Have
you ever seen a siren? I don't mean one of the temptresses of Greek myth or the
thing that makes noise atop an emergency vehicle. I mean the amphibian called a
siren.
It's
an eel-like creature that's actually a salamander. As adults, sirens get more
than 2 feet long. They're somewhat variable in color but mostly dark, and they
have two undersized front legs (but no rear legs) and external gills.
Like
most residents of East Central Illinois, I've never seen a siren. But Jessica
Runner of Danville has, and not a mile from her home. Here's how.
Runner
is a busy mother of two young boys who manages the shoe department at Carson's
and owns a landscaping business with her husband. But she also is a dedicated
birder who has cultivated a growing passion for nature photography in recent
years.
Often,
when Runner has time off work, she drops by Heron Park, which is at the north
end of Lake Vermilion and just minutes from her home by car. Its wetland complex makes an excellent spot for
birding, and it hosts a rookery, where great blue herons nest.
One
morning at the end of May this year as Runner approached the park in her car,
she spotted a great blue heron stalking a meal in a shallow pond that borders the
road. She quickly pulled over, and, using the car for a blind, photographed the
bird over a period of 40 minutes as it worked to procure breakfast.
Great
blue herons are patient hunters. They avoid spooking prey by moving extremely
slowly until they're close enough to stab it with a quick extension of the
neck.
Unfortunately
for Runner, her own patience did not quite match the heron's, and her attention
was focused on a family of wood ducks at the moment it struck. To her delight,
however, the heron ran back toward her with its still-wriggling prize, and she was able to photograph the bird's battle to
subdue it.
As
she took pictures, Runner thought she was seeing her bird kill and then eat a
snake. But when she later saw the images on a computer screen, she realized the snake-like creature
had legs, so she forwarded them to a friend in Urbana. He identified it as a
siren.
Runner
wasn't the only person excited about her discovery. She contacted Chris
Phillips at the Illinois Natural History Survey to tell him about her pictures, since the
Survey's "Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois" shows
no records for sirens in Vermilion County.
"It
goes to show you," Phillips said, "there are still some surprises out
there for a herpetologist in the Midwest."
On
one hand, he continued, it seems odd that sirens would turn up in Vermilion
County because they are more common in the southern part of the state and along
major rivers. Besides, he and other field scientists have studied the reptiles
and amphibians of Vermilion County for decades and never been able to find
sirens there before.
On
the other hand, it's also a potential boon to have them located where they're
so accessible for study by University of Illinois faculty and students.
"It's only a 40-minute drive from campus," he pointed out, "and
during high water, we could throw a trap into that pond right from the
truck."
Sirens
are weird creatures, and there is much to be learned about them. They maintain
throughout life characteristics that most amphibians lose as adults: They continue to live in water, they keep their external
gills and they develop only tiny front legs.
They
can survive prolonged dry periods by encasing themselves in slime that forms an
airtight sac and going dormant, but for how long, nobody knows. Nor have
scientists ever witnessed their courtship and mating, so they can only
speculate about that based on the siren's physical characteristics.
I
suppose there are people for whom the discovery of an unexpected amphibian
nearby causes no excitement, but I'm not among them. As the temperatures warm
next summer, I look forward to helping catch sirens at Heron Park. Don't worry,
if you're not there, I'll take pictures.
Environmental
Almanac is a service of the University of Illinois School of Earth, Society and
Environment, where Rob Kanter is communications coordinator. Environmental
Almanac can be heard on WILL-AM 580 at 4:45 and 6:45 p.m. on Thursdays.
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