Ask Chip

Gray Treefrog

“Hi, Chip!  I thought you might enjoy this picture of a treefrog sleeping on the back of this ornamental toad on top of a toad house. I took the photo while my husband was barbecuing and I was cleaning up our landscaping. The treefrog stayed until sunset. It made me smile, and I hope it makes you smile, too.”  – Katha Pancake, Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative

Tree swallow

Q: “Hi, Chip. I recently took the two attached pics along the Marion Tallgrass Trail in Marion County and was wondering what birds they are? The first was nesting (or trying to) in a nest box along the trail. I assume it’s a swift of some kind? The second I’m guessing is an oriole — do you know which one?”  Thanks! Really appreciate your nature expertise. Rick Boss, Consolidated Cooperative

Ghost plant 1

About a dozen Ohio Cooperative Living readers were interested enough in my August 2022 Woods, Waters & Wildlife monthly outdoors column story (Specter of the Forest), profiling the wild plant growing deep in Ohio’s woodlands known as ghost plant, ghost pipes, or Indian pipes, that they sent me photos or notes of their own interesting encounters with th