after the courtship its time to get to work and build a nest Both hawks will build the nest or remodel one they had previously used. Nests are made up of tall piles of dry sticks up to 6½ feet high and 3 feet across. The cup is lined with dark strips, fresh foliage and dry vegetation. You can usually find their nests in the crowns of tall trees or on a cliff ledge. Cornell has a pair that nests in an artificial nest box every year. Big Red and Ezra are birdcam stars. You can log onto the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Web Site and see highlights of this years nest cam or make a note and tune in next year as it all happens. There is even a Red-tailed Hawk who shared an apartment complex in New York City with Woody Allen. Pale Male keeps the pigeons and squirrels in line in Central Park

While the female lays and incubates the 2-3 white eggs with brown blotches the male tends to her physical needs by bringing food to her. The eggs will hatch within 28 to 35 days. Both hawks will provision the young after hatching and they will fledge around 42 to 46 days. After fledging it will take them about three more weeks to learn to hunt.

Red-tails can live a long life. The oldest tagged Red-tail lived 28 years 10 months.

Mated pairs will sometimes hunt together flushing a squirrel around a tree or a rabbit from the brush. I once came up over a rise and flushed a Red-tail out of a bush where it had wedged a rabbit in between two branches to hold the prey as he tore it apart with its beak.

Hung prey by Nicholas DelGrosso Hawk mantling via http://bybio.wordpress.com/

Red-tailed Hawks will hunt from a perch like a tree branch or telephone pole and when they spot their prey they will launch from the perch with several powerful wing beats and with feet extended glide to capture their quarry. It is not unusual for a Red-tailed Hawk to mantle the captured animal as it dispatches it to prevent other winged predators from seeing the kill.

They will also soar high in the sky hunting for food. They have excellent eyesight. A Red-tailed Hawk can spot a mouse from a height of 100 feet.

This summer and fall take some time and follow a Red-tail through its day, you will be educated and entertained by the intelligence of this hawk.

Classification of Living Things: Binomial Nomenclature

—Dwight Thomas, Ph.D.

As you all know, anytime you look at nature, you are faced with the task of naming what you find. Of course, you can create your own name for what you see, and this is just fine — calling a red flowered plant a Rose satisfies your need for organization that helps you remember. However, if you want to communicate with someone else about your discovery that you have named, you might find that the person you are talking with has also named this plant, calling it a Pink. The two of you might never be able to communicate effectively about this plant because of the different names.

Hence, comes the need for standardization. Effective communication requires standard names for all kinds of items including living things. I’m sure humans have been naming and categorizing plants and animals since the beginnings of languages, and they probably managed fine, knowing which ones were good food and which ones were dangerous. But with the explosion of the quest for scientific knowledge in the 1600s and 1700s, humans began to name and categorize all of the organisms that they found. This quest came along with an era of travel and exploration that covered much of the world. The results of the increased knowledge from travel and exploration was that the mass of information was overwhelming, so scientists such as Carl Linnaeus created a system for classifying and naming all living things. Linnaeus also had a Mineral Kingdom, but let’s concentrate on living organisms here.

In his Systema Naturae, 1735, Linnaeus established the basis of scientific classification as characteristics of the organisms that would be unchanging from individual to individual. He further expanded his system in Species Plantarum, 1753, where he laid out his plan for the different plant groups and a hierarchy within the groups. For plants, most of his distinguishing characteristics are those of the flower parts — the reproductive system. His plan was generally accepted in his time and has generally been in use since then. His classification system states that at each level of his classification system, the organisms have a certain group of characteristics in common and each descending level has more common characteristics. The following is his system:

Kingdom—Phylum—Class—Order—Family—Genus—Species

The names given to the Genus and the Species become the binomial by which the organism is known. Thus the name of each organism is standardized and can be used with confidence by all. Linnaeus used Latin in creating his names. Species names are usually given by the Scientist who first published the species. The names are often descriptive of the organism, but they may describe the location where it was found, or they may honor a particular person. For example: At the Tallgrass Priairie Preserve, we have several species of oak trees. Oaks are in the Genus Quercus, which means "oak tree" in Latin.

If you find a plant and call it a Rose, you will find that it probably already has a scientific binomial name that can be determined by using plant identification methods such as keys. At the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, that rose is Rosa carolina L. This name means that the plant is in the Genus: Rosa, and in the species: carolina. The L. means that this is the name given to a specimen of this plant named by Linnaeus himself. Thus the name conveys a certain amount of information about the plant.

You will find that scientific names change occasionally. This is because scientific study has resulted in new information that has demonstrated that the relationships are different from what was thought at the time the original name was bestowed. Studies may indicate that a species may need to be split or joined with other species. Occasionally, a species will be moved to another Genus. An example of this is Little Bluestem grass. I learned it in the 1960’s as Andropogon scoparium Michx., but based on genetic studies, it was was moved from the Genus Andropogon to the Genus Schizachrium. The name now is Schizachrium scoparium (Michx) Nash. Thus we can expect scientific names to change occasionally as more is known, but in general, they can be relied upon.

Dr. Michael W. Palmer in The Vascular Flora of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Osage County, Oklahoma, Castenea 72(4): 235-246, December 2007, published a list of plant species of the Preserve. In that list, he groups the plants into families and within the families, he names the plants according to the Linnaean system by Genus and Species followed by the authority. Palmer’s paper is on-line at:

http://botany.okstate.edu/people_research/Palmer/Articles/tgpflora.pdf

Just remember, names are for communication and organization. The naming complications shouldn’t restrict your enjoyment of the living world.

Visitor Counts

—Iris McPherson

January and February are never good months, because we are closed, so most people who come don’t sign the book. Of the visitors who did sign the book, there were 81 in January and 41 in February, and all were from the United States.

March was the first month the gift shop was open, and there were 482 visitors. The total number of visitors from foreign countries for the month was 38. There were 444 visitors from 27 states with 329 from Oklahoma. The states with the largest representation after Oklahoma were Kansas (17) and California (15).

The month of April had 811 visitors with 772 from 38 states. Oklahoma was represented by 544 visitors followed by Kansas (20), Arkansas, California and Ohio (13). There were 39 visitors from 12 foreign countries.

May had 784 visitors with 752 from 37 states, and 32 international visitors from 12 countries.

There were 522 visitors from Oklahoma with the 3 states with the highest number who signed were Kansas (23) and Arkansas and California (13).

Keep up the good work of getting as many visitors as possible to sign the guest registry. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us this summer.

Visitor Counts

 

Docent Coverage Of Season Days

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Docent Coverage of Season Days Docent Coverage of Season Days Summary

Other Places to Visit

Here we provide some links to other places worth visiting.

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Visitor’s Center Latitude & Longitude

Here is the latitude and longitude of the Visitor’s Center that you can give to visitors for entry into their GPS navigation device.

Back Issues

Some printed back issues of the Docent Newsletter, to February 2009, can be found in the two green and one blue-black zip-binders, stored in the Perspex rack by the file cabinet in the office of the Visitor’s Center.

All back issues are available electronically via the links shown below. All newsletters prior to December 2007 are available in Portable Document Format (PDF), which means that you will need Adobe Reader installed on your computer to read these files. All newsletters from December 2007 onwards are in HTML format that is easily read using your web-browser.

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2002—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2002
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1995—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December1995

Selected Topics Index

This persistent index of selected topics should make finding articles of interest easier. The list will grow as I move further into the past and it will grow as I add interesting topics from each new newsletter. Iris McPherson lent me the paper copies of the newsletter from the very early years of the docent program; I ran them through a scanner equipped with a document feeder, saving them as PDF files, then added them to Back Issues section above. Let me know of any dead links that you discover. Also, please lend me any paper copies of the newsletter that are missing so that I can scan and add them to the list of back issues.

Newsletter Publication

Deadline for submission of articles for inclusion in the newsletter is the 10th of each month. Publication date is on the 15th. All docents, Nature Conservancy staff, university scientists, philosophers, and historians are welcome to submit articles and pictures about the various preserves in Oklahoma, but of course the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in particular.