The distinctive Harlequin duck is a beautiful small sea duck with a small bill, short neck, and long tail. Males in breeding plumage are unmistakable with their dark blue color, reddish brown sides and crown, and striking white patterning on the face, neck, sides, and back.
Unlike most waterfowl that prefer quiet marshes, the Harlequin duck breeds on fast-flowing streams and winters along rocky coastlines in the crashing surf.
Tough cookie
Harlequin ducks are well adapted to their harsh surroundings. They make their way against the current and easily climb up steep and slippery rocks, although many have been found with broken bones presumably from being dashed against rocks in the rough surf.
Like other diving ducks and dabble for prey. They forage underwater for crustaceans and mollusks, insects, and small fish found in riverine and marine habitats.
Insulation
Harlequins trap a lot of air in their smooth, densely packed feathers. This air layer help provide insulation from the cold water. The air also makes them exceptionally buoyant. They are known to bounce like a cork after a dives.
The Harlequin duck is sometimes called a sea mouse for its very unducklike squeaks. You can listen to the Harlequin duck here.
You might not think of a lowly lichen as an engineer. Most people might laugh at the idea. A few though would know their story.
Frog Pelt Royalty free images from https://www.sciencesource.com)
Home
Lichens are fairly common on the moist Pacific Northwest central coast. One can find them growing on mossy rocks, soil, and dead trees in moist areas typically under the 2,200-foot elevation.
If we were to travel north into Canada, we could find areas hosting nearly 30 different lichen species. We could even find some in northern California.
Would we see them?
Peltigera lichens are found on all continents. There are several different types of lichens that includes over 580 species of macrolichens and over 1,400 species of microlichens. Our region is particularly rich in lichens.
Easy to Overlook
Frog Pelt or Dog Lichen is commonly found in the Pacific Northwest. This small lichen is easy to identify.
Frog pelt creates relatively large rubbery olive green-gray lobes. The lobs are typically between .04 and .9 inches wide and nearly flush to the ground.
What makes them special?
Lichens are ecologically important as food and shelter for wildlife, large and small, and indigenous Americans
Lichens are fairly intolerant of environmental change and are very sensitive to changes in air quality, moisture, and drainage. They won’t thrive in dirty air.
Nitrogen
All lichens share a common ancestry and all Peltigera associate with nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria Nostoc. This association allows them to pull nitrogen from the atmosphere.
Nitrogen is required for healthy plant growth. It is often in short supply in forests. In more arid lands, lichens help stabilize soil and sand.
Other Uses
Peltigera lichen have been used medically. This includes: Treating wounds, urinary disorders, thrush, cough remedies, tuberculosis, antioxidant, and rabies.
Dog lichen is not typically a mammal food source.
An Engineer?
Lichens are a hard working combination of fungus and algae. They have evolved from a simple scavenging fungus to a lichen by cultivating a ‘symbiotic’ (or mutually beneficial) relationship with algea.
Algea creates the food. The fungus provides the protection and support structure. This organism can live several centuries.
Keep in mind, this sometimes disheveled-looking plant has no roots, stem, flowers, or leaves. It depends on slender holdfasts to stay in place and bears raised orange-ish fruiting bodies along the lobe margins. Simple, yes. Simply amazing. Oh YES.
REFERECES: –Common Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon State University (https://lichens.twinferntech.net/pnw/index.shtml) –US Dept. of Agriculture, NRCS (https://plants.usda.gov/growth_habits_def.html) –Wikipedia, Peltigera (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltigera –USDI, Bureau of Land Management, Survey and Manage (https://www.blm.gov/or/plans/surveyandmanage/files/sfs-li-peltigera-pacifica-2007-12.pdf) –The New Garden Encyclopedia, Wise & Company –Royalty free images from https://www.sciencesource.com/p/14813480/BW9919.html
Varieties of Yellow Pond-lilies can be found across the US.
Why is it possible to drown a common house plant and yet there are plants that grow gleefully in water?
The common Yellow Pond-lily has a beautiful bloom and large, heart-shaped floating leaves (nearly 18-inches in length). The bloom is nearly 4-inches and held just above the water surface in spring through early fall.
Survival
The Yellow Pond-lily has developed a specialized type of underwater tissue that helps it survive. This tissue, called aerenchyma, facilitates the underwater movement of large amounts of oxygen and other gasses. This tissue holds eight times the amount of oxygen, compared to a house plant.
Respiration in water lily-type plants is anaerobic (meaning the process occurs without oxygen). Many ponds and slow-moving waters where it grows are often low oxygen. This respiration process creates ethanol (a type of alcohol) within the plant’s cells.
This alcohol is poisonous to the plant. To get rid of the alcohol quickly, the plant evaporates it up through the aerenchyma cells and bloom. The pretty yellow blooms smell strongly of alcohol which attract pollinating flies, and create a small bottle-shaped tuber to store sugars in (explains the common European name of ‘Bandy-bottle’).
Medicine
Yellow Pond lilies have been used in traditional medicines remedies. There are warnings related to tannins and selecting materials from a clean water source (see the Natural Medicinal Herbs website at http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/herbs/n/nuphar-lutea=yellow-water-lily.php). Note: Not all varieties or parts of the Yellow Pond-lily are edible or appropriate for use.
The Edible Wild Food website (http://www.ediblewildfood.com/yellow-water-lily.aspx) reports that the Yellow Pond-lily was a common food source for many Native people. Natives leached the rootstocks collected in the spring and winter of tannins and boiled or roasted for flour. Seeds were often cooked like popcorn. Flowers can make a refreshing drink.
The National Park Service reports Yellow-Pond lily species ‘Nuphar polysepalum’ growing in the Denali National Park/Preserve lowlands in Alaska. When cooked, this variety is also tasty (see Denali National Park, Alaska, https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/nature/pondlily.htm).
Where to find it
Yellow Pond Lilies grow in a wide variety of aquatic habitats as far south as Baja California, and north into Alaska. Habitat ranges from hot desert ponds to ponds frozen more than half of the year!
Want it?
Propagate Yellow Pond Lilies through seed or division and will grows in containers!
