Southeast Kansas Audubon Society members heard about the invertebrates, reptiles, fish and plants that could be seen at the Southeast Kansas Nature Center in Galena.
Jennifer Rader, director of the Nature Center, spoke Tuesday evening at the Parsons Arboretum. She shared a slideshow of images and a part of a physical collection.
The Center is in Schermerhorn Park, overlooks Shoal Creek and sits on a small portion of the 55 square mile Ozark Plateau in extreme Southeast Kansas.
She said students from Carl Junction, Missouri, in mid-October seined the creek to collect fish and bugs. Invertebrates are a good indicator of water health, Rader said. The students collected hellgrammites, the larva form of the dobsonfly, and larva of other invertebrates including the stone fly, damsel fly, mayfly and dragon fly. Finding these alive speaks to the health of the water, Rader said. These species don’t tolerate pollutants and require clean, oxygenated water.
“So if we’re missing certain macroinvertebrates in the body of water, we can get an idea that maybe the system’s not super healthy,” she said.
Coal, lead and zinc mining operations ceased nearly half a century ago; this and cleanup and reclamation projects have led to cleaner water.
She said live Asian clams have been found in the water as well. While this species is invasive and not wanted, their presence is another indicator of water health and may result in a project to bring back native freshwater mussels, which disappeared because of mining pollution.
Edwin Miller, a retired biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and an Audubon member, said Shoal Creek formerly was loaded with mussels. However mussels are sensitive to heavy metals resulting from mining, including lead, zinc and cadmium.
“It’s been years and years since we’ve had live mussels in Shoal Creek,” Miller said.
Rader showed pictures of the hellgrammite and its short-lived adult form, the dobsonfly. The hellgrammite is an intimidating-looking invertebrate that can grow to 4 inches long, serve as good fish bait and an deliver a painful bite. Dobsonflies lay eggs under leaves or bridges in places where the larva will drop into the water when mature enough. She said the egg case looks like bird droppings under the leaves.
Rader also discussed fish found in the creek and plants found around the Nature Center, including Robin’s plantain (looks like a daisy), the four-leafed milkweed, American ipecac and white sassafras (used to make root beer).
She said wingstem and other members of the sunflower family also have an interesting feature that can show up during the first hard frost. The feature is called a frost flower. As the plants grow dormant, the base can break and crack and capillary action pushes fluids from the roots and then this makes ribbons of ice that usually look like flowers, Rader said. If rain falls after a hard freeze this phenomenon can occur again.
Hoar frost is different as it forms feathery or hair-like structures that make trees and bushes look like they have white hair.
Rader also shared a picture of a giant red-headed centipede chomping on a cicada while dangling from some of its 21 pairs of legs. This centipede is black with yellow legs and a rust-colored head. She said she tries to keep a centipede around the Nature Center because they readily eat crickets.
“ And what’s interesting is if they’re really hungry they’ll grab something and chew on it up there. But if another bug happens to get anywhere near here, they’ll go ahead and grab it with the rest of their legs and hang onto it,” Rader said.
Centipedes can be 8 inches long and its bite can be painful. She said a centipede uses its back part to confuse prey by acting like it will sting them. The hope is the predator will attack that end of the centipede, perhaps costing it a few legs.
The current occupant of the Nature Center is about 7 inches long.
“One time we actually had one of these set off our motion sensor and the cops showed up looking to see if someone broke in,” Rader said.
Authorities called her to check things out. She entered and heard a noise she attributed to the centipede.
“And I looked up and there was a massive centipede crawling on the ceiling,” she said. She told the officers about it, saying she caught the thief. She pointed up at the ceiling toward the centipede and scooted it into a container.
Police didn’t mind that call. They got to practice responding to a break-in, “And then they caught the guy,” Rader said.
Rader also showed pictures of snakes from the Nature Center, including a DeKay’s brown snake, a coach whip and a ring-necked snake. The DeKay’s flattens its body when threatened to appear formidable. The coach whip was black and similar in appearance to the western rat snake, except for its whip-like tail. Most of these snakes have tan coloring, he said. She said the ring-necked is venomous, but the venom does not impact mammals, only other snakes and invertebrates. This makes worms easier to swallow.
An Audubon member asked about the venomous cottonmouth snake. She said Cherokee County is the only place in Kansas where that snake has been spotted. Both sightings were in 1991 on the Spring River. She said a flood is suspected to have brought them there. Other sightings over the years in Kansas have been dismissed as hoaxes or people getting a cottonmouth from another state and dumping it at a river, such as what happened on the Verdigris River. Rader said the closest record in Oklahoma of a sighting is south of Chautauqua County.
In other business, Audubon members: — Heard that the annual Christmas bird count would be Dec. 19. The count started in 1976 and involves territory between Parsons Lake and the Neosho Wildlife Area east of St. Paul.
— Heard that the December meeting would be the society’s annual potluck dinner.
— Heard about a bird banding operation that took place last weekend at the Emerald City Motus station on land owned by retired Dr. Phillip Eastep. Thirteen birds were banded. The Motus tower on Eastep’s property tracks movements and collects data on grassland birds to help inform their conservation and preservation.
