SCARLET CUP MUSHROOM IN OXFORD

Donald A. Windsor

On Sunday morning 14 April 2013, along the Finger Lakes Trail about midway between Buckley Hollow and State Route 12, In the Town of Oxford, Anne Altshuler noticed several Scarlet Cup Mushrooms Sarcoscypha coccinea.  Two groups were present, one with at least 6 and the other with 3.

This photo was taken by Dot Rice.

A good description is given by Lincoff, but this species is not even mentioned by Phillips.  Anne identified it using Pacioni and Lincoff.

References cited:

Lincoff, Gary H.  Scarlet Cup Sarcoscypha coccinea.  In: The Audubon Society Field Guide To The Mushrooms. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.  1981. Pages 343-344, Plate 605.

Phillips, Roger.  Mushrooms of North America.  Boston, MA:  Little, Brown & Co. 1991. 320 pages.

Pacioni, Giovanni ; Lincoff, Gary, Editors.  Scarlet Cup Sarcoscypha coccinea. In: Simon & Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.  1981. Plate/page 415.

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TRI-TOWN MARKER FOR GERMAN, MCDONOUGH, AND SMITHVILLE

Donald A. Windsor

The historical Tri-Town Marker for the borders of German, McDonough, and Smithville was still in place on Sunday 7 April 2013.

It is a sandstone rock at least a foot wide, a half-foot thick and 2 feet deep, perhaps deeper.  It is hard to find, so I like to visit it every few years, just so I can remember where it is.

An article about this marker appears in my book, cited below.

Reference cited:

Windsor, D. A.  The most significant corner in Chenango County.  In:  Souvenirs of Yesteryear. Norwich, NY: self-published.  2008. 1:28-29.

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STARNOSE MOLE IN MCDONOUGH

Donald A. Windsor

A dead Starnose Mole was lying in the intersection of Steere and Sherman-Bliven roads in the Town of McDonough on Sunday 24 March 2013, around noon.

My wallet, which is 4 1/2 inches long, appears below the mole.  According to Burt and Grossenheider, the Starnose Mole head + body are 4 1/2 to 5 inches and the tail is 3 to 3 1/2 inches.

I was surprised to find this critter out above all the snow, which was at least 9 inches deep.  It did not appear to have been hit by a vehicle.  Perhaps it was caught by a predator and then discarded. 

Reference cited:

Burt, W.H. ; Grossenheider, R.P.  Starnose Mole Condylura cristata.  In: A Field Guide to the Mammals.  Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 2nd Ed. 1964. Pages 16-17, 20.

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BEE TREE

Donald A. Windsor

Wild honey bees nest inside hollow trees and we sometimes find them flying in and out of an opening.  However, I have never seen the inside of a natural hive.

Until Sunday morning on a Bullthistle Hike through the Basswood State Forest in Oxford.  We were taking a well-deserved break on and around a large fallen tree trunk, when Dot Rice noticed the hollow tree trunk contained a bee hive.

The bees probably abandoned the hive when the tree blew over, apparently several years ago, because the wax honeycombs had deteriorated to a fragile dry material.

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EARLY HISTORY OF THE TOWNS

Donald A. Windsor

Here are the maps I will use in my presentation on Tuesday 5 March 2013 at the Norwich YMCA at 7:00 pm.

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SNOWFLEAS IN DECEMBER

Donald A. Windsor

Snowfleas are enthusiastically welcomed as harbingers of spring.  They appear on snow toward the end of winter.  Here is a photo taken by John Carhart on 23 December 2012 along the Finger Lakes Trail north of Bowman Lake in McDonough.

Snowfleas live in the forest leaf litter.  They emerge through openings in the snow cover.  In late winter rain funneling down tree trunks melts holes in the snow surrounding the trees.

Snowfleas are tiny, wingless insects, about 1/16 inch long.  They belong to the springtail family Poduridae in the order Collembola (1).  They are called "springtails" because they spring into the air by flicking a rear appendage that resembles a tail.  Their leaping resembles fleas, but they are not true fleas (order Siphonaptera), which jump using their legs (2).

Carhart's photo was taken when we Bullthistle Hikers saw unusually large numbers of snowfleas on the surface of about 8 inches of newly fallen snow.  They were in many separate flocks for at least a furlong of the trail.  They were even on the snow adhering to to trees, up higher than I could see or reach.  I have never before seen so many.

Snowfleas can be easily overlooked, even on pure white snow.  I will certainly be paying more attention in the future.

The amazing aspect of snowfleas is that they are here.  A century ago almost all of Chenango County was deforested.  There was no leaf litter for these little critters to live in.  Nice recovery!

1.  Borror, D.J. ; White, R.E.  A Field Guide to the Insects ...  Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.  1970. Page 64.

2.  Milne, L. ; Milne, M. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders.  NY, NY: A.A. Knopf.  1980. Page 629.

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MASKED SHREW IN SMITHVILLE

Donald A. Windsor

A dead Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus) was found in the Town of Smithville, on Whitling Road between Collier and Stone Quarry Hill roads, on Sunday 21 October 2012, by Bruce Webster.

Its body was 2 inches long and its bicoloured tail was 1.5 inches. 

My identification was based on the diagnostics in the source cited below.  The Masked Shrew has no mask, for reasons that remain elusive. 

We have 7 species of shrews in New York State. Six are reported as being in Chenango County (www.nyfalls.com/wildlife).  I intend to write on the other five as the opportunity presents.


Reid, Fiona A.  Mammals of North America.  4th Ed.  Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.  2006.  Pages 368-370.

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