Daddy Long-legs

     Two kinds of daddy long-legs live in southeastern Pennsylvania, including eastern and brown.  They are not spiders, but they are arachnids, related to spiders, scorpions and other creatures.  The eastern type is brown with a darker mark on top of the abdomen while the brown species is uniformly brown all over.  Both species have eight really long, slender legs.  They hold the middle of each leg high with the result being that their rounded, quarter-inch bodies are low to the ground.  The second pair of legs is longer than the others and also used as antennae. 
     Daddies do not spin webs, but track down their prey of tiny invertebrates.  Both kinds have poison glands for paralyzing their prey, but their mouths are too small to do any damage to us people, though many folks are afraid of them anyway, as they are of spiders.  Daddies are harmless to us.
     These two kinds of related creatures live in most of North America and have similar habitats and habits.  Here in the east they are most likely to live in woodlands and older suburban areas.  I see both types in abundance, mostly on the bark of larger trees and on the ground where they can run and hide pretty quickly.  Both species are well camouflaged in those niches for their own protection, but one can begin to see them most everywhere in proper woodsy habitats when you can see through their blending into those niches. 
     Several individuals of each species often cluster into tree cavities for protection and warmth through each night.  Interestingly, their legs are tangled among each other in those hollows. 
     After mating in summer, female daddies use their slender ovapositers on their rears to place eggs, one at a time, deep in soil where those eggs overwinter.  Both kinds of daddies survive the winter in the egg stage and the tiny young hatch in the spring, and mature during summer.        
     If the reader is lucky enough to see daddy long-legs of either species, remember they are harmless to us, and beneficial in that they eat lots of invertebrates.  If searching for these spider relatives, check the bark of maturing trees in woods, the niche where they are most likely to be.  They are handsome, little critters in their own plain ways, well worth the search for them. 

Summer Saltmarsh Sounds

     Several kinds of birds nesting in salt marshes between barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean and the mainland of the eastern United States sing or utter other sounds typical of those unique marshes from April through summer.  Each of those sounds is unmistakable, and not only identifies the vocalist, but adds to the aesthetic beauties of salt marshes. 
     Thousands of acres of tall spartina grass, black needlerush and threesquare, all of which are grass-like, compose those salt marshes along the Atlantic shore and provide shelter for nesting birds.  Inlets, back waters and  tidal creeks dissect the continuity of those marshes.  And there are many acres of exposed mud flats in those marshes when the tides of salt water go out.       
     Bold, handsome laughing gulls are the most iconic nesting birds of salt marshes along the Atlantic coast.  Adult birds of this species have black heads and loud, almost incessant cries that sound like laughter.  They snare live small fish and a variety of invertebrates and are scavengers, feeding on dead fish, invertebrates and anything else edible in the marshes and along sandy beaches.  And hundreds of them at a time also constantly frequent every beach and boardwalk, where they are seen by most visitors to the shore, for hand outs from well-meaning people.
     Male red-winged blackbirds often sing their boisterous "kon-ga-ree" songs while perched on top of high grasses and rushes swaying in the wind.  These are striking birds with black plumage all over, except a red shoulder patch on each wing.  Brownish, and camouflaged, female red-wings, meantime, spend their time building grass nurseries among the tall grasses and reeds a few feet off the ground, laying about four eggs in each one and incubating those eggs for a couple of weeks.  Male red-wings help feed the young, mostly on a variety of small invertebrates.        
     Male marsh wrens have a loud, rattling song that  also commands attention.  These wrens are warm brown, with a few short, white stripes on their backs.  Marsh wren males build several grass nurseries high in tall reeds and grasses, but the female of each pair picks the cradle she will lay her eggs in.  This species consumes insects. 
      Male seaside and salt marsh sparrows utter faint, buzzy songs, again while perched on wind-swayed grasses and reeds.  Seaside sparrows are gray all over, with darker markings and a small, yellow mark behind the beak on each side of the face.  Salt marsh sparrows are brown with darker markings and a dull-orange triangle on each side of the face.  Both these kinds of sparrows eat insects, small crustaceans and other types of invertebrates in summer marshes.  And both these kinds of sparrows build cradles near or on the ground among the marsh vegetation, the seasides more in bottom land niches and the salt marsh species in higher, drier habitats, which reduces competition with each other.
     Clapper rails are basically brown and about the size of small chickens, but are vertically thin, like a wooden rail, and have longer legs than those domestic birds.  They have a loud call that sounds like "kik, kik,kik,kik, and on and on.  Rails mostly hide among the high vegetation where they nest on the ground and feed on fiddler crabs, insects and other kinds of invertebrates.  They also emerge from the shelter of high plants when the tide goes out, exposing acres and acres of mud, to ingest crabs and other critters in the mud.  And they retreat to the vegetation again when the water comes back.  These rails, and seaside sparrows, are the only permanent residents in this grouping of salt marsh birds. 
     Willets are a kind of large sandpiper that also nests on the ground in salt marshes.  They loudly call "pill-willet, pill-willet" and so on.  They are gray-brown all over and have large patches of white feathers under their wings that are visible when hey fly.  And like most salt marsh birds, willets consume a variety of invertebrates.
     Ospreys and great egrets hunt fish in the channels and back waters of salt marshes.  Ospreys raise young in trees nearby or on platforms and catch larger fish by dropping from the air on them feet first.  Their eight talons, four on each foot, drive into the fish for a secure grip.  One can sometimes hear the high-pitched "peeeeeeee" calling of ospreys in salt marshes.
     The white and four-foot-tall great egrets are quite noticeable in the marshes, even from a distance.  These striking birds wade the shallows to catch smaller fish.  Occasionally we hear their low growling as they fly from one fishing place to another in the marshes.        
      If visiting the shore during summer, listen for these birds of the salt marshes.  They help make time along the coast more interesting and enjoyable.
           

Dominant Flowers Along Country Roads

     Several kinds of adaptable and abundant flowering plants bloom along roads in Lancaster County farmland during June and July.  The most dominant species there, it seems, are the beautiful sky-blue blossoms of chicory and the pink of red clover flowers, followed by the pink blooms of common milkweeds and Canada thistles.  All these plants are alien to North America, except the milkweeds.  But all provide beauty to us human observers and nutrition for bees, butterflies and other kinds of insects.  Unfortunately, many roadsides are mowed, which eliminates the flowers' beauties to us and nutrition for insects.  But roadsides that aren't mowed are more of a treasure to people and insects.
     The four-foot-tall chicory plants and their lovely, blue blooms seem to be the dominate species among the dominants.  Their beautiful flowers are open during mornings, but generally are closed by early afternoon.  One could drive a rural roadside in the morning and see thousands of cheering chicory blooms, but come back that same road in the afternoon and think- where are those striking blue flowers?
     Chicory plants are tall and spindly with few leaves, but their several one-inch-across blossoms each summer day are quite noticeable to even casual observers.  And, interestingly, chicory stalks can produce a few flowers on inch-long stubs in regularly mowed roadsides.
     Red clover is a kind of hay that escaped from adjoining fields.  This plant has lush, deep-green foliage and pink blooms that are attractive along with chicory flowers.  This plant copes with regular mowing by quickly growing back and producing new blossoms.  Cottontail rabbits, wood chucks and white-tailed deer like to nibble clover leaves and blooms.
     Common milkweeds have dusty-pink blooms that have a sweet scent.  This important, native plant is host to a variety of insects that eat parts of it, including monarch butterfly caterpillars, milkweed tussock larvae, aphids, red and black-spotted milkweed beetle larvae, greater milkweed bugs and their larvae and lesser milkweed bugs and their young.  The caterpillars of both kinds eat milkweed leaves, aphids suck its sap, and both types of milkweed bugs eat the seeds of milkweeds in their pods.
     Canada thistles stand up to five feet tall and form patches of themselves.  They each have several prickly leaves that defend the plant from browsing animals and several lavender-pink blossoms that
also have a sweet fragrance.  This species, however, is invasive and many people try to eliminate it.  But I think it, and the other plants in this grouping, is here in America to stay, in spite of our efforts.
     Many kinds of butterflies, bees and other insects visit the flowers of these plants to sip their sugary nectar.  These roadside blossoms, as long as they aren't mowed off, are sometimes the only ones available to those insects in farmland where most every acre is cultivated to an inch of its life, as we say.  And many of the butterfly species are as beautiful to experience along rural roads as anywhere.  
     Certain kinds of spiders, especially the large, black and yellow garden spiders in their big, circular webs, live among roadside vegetation.  Those spiders, of course, feed on the other invertebrates they catch in their webs.            
     These adaptable and abundant country road flowers and the invertebrates that visit them are cheering and interesting.  And they are sources of food to insects and other creatures that may not have other sources of nutrition. 

Barn-Nesting Birds in Summer Fields

     Barn swallows, house sparrows, rock pigeons and European starlings are abundant in Pennsylvania croplands from the end of June through the rest of summer.  These species are aliens to North America, except the swallows. 
     All four of those kinds of birds raised broods of young in barns and other buildings in farmland and now the young and older birds alike are getting food from surrounding fields, making that farmland the more interesting.  But these bird species rely on different foods in different parts of the croplands, reducing competition for it among themselves.
     Groups of the beautiful, purple and orange barn swallows catch small, pesky insects in mid-air over croplands.  The swallows zip along and weave among each other without collision, being quite   entertaining to human observers. 
     Between feeding forays, however, the barn swallows line up on the twigs of trees, corn stalks, roadside wires and the roads themselves to rest and preen their feathers.  They sit on the roads as they traditionally have done on beaches and mud flats, but lift off the road to avoid vehicles. But once in a while, one gets killed on a road.     
     Flocks of European house sparrows and their youngsters of the year perch in ripe, but not yet mowed, grain fields to feed on the grain on the seed heads at the tops of the stalks.  These plain, little birds are light enough in weight to stand on the stalks while eating.  Obviously, the swallows and sparrows don't compete for food. 
     House sparrows also perch on corn stalks between feeding, and they gather on roadsides to ingest tiny bits of stones to help grind the seeds in their crops and stomachs.  But when a vehicle approaches, they quickly fly into the corn and grain fields for refuge.
     Pairs and gatherings of rock pigeons, and their relatives the mourning doves, feed on grain in the fields, but only after the grain crop has been harvested by machinery.  These birds are too heavy to perch on the stems, so they are obliged to consume grain off the ground after the harvest.  Pigeons and doves also ingest little stones from the sides of country roads to crush the seeds in their crops and stomachs.         
     Groups of European starlings, and American robins and purple grackles, move about on harvested grain fields to pick up invertebrates on the ground that were exposed by the machinery removing the tall vegetation.  Here again, one can see that the starlings don't compete with the other types of birds in this grouping for food.
     Though barn swallows, house sparrows, pigeons and starlings rear offspring in Pennsylvania barns, flocks of them feed in surrounding fields without rivalry for food among them.  And those common, everyday birds make agricultural areas the more interesting to us human observers.  

Some Caterpillar Foods

     There are many kinds of caterpillars, both of moths and butterflies, in eastern North America and they all feed on certain kinds of vegetation.  But some species consume the foliage of one or a few specific types of plants.  Those caterpillars are too well adapted to specific vegetation for food.  It's easier, I suppose, for female moths and butterflies to lay eggs on just a few kinds of plants, but overspecialization could lead to those insects' demise.  Those kinds of moths or butterflies could become extinct if their larval food plants do, and if those insects don't adapt to other types of foods.  
     Tent caterpillars are moth larvae that feed on wild cherry leaves during May.  They live in tents of webbing they make themselves and venture out, mostly at night, to feed.  By the end of May they pupate in the soil and emerge a few weeks later as small moths ready to reproduce.
     The green larvae of I O moths also consume cherry tree foliage during summer.  The adult moth of this species has a large, fake "eye" on each hind wing that makes those wings together look like the alarming face of an owl, which scares off would-be predators.   
     Rosy maple moth caterpillars, as their name implies, eat the leaves of red and silver maple trees.  The lovely moth of this species has pink on its wings.
     Locust under wing moths have gray front wings that camouflage them on tree bark where they rest during the day.  Their back wings, however, are black and red, which could startle birds when those wings are suddenly exposed.  The caterpillars of this moth eat only the foliage of black locust trees.  
     The larvae of milkweed tiger moths, which are furry for their protection against predation, eat only milkweed leaves.  These caterpillars are attractive, however, with their many tufts of burnt-orange, black and white hairs all over. 
     Hickory-horned devils, the caterpillars of regal moths, are frightening to people as well as to birds and other critters.  They are about six inches long, mostly green and have several long, poison-filled spines of different colors on their bodies that would give any predator a nasty mouthful.  This larvae only eats the foliage of hickory and walnut trees. 
     Caterpillars of hackberry and snout butterflies consume only the leaves of hackberry trees.  Snout butterflies have what looks like a tiny nose in the front of their faces.
     Female red admiral butterflies lay their eggs mostly on stinging nettle plants early in May.  Stinging nettle is also called burn hazel, which stings or burns our skin a bit when we touch it, yet it is a food of those caterpillars.  I wonder how they do it. 
     By the end of May the mostly gray red admiral larvae ate many of the leaves of each plant and are ready to pupate in the ground.  A few weeks later they emerge as beautiful, red and chocolate butterflies ready to breed.   
     The tiny pearl crescent larvae feed exclusively on aster leaves and stems.  The small butterflies of this species have a one inch wing spread and are mostly a lovely orange and brown on their wings.  Pearly crescents are one of the last butterflies to be seen in October, still feeding on nectar in aster blossoms. 
     The swallowtail family of butterflies is noted for the larvae of each species eating only one or two kinds of plants.  Zebra swallowtail caterpillars, for example, consume only the foliage of paw paw trees.  The range of zebra swallowtails is naturally restricted to the range of paw paws.
     Larvae of spicebush swallowtails eat only spicebush and sassafras foliage.  These caterpillars have a couple other interesting things about them.  They roll up the leaf they are eating with silk they make themselves so they can hide in it while they ingest it.  These mostly green caterpillars also have a fake eye on each side of the front part of their bodies that make them look like a snake or some other more fearsome creature.  Those fake eyes are so good that when I look deep into one of them, I get the eerie feeling the eye is looking back at me, even when I know the eye is a fraud.
     Black swallowtail larvae eat parsley, carrot and related foliage.  One can have these caterpillars in their yard simply by planting parsley.  They are pretty with green, yellow and black lines over the top of the body from front to back.
     Last, but not least, are monarch larvae.  They only eat leaves from members of the milkweed family.  Plant milkweeds if you want them in your yard.  Monarch caterpillars are attractive, with black, white and yellow stripes from flank to flank over the tops of their bodies. 
     But monarch butterfly migrations are the most intriguing part of their life cycle.  Adult monarchs leave certain forests on mountains in Mexico where they wintered early in March and push north.  Somewhere in the United States those monarchs breed, lay eggs and die.  The next generation continues north, breeds and dies.  But the fourth generation of monarch caterpillars of that same year pupate in September and do not mate or lay eggs.  They migrate southwest to those same forests on the same mountains in Mexico their great grandparents left that spring.  How do those butterflies know the way?  And how do they know they arrived in the right forests when they were never there before?  No one knows.  It is one of those great miracles of life on Earth.  And all that from lowly caterpillars eating milkweed leaves.
     Caterpillars are lovely, interesting creatures that feed on specific plants.  Perhaps their eating only certain kinds of vegetation lessens competition among them for food.  But it is dangerous to have only one or two means of support.                            

A Pole, a Pigeon and a Peregrine

     On the afternoon of June 24, 2015, I was driving through farmland between Ephrata and New Holland in Pennsylvania.  I saw a few birds on power lines along the road and stopped to identify them with 16 power binoculars.  There were two male red-winged blackbirds singing from the wires, several mourning doves on other wires farther away, and a few each of American robins and purple grackles still farther off.  But a brown and white lump on top of a wooden pole supporting those wires caught my eye.  I looked at that bump and discovered it was a large hawk of some kind eating a dead rock pigeon it no doubt killed and had taken there to ingest.
     The pigeon, one of many in Lancaster County's cropland, was lying belly-up under the hawk on the pole.  The pigeon's wings flopped off the edge of the pole and, sometimes, feathers floated away on the wind.  The raptor was tearing off chunks of meat and insides from the dead bird.  It must have been feeding for a while before I got there because its crop was bulging full of pigeon meat.  
     During the time the hawk was feeding I was trying to identify it.  It was large, dark-brown on its back and upper wings, but had a lighter chest.  I figured it was either a red-tail, Cooper's hawk or an immature peregrine falcon.  The raptor seemed slim so that ruled out a red-tail, which are bulkier.  And when the bird turned its head from side to side to watch for possible danger, I could see the dark face markings that indicated peregrine.  So I identified the hawk as an immature female peregrine falcon.  Female raptors are larger than their mates.    
     Meanwhile, the falcon finished her meal and I knew she would soon fly away.  So I watched and waited for her flight.  Soon she left her perch and flew toward me still seated in my parked car.  Suddenly she veered to the right and I could better see her shape, size and flight pattern.  She was a peregrine in Lancaster County cropland.  She was a bit of wildness in a human-made, human-dominated habitat where pigeons and other birds abound.
     Peregrine falcons, like bald eagles and ospreys, are making a come-back in this local area, and throughout much of the United States.  We will being seeing more of these exciting raptors all the time, if that wonderful trend continues.    

Interesting Neighborhood Insects

     As across much of the world, there's a lot of insects in our neighborhood in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during summer months and into early autumn.  All insects are intriguing, even otherworldly, but some kinds more so than others.  They make our neighborhood interesting. 
     Every summer we experience a few kinds of insects in abundance on our lawn.  Hundreds of male fireflies flash their cold, fairy lanterns at dusk and into the night from mid-June until well into July, with a peak of courtship flashing around the beginning of July.  Dozens of female worker honey bees visit the white clover flowers in our lawn to collect nectar and pollen.  And many annual cicada males whine in the trees as part of their courtship during August days and evenings.  August evenings wouldn't be complete without the shrill, pulsing trills of male cicadas.
     And we have several other kinds of insects in our neighborhood that make life a bit more interesting.  A few kinds of bees add intrigue.  A few years ago we were removing a wooden, enclosed bench from a small garden.  Under it was a field mouse nest of grass that was being used by a small group of bumble bees.  A few workers and larvae were in the nest at the time.  I covered the nest with a board, but the bees abandoned their disturbed home.
     We used to get female carpenter bees under an old, wooden porch railing.  Those bees chewed round holes the diameter of their bodies deep into the decaying wood under the rails.  There they deposited a ball of nectar and pollen, laid an egg on top of it, and sealed off he entrance.  Each larvae ate its ball of provisions, pupated in the hole and later emerged as a mature bee.
     Every summer I find several round holes in the soft, thin leaves of our red bud tree.  Apparently, we have one or more leaf cutter bees here.  Females of this kind of bee raise young in the hollow stems of roses and other species of shrubbery.  They use the rounded bits of leaf they cut to line each nest in the hollows and to seal each cell from the others.  The larva in each compartment eats its ball of nectar and pollen, pupates and emerges as an adult bee.
     And on our deck just this summer, 2015, I've noticed up to 16 female worker honey bees at once in a flower pot filled with enhanced potting mulch that is soaking wet from recent rains.  Apparently, the bees are there to get water and minerals from the mulch.  It's interesting to see their constant comings  and goings.
     Some summers I plant parsley that female black swallowtail butterflies lay eggs on.  The resulting beautiful larvae eat the parsley down to the ground.  Then they pupate and later come out as adult butterflies ready to breed and spawn.  Meanwhile, the parsley grows new leaves. 
     A few times on September evenings over the years, several migrant monarch butterflies have landed for the night on our tall Norway spruces.  But the next morning they are again fluttering southwest toward their winter home in certain mountains in Mexico.  The miracle of the monarchs is that these great grandchildren of monarchs that left those mountains in March of that year go to the same groves of trees on the same mountains their great grandparents came from, though they never were there before.  How do they know where to go and where to end their migrations.  We don't know.  It's one of the great miracles of life on Earth.
     We get a couple of interesting moths in our yard every summer.  I've seen a few striking white-lined sphinx moths in shrubbery on our lawn.  And I saw one crawl from a woodpile in the yard where it probably pupated.  Sphinx moths are small with swept-back wings for fast flight.  And  this species does have several white lines on its wings.
     The lovely and appealing hummingbird moths visit flowers on our lawn to sip nectar.  This type of moth is a paradox.  It resembles a large bee, hovers at blossoms like a hummingbird and is a daytime moth.
     A few times over the years at home, I've seen clusters of several white caterpillars on our red-twig dogwood bushes.  But I was always stumped trying to identify them.  Then one day, by accident, I realized these were not caterpillars at all, but rather the larvae of common sawflies.  But they looked like caterpillars, ate dogwood leaves and crawled off to pupate in the soil.
     We have a couple kinds of interesting flies on our lawn.  One is the diminutive, iridescent and attractive long-legged flies that prey on tiny insects on foliage.  The other is several iridescent green bottle flies that pile on dog droppings like turtles sunning on a log.  They get nutrition form those droppings, but are also vulnerable to the predations of yellow jackets, which is a kind of predatory hornet. Adult yellow jackets sip nectar from flowers, but feed paralyzed insects to their larvae in their underground, paper nests; paper they make themselves from dead wood.   
     We have two major insect predators on our lawn- hanging flies and praying mantises.  Hanging flies are large and yellow, hang by one foot from a leaf and use their other legs to snare passing insects from the air.  Mantises walk over foliage and stalk their victims.  They grab prey with their large, "toothed" front legs.
     We've had a few insects on our pussy willow bushes over the years.  A couple years several giant willow aphids on the woody stems of our pussy willow bushes.  They are camouflaged there while sucking sap from the tender bark.  Some years several pretty, red and black-spotted lady bug beetles and their larvae live on our pussy willow stems where they catch and eat smaller kinds of aphids and other tiny invertebrates.  And at some point during late July and into August every year, several annual cicada grubs emerge from the ground at night and climb those pussy willows, and other shrubbery, to come out of those larval shells as adult insects with wings.  The next day the adult cicadas fly away, leaving their empty, larval shells on the stems.
     One year, there was a colony of female cicada killers in our neighborhood.  Cicada killers, which are a kind of wasp, prefer bare ground in clay soil to create their underground nurseries, and that is where that neighborhood colony had theirs.  I could see cicada killers bringing in paralyzed cicadas and walking those victims down into their burrows.  There they laid an egg on each cicada for the wasp larva to eat. 
     By the end of July and through August and September, the green and camouflaged snowy tree crickets and other kinds of tree crickets chant or trill, according to the species, each evening and into the night.  Those are males fiddling with their wings to entice females of their respective species to them for mating.  That wonderful fiddling is a major part of late summer and autumn. 
     Check your own neighborhood for interesting insects.  There's probably more of them out there than you suspect.             

Farmland Deer

     Here in southeastern Pennsylvania, most of us think of white-tailed deer to be forest animals.  And, indeed, that is where most white-tails shelter during the day because woodlands are the only cover available to them, particularly in winter when croplands are harvested to the ground.  But most deer in this area feed in farmland the year around, as well as in woods.  Those are deer the majority of local people most often experience.   
     White-tailed deer are not animals of the deep woods.  Rather, they are creatures of the forest edge where they can hide in dense thickets of shrubbery and vines and feed in clearings under the cover of darkness.  And because they are adaptable, they take advantage of farmland to get much of their food.  Combinations of woods and fields are a great plus for white-tailed deer.  And well-fed does usually have twin fawns every year, which bolsters the deer population.
     A few days before this writing, I saw two white-tails walking through a soybean field at dusk one evening during the middle of June.  They were one of each gender.  They crossed the country road I was on in front of me and bounded through a field of tall rye.  Only their heads were visible in the rye.
     Another time, in summer, I saw a group of five deer come out of a small patch of trees and into an overgrown field that was surrounded by expressways and shopping centers.  It appeared those white-tails could only get out of that field by risking their lives in traffic.
     Another summer evening, I saw two deer step out of a field of tall corn and start to graze on alfalfa adjacent to the cornfield.  Those fields were nearly a mile away from any woods, so I thought they spent the day in the cornfield while waiting to venture into the alfalfa.
     I've also seen two does and four fawns consuming soybeans in a field one late afternoon toward the end of August.  These deer probably lived in the forest nearby.
     Several white-tails, young and old alike, emerge from the woods in Lancaster County Central Park in Lancaster County during summer to ingest the leaves and ears of corn.  Some of the park patrons notice those deer.
     I've often experienced a few white-tails in fields during daylight hours.  Some of them are browsing on vegetation.  But others are does that have fawns lying down and hiding in the dense vegetation of alfalfa and clover fields.  The mothers enter the fields to nurse their young.      
     During winter, groups of deer come out of the woods at dusk to feed on waste corn lying in harvested fields and the green sprouts of winter rye.  Those deer are most visible in moonlight, or when snow is on the ground, or both.  Scores of white-tails at once in a field are thrilling to see in those winter evening conditions.
     Though most white-tailed deer do bed down for the day in woodlands in this area, many of them feed in fields where they are more visible to us.  They are a large, wild animal that is thrilling to see here in overly-civilized southeastern Pennsylvania.       
         

Four Bucks

     On the evening of June 17, 2015, I was cruising around a section of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland to experience the lovely, green scenery and whatever wildlife was visible.  I stopped at a two-acre clearing in a peninsula of woodland jutting out of the wooded Welsh Mountains and into that cropland to see what critters were active.  I stayed in my car so as to not scare wildlife away with my presence.  From my car, I saw a few kinds of birds and a couple of cottontail rabbits eating grass in that clearing.  Then, suddenly, I saw a doe white-tailed deer in the opening right by the woods, and about 130 yards from my car.  Through16 power binoculars I could see that she, too, was nibbling grass and other plants, seemingly without a care in the world.  She probably had one or two fawns hidden among ferns and other vegetation on the forest floor.
     After several minutes, the doe disappeared back into the woods.  Then about ten minutes later, it looked like she was back in the same spot in the clearing with three associates.  I looked at the deer with my binoculars and saw that these four were bucks with half-grown antlers in velvet.  Being in velvet means that the antlers had blood in them and wrapped in skin and hair.  The bucks may have taken a clue from the at ease doe that all was well before entering the clearing.  The bucks nibbled vegetation, but kept a wary eye on my car, appeared nervous all the while and would almost retreat back into the woods at times.  Finally one male dashed into the woods with his tail erect as a warning of potential danger and all his companions followed after him and gone. 
     Many white-tails live in this county, but it is still unusual, and thrilling, to see four bucks together in the middle of summer.  I have seen bucks together like this before, but only occasionally.  I see does a lot more than bucks.     
     Anybody could do what I did that evening.  Just get outside and look for wildlife in places where they probably would be.

Deer Flies

     It's often uncomfortable to walk in bottomland, deciduous woods during June because of biting female deer flies.  I've been bitten many times during that month over the years.  Those flies circle their victims, eventually land on them and immediately bite before the victims are aware of the flies' presence.  To avoid the bites of these flies, and other kinds of insects, one should wear long-sleeve shirts, long pants and insect repellent when in the woods in June. 
     The one-half-inch deer flies are biting flies that live in bottomland, deciduous woods near streams, creeks or swamps in the United States.  These stealthy, persistent flies deliver painful bites to people, deer and other, larger mammals.  Both genders sip flower nectar and plant juices, but females also risk their lives to suck blood to get protein to develop clutches of eggs.
     Female deer flies lay shiny, black eggs in clusters on emergent plants just above the water.  The pale-yellow, worm-like larvae hatch and drop into the shallow water where they ingest tiny, aquatic insects.  Fully grown larvae pupate in mud at the water's edge and emerge the next June as adults.
     Deer flies are attractive in appearance, in spite of their annoying, painful ways.  Their bodies are black with yellow-green markings on their thoraxes and abdomens.  Their eyes are green or gold with varying patterns in them.  And their clear wings have dark patterns.
     Deer flies, like all life, are part of several food chains.  They are food for a variety of woodland birds and other animals.  Flycatchers, which are a family of small, fly-catching birds, including wood pewees, great crested flycatchers, eastern phoebes and others, eat many deer flies.  Black-winged damselflies, frogs and toads, bats and other creatures also consume them, keeping their numbers down.
     Deer flies are attractive, but annoying, insects in wet woods in June.  They can be pests to people, but we can rejoice in the fact that many are eaten by several other types of woodland critters.         

Creek Shallows and Flats

     On June 16, 2015, I went to the deciduous woods along Hammer Creek in northern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to see nesting woodland birds.  Unfortunately, I was only there from about 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, a poor time of day to be looking for birds I admit.  I saw some bird species, but I became more interested in a 20 yard long strip of narrow mud flat and shallow water along the edge of that clear-water creek in the woods because of the small critters I saw along it.
     The flats had a few small, living grasses and dead twigs on them and the shallow water had a thick growth of anacharis, a kind of aquatic plant.  Those two tiny habitats were under a canopy of tall trees, shrubbery and other kinds of plants, including skunk cabbage and jewelweed.
     Several striking male black-winged damselflies were the first small creatures I noticed on the flats and the water vegetation in the shallows.  One second they were metallic blue and the next they were iridescent green as the sunlight bounced off them as they moved about.  When I looked at them with 16 power binoculars, I also saw a few female black-wings with the tips of their abdomens in the water among the aquatic plants.  Those females were spawning scores of eggs, while a male or two seemingly were guarding each one of them.  When the larvae hatch, they will slip under stones, limbs and other objects on the bottom of the stream and feed on tiny, water insects until those young damselflies change to adults in about a year and emerge into the air to reproduce.
     Tiny black-nosed dace fry swarmed in inch-deep water between the aquatic vegetation and the mud flats.  The parents of these little minnows spawned eggs among those water plants in the shallows toward the end of May.  The young fish recently hatched and made their way to the inch-deep water behind the water vegetation for their own safety from larger fish in the creek.  However, some of those juvenile dace could fall prey to young northern water snakes and other, smaller, predators that lurk in the waterway.      
     Interestingly, I could see those tiny fish only when the sun was shining.  Actually, I could see the shadows of the fish on the brown-mud bottom rather than the brown, little critters themselves.  When the sun was curtained by clouds, the fish disappeared before my eyes.    
     Several flies of some kind walked about on the mud of the mud flat along this creek in the woods.  They probably were ingesting moisture and nutrients from the mud.  And they would be prey for the damselflies, and maybe a few kinds of birds, as well.   
     A few small butterflies of a couple different kinds were on the flats as well.  They were taking in moisture and minerals from the mud, minerals they can't get from flower nectar. 
     I heard a couple of romantic male green frogs groaning and gulping along the shore of the creek.  They would be sitting on the flats or in the shallows waiting for mates to spawn with, and the flies and other invertebrates to go by close enough that they could grab those critters with their long, frog tongues.  Some of the frogs, in turn, could be food for night-prowling raccoons and mink.
     And once that day I saw a Louisiana waterthrush, a kind of small bird that patrols the shores of woodland waterways for invertebrates, such as those flies on the flats, to eat and feed their young.  And, as is the habit of this species, the waterthrush danced and bobbed as it walked, as if listening to music from tiny earphones.      
     All these creatures exist, in part, because of thin mud flats and small shallows of water along a waterway's banks.  Like beauty, life is where you find it. 
    

Indigos and Blue Grosbeaks

     Over many years, I have heard and seen many male indigo buntings singing from a tree top or a roadside wire in farmland in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere.  And more recently, I have experienced male blue grosbeaks on wires in overgrown habitats of this same area.  I always enjoy the males' lovely songs and marvel at their handsome feathering.  The songs of indigos, I think,  are particularly touching.  I remember, as a boy, sitting at church camp vespers on a farmland hilltop on sunny summer evenings and paying more attention to the intrigue of distant wooded hills and the melancholy singing of a nearby male indigo than I did to the service I was supposed to be listening to.  That bird sang until the sun sank behind the mountains.    
     Indigo buntings and blue grosbeaks are bird species that nest in overgrown thickets in hedgerows, woodland edges and roadsides in farmland here in southeastern Pennsylvania, and through much of the United States.  These species have much in common, including both being members of the Fringillidae (seed-eating) family, which includes sparrows, finches, buntings and grosbeaks.  Male indigos and blue grosbeaks are deep-blue all over.  Females of both types, however, are brown, which camouflages them around their nests.  Both kinds have thick beaks they use to crack open seeds.  And both raise young in open nests in shrubbery in weedy habitats, and sing beautifully high in trees or bushes, and on roadside wires.  But why are these species so similar in appearance, habits and habitats?  Are they closely related, did the habitat they share shape them, or both?  Blue grosbeaks are sometimes called "large buntings".
     Indigos nest in the eastern United States and winter in Central America.  They are sparrow-sized, slim and often called "blue canaries" because the males are blue.  Males' songs are long, varied and with twice-repeated notes in each series of notes that are enjoyable to hear.  Indigos often sing during the heat of mid-day when most other bird species, except red-eyed vireos in the woods, are silent.       
     Blue grosbeaks raise young in the southern United States from coast to coast, but are slowly pushing north.  They have been nesting here in southeastern Pennsylvania for about 40 years.  They, too, winter in Central America. 
     Blue grosbeaks are much like indigos, but chunkier and half again as big.  And both genders of this species have two chestnut bars on each wing.  Males sing rich, warbling songs that can be long at times, but enjoyable to listen to. 
     Indigo buntings and blue grosbeaks are beautiful, similar birds with pretty songs.  But, for the most part, only the males are seen when singing from lofty, exposed perches.  Females and young stick to the protective cover they favor.  As to why they are so similar, I don't know.  But I suspect their shared habitat made them the way they are. 
    
          

Two Alien Thistles

     Two kinds of thistles, nodding and Canada, commonly bloom in June in pastures and abandoned fields, and along raodsides in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as elsewhere in North America.  Nodding thistles live  from the St.Lawrence River to Maryland and Canada thistles can be found throughout much of the United States.  Both these species, however, are originally from Europe.
     Though these thistles have attractive flowers and benefit certain species of wildlife, most people don't like them because they are invasive.  Canada thistles really spread, but the nodding not as much.
     Nodding thistles can grow up to four feet tall and each plant develops two or three strikingly hot-pink blossoms, each of which is about an inch and a half across and quite decorative.  Those large, heavy blooms nod in the wind, hence the plant's name.  This type of thistle also has spiny leaves that protect the species from foraging animals, and cause people pain when those persons touch that foliage.
     Canada thistles stand up to five feet tall, have a few stems on each plant and several blossoms clustered at the top of each stem.  Each bloom is about a half inch across, has a sweet scent and is pale-lilac in color.  Those flowers also attract many insects of several kinds; insects that are interested in sipping the flowers' sugary nectar, pollinating them in the process.  This species also produces dense stands of itself that offers cover for small wildlife.  And its soft, light-brown fluff, that is designed to carry the seeds away on the wind, which would spread the species, floats on the wind when birds harvest the seeds from that down.  But Canada thistles, like most kinds of life, reproduce far more than is necessary, which makes up for losses. 
     American goldfinches, house finches, song sparrows and other kinds of seed-eating birds, and mice, ingest thistle seeds in July and later, adding more beauty and interest to the plants and the habitats that harbor them.  Goldfinches actually don't even nest until July so they can line their beautiful, dainty nurseries with thistle down and feed predigested thistle seeds to their young.
     Though alien and invasive in North America, these thistle flowers are pretty to see, and those blooms and their seeds benefit wildlife.  Sometimes it's difficult to decide whether to control these thistle species or simply enjoy them.  But for certain, they are here in North America to stay.              

Similarly-sized Farmland Birds

     Four kinds of attractive, interesting medium-sized birds that nest in farmland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in eastern North America, include eastern kingbirds, eastern bluebirds, orchard orioles and cedar waxwings.  These species of birds are about the same size, six inches on average, and feed on invertebrates during their summer nesting seasons.  But they nest and feed in different niches, from the fields themselves, to overgrown meadows to the thin, riparian woods along both sides of waterways in that human-made, cropland environment.  Their using a diversity of niches reduces competition for space and food among themselves.
     Eastern kingbirds are dark on top and white below, with a small red streak on its crown.  They build open, grassy nests in lone trees in the open fields of farmland.  They perch on the twigs of trees, fences and roadside wires to watch for passing flying insects.  When an insect buzzes by, a kingbird will swing out on rapidly and shallow beating wings too grab that victim in its beak.  Then it will return t its roost or another one to swallow its prey or feed it to its young in their nursery.  Kingbirds winter in Central America and arrive here ready to nest early in May.
     Male eastern bluebirds are blue on top, rusty on their chests and white on their bellies.  Females are mostly light gray with some blue feathers in their wings and tails.  This species nests in abandoned woodpecker holes and other tree cavities, and boxes erected especially for them in weedy, shrubby pastures in farmland.
     Bluebirds perch on twigs, fences and wires to watch for invertebrates in the air and on the ground.  When prey is spotted they flit out, capture it in their beaks and fly back to a resting spot to eat their victim, or feed it to their youngsters in their nest box.  Some bluebirds winter here when they consume a variety of berries.  And several of them will huddle together in a tree hollow or bird house to share body heat through a winter's night. 
     Male orchard orioles are black and burnt-orange, females are olive-yellow and one-year-old males resemble females, except they have black bibs under their beaks.  This type of oriole raises offspring in open, grassy cradles in small trees in orchards, parks and tree-studded meadows.  They search through trees, shrubbery and grass for invertebrates to eat and feed to their babies.  Sometimes they can be spotted perched on tree twigs.  This species spends northern winters in Central and South America. 
     Cedar waxwing genders are similar in appearance.  They are light-brown all over with a black streak through each eye, a yellow tip to their tails, and red, waxy secretions on the secondary feathers on their wings.  They build open platforms of twigs and grass on twigs of trees along a cropland waterway.  They fly out to snare insects on the wing, often over the stream or creek they are nesting near.  And they eat many berries when they ripen.  They feed both those foods to their young in the nest.   
     Many waxwings winter here, in groups of a dozen to more than a hundred individuals.  They eat berries in winter, quickly stripping trees and bushes clean of their fruits, then moving on to find more berries to eat.     
     These attractive, similar-sized birds adapted well to our agricultural environment.  But each species has its own niche, which reduces rivalry for space and food.  And these birds are enjoyable to experience in their farmland habitat during the summer. 

Skunk Cabbage and Red-wings

     Readers who know about nature would think that skunk cabbage and red-winged blackbirds should not be lumped together as fellow inhabitants of certain habitats.  Skunk cabbage is a large plant that traditionally grows in patches of itself on the wet or moist, shaded floors of bottom land woods.  And red-winged blackbirds nest in stands of cattails, phragmites and reed canary-grass in the bottom lands of open, sunny meadows.  And yet, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in North America, skunk cabbage and red-wings are common associates.  How can that be?
     In the days of American Indians in this county, skunk cabbage grew in shaded, damp floors of bottom land forests.  But many of those forests were cut down by European colonists to create farmland, including pastures with small waterways where cows and horses could graze on grass and drink.  Though the shade from the tree canopy was removed, the soil was still moist to wet and the skunk cabbage roots in the cut-away woods adjusted to the increase in sunlight and survived where they always had been, but now in a sunny meadow.
     Meanwhile, and over time, seeds and runners of cattails, phragmites and canary-grass, that always have been adapted to sunlight, moved into those open habitats and thrived among the original skunk cabbages still there and growing every spring and summer.  Red-winged blackbirds are attracted to stands of those tall, reedy, or grass, plants to nest.
     Each female red-wing builds a grass nursery on a few to several stems of each of those plants, a foot or more above the damp soil or inches-deep water.  There she lays her eggs, and feeds her young, along with her mate.
     So that is why today skunk cabbage and red-wings live in the same, human-made habitats.  Our works have changed other environments, causing changes in the habitats and habits of other kinds of critters as well.           

Blooming Clovers

     Clovers are currently blooming in the Middle Atlantic States, as elsewhere in North America.  Seven common species in the Mid-Atlantic States include white clovers, red clovers, white sweet clovers, yellow sweet clovers, hop clovers, smaller hop clovers and least hop clovers, all of which are alien plants from Eurasia.
     All these clover species begin to blossom toward the end of May and continue to flower through much of the summer.  They are all legumes in the pea family.  Leguminous plants take nitrogen from the air and fix it in the soil, enriching it.  And clovers provide food for a variety of animals, both wild and domestic.
     White clover, with its white flowers, is the most familiar species of its family in North America.  It is abundant on many mowed lawns and roadsides, making some lawns appear white in summer, and more interesting.  This type of clover is commonly visited by honey bees, bumble bees, small butterflies and other kinds of insects that sip nectar from its sweet-smelling flowers.  Chemicals in the stomachs of the bees turn that sugary nectar to honey that the bees use to feed their larvae.  Also, adult worker honey bees sustain themselves through winter by eating honey they made the summer before.     
     White clover is well adapted to regularly-mowed, short-grass lawns.  It produces flowers on stems short enough that they don't get cut off by lawn mowers.  But if blossoms are mowed off, the plants grow new blooms.  In this way, white clover can't be beat.  There are blooms almost no matter what happens to the plants.  And the flowers provide nectar for insects through summer, making lawns and roadsides more interesting. 
     Red clover is food for many kinds of animals.  It is a kind of hay that is periodically cut and baled for cows and horses when they are confined to barns in winter.  White-tailed deer, wood chucks and cottontail rabbits also munch the foliage and blossoms of this clover in the fields.  And red clover has hot-pink blossoms that are attractive to many kinds of butterflies, bees and other types of insects that sip nectar from those blooms. 
     Red clover is also common and decorative along roadsides.  There it might get cut occasionally, but not as often as in hay fields.  And there, too, the above-mentioned wild animals ingest its leaves and nectar.
     White sweet clover and yellow sweet clover plants are indistinguishable from each other, except for the color of their flowers.  These clovers grow along roadsides and in abandoned fields and can stand up to five feet tall.  Both species have many attractive, white or yellow, depending upon the kind, small blooms along the upper parts of their stems, which also attract bees and other kinds of insects.
     The three types of hop clovers are small and flat to the ground.  Nestled among other kinds of prostate plants hugging the soil, each species has a few clusters of tiny, yellow blooms on each plant.  The least hops have the smallest flowers, smaller hops have slightly bigger ones and hop clovers have the largest blossoms of this grouping.    
     Enjoy the beauties of clovers this summer.  They are everywhere, except in deep forests.  And they provide food for a variety of animals, both wild and domestic. 
     
       

A Summer Dusk

     On the evening of June 6, 2015, we had a fire in our back yard just for the beauty and enjoyment of the fire and the sunny, summer evening.  The temperature was pleasant, the gentle wind was from the north and there was not a cloud in the sky.  White clover on our lawn, a thick vine of honeysuckle draped over a neighbor's fence and a rose bush with red roses in our yard were all blooming.  A gray catbird, an American robin, a couple of northern cardinals and a few mourning does were singing, while up to a half dozen chimney swifts and a couple of barn swallows careened  swiftly across the sky after flying insects. 
     About 8:20 pm, I began to watch for evening critters in our neighborhood.  Th sun was setting at the time, but there still was sunlight in the tops of the trees.  For the next hour I kept track of what was happening around the neighborhood as the fire continued to crackle and smoke a bit, and sunshine gradually gave way to near darkness. 
     During that whole evening, the swifts and swallows continued to flash and swirl overhead in their endless pursuit of flying insects until the sky was almost dark.  Meanwhile the catbird, a cardinal and a robin continued to sing nearly until nightfall.  The catbird, as always sang so quietly and gently that I imagined he was talking to himself. 
     Soon after sunset, about 8:45, a handful of male fireflies started flashing their cold lights over the short grass.  There will be many more each evening through June, with a peak of abundance of fireflies around the first of July.       
     And soon after sunset, three little brown bats suddenly appeared over our lawn, while two cottontail rabbits came out of hiding and started nibbling grass and white clover.  The bats fluttered, swirled and dove, here and there, among the tree tops after flying insects.  Like the swifts, swallows and lightning bugs, the bats and rabbits were entertaining in their own time.
     As light faded from the sky, I noticed the sky was still faintly lit by sunlight in the northwest at 9:30, as it always is on a clear day at this time of year.  The northern hemisphere is facing the sun now and the sun never "sets" above the Arctic circle during the northern summer.     
     As the sky got darker after 9:30, the planet Venus and a few stars were visible in the sky.  Without the moon, Venus was the brightest object in the sky.
     This was one of many lovely summer evenings we hope to experience.  Each will be different, but each will be beautiful, intriguing and inspiring.  

Lady's-slippers and Mountain Laurel

     Pink lady's-slippers and mountain laurel bloom beautifully in rock-floored woodlands during the end of May and into June in southeastern Pennsylvania.  These two native species of lovely vegetation are often associates of each other, the slippers on the dead-leaf, forest floor and the laurel in the shrub layer.  And both these plants are protected by law.  The lady's-slippers today are not common from flower picking and plant digging in the past. 
     Pink lady's-slippers are members of the orchid family.  Each plant grows up to a foot tall, has two oval, basal leaves and one, deep-pink bloom above the leaves.  Each blossom is large and showy, heavily-veined and has a deeply-cleft pouch.  The whole flower does resemble a lady's slipper or an Indian moccasin, which is its other name.
     Pink lady's-slippers grow singly on forest floors or in little, scattered colonies.  They are not everywhere, and uncommon where they do grow, making them a rare treasure when found among the other vegetation of forest floors.
     Mountain laurel shrubs grow up to fifteen feet tall and are quite noticeable in the woods in June during their peak of blooming, even along certain roadsides in woodlands.  Mountain laurel is Pennsylvania's state flower, which is appropriate because, even today, much of the state is wooded.  
     Mountain laurels have evergreen leaves that are shiny and leathery.  Its limbs are gnarled as if tortured as they grew.  But those twisted branches add to the rustic beauty of this woodland shrub.
The pale-pink blooms of mountain laurels are in clusters above clumps of foliage on each woody stem.  Each flower is a half-inch across and cup-shaped.  But I think the groups of flower buds are prettier and more interesting than the blossoms themselves.  Those raised buds are strongly ribbed, and look much like little icing decorations on icing of cakes.                      
     Mountain laurel shrubs often form thickets of themselves in the woods and along certain roads in the woodlands.  And, interestingly, when people build homes in the woods, many of them recognize the beauties of these laurels and allow them to remain in their patches of growth. 
     Pink lady's-slippers and mountain laurels are blooming right now in Pennsylvania's woods.  The laurels' flowers can be admired simply by driving along forest roads, but the lady's-slippers can be enjoyed only by walking woodland trails.  And remember, both these plants are protected by law!

An Island of Nature

     One afternoon early in June I spent 40 minutes in a forty-acre (my estimation) island of nature completely surrounded by heavily-traveled roads in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I was between appointments and sat in my car along a dead-end road, with little traffic, that paralleled the Route 30 expressway and well-traveled Good Road and Harrisburg Avenue just west of Lancaster City.  Although the land along those roads was developed, that island of nature on a floodplain along the Little Conestoga Creek was full of interesting plants and animals.  Its pastures, trees and hedgerows were a remnant of the farmland habitat that prevailed here before development.
     A loose flock of about 20 bachelor Canada geese walked slowly across a meadow, plucking and ingesting grass as they went.  Those stately geese weren't yet old enough to pair off and raise goslings, so they stayed together for mutual protection.
     The whole time I was parked there, about a dozen barn swallows wove back and forth in flight low to the pasture to snap up flying insects.  They mostly zipped among the geese as they fed on grass because those big birds stirred insects from the grass as they walked.  The geese and swallows together in that meadow were picturesque and entertaining to me. 
     American robins ran over that same pasture in pursuit of earthworms and other invertebrates, adding more interest to that grassy habitat.  They probably just finished raising young in grass and mud nurseries in the younger trees of the hedgerows.
     I saw a pair each of gray catbirds and northern cardinals in a thicket of a hedgerow that bordered the pasture near where I was parked.  These birds nest in the thickets and there probably were other pairs of each of those bird species raising young in nearby hedgerows of young trees and shrubbery.
     A pair of Canada geese and their eight, quarter-grown goslings that I had not seen earlier, suddenly came off a lawn near where I was parked and walked briskly down the road toward me.  One parent was in the lead and the other brought up the rear of their little caravan, with the youngsters between them, as geese do when escorting their young from place to place.  I could see by their cautious actions and postures, that the parent geese understood the potential danger of a vehicle newly-parked on the road.
     And while I was parked along that quiet road and enjoying the geese and swallows still careening low over the meadow after flying insects, a cottontail rabbit scampered across the road in front of me and a gray squirrel whisked up a larger tree in the nearby hedgerow.  I knew in spite of the traffic and development around it, this green, peaceful island of nature harbored more wildlife than was visible at the moment, including striped skunks, red foxes, red-tailed hawks, and mallard ducks and muskrats along the creek, and other, more common species.  And being close to development, hunting and trapping would not be allowed in this peaceful island of nature. 
     Natural oases like this, wherever they may be, are essential for wildlife, and us.  The animals have a home and we have places to relax and enjoy the beautiful and inspiring outdoors in relative peace.              

Birds Nesting in Newer Suburbs

     Trees and shrubs newly planted around recently-built housing in fields are small.  But certain kinds of birds are pioneer breeders in new housing developments in farmland here in the Middle Atlantic States, as elsewhere.  Some of those bird species build their nests in young trees and bushes in the newer developments.  The birds have more nesting areas in which to build up their populations, and we can enjoy their activities in those new suburbs.  
     American robins and American goldfinches are bird species that are quick to nest in a young suburban area.  Both species traditionally build their nurseries in small trees.  Robins make cradles of grass and mud and run over short-grass lawns and nearby fields in pursuit of earthworms and other invertebrates to feed their young and themselves.  Goldfinches create soft, compact nurseries of milkweed fluff, fine grass and spider webs and eat thistle seeds and other types of seeds they gather in fields adjacent to the housing.
     Northern mockingbirds and song sparrows build nests in young shrubbery around the homes.  During warmer months these birds catch invertebrates to eat and feed to their young in their nurseries.  But in winter the mockers consume berries and the sparrows ingest weed and grass seeds, and grain from bird feeders where they are available.
     Chipping sparrows love to nest in arborvitae bushes or young spruce trees, which give ample cover to their offspring.  Chippers consume small invertebrates, and feed the same to their young in their nurseries.  
     Mourning doves raise youngsters on flimsy twig or straw platforms on the needled boughs of young spruces because the needles hold the doves' cradles better and protect the two white eggs per brood from the sharp eyes of crows, raccoons and other egg eaters.  But doves do better taking over the better built and abandoned cradles of robins, because the doves' own nurseries too quickly are blown out of the trees. 
     A pair or two of killdeer plovers may be quick to lay eggs on the gravel of driveways, on bare soil or on mulch in flower beds around the homes.  Their broods of four eggs blend into the material they are laid on.  The fuzzy, wide-eyed chicks are ready to feed themselves on invertebrates within 24 hours of hatching.  
     House sparrows, house finches and chimney swifts hatch young on buildings in the suburbs, including on recently constructed ones.  The sparrows will fill most any niche in a building with grass to make a nest.  The finches are more likely to build little cradles on porch lights or the supports under awnings.  Both these bird species feed their young seeds and invertebrates. 
     Swifts, however, create platforms of tiny twigs on the sheer walls inside chimneys, using their saliva as the glue.  They fly high across the sky all day, every day during the warmer months to catch flying insects.      
     A pair or two of tree swallows might use bluebird boxes erected in new suburban areas in cropland.  These swallows like cavities in open areas to nest in.  Like swifts, swallows fly all day, every day in pursuit of flying insects, but closer to the ground.
     Though not as lush with bird species as an overgrown thicket, new housing developments are not barren of bird life either.  Several kinds of birds have adapted to them for living and nesting.  They find additional homes and we get natural entertainment.  
         

Eastern Mimidae

     Northern mockingbirds, gray catbirds and brown thrashers are eastern North America species of the mimidae family.   Although good singers in their own right, mockingbirds and catbirds are excellent mimics of the sounds they hear, including the songs of other kinds of birds.
     All mimidae are adaptable, aggressive, camouflaged, long-legged and long-tailed.  About the size of American robins, but slimmer, eastern mimidae live in thickets of shrubs and vines in hedgerows between fields, on the edges of woods, ponds and waterways, in older suburban areas, and other, similar, overgrown habitats.  All these species are common in their ranges.  And all eat invertebrates and fruit during warmer months.  They help farmers and gardeners by eating harmful insects. Catbirds and thrashers migrate north in spring and south in autumn, but mockers are stay-at-homes, meaning they don't migrate at all.
     A more southern bird, mockingbirds have been common here in the Middle Atlantic States only since the 1950's.  They are light-gray all over, to be invisible in the shrubbery they inhabit, with white patches on their wings and tails that are most noticeable when they fly.  Mockers on the ground often lift and lower their wings repeatedly, possibly to show off those white areas as signals to relatives.  Male mockers sing beautifully through much of the day, and even on moonlit nights.           
     Mockers, along with American goldfinches, chipping sparrows and American robins, are adapted to new suburbs with their smaller bushes and trees for food gathering and raising young in twiggy nests they place in protective shrubbery.  But in winter, mockingbirds eat a variety of berries, from both wild and planted shrubs and trees.  Each mocker stakes out a territory with berries in it that they defend with great vigor against robins, cedar waxwings and other kinds of berry-eating birds.
     Catbirds are dark-gray all over, with an even darker cap and a reddish-brown patch of feathers under the tail.  This common bird blends into the dark shadows of shrubbery where it also places its nurseries to raise young.  Male catbirds sing delightfully much of each day and during the darkening of dusk each summer evening until the end of July.  Sometimes one male singing gently will sound like a tree full of vocalizing birds.  And at dusk, catbird songs are so quiet and relaxing that it sounds like the birds are talking to themselves.
     Catbirds are exceptionally interesting characters.  I have seen them, along with mockers, and little gangs of robins, waxwings and other kinds of birds, eating mulberries, cherries and other kinds of berries in this area during summer.  And I remember, over the years, a catbird or two catching small moths flying out of the grass ahead of the mower as I was cutting the lawn.
     Brown thrashers are the largest, and, I think, the most handsome and stately of eastern mimidae.  They are warm-brown on top, which camouflages them, and white below with rows of black spots.   When singing from a tree top, males voices are loud and ringing, and each bird seems to repeat each phrase in its series of phrases.
     Interestingly, all mimidae have long, strong legs, which allow them to dart quickly on the ground from one clump of  shrubbery to another.  Over time, one of those species could develop legs like those on road-runners.  Already mimidae run down small prey like invertebrates and tiny lizards and snakes.  So an eastern, road-runner-like bird is not impossible.
     Look for these common species of eastern mimidae when in areas of thickets.  They are intriguing, adaptable birds that are also attractive in plain ways.  And they have lovely songs, are entertaining and helpful by eating pesky insects.                     

Eastern Giant Silkworm Moths

     Eight kinds of giant silkworm moths, including luna, polyphemus, promethea, emperial, regal, and rosy maple moths of deciduous forests and cecropia and I O moths of more open habitats, including suburban areas, inhabit the eastern United States.  As a group, they are the largest moths in America, with most species having wing spans of four to five inches across.  They have furry bodies and feathery antennae.  All species, except regals and rosy maples, blend into their surroundings, which protects them from predation.  These moths are short-lived, however, and don't eat anything.  They live off what they ate when they were caterpillars.  Their only purpose in life is to mate and lay eggs before they die.  They are active mostly at night and many of them gather around outdoor lights, where we are most likely to see them at night.  I have seen at least a few lunas fluttering around the bright lights of gas stations at night.
     Although most of these moths are basically brown, they can be identified by the colors and patterns on their wings.  Lunas, for example, have pale-green wings, the only large moth to have such color.  I've seen them at dusk in woods where they looked like tiny ghosts fluttering among the tree trunks.  Regals have gray wings with orange striping.  Rosy maples are a beautiful shade of pink and gray.  And imperials are yellow and gray on their wings.      
     Some of these moth species, including polyphemus, promethea, cecropia, luna and IO, have "eye" spots on their wings as a form of mimicry.  Those eye spots make the moths that bear them look like something more fierce than they are, which would intimidate some predators.  I O moths, for example have large "eyes" on the upper surfaces of their two hind wings.  When the two fore wings are folded over the hind wings, the moth looks brown and vulnerable.  But when alarmed by a would-be predator, the IO suddenly opens its front wings to reveal the hind wings, which resemble the face of an owl, probably startling away the threatening animal.     
     The caterpillars of these moths are three to five inches long, depending upon the species, and well protected against predation.  Most of them are largely green to blend into the green tree leaves they eat.  Only the larvae of the regal moth are not green.  But the caterpillars of regal moths, called hickory horned devils because of their fierce looks, are protected by four one-inch-tall, orange spines in front and short, dark tubercules along the body, making them look like a nasty mouthful. 
     Other types of caterpillars also have spines that protect them, including cecropia, I O, rosy maple and promethea.  Those spines make each larvae look unappetizing to birds and other kinds of
predators.
     While some species of moth caterpillars consume a variety of tree leaves, others have special foods.  Regal caterpillars, for example,only eat black walnut, hickory and staghorn sumac leaves.  Promethea larvae only ingest spicebush and sassafras foliage.  Rosy maple larvae consume the leaves of red maples and silver maples.    
     Most of these moth species overwinter as pupae, mostly among dead,fallen leaves on forest floors where they are somewhat protected from cold.  But there they could be found and eaten by skunks, shrews and other animals.  If they are not eaten in winter, they emerge from their cocoons in the warmth of summer and carry out their reproductive duties before dying. 
     Although we don't see these moths much because most of them are forest creatures and all of them travel during the dark of night, they are a treasure when experienced.  And even if we don't see them, it's still nice to know they are out there in the woods, carrying out their life cycles. 

Magical Chlorophyll

     Chlorophyll, along with sunlight, water, air, and minerals, SWAM, is one of the most essential things needed for life on Earth today.  It is the miraculous green pigment in all green plants that allows photosynthesis to happen, which provides most animals with food and oxygen. 
     Photosynthesis causes green plants to absorb energy from light, originally, and even today, mainly sunlight.  Photosynthesis converts light energy into chemical energy that is released to fuel the green plants' various activities, including their growth.  That chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules-sugar- which is brought together by combining carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water in the green parts of the plants.  Oxygen in the water is released by the plants into air or water as a waste gas.
     Almost all animals on Earth use oxygen to burn calories to fuel their activities, including growth.  And those same creatures expel carbon dioxide as a waste that is used by green plants for their growth.  Most of Earth's critters help manufacture their own food simply by breathing.   Animals suck in oxygen and use it to burn calories and live.  But those same critters blow out carbon dioxide as a waste product that green plants (producers) take in, (an exchange of gases) along with hydrogen in water, to grow.  Later some of the animals (consumers) eat many of those plants and some of those creatures that ingested vegetation will be eaten by meat-eating animals (secondary-consumers). 
     As one can see, almost all animals on Earth depend on green plants for their food, either directly or indirectly.  Without miraculous green plants and the chlorophyll in them, there would be almost no life on Earth, including us people who are consumers and secondary consumers.