Hi,

Coincidentally to John's comments, on Wednesday I was out on the southern
(SE) slope of Gildersleeve mountain both on private land and in Chapin
forest looking at the lower forest layers and looking for birds.  The
southern slope has a lot of seeps and stream systems that are cut through
aluvial till clay and end moraine, where as the streams on the northerly
slope tend to be more on bedrock.

I did not find any obvious areas with earthworm infestation and generally
the bottom forest layers look okay.  Not pristine, but lots of maple
saplings in the Beech Maple forest and a soil layer from 20 to 60mm in most
areas.  In some areas that have heavy drainage the soil is eroded down to
the clay. I don't know the reason for this in these areas.

An area that was selectively logged in 2006 is coming back nicely with a
predominance of tulip trees. There is some multifora rose and quite a bit
of raspberry making it difficult to get very deep into this area.

In terms of birds I found Acadian Flaycatcher,  Great Crested Flycatcher,
Eastern Wood Pewee, Eastern Pheobe, Red-eyed Vireo, Wood thrush, Hooded
Warbler, American Redstart, and Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. It was late
afternoon and so not the optimal time for bird activity.

There was a time when I found both Ovenbird and Louisiana Waterthrush in
this area, but it has been a long time since I have found either of these
species other than during migration.

Haans Petruschke
Kirtland

On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 8:45 AM, John Pogacnik <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Many thanks to Scott loss for his comments, they were very interesting and
> informative.  The systematic method for assessing invasions by sight that
> Scott mentions is the same training
> that will be taught at the Conservation Symposium workshop in Cleveland
> this fall.  It may even be Cindy Hale that conducts the
> training.
>
> Scott’s comments about the Asian worms are very timely.  The other day
> after sending out my posting I visited
> a park that happens to have the Asian worms.
> This area is part of our Hogback Ridge Park and  is off Route 307 in
> Madison Township.  The forest here is relatively young.  It has a dense
> canopy that is 80-90% maple.  We have one of the Asian worms here.   Two
> species of Amynthas have been documented in Ohio.  It takes lab work to
> tell the two species
> apart so it is unknown which one is present.
> At this forest, probably two thirds to three quarters of the leaves that
> fell last fall are already gone, and this was still in May!.  Dirt
> (?) dominates much of the forest floor.
> The reason for the question mark is whether it is dirt or concentrated worm
> poop.  The soil here has a much different
> texture at the surface than what you expect in a Northeast Ohio forest.
>  It almost resembles clay.   In fact, there
> are even a few spots where there are cracks in the forest floor, as it has
> been
> dry here.  When it gets wet it is very slippery.  If you flip logs, the
> only thing you find are worms.  It is not a hospitable
> environment for much of anything.
>
> The dominant native species on the forest floor in this area
> were ash and poison ivy, and we know that the ash doesn’t have much of a
> future.  Most of the forest floor has no
> ground cover.  There is very little
> habitat for ground nesting birds and the shrub layer of the forest is also
> missing as none of the trees or shrubs ever reach much size.  The only
> birds singing in this area were a
> few red-eyed vireos.  There is basically
> no habitat for ground and mid level breeding birds in this area.  If you
> stand in one area tou can see quite a distance due to the lack of
> vegetation.  There is more activity once you get to the
> ravines and the steep slopes, but there was also some leaf litter in these
> areas and fewer worms.
>
> We also have these worms at our Chapin Forest Park in Kirtland.  In the
> sections of that park where the Asian worms are found, the condition of the
> forest floor is similar to what I saw at Hogback Ridge.   Last year I was
> there the day after July 4th and there were no leaves on the ground at all.
>   However, if you walk 100 yards there is a nice forest with a duff layer
> and numerous maple seedlings.  If you look along the edges though you can
> see the worms are moving in.  I was there early last week and saw several
> adult worms.  The significance of this is the asian worms typically lay
> eggs and die off when it gets cold.   I’m not sure if the eggs hatched
> earlier this year due to the mild March weather or if some adults may have
> overwintered.    If anything, they appear to be getting a head start on
> clearing the forest floor this year.   The only birds singing in this area
> were again red-eyed vireo.  I have found ovenbirds not far from the worm
> area at Chapin.  I think they are safe for a few years. These Asian worms
> are also known as Alabama jumpers and
> jumping worms.  They can eat their own
> weight in a single day, so they are great for composting (not a good thing
> in a forest).  When you get one in your hand they jump
> around.  This active nature makes them
> good fishing bait.  For all these reasons
> they are a popular worm that is getting spread fast.  Just read some of
> the articles on what they
> are doing to the Smoky Mountains and other areas.  They are scattered
> throughout
> Northeast Ohio.  We have them in several
> of our parks and I know Cleveland Metroparks has them in quite a few
> areas.  I’m not sure about their distribution
> elsewhere in Ohio.
>
> There is a lot to learn.
> Non-native earthworms have a major effect on plants, small mammals,
> birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects in our forests.   Couple the
> damage of what they are doing with increasing deer numbers and you have
> some major problems.   If that doesn’t scare you enough, look up
> Vietnamese nuclear worms on the internet.
> These are worms that get up to 9 foot long in Southeast Asia.  They only
> expect them to be 3-6 feet long in
> the US though.  They advertise that one worm
> can be cut into many pieces for fishing bait.   They should not be a
> problem here as they
> cannot tolerate temperatures below 50 degrees.
> However, there is a problem that they are even allowed to be brought
> over to this country.  We need to get
> better laws that do not allow all kinds of exotic plants and animals to be
> brought over
> here without investigations on whether they are invasive or not.  Have we
> not learned any lessons?
>
>
>
> John Pogacnik
>
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