Winter Visitors

December 29, 2008 at 8:07 am12 (Uncategorized)

A female Red-Bellied Woodpecker seeks sun-flower chips.

A female Red-Bellied Woodpecker seeks sun-flower chips.

Among the occasional winter visitors at our bird feeders are the tree sparrow, fox sparrow, evening grosbeak, and red bellied woodpecker.  These birds complement the meadow’s edge regulars: goldfinches, juncos, mourning doves, blue jays, chickadees, tufted titmice, white-breasted nithatches, white-throated sparrows, chipping sparrows, song sparrows, hairy woodpeckers, and downy woodpeckers.
 
The red-bellied woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, is a bird that has expanded its range.  It was more common in southeastern woodlands. We now have nesting pairs in the cavities of hop hornbeam and hickory trees near our house.  The “chuck, chuck” calls they make are heard more frequently than the bird is actually seen. This woodpecker stockpiles seeds in tree cavities for later use.
 
Other winter “visitors” to our bird feeders include the Sharp-Shinned Hawk and the Red-tailed Hawk, but they are not shopping for seed. We frequently find the feathers of juncos and tufted titmice scattered about the lawn. 

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After the Storm

December 23, 2008 at 4:40 pm12 (Uncategorized)

After the storm, but just before dusk.

After the storm, but just before dusk.

“It takes an open mind and a ready heart to appreciate winter in New England.  The wind blows, the snow piles deep, the car gets stuck, and pipes freeze.  …. But under the hard and bitter rind of winter there is much loveliness.  The white mysterry of snow is a splendid thing; all the landscape is muted to deep silver laced with blue shadows.  The meadow is a sea of pearl with scattered dark masks of brier riding in the foam.  The cool, clean smell of snow is in the air, a special fragrance known only to winter country.
- Gladys Taber. (1950). Stillmeadow Seasons.  Philadephia: Macrae Smith Company. p. 203
 
A three day blizzard can be a beautiful but dangerous event.  A thick layer of snow on the roof, followed by rain and rapidly fluctuating temperatures, can result in ice dams on the eaves of the house and water back-up under the shingles.

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Winter Solstice

December 21, 2008 at 7:48 am12 (Uncategorized)

December 21st is the Midwinter Solstice and we experience our shortest hours of daylight.  It also marks the official arrival of winter. Shorter daylight hours and long, cold nights make times difficult for wildlife – especially birds and mammals .  Winter food is scarce and any berries such as dogwood, bittersweet, staghorn sumac and high-bush cranberry will be eaten by birds. Birds are most are active after dawn, foraging for food and an hour before sunset eating in readiness for the long night. Birds will appreciate sunflower seeds and suet and you may be rewarded by seeing visiting flocks of Tree Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings or Evening Grosbeaks as their need for food makes them less timid.

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Bird Nests

December 19, 2008 at 12:58 pm12 (Uncategorized)

What bird made this nest? We will have to remove the snow to examine the inner lining and details of construction.

What bird made this nest? We will have to remove the snow to examine the inner lining and details of construction.

 
Late fall and early winter are good times to find bird nests – especially those in trees and shrubs around your home.  How many times have you walked right past a shrub or tree and never noticed the nest or its occupants?  On your next walk, take a closer look in dense shrubbery, briar patches, and the forks of tree branches.  The nest in the photo above was well-screened by the foliage and thorny branches of a Multiflora Rose.
An abandoned bird’s nest may not look like much – just a loose foundation of twigs and bark strips lined with a thick inner lining of rootlets, but it could have been home to several broods of Gray Catbirds during the summer.
Here are some typical nests you might find:
 
* Catbird nest – bulky, twiggy, and with loose bark strips in the foundation and a thick inner lining of rootlets.
* Cardinal nest – similar to catbird but no leaves in the foundation; has a lining of grasses instead of rootlets.
* Robin nest – steep cup of grasses, weed stalks, and strips of cloth or string worked into wet mud, and lined with soft grasses.
* Sparrow nest – neatly cupped grass nests in low shrubs or on the ground
* Goldfinch nest – small cup of downy plant materials showing gray or white in the nest foundation, located in a low shrub
* Oriole nest – woven sack of light gray plant fibers, yarn, and hair hanging down from the high, drooping branches of trees, particularly elms, willows, maples, or apples
 

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Red Cedar

December 18, 2008 at 7:52 am12 (Uncategorized)

The shreddy bark of the red cedar is quite distinctive.

The shreddy bark of the red cedar is quite distinctive.

The Red Cedar or Juniper (Juniperus virginiana) is aslo called Old Field Cedar.  It serves as an “indicator species” of former agricultural activity on the site where the tree now grows.  If you find one on one of your walks, look around for further evidence that the land was once a pasture, farm, or orchard.  Are there stone walls nearby?  Or stone piles where rocks upturned by plows were tossed?
 
The Red Cedar has a distinctive ruddy brown, dry bark that separates into long strips. A mature red cedar is usually less than 20 feet high.  The trunk is often ridged or buttressed at the base.  The wood is soft and fragrant. It was once a tradition for Yankee farmers to cut down cedars for fenceposts in December.  In addition to being a wood of choice for this annual farm chore, Red Cedar is used for house sills, railroad ties, lead pencils, and as a closet lining.  Red Cedar is naturally rot-resistant and it discourages house moths.
 
If the Red Cedar is a new to you, you have learned a little history.  Now, for some botany. The older leaves occur as dark green overapping pairs pressed against the branch.  The newer leaves are thin and pointed, lighter in color. ad have three sides.  Red Cedar produces a hard, whitish to slate blue, berry-like fruit about 1/4 inch in diameter, which is eaten by birds.

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Field Notes Dec13

December 16, 2008 at 11:28 am12 (Uncategorized)

A thick coating of ice on the branches of a high bush blueberry and the meadow grass.

A thick coating of ice on the branches of a high bush blueberry and the meadow grass.

This post has been delayed by a recent ice storm which has downed transmission lines, damaged substations, smashed transformers, and broken wires in our area.  The heavy coating of  ice was particular damaging to the White Pines, Red Oaks, Norway Maples, and Willow trees near the Meadow’s Edge.  We were without electrical power for four days in a row, and are among the fortunate ones.  Many of our friends and neighbors will not get reconnected for several more days.

Special sightings this week include:  * a Great Horned Owl during the day right after the ice storm  * a red-tail hawk * a Green Frog stll active in the garden pool  * fresh Striped Skunk digs on the lawn  * a visiting Tree Sparrow being chased from the feeder by territorial White – Throated Sparrows.

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Wood Borers

December 9, 2008 at 7:09 am12 (Uncategorized)

Larvae of the Metallic Wood Borer beetle (Dicera species) fed under the bark of a Big-Toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata) before pupating and emerging as adults.

Larvae of the Metallic Wood Borer beetle (Dicera species) fed under the bark of a Big-Toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata) before pupating and emerging as adults.

 

There are many species of wood boring beetles.  These insects feed on sapwood and create tunnels and holes. Most are host-specific and feed on only one kind of tree.  The Sugar Maple borer and the Round-Backed Apple Tree borer are two examples.
 
In the field, the patterns of the tunnels (S-shaped tunnels, Y-shaped tunnels, H-shaped tunnels, etc.) provide clues to the identification of a species whose adult forms, eggs, larvae, or pupae are seldom seen.  The adult Metallic Wood Borer has a lustrous bronze color, hence the name.
 
Most wood borers infest weakened, dead, or recently fallen trees.  Some, however, attack and eventually kill healthy trees.  Whole orchards and forests can be devastated by outbreaks of certain wood boring insects.  The larvae of the Metallic Wood Borer hatch from eggs deposited beneath the bark.  They first “mine” the cambium region immediately below the bark, then penetrate the sapwood. 
 
Not all beetles tunnel just beneath the bark.  The larvae of the Ambrosia Beetles bore straight to the center of the tree. Boards sawn from trees infested with boring beetles often exhibit disfiguring tunnels and holes. 
 

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First Snow

December 7, 2008 at 2:34 pm12 (Uncategorized)

squirreltrack
We got our first snow of the year today.  It started shortly after sunrise and continued off and on in light flurries until noon, but did not accumulate.  The first snow of the year is a transforming event.  It changes your mind quickly about what season it is. I always like to track rabbits in the first snow of the season, but today the snow started after most rabbits were finished feeding and had headed for their forms or nests on the ground.  The best I could do was snap a quick picture of a gray squirrel track in the snow on my driveway.

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Field Notes Dec6

December 6, 2008 at 5:01 pm12 (Uncategorized)

Something Told the Wild Geese
Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered,–”Snow.”

Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned–”Frost.”

All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,
But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly,–
Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.


From Poems by Rachel Field (1934) NY: MacMillan Publishing Company
 
Field Notes for the week ending December 6
 
* Larger ponds and lakes show plenty of open water, but smaller ponds and shallow swamps exhibited an expanding and thickening  skin of ice this week – still with some open patches – but changing nonetheless.
 
* Roadkills observed include skunk, raccoon, and squirrels.  I guess that means that woodchucks and chipmunks are safely underground for the winter. A black bear was sighted in the central part of our county.
 
* On afternoons, around 3 p.m. flocks of crows gather and head in a southwesterly direction toward their nightly roosting area.  This ritual may involve two 25 – 50 mile commutes morning and afternoon.
 
* Skunks are still active nightly, judging from the small round digs and turned over bits of grass on our lawns.

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Winter Weeds

December 4, 2008 at 7:30 am12 (Uncategorized)

The Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is a tall Goldenrod growing on hillsides and thickets where the soil is moist.

The Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is a tall Goldenrod growing on hillsides and thickets where the soil is moist.

The months of December, January, and February are good times to observe and identify the remains of soft-stemmed (herbaceous) plants now that they have become more obvious as they stand out in the bare woodlands, snow covered fields, or roadsides.
 
There are weeds that have spines or burs on their stems or leaves (Thistle, Burdock).  Some have dried seed pods (Mustard, Peppergrass), or showy seed-heads (Sensitive Fern, Common Plantain, Mullien).  There are weeds with dried flowers that branch only at the top (Yarrow, Tansy, Joe-Pye Weed, Goldenrod) and there are weeds with opposite brancjing on the main stem (Teasel, Beggar Ticks, Purple Loosestrife).
 
A walk in the winter fields and waste places – particularly around recent  construction sites – may yield materials for a dried flower bouquet or just the satisfaction of recognizing a familiar plant in its winter uniform of tan, russet, gray, or brown. To find a fuzzy Woodland Aster, the dried conehead of a Black-Eyed Susan, a bird-nest cup of Wild Carrot or the seed pod of a Common Milkweed can be reward enough for a chilly winter walk.
 
There are many species of Goldenrod, whose showy yellow flowers appear in fields, waste places, and roadsides each summer and early fall.  In the late fall and winter they may appear as whitish ghosts in the woodlands landscape. 
 
Identifying the dried remains of summer plants often requires a hand lens and patient observation of details.  Some references that can be very helpful include the following:
 
- Brown, Lauren. (1976). Wildflowers and Winter Weeds. NY: W.W. Norton and Company. Black and white line drawings, with identification key.
- Levine, Carol. (1995). A Guide to Wildflowers in Winter. New Haven: Yale University Press. Black and white line drawings, black and white photographs, and an illustrated identification key.
- Stokes, Donald W. (1976). A Guide to Nature in Winter. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.  Black and white line drawings  and illustrated identification key to the most common winter weeds in the northeast. 
- Uva, Richard, Neal, Joseph C., and DiTomaso, Joseph M. (1997). Weeds of the Northeast. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Color photographs and descriptions of summer weeds and grasses; may help in confirming habitat and overall structure.
 

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