SCORES & OUTDOORS: Barred owls are keeping me awake

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Barred owl

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Last Thursday night my wife woke me from a sound sleep to listen to something outside our camp. Well, being somewhat groggy, I didn’t hear anything, and went back to sleep. It wasn’t long afterwards that she woke me again.

“Can’t you hear that?” she inquired sounding a little frustrated – You see, my wife tells me I’m going deaf.

I sat up, and listened attentively. “OK, I hear it, it’s a Barred Owl,” I told her.

She persisted. “Listen carefully.”

What I then heard made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It was at least two, maybe three, barred owls caterwauling to each other. This was at about 11 p.m. I had heard Barred Owls behind camp a thousand times, but never anything like this. It was almost as intriguing as listening to loons calling to each other.

The “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all” call was unmistakable. But, I think it was a strange time of year for them to engage in this activity. This is usually done during the spring courtship, when one will vocalize to its mate, and vice versa. There were times when it was so loud and sustained, it almost sounded like a barking dog.

These calls are most heard at night or in twilight, and especially during the breeding season. However, calls can be heard year round since these birds do not migrate. They are very territorial, and will chase away intruders with loud hoots. These vocalizations become more frequent during the mating season, where female birds make invitation calls to mate with males.

Scientists, however, have debated that the calls of Barred Owls are much more diverse than we think. The research indicates that more needs to be known about the Barred Owls before they can deduce more about its behaviors in and out of the breeding season. Owls in general can be a difficult species of bird to study since they are mainly nocturnal and are not incredibly active until the breeding season.

Barred Owls, Strix varia, are easiest to find when they are active at night, but they are easier to hear than to see. From a distance, their calls can sound like a barking dog. They prefer mature forests, and their main diet is small mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Since the 1960s, Barred Owls have expanded their range to the Pacific Coast where they are considered invasive. That is because it is believed they are partly to blame for the recent decline of the northern Spotted Owl, which is native to British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. When Barred Owls and Spotted Owls occupy the same space, the Barred Owl is more aggressive and will out-compete the Spotted Owl. Barred Owls have even been known to kill Spotted Owls. Interbreeding is also suspected.

In 2007, White House officials announced a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to shoot Barred Owls in order to reduce the threat to the Spotted Owls. If implemented, it was estimated 2,150 to 2,850 Barred Owls should be taken over a five to 10 year period. It is feared that increased populations of Barred Owls could eventually render the Spotted Owl extinct. Environmentalists fear increased blame on Barred Owls for declining Spotted Owl numbers will result in less attention being paid to territorial protections and resumption of logging in protected Spotted Owl habitat.

According to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office, the experiment is ongoing and results are still being studied.

An adult Barred Owl can be anywhere from 16 – 25 inches long and weigh 1.1 to 2.3 pounds, with a wingspan of 38-49 inches. The Barred Owl is the only true owl of the eastern United States which has brown eyes. All others have yellow eyes.

The upper parts are a gray/brown, the underparts are light with markings. The chest is barred horizontally while the belly is striped vertically. The legs and feet are covered with feathers to the talons, and the head is round with no ear tufts.

Even though they are primarily nocturnal, they generally hunt near dawn or dusk, swooping down from a high perch, to take their prey.

We haven’t heard them in over a week, but I know they are still out there. I can’t wait for the next concert.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What Red Sox player was hit by a pitch an American League record 35 times in the 1986 season: Carl Yazstremski, Don Baylor, or Jim Rice?

Answer can be found here.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Prepare for allergy season in fall

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Professionally cleaned air ducts can cut down on allergens in your home.

(NAPSI)—More than 50 million Americans suffer from allergies each year and for many of them, there are some added anxieties. For example, many people don’t realize allergies can be deadly. Or that eating local honey, living in a dry climate or avoiding cut flowers won’t cure allergies or prevent an allergic reaction. And these days, there’s often the question: Is it allergies or is it COVID-19? Fortunately, there are tests doctors can perform that can help them make that distinction. Here are a few facts that can help you, too.

What To Look For

Allergy symptoms can include watery eyes, congestion, runny nose, itchy eyes, vomitting and/or stomach cramps, wheezing, shortness of breath, dizziness or feeling faint, pale or blue skin, weak pulse, hives, repeated cough and tight, hoarse throat, trouble swallowing, swollen tongue.

What is an Allergy?

Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the U.S. An allergy is an overreaction of the body’s immune system to an ordinarily harmless substance. Allergies exist throughout the year, indoors and out, and affect people of all ages. Animal dander, house dust mites, foods, grasses, trees, weeds, and molds can all trigger an allergic reaction.

Autumn Allergies

Some allergies are seasonal and more likely to occur at different times of the year. The most common culprit for fall allergies is ragweed, which grows wild almost everywhere, generally between August and November. A number of plants that thrive during cool nights and warm days also trigger fall allergies.

Who is Affected?

Twenty to 40 percent of the population—including at least one of every four children—suffers from allergies*. People with allergies are often sensitive to more than one allergen. Prevention or treatment can make the difference between chronic illness and a productive, healthy life.

Diagnosing Allergies

Unfortunately, many of these also show up when someone has a cold, the flu or even COVID-19 but doctors do have ways to tell the difference. The first step is to identify allergen-specific antibodies called Immunoglobulin E (IgE). This can be done two ways. 1. Skin Prick Testing: Commonly performed on the forearm and sometimes the back, the skin is cleaned with alcohol and an allergen extract is pricked into the skin. If an allergy is present, a small itchy bump and surrounding redness often referred to as a “wheal and flare” will appear in about 15 minutes. This indicates the specific allergen. 2. In-Vitro Testing: The doctor simply draws a small amount of blood and has it tested in a lab. It is a less invasive method and receives test results within 24 hours. Many professional medical societies recommend also using in-vitro tests such as the OPTIGEN® Allergy Test. So, once you know you have allergies, what can be done? Here are some options.

Treatments

Allergy management falls into three main categories: avoidance, medication and immunotherapy. Avoidance: Once the source of an allergy is identified, a solution may be to simply avoid it. This is most effective with food and animal allergies. Medication: Prescription drugs can reduce allergy symptoms. Many are effective immediately, though some may have side effects or not work for everybody. Immunotherapy: Allergy shots are given frequently in scheduled doses of gradually increasing concentrations using extracts containing relevant allergens. The idea is to slowly desensitize the body to the offending allergens. Ideally, an injection program can be discontinued after some years.

Learn More

For additional facts and tips on dealing with allergies, visit www.henryschein.com/MinarisMedical.

SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Harvesting red and green tomatoes

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‘Tye Dye’ tomato in the garden with red and green tomatoes to harvest. (photo courtesy of
MelindaMyers.com)

by Melinda Myers

Nothing beats the flavor of fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Harvesting when they are fully ripe ensures the best flavor for eating fresh, cooking, and preserving.

Visit your garden often and watch for the fruit to turn from green to fully colored. Then leave them on the plant for five to eight days. Vine-ripened tomatoes have the best flavor for using fresh or preserving.

Check plants regularly and keep harvesting, so the plants continue to produce. This also reduces problems with insects and disease organisms attacking overripe or rotting fruit. Store mature, fully colored tomatoes in cool, 45-to-50-degree conditions with high humidity. They will last about seven to 14 days in these conditions.

When growing indeterminate tomatoes, you will notice the plants keep growing and producing more flowers and fruit until the frost kills the plant. Redirect the plant’s energy from sprouting new blossoms and fruit to ripening the fruit that is already on the plant. Prune off the stem tip of indeterminate tomatoes about a month before the average first fall frost in your area. This allows the existing flowers to develop into fruit and the existing fruit to mature before the end of the growing season.

Extend the harvest season with the help of floating row covers. These fabrics allow air, light, and water through, but trap heat around the plants. Protecting plants from the first few fall frosts often provides time for more tomatoes to ripen.

Sometimes you cannot protect plants from frost or hungry critters prevent you from leaving the tomatoes on the plant to fully ripen. You can pick any tomatoes that are starting to show color before the killing frost and finish ripening them indoors. The blossom end should be greenish white or starting to color up. Use blemished and cracked fruit right away since these do not store well.

Store green and under-ripe tomatoes in a cool 60-to-65-degree location to maximize their storage life. Set the tomatoes on heavy paper spread apart so they are not touching. Or wrap them individually in newspaper so the fruit do not make direct contact. This helps prevent rot spreading from one fruit to the next.

These tomatoes will ripen over the next few weeks. You can speed up the process by moving a few tomatoes to a bright, warm location a few days before they are needed.

Extend the tomato season next year by growing a Long Keeper. The flavor is not as good as vine-ripened fruit, but you can pick these before the first fall frost and enjoy garden tomatoes for up to three months.

And don’t let the rest of the green tomatoes go to waste. Use them for frying, chow chow, green salsa, and other tasty treats.

Keep harvesting and enjoying your garden-fresh tomatoes as long as your growing season allows. Then make space to store them a few weeks after the first fall frost.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the recently released Midwest Gardeners Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Pierre Monteux

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Pierre Monteux

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Pierre Monteux

Beethoven’s 4th Symphony has exerted charm for me for more than 50 years since I obtained a powerful recording by Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) and the London Symphony, from when he was 86 years old, had just been appointed the Orchestra’s music director with a 25-year contract and still worked with the energy of men half his age until a fall in the bathtub which led to his death during the summer of 1964 (Some Mainers with long memories would still recall Monteux’s Domaine School, Downeast, in Hancock, where he spent summers teaching conducting for over 20 years. It is also still opened).

Having already developed an interest in duplicates, I did not let the high quality of Monteux’s conducting distract me, even with limited funds, from acquiring other recordings of a Symphony that was one of Beethoven’s most serene masterpieces; even the rhythmically exciting 1st, 3rd and 4th movements sustain the composer’s serene mood in composing it at a time when financial pressures, not to mention the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon’s troops and his own growing deafness, would have destroyed lesser men.

I have among my own pile of duplicates, Monteux’s early 1950s San Francisco recording and a CD of his Israel Philharmonic broadcast and distinguished ones of Toscanini, Szell, Solti, Jochum, Krips, Ormandy, Weingartner, Walter, Steinberg, Cluytens, Maazel, Dorati, Bohm, Sanderling, Karajan, Konvitschny, Kubelik, Moralt, Leinsdorf, Zweden, Leibowitz etcs.

One that stands out in a recent hearing is an ancient late ‘40s Victor Red Seal LP featuring Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) conducting the London Philharmonic in a 1945 recording. More than any other conductor, Beecham enjoyed making records even more than doing concerts, took his time making them and achieved many fine ones that are well worth hearing and owning.

He conducted a Beethoven 4th that communicated its joyous spirit , delectable beauties and perky rhythms. The London Philharmonic was an orchestra that he founded in 1932 for recording purposes and hand-picked the finest musicians in London.
When war broke out between England and Germany in 1940, Beecham departed for Australia and then the United States where he led the Seattle Symphony from 1941 to 1944, guest-conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and did engagements with at least 18 other orchestras.

Beecham had very strong opinions about most subjects and could express them quite wittily and at times abrasively, alienating a number of fellow Maestros. Sir Adrian Boult considered Beecham repulsive, Sir John Barbirolli, untrustworthy. But he and Monteux were friendly.

A couple of Beecham quotes:

“A musicologist is a man who can read music but can’t hear it.”

“Beethoven’s 7th Symphony is a bunch of yaks jumping about.”

Beecham was married three times and his last wife was 53 years younger.

The Beecham Beethoven 4th can be heard on Youtube.

LIFE ON THE PLAINS: Pictorial walk down Water St., and buildings that are no longer there

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by Roland D. Hallee

Over the next few weeks, we will go down Water St., from north to south, and take a look at some of the buildings that played a major role in the self-contained community of The Plains, that have long since been demolished.

(Read part 2 here.)

All photos courtesy of E. Roger Hallee

The old barn that stood across the street from the Lockwood-Duchess Textile Mill, and out buildings. The former KFC building now occupies the site.

Rodrigue’s Market, and below, Ma Roy’s Tavern. In the approximate area of where Sunrise Bagel now stands.

Ma Roy’s tavern

Pete’s Market, three doors down from where Ma Roy’s Tavern was located.

 

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Black squirrel makes another appearance

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Black squirrel on a suet feeder. (photo courtesy of Michael Bilinsky)

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

I received an email recently from a reader/supporter, from China Village, who sent along a photo of a black squirrel he has seen around his home. He asked if I could do a column on them. I did a couple of years ago, but here goes, to refresh everyone’s memory.

I know they exist, but just how many are there?

Several years ago I had the rare opportunity to see a black squirrel in Waterville. In North America, black squirrels are uncommon, with one estimate putting them at a rate of one in every 10,000 squirrels. In 1961, students at Kent State University, in Ohio, released 10 black squirrels that had been captured by Canadian wildlife authorities. The squirrels now populate the campus and have become the school’s unofficial mascot. Their coloring might help them hide from predators, which might come in handy at Kent State: The campus is also home to hawks.

Black squirrels have been spotted in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and now scientists believe they know why. Like many animals with unusual color schemes, black squirrels are the result of a genetic detour. Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge University, and the Virginia Museum of Natural History, collaborated on a project that tested squirrel DNA. Their findings, which were published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, demonstrated that the black squirrel is the product of interspecies breeding between the common gray squirrel and the fox squirrel.

The black squirrel is actually a gray squirrel with a faulty pigment gene carried over from the fox squirrel that turns their fur a darker shade. (Some fox squirrels, which are usually reddish-brown, are also black.)

Scientists theorize a black fox squirrel may have joined in on a mating chase involving gray squirrels and got busy with a female. The black fur may offer benefits in colder regions, with squirrels able to absorb and retain more heat, giving them a slight evolutionary edge.

According to Mental Floss‘ Jake Rossen, black squirrels are relatively rare, constituting just one in 10,000 of the seemingly ubiquitous rodents.

Black squirrels are actually grey squirrels with a genetic mutation that causes them to have black fur. They are more aggressive and territorial than the gray squirrels, too, and the result is that the black squirrels will usually run all the other squirrels “out of Dodge”.

The new work builds on research from 2014, which found that the black fur is caused by the grey squirrel having a pigment gene with a missing piece of DNA.

In mythical folklore, the black squirrel symbolism does not mean good luck. Instead, it means solar eclipse according to some legends. Therefore, a black squirrel is the enemy of humanity and needs to be destroyed if mankind wants to enjoy the heat and light of the sun. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to go out and dispatch a black squirrel just because he’s hanging out in your neighborhood.

Black squirrels normally live up to a year, but some have lived up to 10 years. Black squirrels will eat anything they are offered, often feeding on nuts and acorns, any kind of seed, fruit, insects and even bird eggs. Mating occurs from December through January.

Black squirrels share the same natural range as their counterparts. In addition to their natural range, black morphs of eastern gray squirrels were also introduced into other areas of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. Black morphs of eastern gray squirrels occur most frequently in the northern portion of its range around the Great Lakes Basin. Conversely, black morphs of fox squirrels typically occur most frequently in the southeastern portions of the species’ natural range, the southeastern United States. Although they are found more frequently in those regions, the coloration remains uncommon in most areas that these species inhabit. However, black morphs of eastern gray squirrels forms the majority of the species’ population in the Canadian province of Ontario, and the U.S. state of Michigan.

Several municipalities and post-secondary schools in the United States have adopted a black squirrel for branding purposes, using it as a symbol and/or mascot. Some municipalities that have adopted the black squirrels as a symbol for their community have also passed ordinances that discourage attempts to threaten them.

If you’re fortunate enough to see, one enjoy. He is merely a gray squirrel in disguise.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What is the New England Patriots logo commonly referred as?

Answer can be found here.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Don’t Let Flu Season Sneak Up On You

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Flu shots are available at CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations nationwide

(NAPSI)—Get the facts, not the flu. For many people, the start of fall means busier schedules and longer to-do lists, but you shouldn’t let your annual flu shot fall to the bottom of that list.

What You Can Do About The Flu

With flu season approaching and COVID-19 cases still prevalent, Sandra Leal, PharmD, MPH, FAPhA, offers the following tips to help you fight the flu this season:

•Get your annual flu shot as soon as possible: Getting your flu vaccine is the best way to help prevent the flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting your vaccine as early in the fall as possible, ideally before the flu season begins. Not only can you help protect yourself from getting sick but you can help protect your family, friends and at-risk populations such as those who are 65 and older, people with certain immunocompromising or chronic medical conditions, infants or children under 5 and pregnant women. CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations nationwide administer the flu shot every day, with evening and weekend hours. New this year, you can schedule flu vaccination appointments for up to four family members at the same time for added convenience by visiting CVS.com, through the CVS app or by texting FLU to 287898.

•Stay home if you’re sick: It’s important to know what the early symptoms of the flu are, such as fever, cough and body aches. If you experience them, you should stay home and away from others and, if you are sick, you should limit your contact with others as much as possible to stop the spread.

•Practice good health habits: Beyond staying up to date with your vaccinations, you should wash your hands frequently, get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids and eat nutritious food. These are all healthy habits that can help support your immune system during flu season.

•For seniors, take advantage of your vaccine options: For those over age 65, CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic offer three senior dose flu vaccines—Fluzone HD, Flublok, and Fluad. They may help create a stronger immune response and are preferred for seniors because they are at greater risk of developing severe flu-related illnesses. For protection against COVID-19, the CDC has also confirmed that patients can get any of the currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines at the same time as the flu vaccine, so don’t hesitate to get your flu shot and COVID-19 booster simultaneously during your next visit.

Learn More

Certain immunizations have age and location restrictions. For additional information on vaccines, visit www.CVS.com and www.MinuteClinic.com.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: What are idioms?

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by Debbie Walker

I like words, groups of words and their meanings. I didn’t know for years, what an Idiom was. I had to learn it while working with first and second graders! So here goes, let me give you what I learned, and it is in the Mary Jane’s Farm magazine from the July 20-21 issue. Sorry, but I don’t know who submitted it.

For anyone who is out of touch with these things, an Idiom is a group of words that convey a meaning not quickly figured out. For instance, if you are talking to someone new here from Chile and you tell them it’s ‘raining cats and dogs today’, what do you think the picture will be in their mind? Oh, yeah, questions I believe.

I am giving you some of them and the history of the saying:

“I can be ready AT THE DROP OF A HAT”: (quickly) 1800s when the drop of a hat was a signal for the start of a race.

“Stop BEATING AROUND THE BUSH”: (avoid getting to the point) Dates back to the 1400s. Wealthy hunters would hire men to literally beat the bushes to draw out the birds.

“I can see you have a BEE IN YOUR BONNET” (Obsessed with something). You can’t stop thinking about something. First used in 1500s, likening the busyness of a beehive.

“Don’t try to BUTTER ME UP”: (to flatter). Came from ancient India, where it was custom to throw balls of butter at the statues of gods to seek their favor, forgiveness, and fortune.

“Let’s CUT A RUG”: (dance). Phrase from the 1920s invention of the jitterbug, a vigorous dance, would make carpet look cut.

“Don’t LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG” (Tell a secret): Originates in the 1700s, street vendors would sell pigs and present them in a bag. There was a fraud, the vendors would replace the pigs with cats. Wasn’t discovered until they reached home.

“Use some ELBOW GREASE on that”: (apply physical effort). First used in 1600s, a term for working in a sweat.

“PUT A SOCK IN IT!” (stop talking): 1800s people used socks to stuff the horns of their gramophones to muffle the sound (early volume control).

“Don’t SPILL THE BEANS” (tell a secret): Ancient Greek, voting process of placing beans in a container, if someone spilled them the results would be prematurely revealed.

“That new tool just doesn’t CUT THE MUSTARD.” (live up to expectations): Thought to have come from the phrase “pass the mustard” when solders are assembled for inspection. Also, as early as the 1600s phrases like as ‘hot as mustard’ or ‘as strong as mustard’ were used to describe something powerful or enthusiastic and to measure up would be to cut the mustard’.

“I have a NEST EGG (Savings)”. This is thought to have originated from the practice of placing fake eggs in hens’ nest to encourage them to lay more eggs, resulting in more income for the farmer.

Can you imagine if you are struggling with the language here as it is and then we throw in a few of these idioms, that’s just not fair. I’m just curious if you ever questioned an idiom. Feel free to send me your comments to DebbieWalker@townline.org. Have a great week and thanks for reading.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: James K. Polk

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James K. Polk

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

James K. Polk

A Jacksonian Democrat, the 11th President James Knox Polk (1795-1849) promised to be a one-term leader and to do what needed to be done in that self-allotted time span. His style was secretive, in working quietly behind the scenes.

But he accomplished what he set out to do.

Among his achievements was the westward expansion of the United States into California and Oregon at the cost of a war with Mexico and some diplomatic hostilities with Great Britain over the expansion of Canada below British Columbia.

President Polk also put into effect the Walker Tariff of 1846 which greatly reduced the taxes on foreign goods which the Whig Tariff of 1842 had implemented, much to the anger of northern industrialists, who didn’t believe in the free market as Polk and his fellow Democrats did.

Finally, although Polk was a slave owner, he avoided the topic as much as possible in his speeches and policy decisions, much to the annoyance of certain southerners.

In the end, by holding to a mostly secretive below-the-radar management style, he managed to antagonize the radical Whigs and radical Democrats, both accusing him of mendacity in his secrecy.

Sarah Polk

First Lady Sarah Childress Polk (1803-1891) was born into a very wealthy family in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and sent away to the Moravian Institute, in Salem, North Carolina, then considered one of the finest private schools in the country.

The couple got married on New Year’s Day in 1824 and she was the totally supportive help mate whose advice her husband sought more often than from fellow politicians.

However, like a number of other First Ladies, she avoided political discussions like the plague at social gatherings. And, as a result, she got on well with visitors who were among themselves the bitterest enemies.

In her ever-fascinating, at times gossipy book, America’s First Ladies, Christine Sadler writes very captivatingly of Mrs. Polk, skillfully pinpointing how this presidential couple was truly joined at the hip:

“Rugged old Sam Houston once said in exasperation, and perhaps after he had imbibed a dram too much that the only fault with James Knox Polk, the president who literally worked himself to death, was that he was ‘addicted to the drinking of plain water. ‘ Some felt much the same way about Polk’s handsome wife, Sarah. Her disciplined goodness was apt to bore and then to irritate lesser mortals.

“She was vivid to look at-a real Spanish-beauty type with the air of a high-born Donna, and her dresses were of magnificent fabrics in gorgeous colors – but in personality she was determined to be colorless. She was gracious, democratic, affable, and pulled no conversational bloopers. She was well-educated and some have said that in some respects she was a better politician than her husband, but ladies of her day did not discuss politics – not if they were real ladies. Sarah Polk, with her belief in the non-controversial, would not have discussed it anyway. Her conversation, at which she was considered quite good, ran to exclamatory sentences such as, “Sir, I’ve never known it otherwise!’ and to little come-ons as, “How so, Sir?”

Sarah’s firmly Biblical Presbyterianism meant no booze, cards and dancing at the Polk White House and, to avoid further unnecessary expenses, no refreshments at all.
After one particular reception, the hungry and thirsty guests were able to adjourn to the home of a newly-found family friend Dolly Madison, who satisfied their appetites.

By the time the Polks left the White House in March 1849, his workaholic habits had destroyed his health. He died three months later at the age of 54; Sarah outlived him by 42 years and died in 1891 at 88.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Large bug interrupted my game

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Giant Water Bug

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

While I was playing cornhole last Friday night, I was interrupted while in the process of preparing for my next toss. It was pointed out to me that something was attached to the leg of my pants.

It was approximately two to three inches long, black/brown – at least in the evening light. Someone said it was a cicadae, but I knew better. I wasn’t sure what it was.

We sent it on its way.

Research told me it was a giant water bug,

Belostomatidae is a family of freshwater insects known as giant water bugs or colloquially as toe-biters, Indian toe-biters, electric-light bugs, alligator ticks, or alligator fleas (in Florida). They are the largest insects in the order. There are about 170 species found in freshwater habitats worldwide.

These predators are typically encountered in freshwater ponds, marshes and slow-flowing streams. They can grow to up to 4.5 inches and nearly reach the length of some of the largest beetles in the world. Giant water bugs are a popular food in parts of Asia.

They have a flattened, egg-shaped body, and usually the legs are flattened. The head features two large compound eyes, but lacks the eye-like spot. Short antennae are tucked in grooves behind the eyes. A short breathing tube can be retracted into its abdomen. Adults cannot breathe under water, so must periodically place the breathing tube at the surface for air (similar to a snorkel).

Their hind legs have two claws. The frontal legs are modified into raptorial appendages that they use to grab their prey. Once caught, the prey are stabbed with their proboscis and a powerful saliva is injected, allowing the bug to suck out the liquefied remains. Wing pads can be seen from the dorsal view. They have a greatly reduced flight apparatus and are flightless.

The giant water bugs are aggressive predators that stalk, capture, and feed on fish, amphibians, as well as aquatic invertebrates such as snails and crustaceans. The largest species have also been found to capture and feed on baby turtles and water snakes. They often lie motionless at the bottom of a body of water, attached to various objects, where they wait for prey to come near. They then strike, injecting a venomous digestive saliva with their rostrum. Although their bite is excruciatingly painful, it is of no medical significance. Occasionally, when encountered by a larger animal or a human, they have been known to “play dead” and most species can emit a fluid from their anus. Due to this, they are assumed dead by humans only to later “come alive” with painful results.

These water bugs show paternal care and these aspects have been studied extensively. In species of the subfamily, the eggs are typically laid on the male’s wings and carried until they hatch. The male cannot mate during this period. The males invest considerable time and energy in reproduction and females take the role of actively finding males to mate. This role reversal matches the predictions of R. L. Trivers’ parental investment theory where the eggs are laid on emergent vegetation and guarded by the male.

In some areas of Asia, they are considered a delicacy, and can be found for sale in markets. This is mainly in South and Southeast Asia. In South and Southeast Asia they are often collected for this purpose using large floating traps on ponds, set with black lights to attract the bugs. Adults fly at night, like many aquatic insects, and are attracted to lights during the breeding season.

I don’t know where it came from, or where it went, I don’t know why it chose me among the dozen and half people who were there that night.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

In what year did the Patriots move from Boston to Foxborough and changed their name to the New England Patriots?

Answer can be found here.