Hiking Nature

Machine Falls at Short Springs, a Tennessee natural area

Stephen — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 01:32:35 +0000

I had never heard of Short Springs State Natural Area – and certainly not Machine Falls – until Kelly Stewart emailed me his fantastic panoramic photograph of Machine Falls dwarfing his friend! What a photo.

(Original photos by Kelly Stewart)

The Short Springs State natural area is a 420-acre area just north of Tullahoma in Coffee County – ruled completely by Mother Nature (and also jointly by TVA, the Tennessee Department of Conservation, and The City of Tullahoma) since being designated a state natural area in 1994.

For those of you who like to have all the info you can possibly have, there’s a Garmin graph of the elevation changes of the 3.5 mile hike at Short Springs on the EveryTrail.com site.

Also in the Short Springs area:
Machine Falls hiking trail – 2 mile loop
Bob Creek Trail
Busby Falls
Rutledge Falls (nearby)

Resources: Short Springs – waterfalls, hiking in Tennessee

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Largest spider on earth: Goliath Tarantula

Stephen — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 21:14:46 +0000

Some might assume that a fellow who goes out of his way to capture and examine a wild snake would also be enthralled with spiders. Not necessarily so; seeing big hairy spiders like this brings my neck hairs to attention.

I’m grateful we don’t have to worry about running into the likes of bird-eating spiders while hiking here in Tennessee. Yes, these spiders are so large they eat birds – and these tarantulas are hunted and eaten by the locals as well, for as the BBC video states, picky eaters don’t last very long in the jungle.

NOTE: Spiders are not insects; nevertheless, references to the largest bugs in the world are also referenced here.

Resources & more

BBC video of a Goliath Tarantula (the video above)

The Largest Bugs in the World

What are the most common snakes in Tennessee?

Stephen — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:50:05 +0000

During my research on Timber Rattlesnakes I ran across an article stating that the copperhead is the most common species of snake in the southeastern United States. While within the realm of possibility, it’s completely at odds with my own personal experience as an amateur herpetologist.

I became fascinated with reptiles of all kinds (especially snakes) when I was about five years old. This interest of mine was perhaps sparked during trips to Lake Barkley, one of the Kentucky Lakes where my grandfather used to take me fishing. I often found Northern Water Snakes under the loose shoreline rocks, sometimes capturing them by the dozen if the season was right – temporarily stowing them in a small white minnow bucket.

If it wasn’t those fishing trips with Granddaddy that got me into snakes, then it was probably the convergence of three creeks into a single stream in what was then our family’s backyard in south Nashville, Tennessee on the edge of Crieve Hall, near Ellington Agricultural Center. There were snakes galore back then. (In contrast, more recent expeditions into Nashville snake territory have revealed a far smaller variety of snake species.)

My excursions into nature throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama have resulted in less than five (5) positive IDs of poisonous snakes. In each case it was a Timber Rattlesnake. However, given the amount of time and all the snake sightings over the years, it’s a virtual certainty that at least a few of the many serpents that got away during all those snake hunts were poisonous snakes.

I suppose the main point I wish to convey is that poisonous snakes are not as common as one might believe. The species of snake most commonly sighted in Tennessee throughout the years (by this reptile enthusiast, at least) include the Northern Water Snake and the Gray Rat Snake.

The ubiquitous Common Garter Snake should probably grace just about any list of snakes commonly sighted in the United States; however, I’ve run across far more water snakes, if for no other reason than growing up searching in and around creeks and streams.

The most significant visual indicator that a snake might be poisonous, at first glance anyway, is a relatively thick, heavy body. In Tennessee at least, a snake that’s long and thin is far less likely to be poisonous than a snake that’s short and fat. For this reason, the Northern Water Snake is frequently mistaken to be a Water Moccasin (especially when found in or near water) or a Copperhead (due to its banded, often rusty complexion). In fact. I’d guess this water snake-for-cottonmouth assumption is the most common snake identification error in this part of the country.

But all this is not to say that caution should be thrown to the wind. IMHO, it is a major fluke – highly unusual — that a person like me who has spent such a large quantity of time over the years exploring the creeks and woods of Nashville — has somehow had so very few positive IDs of poisonous snakes.

So, please don’t approach a wild snake unless you are certain it’s not poisonous. On the other hand, please don’t harm them, either.

Resources: What’s the most common snake in Tennessee?

Timber Rattlesnake spotted during Fiery Gizzard hike

Stephen — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:53:09 +0000

One of the most memorable reptile sightings while hiking in Tennessee was this Timber Rattler sunning itself on a ledge overlooking the canyon. Fantastic! I was hiking with my dog Sky that day – fortunately she didn’t get too curious.

NOTE: I must apologize for the quality of the first couple of Timber Rattlesnake photos – low-resolution scans from my film camera days. I captured the top two photos on the wonderful Fiery Gizzard trail near Monteagle, Tennessee; the other pictures – also Timber Rattlesnakes unless otherwise noted – are public domain images (as far as I could tell).

The well-represented Crotalinae subfamily of snakes, or crotaline snakes, is comprised of the pit vipers: snakes that possess an additional tool consisting of a heat-sensing pit organ located between the eye and the nostril on either side of the head, allowing them to hone in on warm-blooded prey like mice and rats.

Herpetology experiments have shown that pit vipers can strike accurately at moving objects that are less than 0.2°C warmer than the background – even when deprived of their senses of sight and smell. It’s almost as if the pit organs work like a primitive pair of eyes; however, no one knows for certain (yet) whether these snakes experience this “sixth sense” visually or in some other manner. In any case, the pit organs are of immense value to predators operating at night.

Poisonous snakes in Tennessee

According to the Tennessee Amphibians and Reptiles website, Tennessee is home to 138 species of snakes, turtles, lizards, salamanders, and frogs. Of these, over forty species are snakes, and only four (4) of these are poisonous pit vipers. Topping this short list as the coolest and most beautifully patterned venomous snake in Tennessee is the Timber Rattlesnake, which can be found all over the state in now dwindling numbers.

The other poisonous snakes found in Tennessee include cottonmouths, copperheads, and pygmy rattlers. The cottonmouth or water moccasin (generally the Western Cottonmouth) is found in wet areas, mostly in the western half of Tennessee. There are two copperhead subspecies in Tennessee: the Southern Copperhead lives predominantly in the southwestern section of Tennessee and the Northern Copperhead throughout the rest of the state. The diminutive Pygmy Rattler lives primarily in the counties along Kentucky Lake.

Kill! Kill! Kill! No, don’t.

As a major reptile fan I’ve always been both amused and disturbed by an all-too-common reaction many humans have to being surprised by a snake – especially when it occurs near a creek, river, pond, or lake. “It’s poisonous! I know it’s poisonous – my grandfather taught me when I was a kid, yada yada yada. Kill it!” To these people, all snakes are poisonous and a threat: a clear and present viper. In truth, the vast majority of snakes anyone sees in the wild – including in and around bodies of water – are harmless.

If a snake is near water…

I mentioned water for a couple of reasons: First, a faulty assumption is made by the intrepid snake hater that any serpent near water is a Water Moccasin – a Cottonmouth. Reality check: water snakes are some of the most common types of snakes remaining in Tennessee; most of the time a snake is found in or near a creek or pond, it is one of the water snakes.

Second, a great many water snakes (e.g., the very common Northern Water Snake) have a really nasty temper and will frequently change its appearance when frightened or threatened. These snakes can instantly change their body shape from cylindrical to flattened, while the head of the snake becomes almost triangular. Why? Water snakes do this in order to mimic poisonous snakes and thus appear more threatening.

Harmless water snakes of the genus Nerodia are often mistaken for Water Moccasins. These Colubrid snakes, like Water Moccasins, are semi-aquatic, thick-bodied snakes with large heads that adopt a rather aggressive demeanor when they feel threatened, but they behave differently. For example, water snakes usually flee quickly into the water, while a Water Moccasin will more often stand its ground with its threat display. Also, water snakes do not vibrate their tails when excited.

While this water snake ploy probably works wonders with most animals (except for raccoons and others who enjoy dining on snakes), the bluff has caused almost everyone to adopt and believe critical misinformation about these incredible legless reptiles. Undoubtedly, thousands upon thousands of water snakes have been mistaken for Water Moccasins or Copperheads and killed, in Tennessee alone — often because of their little trick to mimic the appearance of a snake that actually can be dangerous under certain circumstances.

There’s another highly popular but ridiculous old wives tale: Cottonmouths (aka Water Moccasins, Swamp Moccasins) are so aggressive and mean they will chase you. In reality, these snakes are more frightened of you than you are of them. They will get away if they think they can, and if not, they will stand their ground and perform a scary ritual designed to make you flee; however, Cottonmouths do not typically engage you in a chase as you run.

See what I mean about water snakes looking like copperheads to the untrained eye? The banded Northern Water Snake not only pretends to be poisonous when frightened, the bands often cause this species to be mistaken for the poisonous Copperhead. It’s a double whammy against the Northern Water Snake in terms of its already severely limited appeal to most humans.

Sad status of the Timber Rattlesnake in Tennessee

I suspect very few of you will join me in mourning the fact that the Timber Rattlesnake is now threatened in Tennessee. The cause is very predictable: the Timber Rattler is losing its home to development. Each year the habitat of the Timber Rattler shrinks in Tennessee from the year before.

The truth is, no one should be happy or relieved about this. Like all other species of animal, plant, insect, fungi, fish, and what have you, the velvety, often colorful Timber Rattlesnake has a specific role to play in our ecosystem – a role that cannot be played by any substitute (me for him, coke for gin…). Like it or not, the Timber Rattler is part of the web of life. When it disappears, there will necessarily be an effect; after all, no creature – no matter how ugly, mean, or poisonous – lives in a vacuum.

Fortunately – yep, I’m glad – it’s illegal in Tennessee to kill, harm, or hold any native wild snake against its will without a permit!

Snakebite Statistics for the United States

Here are a few interesting U.S. snakebite statistics, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA):

Around 50,000 people are bitten by snakes in the United States each year. While that figure may sound alarmingly high, keep in mind that it includes ALL reported snakebites. As an amateur herpetologist and unpaid naturalist from the age of five, I’ve been bitten by non-venomous snakes dozens of times and I’ve never even thought about reporting it (and I never had a bad reaction even when all those small but sharp teeth made me bleed. Considering all the other reptile aficionados out there, the 50,000 number is very, very low. The actual number of Americans being bitten by snakes each year is perhaps in the hundreds of thousands.

Of the reported fifty thousand snakebites in America, only 8,000 were bites from poisonous snakes. Of those bites from poisonous snakes, 1,200 did not even seek medical attention yet recovered fully.

Bites from non-poisonous snakes

It is true – but highly unlikely – that a medical situation could result from the bite of a non-poisonous snake. This is due mainly to the possibility of infection or allergic reaction. But think about it: it’s not that there’s anything worse about a non-poisonous snake than other creatures; after all, a bite from another human could be far more dangerous. The bite from almost any reptile or mammal could pose a danger if it breaks the skin; mouths and teeth naturally harbor bacteria in most animals, and it can enter the bloodstream when a bite draws blood.

Bites from venomous snakes

Actual deaths from venomous snake bites are very, very low in this country. You are about eight (8) times more likely to be struck by lightning than die from a snake bite, and you are twice as likely to die from wasp or bee stings as from being bitten by a venomous serpent! Only 6 to 15 people die from poisonous snake bites each year in the United States, and of those few individuals, less than half die as a result of being bitten by the kinds of poisonous snakes we have here in Tennessee (we have only four kinds of poisonous snakes here). Finally, in Tennessee there have been only seven (7) recorded deaths from snake bites during the last 40 years. There’s little to worry about.

As I conducted research for this post, I noticed that Wikipedia even has list of people who have died from being bitten by venomous snakes!

Quick ways to tell if a snake is poisonous

Unless one is familiar with snakes, it is difficult or impossible to determine for certain whether a snake is poisonous without getting too close. Even so, here are some general guidelines.

Poisonous snakes in Tennessee:

Are thick, heavy-set, with comparably fat bodies
Are all pit vipers and thus possess the pit organ on the front of their heads
Have elliptical pupils; non-venomous snakes have round pupils
Have triangular heads that are more distinct from the body than the heads of most non-poisonous snakes in Tennessee; but, as discussed above, some water snakes and hognose snakes can mimic this appearance when they want to
Have thick, somewhat flattened bodies – a feature that is enhanced when the snake is bothered; however, some water snakes and hognose snakes can mimic this, too (most harmless snakes have a rounder, more circular cross-section than the poisonous snakes in this state)

Binomial nomenclature of the Timber Rattlesnake

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae

Resources: Timber Rattlesnakes in Tennessee

Timber Rattlesnake fact sheet
Timber Rattlesnake
Timber Criteria – how to tell if you really saw a Timber Rattlesnake – this is a great snake web page with many fantastic pictures
Timber Rattler threatened in Tennessee: habitat decreasing
Killer collection of Timber Rattlesnake and other high quality snake photos
Timber Rattlesnake along the Connecticut River
Timber Rattlesnake – MP3 of the snake rattling
Timber Rattlesnake – Tennessee Aquarium
Timber Rattlesnake – Encyclopedia of Life

Resources: Pit vipers

Pit vipers – wiki
Crotalus by common name
List of Crotaline species and subspecies – wiki
Crotalus by taxonomic synonyms
Northern Copperhead – wiki
Water Moccasin – wiki
Types of Water Moccasins – eHow
Western Cottonmouth – wiki
A closer look at how pit vipers see heat (try to ignore the religious fundamentalist dogma)
Pygmy Rattlesnakes – colorful little critters

Resources: Tennessee snakes, related links

Resources: Snake bite

Hike at Cummins Falls: Nashville Hiking Meetup Group

Stephen — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 01:13:29 +0000

Taking the opportunity to hike in a beautiful natural area for the first time is always a blast, and today was no exception. With a little luck Cummins Falls will soon be a state-conserved natural area or park; fundraising is in process.

While I try to write a halfway-entertaining post and edit the photos taken today, I leave you with a wet dog which reminds us of Bob Marley with its mini-dreadlocks. It was fun watching the two dogs interacting with their owner: they were having a blast, and I was reminded of my dog Sky (my number one hiking buddy).

NOTE: As is the case with most images on this blog, this dog pic was chosen at random from an image folder containing multiple pics (in this case, there are 2 images of the brown Bob Marley dog). If you revisit this page (or click your browser’s reload or refresh button), you may see the other image. It’s like flipping a coin. I like to use these random image folders to keep things fresh and poppin’.

Please visit again soon for more about the Cummins Falls adventure.

Luna moth (Actias luna) at Radnor Lake

Stephen — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:20:34 +0000

As soon as Mike E. and I crossed the wooden bridge on our approach to the steep climb up Ganier Ridge at Nashville’s Radnor Lake, Mike stopped, whipped out his camera, and started taking pictures of a tree trunk. Huh?

Upon closer inspection, I saw that Mike was photographing a large, uniquely shaped green moth that was just above eye level on the tree trunk. I would have walked right by without noticing this huge green-winged insect.

This is the easiest insect identification I have ever performed online: as soon as I searched Google Images for the terms big green moth Tennessee, almost every resulting image contained a Luna moth! The Luna moth – Actias luna – is such a uniquely shaped insect, there’s really no mistaking it once you’ve seen a specimen.

The digital photographs I took of this Luna moth did not turn out very sharp; because my camera – despite being a fine example of a basic digital camera – was not designed for close-up, macro images. I am sure Mike’s photos turned out much better; I’ll see if he will send some for this post.

Best resources for the Luna moth, Actias luna

Other resources

Tweaking nature photos with GIMP

Stephen — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:06:32 +0000

(NOTE: I’ll be adding more to this post shortly.)

I have much to learn about the fantastic open source GIMP graphic design software. Although I’ve hardly begun using GIMP in the design of graphics for websites, I have been using GIMP almost exclusively for editing and tweaking my nature photos and other digital shots.

My digital camera (Olympus Stylus 790 SW, 7.1 megapixel) has a setting for landscapes (SCN, setting 2) that enhances the green and creates a more richly colored photo than the standard setting. I’d like to learn what variables are changed so I can recreate the effect or produce a similar one with GIMP.

After opening the image file in GIMP, the first thing I tried was this: I selected Colors – Color Balance and adjusted the middle of the three slider controls halfway towards Green. This made everything a little greener, including things that shouldn’t be green (e.g., Mike’s arm).

Next I tried Colors – Hue-Saturation, clicked Green, then increased the saturation by sliding the handle to the right. This appears to have worked: the canopy of leaves looked much better, and Mike’s arm was still colored as Mike’s arm should be colored.

References: Editing photos with GIMP

The most popular posts on this Nashville hiking blog

Stephen — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:27:13 +0000

Earlier this week I installed a new WordPress plugin called Jetpack. Among the many features of Jetpack (listed below) is providing simple web traffic statistics; for instance, Jetpack shows how many people visit this blog each day, the Google search terms used to find this blog, other web sites and blogs that link to this blog, and so on. These web stats are the only feature of Jetpack I have used so far.

Jetpack has revealed the following posts to be the most popular pages on this hiking blog. (I should probably mention that the statistics used for this list are limited to this week’s blog visits; other posts may have been more popular last month, and perhaps different pages will have more visitors next week.)

#1: Alligator snappers

The most popular post on this blog, by far, is the post about Alligator Snappers: Alligator Snapping Turtle: Nashville Resident? Surprisingly, about 30% to 45% of the visitors to HikingNature.com land on this 2008 post. Of the 155 post views on Thursday, April 7, 2011 (yesterday, as this is being written), 65 views were of this post about whether Alligator Snapping turtles are Nashville residents, or perhaps even Radnor Lake dwellers.

#2: Otter vs. mink

Coming in at number two is Northern River Otter vs. American Mink, a short 2008 post written shortly after I saw an otter running up a steep hill in the woods near Radnor Lake. (I even managed to shoot a shaky video of it.) I was amazed to see this creature so far from the lake.

#3: Home page

The next most popular page (number three) on this Nashville hiking blog is the home page – which, for a blog, is usually displays the most recent post. These visitors are mostly the ones who either click on a general link to this blog or find this hiking blog on Google, using search terms such as “hiking in Nashville,” “Radnor Lake,” “hiking near Nashville Tennessee,” and so forth.

#4: Baby Eastern box turtle

Baby Box Turtle on South Cove Trail at Radnor Lake is the fourth most popular page on this blog. That baby box turtle might be my favorite creature of all those I’ve seen so far at Radnor Lake. I have been a box turtle enthusiast ever since the “turtle farm” I built and maintained in our yard as a youth.

#5: Large gray rat snake

Coming in at number five is another favorite of mine: Gray Rat Snake: Prime Specimen at Radnor Lake. I recently added a short video of my then-chubby self handling this amazingly docile snake. I was really amazed that this gray rat snake was so tame. When compared to my sightings of other species of snakes, the frequency with which I see gray rat snakes at Radnor Lake serves as even more strong evidence of the drastically reduced diversity of wildlife today when compared to the 1970s. Back then, I would see more than a dozen different kinds of snakes when I’d go looking. The decreasing diversity of wildlife in Nashville and elsewhere is very unfortunate, and I have no doubt that most people aren’t even aware of this.

The main features of Jetpack version 1.1

Gravatar hovercards, WordPress.com stats (keep on top of your traffic with powerful and simple to understand statistics for your site), Twitter widget (synch your tweets to your site),
Shortcodes (quickly add movies, images, and more to your posts and pages with a single line of code), Shortlinks (automatically creates an easy to copy/paste mini-url for any post on your site), Latex (use the famous markup language to quickly create beautiful mathematical expressions and equations), Sharedaddy (readers can easily share your posts via email or their favorite social networks), and After the Deadline (an artificial intelligence-based spell, style, and grammar checker)

There are probably more powerful WordPress plug-ins than Jetpack for web traffic and statistics; however, Jetpack somehow came to me! I was not even looking for a plug-in, or thinking about installing one; Jetpack just appeared in my WordPress administration dashboard one day. It sounded good, so I installed it. I was actually surprised to see the stats for this blog appear on the screen after installing Jetpack. In other words, it was nothing more than dumb luck!

Nashville web content & SEO specialist seeks additional projects

If you would like to hire an affordable writer, blogger, copywriter, editor, web marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) specialist, etc., please let me know via email (stephen [at] bestwebnashville [dot] com), web form, or by commenting on the Nashville Web Content & SEO blog. I am currently seeking additional projects. (Here are a few examples of recent Nashville SEO successes and high Google rankings.)

Resources

The top 5 most popular posts on this Nashville hiking blog

I need a ride to local hiking events

Stephen — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:30:55 +0000

Executive summary: I need a ride to local hikes. (Seriously.)

I don’t think this humble Nashville hiking blog has yet achieved sufficient readership to make a real difference, or reach the goal of this particular post – but I’ll go ahead and publish this request anyway.

My trusty 1995 Nissan Maxima is no longer viable; it will be headed for the junkyard soon, and it will be a little while before I’m able to buy another vehicle. Although being carless has not completely squelched my hiking, it has reduced my nature walks rather drastically. My ratio of urban hiking to nature hiking is unfavorably skewed.

I live within a stone’s throw of the Lipscomb University campus, about five minutes away from Radnor Lake. If you are a Nashville hiker and would not mind making my acquaintance and allowing me to tag along on a few hikes, I would be most appreciative.

Specifically, I am looking for someone who meets the following criteria – a friendly person who:

• Has a car
• Enjoys hiking
• Does not mind giving a ride to a fellow Nashville hiking enthusiast
• Would not have to go out of his/her way too much in order to swing by the Lipscomb area when traveling to and from Radnor Lake

Are there any takers out there? Anyone?

…the sound of crickets chirping…

South Cove trail finally reopens at Radnor Lake

Stephen — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:22:11 +0000

The eagerly anticipated reopening of Radnor Lake’s flood-ravaged South Cove hiking trail finally happened on Sunday, April 3, 2011. The South Cove hiking trail at Radnor Lake has been strictly off limits since the major flooding occurred 11 months ago during the first few days of May 2010. The scuttlebutt trickling down to me was that over half of the South Cove trail was washed out or otherwise destroyed by that “100-year” flooding event. The damage was amazing as seen from Otter Creek Road and elsewhere in the Radnor Lake State Natural Area, so I’m eager to see if effects of the flood are still visible up on the south ridge and elsewhere along the partly new South Cove trail.

CREDITS: Thanks to Mike Hicks and Kelly Stewart for the Google Map based image of the trail system at Radnor Lake. The blue line indicates the path of the new and improved South Cove hiking trail.

Although trivial to many Nashvillians and other Tennesseans, perhaps, this long-awaited debut is certainly big news to the likes of avid Nashville hikers Kelly Stewart, Stephen Frasier, Steve Dieringer, and scores of others – thousands of others if you count the Nashville Hiking Meetup group (whose membership now numbers at 3,540 Nashville-area hiking enthusiasts, according to organizer Kelly Stewart via Google Talk at 5:14pm on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 – impressive)!

I am going to keep this post uncharacteristically brief; I hate to admit I’ve not yet experienced the new South Cove trail, or “South Cove Mark 2” as the oft-dazed, simple musicians of Spinal Tap (This is Spinal Tap – None More Black Collector’s Set) might have called it.

Happy hiking!

Resources – Radnor Lake’s South Cove trail now open

Spinal Tap (hey, I mentioned it)

9 minutes of hilarious highlights from movie ‘This is Spinal Tap” – YouTube
Spinal Tap Mark 2 – we hope you enjoy our new direction (“…with Derek Smalls on bass: He wrote this,” followed by hilariously pathetic bass guitar riff) – YouTube
This is Spinal Tap – Amazon.com
This is Spinal Tap – None More Black Collector’s Set

News Briefs – Reopening of South Cove hiking trail at Radnor Lake