[birding] Giant earthworms and other things that creep along (includes some birds)

[carolyn paynter]

Observations of the Pacific Giant Earthworm mention the lily smell and a sucking, wet sound if you are near a burrow with a worm active in the upper levels of the burrow.  When I tell a non-nature person that, they accuse me of making it up.  I would love to come upon such a thing.

 

Carolyn Paynter 
 
> From: clearwater at peak.org
> To: obol at oregonbirdwatch.org
> Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:28:43 -0800
> CC: gnorgren at earthlink.net; list at midvalleybirding.org
> Subject: [birding] Giant earthworms and other things that creep along (includes some birds)
> 
> Hello folks,
> 
> Thanks Lars for mentioning this intriguing creature, which I was not
> aware of. I'm sure Mike Denny, if he's paying attention out in Walla
> Walla, will sooner or later speak up for the Palouse giant earthworm
> which has been in the news more recently:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Palouse_earthworm
> 
> It looks like this and the Oregon giant earthworm are closely related
> (both in the genus Driloleirus). The Palouse species also burrows to 5 m
> depths, in those amazing loess deposits of southeastern Washington.
> 
> Speaking of things that creep along, this afternoon I went out on a walk
> to the NW side of Coffin Butte, wondering if I could find motorless
> species #100 for the year. 
> 
> With the GLAUCOUS GULL still being reported around Coffin Butte Landfill
> in recent days, I figured that might be the one. I did see a buffy gull
> with light primaries hanging with the gull flock way up on the winds
> (which were gusting pretty well today), but I couldn't see it well
> enough to be sure. At least, there's still a gull around that looks like
> a possibility.
> 
> Thinking about recent mid-valley reports of Loggerhead Shrike, Say's
> Phoebe etc. from habitat similar to the NW side of Coffin Butte, not to
> mention last year's report of a Mountain Bluebird from the same place, I
> figured one of those possibilities might pan out too. But they didn't,
> nor could I spot a Horned Lark along Wiles Rd. even though the habitat
> looked suitable.
> 
> The Cold Creek hunting club wetlands just across the county line into
> Polk Co. had a few AMERICAN WIGEONS among the N. SHOVELERS and N.
> PINTAILS, but no Eurasians. There were plenty of cacklers and honkers
> but no white geese, or even blue geese.
> 
> So I wound up settling for a flock of about 60 DUNLIN as my 100th
> motorless species of the year. Now I'm about where Randy Campbell was in
> late January -- just took me two and a half times longer. I should catch
> up with his 2009 motorless year list by 2012, at this rate.
> 
> The most impressive sight was about 2000 AMERICAN ROBINS using the stump
> pasture where hybrid poplars were harvested last year. WESTERN BLUEBIRDS
> and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS were here and there along the walk, and a
> couple of TURKEY VULTURES were eating something dead in a field.
> 
> On the walk back, I saw some of the gull flock soaring off the north end
> of Coffin Butte, even ranging a bit over the Polk Co. line. So maybe
> there's still hope for Polk Co. birders who are hoping for a few gulls
> this winter.
> 
> About 60 WILSON'S SNIPE are now camped out around Toketie Marsh
> (remedial wetland for the landfill), feeding in the wet area where the
> outflow from the upper pond flows into the lower pond right by the
> gate. 
> 
> An apparent intergrade EURASIAN x AMERICAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL (a drake
> with both horizontal and vertical white stripes on the sides) was
> hanging out among the regular American Green-winged Teal on the upper
> pond -- must be a new guy in the neighborhood, as I've been scanning
> these flocks pretty regularly.
> 
> Happy birding/worming/whatever,
> Joel
> 
> On Sun, 15 Mar 2009 Lars Norgren wrote:
> 
> > Within 24hrs of my non-ornithological
> > inquiry I had numerous solid contacts for
> > Oregon's most intriguing invertebrate. Obol
> > subscribers constitute a host of intellectual
> > champions.
> > Megascolides was originally described from
> > Australian worms (said to reach 11' in length).
> > The Oregon worms have been redesignated Driloleirus,
> > although they are still assigned to the family
> > Megascolidae. Ours is the only area outside the
> > Southern Hemisphere to have this family. The Oregon
> > Giant Earthworm is Driloleirus macelfreshi, first
> > described in the 1930s and known from a total of
> > 12 specimens. D. cascadensis is only slightly
> > smaller, and more easily found. As its name implies,
> > the type specimen is from the Cascades (east of Salem)
> > but most specimens have been collected in the Coast Range.
> > MacDonald Forest has produced specimens of D. cascadensis.
> > A 52" long worm found dead in Willamette Park
> > last(2008) December is surely D. macelfreshi, but
> > internal decomposition precluded positive ID, which
> > is based on internal organs. 52" would be the largest
> > specimen known, but with only a dozen on record, who
> > knows what the actual range in size might be. Since my
> > initial conversation on Wednesday, I have mentioned
> > the topic to every truffle hunter I talk to and they
> > all have seen giant worms. Not frequently, maybe not
> > even yearly, but repeatedly none the less.
> > Darrel Faxon tells me of seeing giant worms
> > repeatedly at the youthful end of his observations
> > of nature, but not recently. Perhaps these were
> > D. cascadensis, or a yet undescribed species. The
> > current theory attributes the Willamette silts as
> > the home of D. macelfreshi, but 12 data points strike
> > me as a rather flimsy basis for any theory. It is
> > believed to go up to 15 feet deep, by way of permanent
> > burrows. The idea of a worm one inch in diameter
> > burrowing so deep seems improbable at first blush,
> > but my father informs me that nowhere on earth are
> > soils more porous at this depth than the Oregon
> > Coast Range and the west slope of the Cascades.
> > Lars Norgren
> > 
> --
> Joel Geier
> Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
> 
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