Over the years, I have seen a few each of timber rattlesnakes and copperhead snakes sunning themselves in wooded, rocky hills in my native Pennsylvania. Those beautiful snakes are always a thrill to experience because they are not often seen and they can be dangerous to people.
Four kinds of vipers live in the eastern United States, including timber rattlesnakes, eastern diamond-backed rattlesnakes, copperhead snakes and cottonmouth moccasins. These related snakes are called pit vipers because they have a heat sensory pit between each eye and nostril that detects warm-blooded prey. They also have heads noticeably thicker than their necks, because of their poison glands, thick bodies and vertical pupils. Being cold-blooded, all species bask in sunlight to warm up for the day's activities and are camouflaged in their natural habitats, making them difficult to see. All are predatory, using venom produced in glands in the backs of their heads to kill their victims. All bear young alive. And, although they are dangerous to people, they are beautifully marked and have interesting life histories.
Timber rattlesnakes and diamond-backs, like all their rattlesnake kin, have "rattles" of loosely connected, modified skin that makes a buzzing noise when these snakes become frightened or irritated. The sound of those rattles often warns people and animals of the presence of rattlesnakes before those serpents are seen.
Timber rattlesnakes live in rocky, wooded hillsides from New England south in the eastern United States. Generally, they are yellow, brown, gray or black with dark back and side markings and black tails. They lie along logs in woodlands to ambush chipmunks, squirrels, mice and small birds. They are most active at night during summer.
Timber rattlesnakes mate in spring and fall. Females mature in four to five years and give birth in autumn to 5 to 17, 12-inch young every other year. They bask in sunlight as much as they can to warm themselves so their embryos will grow faster. They don't eat anything when they are pregnant so they fatten up during the in between years.
In the northern part of their range, timber rattlesnakes congregate in rocky dens to pass the winter in relative safety. Black rat snakes and copperhead snakes join them in some of those retreats.
Eastern diamond-backed rattlesnakes are the largest of their kind in the United States, and the most dangerous. They range from southern North Carolina to Florida and the southern half of the Deep South states to Mississippi. They are basically brown with dark diamonds on their backs that have light centers and are bordered by yellow. They mostly live in longleaf pine and sand hill pine woods, and oak woods in bottomlands. They shelter in gopher tortoise burrows and other holes in the ground, and in clumps of saw palmettos. They eat rabbits, squirrels, mice, birds and other, smaller creatures. Female diamondbacks give birth to 7 to 20, 14 inch young from July to October.
Copperhead snakes are light-brown with reddish-brown cross-bands on their backs that look like hourglass figures. And they have coppery heads. They inhabit wooded hills with rock outcroppings above streams and swamps from the Mid-Atlantic States to the Gulf States to eastern Texas. They like to hang out in stone walls, brush piles, rotting logs and other sheltered places in the woods. They are mostly nocturnal in summer and lie along logs to ambush mice, chipmunks, lizards, frogs and other small critters. Young copperheads twitch their yellow tails to lure prey to them. This species hibernates for the winter in dens in rock outcroppings, sometimes with timber rattlesnakes.
Copperheads mate in the spring and fall. Females give birth to one to 14, nine-inch young from August to October. The young mature in two to three years.
Cottonmouths are southern vipers, living in swamps, along creeks and other bodies of fresh water from southern Virginia to Florida to west Texas and Arkansas. They are so-named for the white lining of their mouths they display as a threat to would-be harassers. This species is related to copperheads, but have a more deadly venom. Young moccasins have yellow tails, as do young copperheads.
Cottonmouths are olive, brown or black above with a wide, dark-brown cheek stripe on some individuals. Young are more strongly patterned. They are most active at night when they consume frogs, snakes, birds small fish and other prey.
Female moccasins mature in three years. They mate in spring and autumn and give birth to one to 15, 11 inch young in August or September. And like all these vipers, give birth every other year and feed during the between years.
Even if these pit vipers are never seen, it's interesting to note they exist in the eastern United States. To avoid them, stay away from places where they seek shelter.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Mating Box Turtles
By chance, one day in mid-July, I came across a pair of box turtles mating in the grass of a suburban lawn near a woods; or, at least the male was trying to. Those turtles were more obvious on the lawn than they would have been in their native carpets of fallen leaves, moss and ferns on woodland floors.
The male box turtle was handsome in the way of his gender. He had a dark upper shell with yellow markings which mimic dappled sunlight on the forest floor for camouflage. And he had bright-orange scales on his head, neck and front legs and red irises in his eyes, all of which intimidate rival males and entice females to mate.
The day was warm and the male turtle was active in his courtship of the female. He was constantly aggressive toward her, excitedly biting the rim of her shell from all directions and pushing against her to coax her to mate with him, but without hurting her. He mounted her several times from every direction. (Male box turtles have an indentation on their lower shells to help with that activity.) At times, surprisingly to me, he even did a bit of an agile two-step, for a turtle, in front of the female. After several minutes of actively courting her, he would stop to rest, but then continued his strenuous efforts. Through all this, the female kept her head and legs in her shell and did not move. She didn't seem to be in the mood for mating. And no wonder with that rough courtship.
As the Earth turned on its axis, the spot where the turtles were came into the sunlight, which made them too hot. The female stuck her head and legs out of her shell and quickly moved to a shady, cooler spot under a small tree. It was then I noticed she had a dark head and neck, a bit of yellow on her forelegs and liquid, dark eyes. She, like the male, was handsome in the camouflaged way of her gender. The male, of course, was in hot pursuit and continued his efforts in the shade. But after a few hours, he gave up, without success I think, and crawled away to cool shelter. And after several minutes, when she realized the male was gone, the female did the same, but in a different direction.
The cold-blooded box turtles mate during the warm days of summer when they are active to do so. One mating is enough for a few clutches of eggs, one per year, with about six eggs in each clutch. Early in June, female box turtles lay eggs in holes they dig with their back legs in loose soil in sunny places. Sunlight warms the eggs in the ground and the dark young hatch a couple of months later, with shells about the size of quarters.
Box turtles are omnivorous, eating earthworms, beetles, slugs, blueberries, mushrooms, carrion and almost anything else edible they come across. They are not fast on their feet, so their food has to be still or slow-moving.
Box turtles come out to feed during and just after a rain when worms and slugs are most active. Then they are a beautiful sight in the wet woods, with their heads raised high like periscopes and eyes alert to any sources of food.
Sometime in October, box turtles dig under the protective leaf carpet and soil of woodland floors to sleep through the winter. But they come abroad again in April, ready to eat and breed.
Box turtles are such lovely, interesting creatures in their native woodlands that it is a shame when they are removed from it. If the reader comes across a turtle in the woods, please leave it there where it belongs. The two turtles I saw on that suburban lawn, only thirty yards from a woodland, were never disturbed. Photos can be taken, but not the turtles themselves. Box turtles are protected by law in some states.
The male box turtle was handsome in the way of his gender. He had a dark upper shell with yellow markings which mimic dappled sunlight on the forest floor for camouflage. And he had bright-orange scales on his head, neck and front legs and red irises in his eyes, all of which intimidate rival males and entice females to mate.
The day was warm and the male turtle was active in his courtship of the female. He was constantly aggressive toward her, excitedly biting the rim of her shell from all directions and pushing against her to coax her to mate with him, but without hurting her. He mounted her several times from every direction. (Male box turtles have an indentation on their lower shells to help with that activity.) At times, surprisingly to me, he even did a bit of an agile two-step, for a turtle, in front of the female. After several minutes of actively courting her, he would stop to rest, but then continued his strenuous efforts. Through all this, the female kept her head and legs in her shell and did not move. She didn't seem to be in the mood for mating. And no wonder with that rough courtship.
As the Earth turned on its axis, the spot where the turtles were came into the sunlight, which made them too hot. The female stuck her head and legs out of her shell and quickly moved to a shady, cooler spot under a small tree. It was then I noticed she had a dark head and neck, a bit of yellow on her forelegs and liquid, dark eyes. She, like the male, was handsome in the camouflaged way of her gender. The male, of course, was in hot pursuit and continued his efforts in the shade. But after a few hours, he gave up, without success I think, and crawled away to cool shelter. And after several minutes, when she realized the male was gone, the female did the same, but in a different direction.
The cold-blooded box turtles mate during the warm days of summer when they are active to do so. One mating is enough for a few clutches of eggs, one per year, with about six eggs in each clutch. Early in June, female box turtles lay eggs in holes they dig with their back legs in loose soil in sunny places. Sunlight warms the eggs in the ground and the dark young hatch a couple of months later, with shells about the size of quarters.
Box turtles are omnivorous, eating earthworms, beetles, slugs, blueberries, mushrooms, carrion and almost anything else edible they come across. They are not fast on their feet, so their food has to be still or slow-moving.
Box turtles come out to feed during and just after a rain when worms and slugs are most active. Then they are a beautiful sight in the wet woods, with their heads raised high like periscopes and eyes alert to any sources of food.
Sometime in October, box turtles dig under the protective leaf carpet and soil of woodland floors to sleep through the winter. But they come abroad again in April, ready to eat and breed.
Box turtles are such lovely, interesting creatures in their native woodlands that it is a shame when they are removed from it. If the reader comes across a turtle in the woods, please leave it there where it belongs. The two turtles I saw on that suburban lawn, only thirty yards from a woodland, were never disturbed. Photos can be taken, but not the turtles themselves. Box turtles are protected by law in some states.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Expressway Mammals and Birds
Many people travel on expressways in the Mid-Atlantic States through the year. And whether they are seen or not by those people, at least a few kinds of adaptable mammals and birds regularly feed along the broad edges and large clover leafs of those major highways. Grasses and other vegetation in those human-made habitats feed those creatures, and, indirectly, the critters that prey on the plant eaters through the seasons. And there these animals have ample shelter; and life, as long as they stay off the highways.
White-tailed deer, including fawns, are often seen browsing on twigs or grazing on grass along the shoulders of expressways in wooded areas, mostly at dusk, but any time of day.
Drivers must be careful these large animals don't cross the roads in front of vehicles. Deer are particularly dangerous in November, the peak of their breeding season. Seeing green eye shine in the edge of vegetation along roads at dusk and at night indicates the presence of deer.
Wood chucks are common in the grassy shoulders and clover leafs along major roads. These large rodents nibble grass and other plants during the day and spend nights in relative safety in burrows they dig into the ground. A bit bigger than house cats and much chunkier, chucks are brown all over and fight fiercely when cornered. They fatten during warmer months and sleep in their dens through much of the winter, living on stored fat. Some of their abandoned tunnels are used by red foxes, striped skunks, cottontail rabbits and other mammals.
Cottontail rabbits emerge from hiding places in roadside weeds and shrubbery, mostly at dusk and into the night, to ingest grass and other plants. These mammals are often overlooked by passing motorists because they are small, camouflaged and stick tight to cover.
Lots of field voles live under vegetation along expressways. The plants there get mowed occasionally, but never plowed, allowing the mice to be established. Voles eat grass seeds, weed seeds, berries and greens where they live along the highways. They make grassy nests under the matted vegetation and their circuitous runways under snow are visible when the snow melts away.
Canada geese usually are the most obvious of animals along expressways. Bugling flocks of them often land on roadside shoulders and clover leafs to graze on grass. Canadas in the air and on short grass by expressways are just as stately as those in more natural habitats.
Groups of rock pigeons and pairs of mourning doves land here and there along expressways to ingest bits of gravel that help their muscular stomachs grind the seeds they ate. The seeds and gravel turn together, and, with strong stomach juices, the seeds are broken down for digestion.
Gangs of starlings commonly drop to roadsides to rapidly probe their beaks into soil under the short grasses and other vegetation to eat invertebrates. Their bills resemble the up and down motion of sewing machine needles, as do the beaks of sandpipers poking into sand or mud.
Two kinds of diurnal raptors, red-tailed hawks and American kestrels, feed on voles along the expressways through the year. The red-tails occasionally catch a rabbit and the kestrels take grasshoppers and other large insects in summer. These common hawks are often spotted perched on trees as they watch for prey, particularly in winter. And, entertainingly to us, kestrels also hover into the wind as they watch the ground for victims.
These mammals and birds make the edges of expressways more interesting for riders. And the species involved have additional homes and banquet tables, which helps bolster their populations.
White-tailed deer, including fawns, are often seen browsing on twigs or grazing on grass along the shoulders of expressways in wooded areas, mostly at dusk, but any time of day.
Drivers must be careful these large animals don't cross the roads in front of vehicles. Deer are particularly dangerous in November, the peak of their breeding season. Seeing green eye shine in the edge of vegetation along roads at dusk and at night indicates the presence of deer.
Wood chucks are common in the grassy shoulders and clover leafs along major roads. These large rodents nibble grass and other plants during the day and spend nights in relative safety in burrows they dig into the ground. A bit bigger than house cats and much chunkier, chucks are brown all over and fight fiercely when cornered. They fatten during warmer months and sleep in their dens through much of the winter, living on stored fat. Some of their abandoned tunnels are used by red foxes, striped skunks, cottontail rabbits and other mammals.
Cottontail rabbits emerge from hiding places in roadside weeds and shrubbery, mostly at dusk and into the night, to ingest grass and other plants. These mammals are often overlooked by passing motorists because they are small, camouflaged and stick tight to cover.
Lots of field voles live under vegetation along expressways. The plants there get mowed occasionally, but never plowed, allowing the mice to be established. Voles eat grass seeds, weed seeds, berries and greens where they live along the highways. They make grassy nests under the matted vegetation and their circuitous runways under snow are visible when the snow melts away.
Canada geese usually are the most obvious of animals along expressways. Bugling flocks of them often land on roadside shoulders and clover leafs to graze on grass. Canadas in the air and on short grass by expressways are just as stately as those in more natural habitats.
Groups of rock pigeons and pairs of mourning doves land here and there along expressways to ingest bits of gravel that help their muscular stomachs grind the seeds they ate. The seeds and gravel turn together, and, with strong stomach juices, the seeds are broken down for digestion.
Gangs of starlings commonly drop to roadsides to rapidly probe their beaks into soil under the short grasses and other vegetation to eat invertebrates. Their bills resemble the up and down motion of sewing machine needles, as do the beaks of sandpipers poking into sand or mud.
Two kinds of diurnal raptors, red-tailed hawks and American kestrels, feed on voles along the expressways through the year. The red-tails occasionally catch a rabbit and the kestrels take grasshoppers and other large insects in summer. These common hawks are often spotted perched on trees as they watch for prey, particularly in winter. And, entertainingly to us, kestrels also hover into the wind as they watch the ground for victims.
These mammals and birds make the edges of expressways more interesting for riders. And the species involved have additional homes and banquet tables, which helps bolster their populations.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Deadly Nightshade
Deadly nightshade is a common, perennial vine that is originally from Eurasia, but is now well established throughout much of North America, including in southeastern Pennsylvania. This attractive tomato relative is adapted to moist, rich soil and partial shade on the edges of thickets, hedgerows, stream banks, roadsides and ditches. Vines of this species also grow on some lawns, where they often are unwanted.
Deadly nightshade has dark-green, deeply-lobed leaves, six purple, reflexed petals per half-inch flower and yellow, pollen-laden anthers that protrude beyond the petals, offering a striking contrast of colors. Black and yellow bumble bee workers, hover flies and other kinds of insects come to those blossoms to sip nectar and gather pollen, fertilizing the blooms in the process and creating more beauty. The bumble bees collect pollen in a hairy basket on each of their back legs. The pollen appears as an orange lump on each leg. It and nectar are used to feed bee larvae.
And as if the flowers and insects are not beauty enough on nightshade vines, their berry-like fruits are beautiful as well. The pollinated blossoms produce green berries that turn yellow, then orange and finally red as they ripen. And because the plants are continually growing, there are new flowers all the time, as well as various fruit colors as they ripen not all at once, creating vines that bear a riot of many striking colors. Nightshade is a lovely vine through the latter half of summer.
A variety of small, berry-eating birds ingest the ripe fruit of deadly nightshade, though those same fruits are poisonous to people. American robins, gray catbirds and other kinds of birds can easily see and are drawn to the scarlet berries that are in contrast to the green leaves, adding their feathery beauties and interests to those of the nightshade vines.
And those birds spread this species through their droppings. The birds ingest nightshade fruits, digest the pulp, but pass many of the seeds across the countryside as they fly here and there. Some of those seeds sprout and become new vines in various locations of suitable habitat.
Though disliked by some people, deadly nightshade vines are unmistakable, and beautiful in summer. And they are food sources to certain insects and small birds, which add to the beauties and intrigues of those plants.
Deadly nightshade has dark-green, deeply-lobed leaves, six purple, reflexed petals per half-inch flower and yellow, pollen-laden anthers that protrude beyond the petals, offering a striking contrast of colors. Black and yellow bumble bee workers, hover flies and other kinds of insects come to those blossoms to sip nectar and gather pollen, fertilizing the blooms in the process and creating more beauty. The bumble bees collect pollen in a hairy basket on each of their back legs. The pollen appears as an orange lump on each leg. It and nectar are used to feed bee larvae.
And as if the flowers and insects are not beauty enough on nightshade vines, their berry-like fruits are beautiful as well. The pollinated blossoms produce green berries that turn yellow, then orange and finally red as they ripen. And because the plants are continually growing, there are new flowers all the time, as well as various fruit colors as they ripen not all at once, creating vines that bear a riot of many striking colors. Nightshade is a lovely vine through the latter half of summer.
A variety of small, berry-eating birds ingest the ripe fruit of deadly nightshade, though those same fruits are poisonous to people. American robins, gray catbirds and other kinds of birds can easily see and are drawn to the scarlet berries that are in contrast to the green leaves, adding their feathery beauties and interests to those of the nightshade vines.
And those birds spread this species through their droppings. The birds ingest nightshade fruits, digest the pulp, but pass many of the seeds across the countryside as they fly here and there. Some of those seeds sprout and become new vines in various locations of suitable habitat.
Though disliked by some people, deadly nightshade vines are unmistakable, and beautiful in summer. And they are food sources to certain insects and small birds, which add to the beauties and intrigues of those plants.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Patriotic Roadside Flowers
Red clover, Queen-Anne's-lace and chicory are common plants that flower abundantly along roadsides in the Middle Atlantic States from July into autumn. These flowering plants, originally from Europe, are patriotic because the clover has pink blooms, the Queen-Anne's-lace has white ones and chicory bear blue blossoms, all in scattered, mixed bouquets of many plants by rural roads. And these plants, with lovely flowers, each have a few interesting traits that set them apart.
These plants are also visited by bees and other insects in summer for their nectar and pollen and small, seed-eating birds in winter to consume their seeds. Those insects and birds add their beauties to those of the vegetation.
Red clover is a hay crop that escaped fields, where it is regularly mowed, to road shoulders where some of it is seldom mowed. The flower heads of clovers are clumps of small blooms. And their lush, deep-green leaves each have a decorative, light-white mark. Cottontail rabbits, wood chucks and white-tailed deer eat many clover leaves in fields and along country roads.
Queen-Anne's-lace is the ancestor of domestic carrots. The wild plant smells like carrots and has long, pale-yellow tubers in the ground. Carrots, if left alone long enough, produce flat clusters of many tiny flowers like Queen-Anne's-lace does, showing the ancestry between these two plants. But the wild plant is poisonous to humans.
In winter, the ends of the flower heads of Queen-Anne's-lace, now loaded with seeds, curl up and resemble innumerable, tiny birds' nests on stalks. Those little cups also catch snow that resemble scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Chicory roots can be harvested, roasted and ground into bits to be steeped as a coffee. This spindly, four-foot plant with the lovely blue flowers seems to reflect the sky on a clear day. And chicory is particularly attractive when goldfinches visit them to consume seeds from older blooms among the new ones. Yellow and black male goldfinches are especially striking perched on them.
Unfortunately, roadside plants get mowed occasionally, usually by township authority. All those lovely flowers are gone after each mowing, and so is food and shelter for wildlife. Some roadside vegetation could be mowed on curves or at crossroads because of safety concerns, but much is cut for no reason, except some people have the mistaken idea that those plants are unsightly and serve no purpose. Their beauties alone are enough to allow those plants to live.
When riding along country roads, watch for these patriotic plants, and others, along the wayside. I think you'll agree; they are beautiful.
These plants are also visited by bees and other insects in summer for their nectar and pollen and small, seed-eating birds in winter to consume their seeds. Those insects and birds add their beauties to those of the vegetation.
Red clover is a hay crop that escaped fields, where it is regularly mowed, to road shoulders where some of it is seldom mowed. The flower heads of clovers are clumps of small blooms. And their lush, deep-green leaves each have a decorative, light-white mark. Cottontail rabbits, wood chucks and white-tailed deer eat many clover leaves in fields and along country roads.
Queen-Anne's-lace is the ancestor of domestic carrots. The wild plant smells like carrots and has long, pale-yellow tubers in the ground. Carrots, if left alone long enough, produce flat clusters of many tiny flowers like Queen-Anne's-lace does, showing the ancestry between these two plants. But the wild plant is poisonous to humans.
In winter, the ends of the flower heads of Queen-Anne's-lace, now loaded with seeds, curl up and resemble innumerable, tiny birds' nests on stalks. Those little cups also catch snow that resemble scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Chicory roots can be harvested, roasted and ground into bits to be steeped as a coffee. This spindly, four-foot plant with the lovely blue flowers seems to reflect the sky on a clear day. And chicory is particularly attractive when goldfinches visit them to consume seeds from older blooms among the new ones. Yellow and black male goldfinches are especially striking perched on them.
Unfortunately, roadside plants get mowed occasionally, usually by township authority. All those lovely flowers are gone after each mowing, and so is food and shelter for wildlife. Some roadside vegetation could be mowed on curves or at crossroads because of safety concerns, but much is cut for no reason, except some people have the mistaken idea that those plants are unsightly and serve no purpose. Their beauties alone are enough to allow those plants to live.
When riding along country roads, watch for these patriotic plants, and others, along the wayside. I think you'll agree; they are beautiful.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Our Own Betty Bullfrog
Five or six summers ago, I bought six large bullfrog tadpoles, a few of which already had back legs. I put those tadpoles into our 100 gallon back yard goldfish pond, with the goldfish. Those tads ate algae off the sides of the pond and other plants in the water. Later that same summer at least three of those polliwogs developed into small, brown frogs and left the pond. At that time when I walked across the lawn, three little frogs hopped across the short grass and splashed into the pond. They, obviously, remembered where the pond was and how to escape danger on land.
A few years passed and I didn't see any of those frogs again until last summer when we had one small frog perched on vines extending into our little impoundment. That frog either never left the pond or it found a way to get under the net we put over it to keep great blue herons from catching our fish. Anyway, there it stayed all last summer.
This summer our little frog, I assumed it was the same one in our suburban lawn that is not close to any ponds, continued to grow and was big enough to identify as a female bullfrog. A ridge of skin that started behind each large, golden-brown eye extended around the frog's small ear drum only, indicating a bullfrog of female gender. She is dark all over on top, except for green around her mouth. Her belly is light in color and her throat is mottled white and chocolate-brown.
Watching Betty, our own bullfrog, I began to think that bullfrogs, and maybe amphibians in general, are a bit smarter than we think. She certainly adapted to the netting over our impoundment. When Betty is on the lawn when I walk by her, she hops right to our impoundment, lands on the net and immediately wriggles down a hole in the net as if she knew all along exactly where it is. She goes through a couple different holes in the net at night to hunt for invertebrates on our lawn. And so sometimes we see her sitting on the floating heater in the pond and other times she hops across the lawn and into the water to escape danger.
I also have to chuckle at her when she is perched on the heater, but dives into the water at the approach of one of us. Then, if we are quiet and still, she will come to the surface to breathe and look around, but won't climb onto the heater as long as we are near the pond. But a few minutes after we leave the water, she judges the danger is past and climbs onto the heater again, her favorite spot by the water.
Betty does have to watch for various dangers. Cats or one of our dogs could catch her. Or she could be hit with power mower blades or taken home by a child. She may stray onto our street or fail to get into the pond in fall when the weather turns cold. These dangers are real in our neighborhood because she is the only one of six still on our lawn, although some of the others could have strayed away, never to return. And with all that potential danger, plus predation of herons, raccoons, mink and other creatures, it is good that each female frog spawns hundreds of eggs every year.
Many home-owners have backyard ponds on their lawns with goldfish or koi in them. If frogs or toads spawn in some of those impoundments, the resulting tadpoles and adult, tailless amphibians are interesting to experience. They make the ponds and lawns a little more natural.
A few years passed and I didn't see any of those frogs again until last summer when we had one small frog perched on vines extending into our little impoundment. That frog either never left the pond or it found a way to get under the net we put over it to keep great blue herons from catching our fish. Anyway, there it stayed all last summer.
This summer our little frog, I assumed it was the same one in our suburban lawn that is not close to any ponds, continued to grow and was big enough to identify as a female bullfrog. A ridge of skin that started behind each large, golden-brown eye extended around the frog's small ear drum only, indicating a bullfrog of female gender. She is dark all over on top, except for green around her mouth. Her belly is light in color and her throat is mottled white and chocolate-brown.
Watching Betty, our own bullfrog, I began to think that bullfrogs, and maybe amphibians in general, are a bit smarter than we think. She certainly adapted to the netting over our impoundment. When Betty is on the lawn when I walk by her, she hops right to our impoundment, lands on the net and immediately wriggles down a hole in the net as if she knew all along exactly where it is. She goes through a couple different holes in the net at night to hunt for invertebrates on our lawn. And so sometimes we see her sitting on the floating heater in the pond and other times she hops across the lawn and into the water to escape danger.
I also have to chuckle at her when she is perched on the heater, but dives into the water at the approach of one of us. Then, if we are quiet and still, she will come to the surface to breathe and look around, but won't climb onto the heater as long as we are near the pond. But a few minutes after we leave the water, she judges the danger is past and climbs onto the heater again, her favorite spot by the water.
Betty does have to watch for various dangers. Cats or one of our dogs could catch her. Or she could be hit with power mower blades or taken home by a child. She may stray onto our street or fail to get into the pond in fall when the weather turns cold. These dangers are real in our neighborhood because she is the only one of six still on our lawn, although some of the others could have strayed away, never to return. And with all that potential danger, plus predation of herons, raccoons, mink and other creatures, it is good that each female frog spawns hundreds of eggs every year.
Many home-owners have backyard ponds on their lawns with goldfish or koi in them. If frogs or toads spawn in some of those impoundments, the resulting tadpoles and adult, tailless amphibians are interesting to experience. They make the ponds and lawns a little more natural.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Small Birds in Lancaster County Barnyards
Permanent resident house sparrows and summering barn swallows are interesting species of small birds that adapted to Lancaster County barnyards. Both kinds of these small birds nest in loose colonies; safety in numbers. Most every farm has populations of each species, making them abundant throughout the summer in this county's farmland.
Both these species of birds raise young in the barns and other buildings in the barnyards, but in different niches and using different materials, eliminating competition between them. The sparrows, which are weaver finches from Eurasia and Africa, stuff grass and straw into protective crevices in those buildings where their four or five eggs and young are safe from weather and predation, except black rat snakes, long-tailed weasels and brown rats. Some adult sparrows are caught by American kestrels and Cooper's hawks.
House sparrow relatives in Africa build giant, colonial nests of grass in trees. But the Eurasian house sparrows long ago adapted to nesting in protective buildings in Europe and Asia, and are now also very successful in the United States to this day. Another reason for their success is that each pair will attempt to raise two or three broods of babies each summer.
House sparrows feed mostly on grain, weed seeds and grass seeds across the barnyard, in fields and along roadsides. Each pair feeds their youngsters a mixture of seeds and small invertebrates while in their nests and for a few days after they fledge from those grassy cradles.
House sparrows are handsome birds in a plain, camouflaged way. Females are light-brown all over with dark streaking on their upper parts. Males are feathered the same way, except they have a black bib under their beak and a gray top of their head.
The fast-flying barn swallows are entertaining to watch zipping far out and over the fields, meadows, ponds and other environments in pursuit of flying insects. Their deep-purple upper parts and orange bellies alternately flash beautifully as the swallows turn this way and that after prey.
By early May, barn swallows make nurseries of mud pellets they gather from the edges of puddles and streams. They plaster those pellets, one by one, to the sides of support beams in barns and under bridges in farm country where there are a lot of flies to eat. Each female swallow lays four or five eggs in her mud pellet cradle and she and her mate feed the resulting offspring flying insects. By the end of June, the young swallows are flying around and catching their own insects to eat.
Barn swallows originally reared young in small, shallow caves across North America. These swallows are more common today than they ever were before the coming of European farmers to this continent because there are many more barns than there are caves.
During August, barn swallows gather into flocks that catch flying insects by day, and roost overnight in cattail and phragmities marshes, and corn fields. The swallows feed heavily on insects in preparation for drifting south to escape the northern winter when flying insects are not available. Those great groups of swallows are exciting to watch careening over the landscape after insects, and fluttering into protection vegetation at sunset to spend the night.
House sparrows, however, spend their lives in just a few acres around barnyards and surrounding fields and roadsides. Through the winter their diet is restricted to weed seeds, grass seeds and grain stored in barns.
When in Lancaster County farmland, look for these abundant, small birds that are entertaining to experience. They are common here because they have adapted to human-made niches, including nesting sites and food sources.
Both these species of birds raise young in the barns and other buildings in the barnyards, but in different niches and using different materials, eliminating competition between them. The sparrows, which are weaver finches from Eurasia and Africa, stuff grass and straw into protective crevices in those buildings where their four or five eggs and young are safe from weather and predation, except black rat snakes, long-tailed weasels and brown rats. Some adult sparrows are caught by American kestrels and Cooper's hawks.
House sparrow relatives in Africa build giant, colonial nests of grass in trees. But the Eurasian house sparrows long ago adapted to nesting in protective buildings in Europe and Asia, and are now also very successful in the United States to this day. Another reason for their success is that each pair will attempt to raise two or three broods of babies each summer.
House sparrows feed mostly on grain, weed seeds and grass seeds across the barnyard, in fields and along roadsides. Each pair feeds their youngsters a mixture of seeds and small invertebrates while in their nests and for a few days after they fledge from those grassy cradles.
House sparrows are handsome birds in a plain, camouflaged way. Females are light-brown all over with dark streaking on their upper parts. Males are feathered the same way, except they have a black bib under their beak and a gray top of their head.
The fast-flying barn swallows are entertaining to watch zipping far out and over the fields, meadows, ponds and other environments in pursuit of flying insects. Their deep-purple upper parts and orange bellies alternately flash beautifully as the swallows turn this way and that after prey.
By early May, barn swallows make nurseries of mud pellets they gather from the edges of puddles and streams. They plaster those pellets, one by one, to the sides of support beams in barns and under bridges in farm country where there are a lot of flies to eat. Each female swallow lays four or five eggs in her mud pellet cradle and she and her mate feed the resulting offspring flying insects. By the end of June, the young swallows are flying around and catching their own insects to eat.
Barn swallows originally reared young in small, shallow caves across North America. These swallows are more common today than they ever were before the coming of European farmers to this continent because there are many more barns than there are caves.
During August, barn swallows gather into flocks that catch flying insects by day, and roost overnight in cattail and phragmities marshes, and corn fields. The swallows feed heavily on insects in preparation for drifting south to escape the northern winter when flying insects are not available. Those great groups of swallows are exciting to watch careening over the landscape after insects, and fluttering into protection vegetation at sunset to spend the night.
House sparrows, however, spend their lives in just a few acres around barnyards and surrounding fields and roadsides. Through the winter their diet is restricted to weed seeds, grass seeds and grain stored in barns.
When in Lancaster County farmland, look for these abundant, small birds that are entertaining to experience. They are common here because they have adapted to human-made niches, including nesting sites and food sources.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Interesting Mud Puddles
Muddy puddles form during heavy or prolonged summer rain along roadsides and in bare-ground fields. They reflect the sky and surrounding vegetation, and are rippled by the wind. And although they are of no concern to most of us, some puddles are interesting because they are the site of various interesting animal activities.
Several kinds of critters come to the puddles to drink, as their tracks in the mud testify. Some more recognizable foot prints around small pools of rainwater in fields and along roadsides are made by raccoons with their five long toes on each foot, the tracks of opossums that have a thumb-like toe on each back foot and the two-toed prints of white-tailed deer.
Long, meandering marks in the mud were made by earthworms that came to the surface of the soil at night when they are protected by darkness. Because they would die if they were to dry, rain brings them out of the ground to look for mates for breeding. Then they descend into the soil to avoid the drying sunlight, and hungry birds and other animals the next day.
A variety of small birds drink and bathe in many rain puddles. One can see their four-toed tracks, three toes in front and one in back, in the mud around those small pools. Each bird dips its head into the water, flutters its wings and splashes the water about. After bathing, the birds leave the tiny pool and preen their feathers, aligning them so they will insulate the birds and allow them to fly.
Certain adaptable creatures, including American toads, box turtles, raccoons, opossums, purple grackles, American robins, American crows and European starlings eat earthworms and other hapless invertebrates that drowned in the little pools. All these animals leave tracks in the mud as proof they were there. And one can read those tracks to understand what those critters were doing.
Early in May, American robins, purple grackles, barn swallows and certain other kinds of birds visit some mud puddles to pick up little blobs of mud with their beaks and fly it, bit by bit, to their nest sites to build nurseries for their offspring. Robins make a bowl-like shell of mud on a foundation of grass and tiny twigs in the twiggy crotches of trees and shrubs. Then they place fine grass inside the mud shell, on which they lay their three or four blue eggs per cradle.
Barn swallows make open cups of mud pellets they plaster to support beams in barns and under small bridges. Those barns and bridges protect young swallows from weather and most predators.x
Pairs of American toads spawn thousands of black eggs in clear, gelatinous strings on the bottoms of some roadside puddles during April. The black tads eat decaying plants and animals in the water and are pitched in a battle against time; to develop legs and lungs and escape those little pools before they completely dry. Tadpoles win the struggle some years, but not in drier ones.
A variety of butterflies, particularly cabbage whites, tiger swallowtails and other kinds, gather at mud puddles to sip the water and consume salt and minerals from the wet soil. That process is called puddling. Sometimes there is a score or more of butterflies of a few kinds at a roadside puddle. Usually they fly up as a group at the passing of a vehicle or pedestrian, but quickly return to the mud and continue ingesting water and minerals.
Female mosquitos lay eggs in some temporary, roadside pools. The larvae feed on algae and detritus floating in the water. But like the toad tadpoles, those wrigglers are pitched in a race against the puddle drying before they are able to leave the water for life in the air.
Look closer at rain puddles in bare-ground fields and along roadsides. They are more interesting than most people think with the animal life in and around them, during the day and at night.
Several kinds of critters come to the puddles to drink, as their tracks in the mud testify. Some more recognizable foot prints around small pools of rainwater in fields and along roadsides are made by raccoons with their five long toes on each foot, the tracks of opossums that have a thumb-like toe on each back foot and the two-toed prints of white-tailed deer.
Long, meandering marks in the mud were made by earthworms that came to the surface of the soil at night when they are protected by darkness. Because they would die if they were to dry, rain brings them out of the ground to look for mates for breeding. Then they descend into the soil to avoid the drying sunlight, and hungry birds and other animals the next day.
A variety of small birds drink and bathe in many rain puddles. One can see their four-toed tracks, three toes in front and one in back, in the mud around those small pools. Each bird dips its head into the water, flutters its wings and splashes the water about. After bathing, the birds leave the tiny pool and preen their feathers, aligning them so they will insulate the birds and allow them to fly.
Certain adaptable creatures, including American toads, box turtles, raccoons, opossums, purple grackles, American robins, American crows and European starlings eat earthworms and other hapless invertebrates that drowned in the little pools. All these animals leave tracks in the mud as proof they were there. And one can read those tracks to understand what those critters were doing.
Early in May, American robins, purple grackles, barn swallows and certain other kinds of birds visit some mud puddles to pick up little blobs of mud with their beaks and fly it, bit by bit, to their nest sites to build nurseries for their offspring. Robins make a bowl-like shell of mud on a foundation of grass and tiny twigs in the twiggy crotches of trees and shrubs. Then they place fine grass inside the mud shell, on which they lay their three or four blue eggs per cradle.
Barn swallows make open cups of mud pellets they plaster to support beams in barns and under small bridges. Those barns and bridges protect young swallows from weather and most predators.x
Pairs of American toads spawn thousands of black eggs in clear, gelatinous strings on the bottoms of some roadside puddles during April. The black tads eat decaying plants and animals in the water and are pitched in a battle against time; to develop legs and lungs and escape those little pools before they completely dry. Tadpoles win the struggle some years, but not in drier ones.
A variety of butterflies, particularly cabbage whites, tiger swallowtails and other kinds, gather at mud puddles to sip the water and consume salt and minerals from the wet soil. That process is called puddling. Sometimes there is a score or more of butterflies of a few kinds at a roadside puddle. Usually they fly up as a group at the passing of a vehicle or pedestrian, but quickly return to the mud and continue ingesting water and minerals.
Female mosquitos lay eggs in some temporary, roadside pools. The larvae feed on algae and detritus floating in the water. But like the toad tadpoles, those wrigglers are pitched in a race against the puddle drying before they are able to leave the water for life in the air.
Look closer at rain puddles in bare-ground fields and along roadsides. They are more interesting than most people think with the animal life in and around them, during the day and at night.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Nesting Kingfishers and Green-backed Herons
Belted kingfishers and green-backed herons are adaptable, fish-eating bird species that nest along creeks and streams in farm country in southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as by other waterways and impoundments through much of North America. Both species raise young along or near water and catch fish and other aquatic creatures to feed themselves and their offspring. But they do so in different watery niches and in different ways, reducing competition for the same food and eliminating rivalry for nesting sites around the same bodies of water, the reason they can coexist.
Kingfishers are blue-gray on top and white below with a shaggy crest on their heads. Adult female belted kingfishers have a chestnut strip across their chests, while males and young don't have that feature.
Green backed herons are dull-green on top and chestnut below, with yellowish legs and feet. Young green-backs are beige-striped as well as chestnut underneath.
Each pair of kingfishers digs a burrow into the top of a soil stream bank caused by erosion from the running water over a long period of time. The tunnel extends straight back a few feet where the female lays up to six or seven eggs at the end of it.
A pair of green herons builds a stick platform among the twigs high in a tree overhanging or near a body of water. There the female lays four or five eggs.
Both the young herons and kingfishers leave their nurseries during the beginning of July and spend the rest of the summer developing fishing skills and preparing to be adults. I have watched the parent birds of both species teaching their offspring to get their own food from the water. The parents feed their young for a short time after fledging their nests. And those youngsters learn fishing techniques by watching their parents' catching prey.
Belted kingfishers, like all their relatives, have two ways of snaring fish in the middle of waterways and impoundments. One technique is to perch on a tree limb over the water and drop into the water beak-first to catch a fish in their long, stout bills. The other method is to hover into the wind on rapidly beating wings, then dropping into the water, again beak-first.
Green herons wade in the shallows along the edges of waterways and impoundments to seize, small fish, frogs, tadpoles, crayfish and other aquatic critters in their lengthy bills. By fishing the shallows the herons do not compete with the kingfishers for food.
A few kingfishers stay north in winter, if there is open water to fish from. But the green herons go south for the winter, returning to the north to breed by early April.
Watch for these two adaptable, fish-catching birds along streams in southeastern Pennsylvania farmland. They are interesting species that are common in their chosen habitat where competition between them is at a minimum.
Kingfishers are blue-gray on top and white below with a shaggy crest on their heads. Adult female belted kingfishers have a chestnut strip across their chests, while males and young don't have that feature.
Green backed herons are dull-green on top and chestnut below, with yellowish legs and feet. Young green-backs are beige-striped as well as chestnut underneath.
Each pair of kingfishers digs a burrow into the top of a soil stream bank caused by erosion from the running water over a long period of time. The tunnel extends straight back a few feet where the female lays up to six or seven eggs at the end of it.
A pair of green herons builds a stick platform among the twigs high in a tree overhanging or near a body of water. There the female lays four or five eggs.
Both the young herons and kingfishers leave their nurseries during the beginning of July and spend the rest of the summer developing fishing skills and preparing to be adults. I have watched the parent birds of both species teaching their offspring to get their own food from the water. The parents feed their young for a short time after fledging their nests. And those youngsters learn fishing techniques by watching their parents' catching prey.
Belted kingfishers, like all their relatives, have two ways of snaring fish in the middle of waterways and impoundments. One technique is to perch on a tree limb over the water and drop into the water beak-first to catch a fish in their long, stout bills. The other method is to hover into the wind on rapidly beating wings, then dropping into the water, again beak-first.
Green herons wade in the shallows along the edges of waterways and impoundments to seize, small fish, frogs, tadpoles, crayfish and other aquatic critters in their lengthy bills. By fishing the shallows the herons do not compete with the kingfishers for food.
A few kingfishers stay north in winter, if there is open water to fish from. But the green herons go south for the winter, returning to the north to breed by early April.
Watch for these two adaptable, fish-catching birds along streams in southeastern Pennsylvania farmland. They are interesting species that are common in their chosen habitat where competition between them is at a minimum.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Martens and Mink
Both being members of the weasel family in North America, American martens and American mink are similar in several ways. Both species have counterparts in Eurasia. They are about the same size, up to three pounds in the larger males, and about two feet long. Both species are slender-bodied, and have long, luxuriant fur, bushy tails and short legs for slipping into cavities after prey. Both are quick in motion and fast-running to capture prey. Both these species are aggressive, incessant, opportunistic predators that eat insects, mice, squirrels, small birds and so on. And each kind, in turn, is preyed on by red foxes, coyotes, bobcats, great horned owls, golden eagles and other predators. Each type of weasel must raise up to five young a year to make up for losses.
Both these weasel species inhabit forests and smaller woodlands, but martens live in trees and mink dwell along waterways, thus reducing competition for food with each other. Becoming adapted to different habitats to lessen rivalry for food and shelter is what causes different species of life, including the various types of weasels.
Also called pine martens, American martens live in the bigger trees of mature coniferous and mixed forests of Canada and Alaska. Beautiful creatures, their fur color is yellow-buff to tawny-brown with lighter-hued hair on their heads. Tail and leg hair is darker than on their bodies. And their throats are straw-colored to orange. Their feet are adapted for climbing in trees: They even move down a tree head-first, like squirrels.
Forest destruction and over-trapping have reduced marten numbers in North America. And although they are now protected from trapping here, logging still destroys their habitats.
Living throughout most of North America, the adaptable American mink are semi-aquatic weasels that live along waterways and impoundments, in woods for the most part. Mink are more stream-lined in body shape than martens are so they can swiftly slip through water after prey. Some females of this weasel species raise young in abandoned muskrat burrows in stream banks, after they killed and ate the muskrats. Mink also eat fish, frogs, water snakes, crayfish and other water creatures.
I have seen several mink, both male and female, along waterways and ponds in southeastern Pennsylvania. They are common here. Males are larger and darker than their sisters. I have even spotted a couple of their dens, such as a deserted wood chuck tunnel near a creek and a cavity among exposed tree roots that a female mink ran in to along a stream. I once saw a female mink carrying several mice and a gray squirrel she killed down that chuck hole in the hour I watched her and her underground nursery. And I saw a different female mink ferrying her five babies, one at a time, across the Conestoga River in Lancaster County.
Each of these weasel species has been trapped for their beautiful, valuable fur. Mink still are. And mink are even raised on mink ranches for their furry pelts, which takes the pressure off trapping their wild relatives.
Martens and mink are similar in appearance (very attractive) and actions, the former species in trees and the latter one around fresh water. Both these forest species are exciting and interesting to experience when spotted.
Both these weasel species inhabit forests and smaller woodlands, but martens live in trees and mink dwell along waterways, thus reducing competition for food with each other. Becoming adapted to different habitats to lessen rivalry for food and shelter is what causes different species of life, including the various types of weasels.
Also called pine martens, American martens live in the bigger trees of mature coniferous and mixed forests of Canada and Alaska. Beautiful creatures, their fur color is yellow-buff to tawny-brown with lighter-hued hair on their heads. Tail and leg hair is darker than on their bodies. And their throats are straw-colored to orange. Their feet are adapted for climbing in trees: They even move down a tree head-first, like squirrels.
Forest destruction and over-trapping have reduced marten numbers in North America. And although they are now protected from trapping here, logging still destroys their habitats.
Living throughout most of North America, the adaptable American mink are semi-aquatic weasels that live along waterways and impoundments, in woods for the most part. Mink are more stream-lined in body shape than martens are so they can swiftly slip through water after prey. Some females of this weasel species raise young in abandoned muskrat burrows in stream banks, after they killed and ate the muskrats. Mink also eat fish, frogs, water snakes, crayfish and other water creatures.
I have seen several mink, both male and female, along waterways and ponds in southeastern Pennsylvania. They are common here. Males are larger and darker than their sisters. I have even spotted a couple of their dens, such as a deserted wood chuck tunnel near a creek and a cavity among exposed tree roots that a female mink ran in to along a stream. I once saw a female mink carrying several mice and a gray squirrel she killed down that chuck hole in the hour I watched her and her underground nursery. And I saw a different female mink ferrying her five babies, one at a time, across the Conestoga River in Lancaster County.
Each of these weasel species has been trapped for their beautiful, valuable fur. Mink still are. And mink are even raised on mink ranches for their furry pelts, which takes the pressure off trapping their wild relatives.
Martens and mink are similar in appearance (very attractive) and actions, the former species in trees and the latter one around fresh water. Both these forest species are exciting and interesting to experience when spotted.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
A Few Sphinx Moths
White-lined sphinx moths, hummingbird moths and two kinds of hornworm moths are fairly common in southeastern Pennsylvania. And they are attractive and interesting when seen in mid to late summer each year. They all visit flowers to sip sugary nectar like butterflies do during the day: The white-lines and hornworms at night, but the hummingbird moths during the day. The caterpillars of each species have a "horn" near the rear of their bodies, which demonstrates their being related to each other.
Sphinx moths as a group are stout-bodied with stiff, powerful wings that are swept back when those insects are at rest. They each have a long proboscis to sip nectar, which is curled under the head when not being used.
White-lined sphinx moths are mostly light-brown with white lines on their two front wings and abdomens. Their smaller back wings are pink, bordered with dark-brown. They inhabit open areas such as meadows and gardens where flowers are abundant from southern Canada to Latin America and from coast to coast.
The caterpillars of white-lined sphinx are green for camouflage, with yellow heads and two side rows of pale spots bordered with black. These larvae eat the foliage of chickweed, purslane, apple, plum, turnip, tomato and melon. And they overwinter as pupae in the ground.
Hummingbird moths are daytime moths and are unmistakable when seen among blossoms with bees, butterflies and other kinds of insects there to get nectar. Hummingbird moths resemble large bees, but hover like hummingbirds before blooms while they probe with their proboscis for nectar, then dart away to another blossom.
Hummingbird moths inhabit forest edges, meadows and flower gardens in the eastern half of the United States. There are two generations of them every year.
The caterpillars of hummingbird moths are yellowish-green with darker green lines and reddish-brown spots on their abdomens. They consume the leaves of honeysuckles.
The closely-related tobacco and tomato hornworm moths are about four inches long and have cryptic, grayish-brown coloring for camouflage during the day when they are at rest. They also have a row of five yellow dots on each side of their abdomens. They live, for the most part, in farmland in the eastern half of the United States.
The four-inch larvae of these two kinds of hornworm moths are seen more than the adults are, particularly in tobacco fields. Commonly called tobacco worms, those caterpillars are green with a black horn at the rear and a V-shaped, white mark on the side of each segment. These caterpillars ingest plants in the nightshade family, including tomato, tobacco and potato foliage, mostly at night. They pupate in unlined cells in the ground where they fed on plants.
Sphinx moths are pretty and interesting insects. But one must search for them at night, except for hummingbird moths.
Sphinx moths as a group are stout-bodied with stiff, powerful wings that are swept back when those insects are at rest. They each have a long proboscis to sip nectar, which is curled under the head when not being used.
White-lined sphinx moths are mostly light-brown with white lines on their two front wings and abdomens. Their smaller back wings are pink, bordered with dark-brown. They inhabit open areas such as meadows and gardens where flowers are abundant from southern Canada to Latin America and from coast to coast.
The caterpillars of white-lined sphinx are green for camouflage, with yellow heads and two side rows of pale spots bordered with black. These larvae eat the foliage of chickweed, purslane, apple, plum, turnip, tomato and melon. And they overwinter as pupae in the ground.
Hummingbird moths are daytime moths and are unmistakable when seen among blossoms with bees, butterflies and other kinds of insects there to get nectar. Hummingbird moths resemble large bees, but hover like hummingbirds before blooms while they probe with their proboscis for nectar, then dart away to another blossom.
Hummingbird moths inhabit forest edges, meadows and flower gardens in the eastern half of the United States. There are two generations of them every year.
The caterpillars of hummingbird moths are yellowish-green with darker green lines and reddish-brown spots on their abdomens. They consume the leaves of honeysuckles.
The closely-related tobacco and tomato hornworm moths are about four inches long and have cryptic, grayish-brown coloring for camouflage during the day when they are at rest. They also have a row of five yellow dots on each side of their abdomens. They live, for the most part, in farmland in the eastern half of the United States.
The four-inch larvae of these two kinds of hornworm moths are seen more than the adults are, particularly in tobacco fields. Commonly called tobacco worms, those caterpillars are green with a black horn at the rear and a V-shaped, white mark on the side of each segment. These caterpillars ingest plants in the nightshade family, including tomato, tobacco and potato foliage, mostly at night. They pupate in unlined cells in the ground where they fed on plants.
Sphinx moths are pretty and interesting insects. But one must search for them at night, except for hummingbird moths.
Leafcutter Bees
One summer day I noticed several semi-circular, three-quarter inch holes on the edges of a few leaves of the red bud tree in our back yard. I knew pieces of the leaves were cut off and carried away by leafcutter bees, but I didn't know details why the bees cut them so I did a little research.
Leafcutter bees are native to much of the United States and important pollinators of flowers. They are solitary nesters, not aggressive and have mild stings. They are about the size of honey bees, but dark with white or silver hairs. Females' abdomens have dense brushes of hairs that carry pollen from the blossoms to the bees' nests.
Each female leafcutter nests in soft, rotted wood or in the stems of large, pithy plants such as roses, which we have in our yard. The pithy insides of some of our rose stems are exposed to the outside because of pruning, giving female leafcutters easy access to the inside of the stems.
The nesting tunnel of each female leafcutter bee may be several inches deep. She cuts out each semi-circular section of leaf with her mouth parts to make rolled-up nest cells with those leaf parts in the burrow of wood or pith. She places a mixed ball of nectar and pollen in each leafy cell, lays an egg on it and seals each cell with a round piece of leaf. Each cell resembles a tiny cigar butt and those cells are in a closely-packed series of a dozen or more in the tunnel, though a female leafcutter bee can lay up to 40 eggs. The larva in each little chamber eats its provision of nectar and pollen until the food is gone, pupates in its cell and emerges the next spring as an adult male or female bee.
Leafcutter bee species live all over the world. There are about 140 kinds in North America. Most of us don't see leafcutter bees, but we can more readily spot their interesting rounded or semi-circular works on thin, deciduous leaves of several kinds of trees and shrubbery, including on our lawns.
Leafcutter bees are native to much of the United States and important pollinators of flowers. They are solitary nesters, not aggressive and have mild stings. They are about the size of honey bees, but dark with white or silver hairs. Females' abdomens have dense brushes of hairs that carry pollen from the blossoms to the bees' nests.
Each female leafcutter nests in soft, rotted wood or in the stems of large, pithy plants such as roses, which we have in our yard. The pithy insides of some of our rose stems are exposed to the outside because of pruning, giving female leafcutters easy access to the inside of the stems.
The nesting tunnel of each female leafcutter bee may be several inches deep. She cuts out each semi-circular section of leaf with her mouth parts to make rolled-up nest cells with those leaf parts in the burrow of wood or pith. She places a mixed ball of nectar and pollen in each leafy cell, lays an egg on it and seals each cell with a round piece of leaf. Each cell resembles a tiny cigar butt and those cells are in a closely-packed series of a dozen or more in the tunnel, though a female leafcutter bee can lay up to 40 eggs. The larva in each little chamber eats its provision of nectar and pollen until the food is gone, pupates in its cell and emerges the next spring as an adult male or female bee.
Leafcutter bee species live all over the world. There are about 140 kinds in North America. Most of us don't see leafcutter bees, but we can more readily spot their interesting rounded or semi-circular works on thin, deciduous leaves of several kinds of trees and shrubbery, including on our lawns.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Birds in Winter Conifers
I lived outside Rohrerstown in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania when I was a child and youth during the late 1940's and early 1950's. The area around our house was farmland, with a couple of 50 acre patches of deciduous woods. A two-acre stand of Norway spruces and white pines was planted along the edge of one of the woodlots.
I was about eleven or twelve years old when I first visited that patch of conifers in winter with snow on the tree limbs and the ground. The trees were about twelve feet tall and the whole coniferous patch smelled of that wonderful piney scent. As I walked among those fragrant evergreen trees in the cold, damp air, several small, gray birds with white outer tail feathers flitted ahead of me, while chipping rapidly and trilling, and disappearing in the shadows of the needled boughs where they were still vocal. With my interest peaked, I approached those birds hidden among coniferous branches. And, as before, they flew ahead of me, chirping all the while and vanishing again in coniferous shadows.
Those little birds were dark-eyed juncos, which are members of the seed-and-insect-eating sparrow family. Juncos are dark-gray above like a winter sky and white below like snow on the ground. They nest farther north and down the higher mountains of the Appalachians to the Smoky Mountains. They only winter in Lancaster County, where they inhabit patches of evergreens in suburban areas, and elsewhere, near patches of weeds. They eat the seeds of those plants in winter.
Another winter day, about the same period of time as the one written about above, but a little later, I was walking in that same patch of conifers. Again juncos fluttered ahead of me and disappeared into needled shadows, chipping and trilling all the while.
But this time I also heard the muffled thumping of wings against needled branches in the tops of the conifers, and showers of snow dropping to the ground. There were bigger birds in those trees; up to a dozen of them I estimated as they flew from one tree top to another. When I finally got good looks at a couple of them, I saw they were owls, with tall feather tufts on their heads, standing upright on needled limbs. I stood still, then backed away from them so not to disturb them any more.
Sometime later I was able to identify them as long-eared owls, so-named for those long feather tufts. Like the juncos, long-ears also breed farther north and only winter in this part of Pennsylvania. They hole up in dense stands of coniferous trees during the day here in winter and hunt for mice across neighboring fields at night. They are sometimes spotted roosting in evergreens by finding their compact, regurgitated pellets of mouse fur and bones on the ground beneath their roosts.
Stands of young or half-grown evergreens in winter can be interesting with birds such as the juncos and long-ears. One has only to get out and walk among those trees.
I was about eleven or twelve years old when I first visited that patch of conifers in winter with snow on the tree limbs and the ground. The trees were about twelve feet tall and the whole coniferous patch smelled of that wonderful piney scent. As I walked among those fragrant evergreen trees in the cold, damp air, several small, gray birds with white outer tail feathers flitted ahead of me, while chipping rapidly and trilling, and disappearing in the shadows of the needled boughs where they were still vocal. With my interest peaked, I approached those birds hidden among coniferous branches. And, as before, they flew ahead of me, chirping all the while and vanishing again in coniferous shadows.
Those little birds were dark-eyed juncos, which are members of the seed-and-insect-eating sparrow family. Juncos are dark-gray above like a winter sky and white below like snow on the ground. They nest farther north and down the higher mountains of the Appalachians to the Smoky Mountains. They only winter in Lancaster County, where they inhabit patches of evergreens in suburban areas, and elsewhere, near patches of weeds. They eat the seeds of those plants in winter.
Another winter day, about the same period of time as the one written about above, but a little later, I was walking in that same patch of conifers. Again juncos fluttered ahead of me and disappeared into needled shadows, chipping and trilling all the while.
But this time I also heard the muffled thumping of wings against needled branches in the tops of the conifers, and showers of snow dropping to the ground. There were bigger birds in those trees; up to a dozen of them I estimated as they flew from one tree top to another. When I finally got good looks at a couple of them, I saw they were owls, with tall feather tufts on their heads, standing upright on needled limbs. I stood still, then backed away from them so not to disturb them any more.
Sometime later I was able to identify them as long-eared owls, so-named for those long feather tufts. Like the juncos, long-ears also breed farther north and only winter in this part of Pennsylvania. They hole up in dense stands of coniferous trees during the day here in winter and hunt for mice across neighboring fields at night. They are sometimes spotted roosting in evergreens by finding their compact, regurgitated pellets of mouse fur and bones on the ground beneath their roosts.
Stands of young or half-grown evergreens in winter can be interesting with birds such as the juncos and long-ears. One has only to get out and walk among those trees.
Beauties of Norway Spruces
All species of coniferous trees are handsome, including the majestic Norway spruces which are native to Europe, but planted abundantly on lawns in North America, including here in southeastern Pennsylvania. There they add much beauty, in themselves and the animals that live among them, through the year.
Norway spruces grow tall and stately with dark-green needles on twigs that hang from the main limbs. Those long branches sweep out, down and up again at the tips, taking the shape of bows.
There are a few beauties on these spruces in May. New, light-green needles grow on the tips of the twigs at that time, and contrast beautifully with the deep-green, older needles. At this time, too, red, inch-long female flowers, which are the shape of cones, droop from branches and contrast with the five-inch-long, beige cones from last year that hang from older limbs.
Older Norway spruces are magnificent in winter when they are most obvious because deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn. The spruces offer a deep-green contrast to the gray of deciduous trees on lawns in winter. They are lovely on sunny days against a backdrop of blue skies and white and gray, cumulus clouds. And those spruces are also beautiful when snow piles on them and traces every limb and drooping twig.
Norway spruces are tough and resistant to wind, the weight of ice and snow and disease. While white pine branches break off in heavy wind or frozen precipitation, and eastern hemlock trees are succumbing to wooly adelgid aphids, Norway spruces do well on the lawns they were planted on.
This kind of spruce tree has beauties in the birds that seek cover among them. Red-tailed and Cooper's hawks, great horned owls, mourning doves, purple grackles and American crows are some bird species that nest in them. The hawks, owls and crows also shelter in them in winter, the owls during the day and the others at night. Dark-eyed juncos, pine siskins and long-eared owls, all of which breed farther north, shelter in groves of lawn spruces in winter as well, the owls by day and the little birds through the night. The needles and snow piled on them are like blankets, sheltering those birds from cold, winter winds.
Gray squirrels also build leafy homes in their needled boughs, where they might raise young. Those squirrels, and red squirrels, eastern chipmunks and other rodents eat many of the seeds in the spruce's cones.
A variety of small birds eat seeds from Norway spruce cones as well, particularly in winter. Some of those species are permanent resident Carolina chickadees and American goldfinches, and wintering black-capped chickadees, pine siskins, white-winged crossbills and red cross-bills. The siskins and crossbills are not in this part of Pennsylvania every winter, however. Crossbills have especially crossed beaks that they inherited to pry open the scales of the cones so their broad, sticky tongues can pull each seed out from under each scale.
Look at Norway spruces more closely anytime of year. They have many beauties and intrigues, in themselves and the animals that live among them.
Norway spruces grow tall and stately with dark-green needles on twigs that hang from the main limbs. Those long branches sweep out, down and up again at the tips, taking the shape of bows.
There are a few beauties on these spruces in May. New, light-green needles grow on the tips of the twigs at that time, and contrast beautifully with the deep-green, older needles. At this time, too, red, inch-long female flowers, which are the shape of cones, droop from branches and contrast with the five-inch-long, beige cones from last year that hang from older limbs.
Older Norway spruces are magnificent in winter when they are most obvious because deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn. The spruces offer a deep-green contrast to the gray of deciduous trees on lawns in winter. They are lovely on sunny days against a backdrop of blue skies and white and gray, cumulus clouds. And those spruces are also beautiful when snow piles on them and traces every limb and drooping twig.
Norway spruces are tough and resistant to wind, the weight of ice and snow and disease. While white pine branches break off in heavy wind or frozen precipitation, and eastern hemlock trees are succumbing to wooly adelgid aphids, Norway spruces do well on the lawns they were planted on.
This kind of spruce tree has beauties in the birds that seek cover among them. Red-tailed and Cooper's hawks, great horned owls, mourning doves, purple grackles and American crows are some bird species that nest in them. The hawks, owls and crows also shelter in them in winter, the owls during the day and the others at night. Dark-eyed juncos, pine siskins and long-eared owls, all of which breed farther north, shelter in groves of lawn spruces in winter as well, the owls by day and the little birds through the night. The needles and snow piled on them are like blankets, sheltering those birds from cold, winter winds.
Gray squirrels also build leafy homes in their needled boughs, where they might raise young. Those squirrels, and red squirrels, eastern chipmunks and other rodents eat many of the seeds in the spruce's cones.
A variety of small birds eat seeds from Norway spruce cones as well, particularly in winter. Some of those species are permanent resident Carolina chickadees and American goldfinches, and wintering black-capped chickadees, pine siskins, white-winged crossbills and red cross-bills. The siskins and crossbills are not in this part of Pennsylvania every winter, however. Crossbills have especially crossed beaks that they inherited to pry open the scales of the cones so their broad, sticky tongues can pull each seed out from under each scale.
Look at Norway spruces more closely anytime of year. They have many beauties and intrigues, in themselves and the animals that live among them.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
An Hour of Clover, Fireflies and Bats
At 8:00 this evening, July 1,2014, I sat in the back yard to be at one with nature. Right away I noticed that white clover flowers and male fireflies rising from the short grass and flashing their cold, abdominal lights were abundant on our lawn. The north-western sky was orange as the sun set and I thought about the sun not setting at all above the Arctic circle during this time of year. And although the temperature was in the mid 80's and the humidity was high, a steady breeze made being outdoors more tolerable.
As I watched the numerous fireflies flashing I saw a few chimney swifts careen across the sky after flying insects while the resident male catbird sang softly as if talking to himself. A few mourning doves dove into our tall spruce trees on whistling wings to stay the night while a mother robin continued to feed her babies in their nest. Other robins fluttered among the trees and called out from them.
Suddenly, a little brown bat flew out of a tree in our neighborhood and fluttered erratically across our lawn. Then another bat went over and another until I counted 5 maybe 6 little brown bats zipping across our back yard and away to spend much of the night catching flying insects. I was surprised, but glad, to see that many bats in our neighborhood.
I watched for an opossum or a striped skunk, both species of which have made appearances in our neighborhood in the past, but no such luck this evening. Nor did I see moths.
A few mosquitos found me about 9 o'clock and I thought it time to go in the house. But the sunset, breeze, fireflies and bats were entertaining and well worth the hour spent in the back yard.
As I watched the numerous fireflies flashing I saw a few chimney swifts careen across the sky after flying insects while the resident male catbird sang softly as if talking to himself. A few mourning doves dove into our tall spruce trees on whistling wings to stay the night while a mother robin continued to feed her babies in their nest. Other robins fluttered among the trees and called out from them.
Suddenly, a little brown bat flew out of a tree in our neighborhood and fluttered erratically across our lawn. Then another bat went over and another until I counted 5 maybe 6 little brown bats zipping across our back yard and away to spend much of the night catching flying insects. I was surprised, but glad, to see that many bats in our neighborhood.
I watched for an opossum or a striped skunk, both species of which have made appearances in our neighborhood in the past, but no such luck this evening. Nor did I see moths.
A few mosquitos found me about 9 o'clock and I thought it time to go in the house. But the sunset, breeze, fireflies and bats were entertaining and well worth the hour spent in the back yard.
The Adaptable Robins and Grackles
American robins and purple grackles are common birds on
lawns, meadows and fields through spring, summer and fall in the Mid-Atlantic States.
That is nothing profound, except robins and grackles probably inhabited
woodland clearings and wooded swamps respectively before European farmers
cleared the forests to create farms. These two bird species made great
adaptations to forage for invertebrates in those vast, human-made environments
where vegetation is close to the ground or absent. As the forests were cleared
and farmland created, both these species spread across the countryside and
greatly increased their numbers in what was, to them, an ever-expanding world.
American Robins are members of the thrush family and young robins have spotted chests to prove it. Thrushes are forest birds that receded with the elimination of woodlands. But robins, having been pre-adapted to more open areas, expanded with the expansion of farmland and towns.
Robins, as a species, inhabit the middle Atlantic States the year around because they change their feeding habits. During warmer months they eat invertebrates, but locally wintering robins feast on berries in hedgerows and suburban areas, and shelter in coniferous trees for the night.
Robins that retreat south for the winter, return to this area early in March, bolstering the numbers of their relatives that stayed here through winter. At this time, flocks of scores of robins run and stop, run and stop on lawns, pastures and fields in their search for earthworms and other invertebrates. But if the soil freezes again, or snow covers it, they revert back to eating berries.
Robins nest in shrubs and young trees on suburban lawns as they did in woodland clearings. And because of that, robins are one of the first bird species to nest on the lawns of new suburbs as the planted bushes and trees grow.
By late summer and through autumn, young robins and their elders gather in flocks that roam through fields, pastures and lawns to consume berries and invertebrates. Youngsters are now full-sized with long tails, but are still spot-breasted like their thrush relatives.
Purple Grackles are members of the blackbird family, which includes red-winged and rusty blackbirds. Grackles have striking plumages, with their iridescent green and purple sheens and yellow irises.
Hordes of grackles pour into this area early in March. Their masses settle on fields, lawns and meadows to eat invertebrates, seeds and anything else edible they can handle. But soon their large flocks break into smaller groups that today nest in colonies in planted coniferous trees, which is another adaptation on their part. The adults glean invertebrates from nearby lawns, fields and pastures to feed their young in their nurseries in the conifers.
American robins and purple grackles adapted to human-made habitats, and made them more interesting to us. They were woodland birds that advantaged themselves to open environments, which has increased their populations as they spread with an expanding world. Adapting is a major key to success.
American Robins are members of the thrush family and young robins have spotted chests to prove it. Thrushes are forest birds that receded with the elimination of woodlands. But robins, having been pre-adapted to more open areas, expanded with the expansion of farmland and towns.
Robins, as a species, inhabit the middle Atlantic States the year around because they change their feeding habits. During warmer months they eat invertebrates, but locally wintering robins feast on berries in hedgerows and suburban areas, and shelter in coniferous trees for the night.
Robins that retreat south for the winter, return to this area early in March, bolstering the numbers of their relatives that stayed here through winter. At this time, flocks of scores of robins run and stop, run and stop on lawns, pastures and fields in their search for earthworms and other invertebrates. But if the soil freezes again, or snow covers it, they revert back to eating berries.
Robins nest in shrubs and young trees on suburban lawns as they did in woodland clearings. And because of that, robins are one of the first bird species to nest on the lawns of new suburbs as the planted bushes and trees grow.
By late summer and through autumn, young robins and their elders gather in flocks that roam through fields, pastures and lawns to consume berries and invertebrates. Youngsters are now full-sized with long tails, but are still spot-breasted like their thrush relatives.
Purple Grackles are members of the blackbird family, which includes red-winged and rusty blackbirds. Grackles have striking plumages, with their iridescent green and purple sheens and yellow irises.
Hordes of grackles pour into this area early in March. Their masses settle on fields, lawns and meadows to eat invertebrates, seeds and anything else edible they can handle. But soon their large flocks break into smaller groups that today nest in colonies in planted coniferous trees, which is another adaptation on their part. The adults glean invertebrates from nearby lawns, fields and pastures to feed their young in their nurseries in the conifers.
American robins and purple grackles adapted to human-made habitats, and made them more interesting to us. They were woodland birds that advantaged themselves to open environments, which has increased their populations as they spread with an expanding world. Adapting is a major key to success.
by Audrey ~ flickr
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