During the first warm weather in March, accompanied by heavy, or prolonged, rain and melting snow in the woodlands of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, wood frogs and spotted salamanders rouse from hibernation under soil and carpets of dead, fallen leaves on forest floors and make their ways through the rain and over soggy, fallen leaves to shallow, fish-less depressions rapidly filling with water. These amphibians enter those pools of cold water of varying sizes to spawn.
By March, locally, skunk cabbage flower hoods and tussocks of green grass above last year's dead, light-brown blades are visible in inches-deep water of vernal pools in local woodlands. And many rims of those pools and tree trunks fallen into the water are green with moss, making these pools all the more lovely.
Vernal pools and ponds in woods from March into summer are amphibian havens in the mid-Atlantic States. Being animals "with two lives", Jefferson and spotted salamanders, which are mole salamanders, wood frogs, spring peeper frogs and upland chorus frogs live as youngsters in small, shallow, usually temporary, pools. And American toads, pickerel frogs and eastern newts, which is another kind of salamander, live part of their lives in permanent, but small, woodland ponds.
Jefferson, spotted, marbled and tiger salamanders are called mole salamanders because they burrow through the soft, damp soil, just under the forest floors' dead-leaf carpets, to catch and eat invertebrates. For that reason, these fat-bodied salamanders are seldom seen, except when spawning.
Wood frogs usually ingest invertebrates above the leaf litter, thus reducing competition with mole salamanders. But woodies scramble under the leaves when predators threaten.
Jefferson's salamanders and spotted salamanders are always silent, including when spawning. But male wood frogs utter choruses of hoarse croaks that entice female wood frogs into the pools to spawn. Those wood frog concerts in March can be heard from several yards away.
Each spotted salamander egg mass, one of several, is in a white, gelatin-like substance and lies on the bottom of the pool. Wood frog egg masses, are enveloped in clear gelatin and float on the surface of the water. Salamander larvae prey on invertebrates in their shallow pools, including fairy shrimp and midge larvae. Wood frog tadpoles feed on dead tree leaves fallen into the pools, and growing alga. Their different diets allow the young of these two species to live together in the same pools without competing with each other. And they must eat well because each year the young are pitted in a race to develop lungs and escape the shallow pool before it completely dries in summer.
Spring peepers and chorus frogs spawn in temporary woodland pools, but also in more permanent ponds in woods. These related tree frogs spawn by late March and through much of April. Although they are seldom seen because they are small and camouflaged, their primeval calls are pleasant to hear on spring evenings. They are voices in wooded wetlands, particularly in the dark.
Male peepers "peep" loudly, while male chorus frogs utter a short, gentle trill that sounds like somebody running a finger nail along the teeth of a comb. Both species call from grass stems on the edges of pools and ponds.
The long, musical trills of male American toads join the ancient concerts of peepers in permanent ponds by the second week in April. Those toads are visible sitting in the shallows of ponds as their throats bulge out with each trill. As with all frogs and toads, the toads' throats blowing out like a balloon amplifies the sounds of their courtship calls to bring the genders together for spawning.
I enjoy hearing the ancient concerts of male frogs and toads, anytime, day or night, at pond edges and in wetlands in the woods during April. The peeps of peepers, the trills of toads, the "snores" of pickerel frogs that date back millions of years transfer me to the long ago Age of Amphibians in my imagination.
Eastern newts spawn in permanent woodland ponds. Their larvae develop lungs and leave the water to hunt invertebrates for a few years on leafy forest floors at night and during rainy days. On those leafy floors they are called red efts because they are red. But at some point those efts re-enter woodland ponds to spend the rest of their lives in those watery habitats where they consume invertebrates and the eggs of other amphibians. Newts may have left the land for life in ponds where few salamanders live because they couldn't cope with the competition of other land salamanders. They found a new niche for themselves and developed poisonous skins to repel predatory fish.
Amphibians today are remnants of their former glory millions of years ago. Some species depend on vernal pools and ponds to carry out part of their life cycles. And we, today, can enjoy hearing their wild, ageless choruses.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Friday, March 22, 2019
Waterfowl on the Move- 2019
On February 15, 2019, I visited a favorite spot along Mill Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to see what ducks and geese were there that had not been there all winter. With the increase in daylight each succeeding day, those waterfowls' hormones will be stirred and they will start to move around restlessly. That day along Mill Creek, I counted 44 black ducks, and saw at least a few each of common mergansers, American wigeons, green-winged teal and northern pintail ducks, all of which joined the locally wintering mallard ducks and Canada geese on Mill Creek, and the fields and meadows bordering that waterway. Migrant ducks were on the move!
Toward the end of February, various kinds of ducks, plus Canada geese, snow geese and tundra swans, were suddenly being seen on southeastern Pennsylvania waterways and human-made impoundments where they weren't in winter, indicating the start of their migrations north and/or west. Thousands of fish-eating common merganser ducks were spotted on the Octoraro Lake of southern Lancaster County, as they have been in years past. Tens of thousands of snow geese and a few thousand tundra swans landed on the 400-acre impoundment at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area by late February.
It's exciting and inspiring to experience a variety and big numbers of migrant waterfowl in spring. There were several each of northern pintails, American wigeons, ring-necked ducks and common mergansers on Middle Creek's impooundments in late February, as there are every spring. At that time, too, hundreds of canvasback ducks and several scaup ducks were seen on the lower Susquehanna River. That is an unusual number of cans in southern Lancaster County!
As they have done every early March in the last few years, several each of American wigeons and ring-necked ducks floated on a farm pond just outside New Holland in Lancaster County. Meanwhile, a few hundred snow geese, several hundred Canada geese, and a couple hundred each of American wigeons, ring-necked ducks and common mergansers were noted on Lake Ontelaunee in Berks County, Pennsylvania. By mid-March, several tens of thousands of snow geese, 5,000 tundra swans, close to a thousand northern pintails, and several ring-necked ducks were at Middle Creek. These random sightings of some of the waterfowl species that regularly pass through southeastern Pennsylvania are only the beginning of waterfowls' early-spring migrations in 2019, as in every year. And after a stay of a few weeks, more or less, depending on the weather, the overwintering, but now restless ducks, geese and swans continue their migrations north and/or west to raise young.
But of all the kinds of ducks, geese and swans engaged in the great spring waterfowl migrations in southeastern Pennsylvania each year, snow geese create the greatest spectacles. They are the biggest single attraction for a few weeks in March at Middle Creek. Up to 120,000 snow geese land on Middle Creek's lake to rest and loudly socialize. From there they go to nearby harvested corn fields to consume corn kernels and rye fields to eat green blades of rye.
At dusk during many evenings in March, silhouetted flocks of snow geese leave their feeding fields to return to Middle Creek's lake. Upon arriving at the impoundment, each gang of honking snows swings into the wind, each goose sets its broad wings like parachutes and floats lightly to the water. Soon, thousands of snows are on the lake, while many more groups of them are turning into the wind to land on the water and other flocks are coming across the sky from the fields. This returning to the impoundment, flock after noisy flock, might go on for a half hour or more until all several thousand snow geese are on the lake.
Sometimes, the whole mass of snow geese rises from the lake at once, but in an orderly fashion, as befits such large numbers. One end of the flock rises and the rest of the gang flies up, in turn, like a flat bed sheet being lifted. Once aloft, those thousands of snow geese, in one big, swirling mass, block out the background scenery.
My wife and I have sat in our car a few times at Middle Creek when thousands of snow geese came down to the fields close all around us. Those geese were so near to us that we felt we were part of their massive, ear-splitting gatherings.
Snow geese and tundra swans have a few traits in common, including feeding on corn kernels, rye greens and grasses. Both kinds nest on the treeless Arctic tundra. Both are mostly white, but the swans are larger with long necks and the geese have black wing tips. Snows fly in great masses, while the swans fly in much smaller groups. And each species has its own section of Middle Creek's
lake to roost on.
The great waterfowl migrations in March are filled with excitement and inspiration. Many people certainly enjoy them.
Toward the end of February, various kinds of ducks, plus Canada geese, snow geese and tundra swans, were suddenly being seen on southeastern Pennsylvania waterways and human-made impoundments where they weren't in winter, indicating the start of their migrations north and/or west. Thousands of fish-eating common merganser ducks were spotted on the Octoraro Lake of southern Lancaster County, as they have been in years past. Tens of thousands of snow geese and a few thousand tundra swans landed on the 400-acre impoundment at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area by late February.
It's exciting and inspiring to experience a variety and big numbers of migrant waterfowl in spring. There were several each of northern pintails, American wigeons, ring-necked ducks and common mergansers on Middle Creek's impooundments in late February, as there are every spring. At that time, too, hundreds of canvasback ducks and several scaup ducks were seen on the lower Susquehanna River. That is an unusual number of cans in southern Lancaster County!
As they have done every early March in the last few years, several each of American wigeons and ring-necked ducks floated on a farm pond just outside New Holland in Lancaster County. Meanwhile, a few hundred snow geese, several hundred Canada geese, and a couple hundred each of American wigeons, ring-necked ducks and common mergansers were noted on Lake Ontelaunee in Berks County, Pennsylvania. By mid-March, several tens of thousands of snow geese, 5,000 tundra swans, close to a thousand northern pintails, and several ring-necked ducks were at Middle Creek. These random sightings of some of the waterfowl species that regularly pass through southeastern Pennsylvania are only the beginning of waterfowls' early-spring migrations in 2019, as in every year. And after a stay of a few weeks, more or less, depending on the weather, the overwintering, but now restless ducks, geese and swans continue their migrations north and/or west to raise young.
But of all the kinds of ducks, geese and swans engaged in the great spring waterfowl migrations in southeastern Pennsylvania each year, snow geese create the greatest spectacles. They are the biggest single attraction for a few weeks in March at Middle Creek. Up to 120,000 snow geese land on Middle Creek's lake to rest and loudly socialize. From there they go to nearby harvested corn fields to consume corn kernels and rye fields to eat green blades of rye.
At dusk during many evenings in March, silhouetted flocks of snow geese leave their feeding fields to return to Middle Creek's lake. Upon arriving at the impoundment, each gang of honking snows swings into the wind, each goose sets its broad wings like parachutes and floats lightly to the water. Soon, thousands of snows are on the lake, while many more groups of them are turning into the wind to land on the water and other flocks are coming across the sky from the fields. This returning to the impoundment, flock after noisy flock, might go on for a half hour or more until all several thousand snow geese are on the lake.
Sometimes, the whole mass of snow geese rises from the lake at once, but in an orderly fashion, as befits such large numbers. One end of the flock rises and the rest of the gang flies up, in turn, like a flat bed sheet being lifted. Once aloft, those thousands of snow geese, in one big, swirling mass, block out the background scenery.
My wife and I have sat in our car a few times at Middle Creek when thousands of snow geese came down to the fields close all around us. Those geese were so near to us that we felt we were part of their massive, ear-splitting gatherings.
Snow geese and tundra swans have a few traits in common, including feeding on corn kernels, rye greens and grasses. Both kinds nest on the treeless Arctic tundra. Both are mostly white, but the swans are larger with long necks and the geese have black wing tips. Snows fly in great masses, while the swans fly in much smaller groups. And each species has its own section of Middle Creek's
lake to roost on.
The great waterfowl migrations in March are filled with excitement and inspiration. Many people certainly enjoy them.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
A Typical March Day in the Woods
Today, March 16, 2019, I drove through a small bottomland woods, bisected by a stream lined on both sides by crack willow trees, in an area about 30 minutes from home in New Holland, Pennsylvania. A cold wind roared through and swayed the trees in that hundred-acre, deciduous woodland, but the sky was blue with several puffy, white cumulus clouds.
I stopped by a stream in that bottomland woods and heard several male wood frogs croaking hoarsely in shallow puddles of snow melt and recent rain near that waterway. The rain the night before and the warmer weather of yesterday and a few days before that awoke those frogs that immediately hopped over the rain-soaked leaf cover to those puddles to croak and draw females of their kind there to spawn during the next few days. The pools, dotted with several skunk cabbage hoods and small, but developing, leaves, were soaked in warming sunlight, which helped the cold-blooded frogs have the vigor to croak, and spawn thousands of eggs in gelatin masses of scores of eggs in each one.
I thought perhaps some spotted salamanders were also spawning in those pools. Wood frogs and spotted salamanders share woodland floor habitats and spawning pools. But I didn't want to disturb the frogs there, so I didn't look for salamanders.
As I listened to the wood frogs, I was excited to see a male mink furtively darting here and there along the stream and disappearing among tangles of weeds and fallen limbs. He probably was looking for a mate or two. Although mink seem plentiful here in southeastern Pennsylvania, they are not a species ones sees everyday.
A short time later, a pair of beautiful wood ducks landed on a slow-moving stretch of the stream and swam to sheltering limbs hanging over and in the streamside. They probably were searching among the big white oak and American beech trees up the shallow slope from the waterway for a suitable nesting cavity the hen woody will use to lay her clutch of 12 or more eggs.
When the ducklings hatch about mid-May, they will crawl up the inside of that tree hollow and jump out the entrance, one at a time. Each duckling will bounce on the dead-leaf covered ground. And when all are gathered, their mother will take them to the stream and the shallow edges of the impoundment that waterway flows into. There the ducklings will feast on a variety of invertebrates and grow fast, becoming full grown by the end of summer.
I hoped I would see a pair of hooded mergansers along that same waterway because I know wood ducks and hooded mergansers share nesting habitats and both species hatch young in tree cavities near water. Adults of each species has a different food supply, however, making the two species more compatible in the same habitats. Adult woodies feed mostly on greens, seeds and nuts while mature hoodies consume small fish they catch with their narrow, serrated beaks.
As I continued to watch for other kinds of wildlife in this narrow, wooded bottomland, I thought this would be a place to watch for courting American woodcocks at sunset during March and April evenings. Woodcocks are a type of inland sandpiper that inhabits woodland floors in the eastern United States. Each male at dusk performs a courtship display to attract females of his kind to him for mating.
At dusk, evening after evening in spring, each male flies from his daytime roost on a bottomland woods floor to a little patch of bare ground in a nearby clearing. There he vocally "beeps" for about a minute, then spirals up in flight with his wings twittering. Somewhere in the sky he levels off and vocally utters several musical notes. Then he plummets to his bare spot on the ground to start his display again and again. Only hunger or interested females interrupt his displays.
At night, woodcocks poke their long beaks into soft, moist soil of bottomland woods to pull out and ingest earthworms and other invertebrates. But they rest well camouflaged on carpets of dead leaves during the day.
My little adventure on a typical March day in that wooded bottomland was quite enjoyable and inspiring. But then, most any day outdoors is enjoyable and inspiring.
I stopped by a stream in that bottomland woods and heard several male wood frogs croaking hoarsely in shallow puddles of snow melt and recent rain near that waterway. The rain the night before and the warmer weather of yesterday and a few days before that awoke those frogs that immediately hopped over the rain-soaked leaf cover to those puddles to croak and draw females of their kind there to spawn during the next few days. The pools, dotted with several skunk cabbage hoods and small, but developing, leaves, were soaked in warming sunlight, which helped the cold-blooded frogs have the vigor to croak, and spawn thousands of eggs in gelatin masses of scores of eggs in each one.
I thought perhaps some spotted salamanders were also spawning in those pools. Wood frogs and spotted salamanders share woodland floor habitats and spawning pools. But I didn't want to disturb the frogs there, so I didn't look for salamanders.
As I listened to the wood frogs, I was excited to see a male mink furtively darting here and there along the stream and disappearing among tangles of weeds and fallen limbs. He probably was looking for a mate or two. Although mink seem plentiful here in southeastern Pennsylvania, they are not a species ones sees everyday.
A short time later, a pair of beautiful wood ducks landed on a slow-moving stretch of the stream and swam to sheltering limbs hanging over and in the streamside. They probably were searching among the big white oak and American beech trees up the shallow slope from the waterway for a suitable nesting cavity the hen woody will use to lay her clutch of 12 or more eggs.
When the ducklings hatch about mid-May, they will crawl up the inside of that tree hollow and jump out the entrance, one at a time. Each duckling will bounce on the dead-leaf covered ground. And when all are gathered, their mother will take them to the stream and the shallow edges of the impoundment that waterway flows into. There the ducklings will feast on a variety of invertebrates and grow fast, becoming full grown by the end of summer.
I hoped I would see a pair of hooded mergansers along that same waterway because I know wood ducks and hooded mergansers share nesting habitats and both species hatch young in tree cavities near water. Adults of each species has a different food supply, however, making the two species more compatible in the same habitats. Adult woodies feed mostly on greens, seeds and nuts while mature hoodies consume small fish they catch with their narrow, serrated beaks.
As I continued to watch for other kinds of wildlife in this narrow, wooded bottomland, I thought this would be a place to watch for courting American woodcocks at sunset during March and April evenings. Woodcocks are a type of inland sandpiper that inhabits woodland floors in the eastern United States. Each male at dusk performs a courtship display to attract females of his kind to him for mating.
At dusk, evening after evening in spring, each male flies from his daytime roost on a bottomland woods floor to a little patch of bare ground in a nearby clearing. There he vocally "beeps" for about a minute, then spirals up in flight with his wings twittering. Somewhere in the sky he levels off and vocally utters several musical notes. Then he plummets to his bare spot on the ground to start his display again and again. Only hunger or interested females interrupt his displays.
At night, woodcocks poke their long beaks into soft, moist soil of bottomland woods to pull out and ingest earthworms and other invertebrates. But they rest well camouflaged on carpets of dead leaves during the day.
My little adventure on a typical March day in that wooded bottomland was quite enjoyable and inspiring. But then, most any day outdoors is enjoyable and inspiring.
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Wildlife Feeders
This winter, 2018-2019, I enjoyed "visiting" four sets of wildlife feeders at different locations through our home computer. The feeders are at Akron, Ohio, outside Ithica, New York, Ontario in Canada and outside Salem, Iowa. At least one camera at each group of feeders focuses on the various birds and mammals that come to the feeders daily to dine. Through those cameras and our computer screen, it's like sitting in the comfort of a mobile home and watching the wildlife through a picture window.
Feeders at Akron are in a lawn at the edge of woody thickets, and wetlands filled with phragmites. Swarms of house sparrows often dominate those feeders with their numbers. Other kinds of birds there include several northern cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves and white-throated sparrows. And several each of American crows, red-winged blackbirds, common grackles and starlings come to those feeders.
Woodland birds come to those feeders as well, including black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and white-breasted nuthatches. These birds emerge from nearby deciduous thickets.
Once an adult red-shouldered hawk swooped onto one of the feeders, scattering all diners in fear. That raptor probably was looking for an easy meal of a bird or squirrel.
A couple species of mammals are there regularly, including cottontail rabbits and gray squirrels. There is, also, a black squirrel there, which is a color phase of gray squirrels.
Feeders near Ithica are bordered by woods, lawns and a pond. Groups of northern cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, American goldfinches and dark-eyed juncos are, daily, the most common birds at these feeders.
Individual black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches and downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers come out of the woods to feed at these feeders. These species add a bit of variety to the flocks of birds at the feeders.
At least a few tree sparrows were at this set of bird feeders, adding a bit of novelty to them. Tree sparrows nest between the boreal forests and tundra of Canada and Alaska.
And a few kinds of mammals are present at the feeders, including cottontail rabbits, gray squirrels and red squirrels. Red squirrels are a distinct type of northern squirrels.
Feeders north of Lake Superior in Ontario are in someone's yard near lakes, wetlands and mixed deciduous and coniferous forests. Black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, blue jays and hairy woodpeckers come to those feeders. And there are other species of birds there that either I've never seen at feeders or usually don't come south for the winter. Some winter finches are there, including beautiful evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks, common redpolls and pine siskins. And a raven, ruffed grouse and a few gray jays also came to those feeders. Those feeders are far enough north to have birds we in Pennsylvania don't normally see at feeders, or at all this far south.
But my favorite wildlife feeder is a hopper full of corn in a deciduous woodlot outside Salem, Iowa. An interesting variety of birds and mammals visit that hopper day and night. We can see the night critters because of infrared lighting.
Sometimes 20 white-tailed deer at once feed from that open hopper of corn. The deer often are quarrelsome, lifting up on back legs and striking at each other with front legs, but without bloodshed. They are always alert and quick to flee at any slight disturbance. Some deer limp from leg injuries and might be eliminated by coyotes in the area. One viewer posted that three coyotes were chasing a deer.
Several each of gray squirrels and fox squirrels come to the corn to feed during the day. Fox squirrels are larger and chunkier that the grays, and, perhaps, a bit more stately.
Never in my life have I seen so many red-headed woodpeckers as at this corn feeder. We have them here in Pennsylvania, but not so many as outside Salem, Iowa. There may be as many as five or six beautiful red-heads at that feeder at once, and they are constantly coming and going. That striking kind of woodpecker must be doing well in the American mid-west where the species originated.
Several kinds of birds visit this hopper during the day, including red-bellied woodpeckers, wild turkeys, American crows, mourning doves, blue jays, northern cardinals, white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos. These pretty, active birds, and other kinds, no doubt, liven the corn hopper each day through winter.
A few kinds of mammals come to the corn hopper at night. Viewers can see them clearly, plus their eye shine of reflected light. Up to a dozen raccoons are the most interesting of these. They crawl into the hopper and eat corn kernels until they are full. The coons and deer don't seem to be afraid of each other. Sometimes a cottontail or an opossum also come to the feeder.
But what appears to be deer mice also come to the hopper to get kernels off the ground; one kernel at a time per mouse. I see the eye shine of the mice and then the little critters themselves as they scurry across the ground. The coons chase the mice, if they see them. But I don't know if the raccoons catch any mice to eat or not.
Though it's not usually necessary to feed wildlife, feeders are interesting to watch. I have enjoyed them in these far-flung lands. And we more easily learn what creatures are in any given area.
Feeders at Akron are in a lawn at the edge of woody thickets, and wetlands filled with phragmites. Swarms of house sparrows often dominate those feeders with their numbers. Other kinds of birds there include several northern cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves and white-throated sparrows. And several each of American crows, red-winged blackbirds, common grackles and starlings come to those feeders.
Woodland birds come to those feeders as well, including black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and white-breasted nuthatches. These birds emerge from nearby deciduous thickets.
Once an adult red-shouldered hawk swooped onto one of the feeders, scattering all diners in fear. That raptor probably was looking for an easy meal of a bird or squirrel.
A couple species of mammals are there regularly, including cottontail rabbits and gray squirrels. There is, also, a black squirrel there, which is a color phase of gray squirrels.
Feeders near Ithica are bordered by woods, lawns and a pond. Groups of northern cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, American goldfinches and dark-eyed juncos are, daily, the most common birds at these feeders.
Individual black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches and downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers come out of the woods to feed at these feeders. These species add a bit of variety to the flocks of birds at the feeders.
At least a few tree sparrows were at this set of bird feeders, adding a bit of novelty to them. Tree sparrows nest between the boreal forests and tundra of Canada and Alaska.
And a few kinds of mammals are present at the feeders, including cottontail rabbits, gray squirrels and red squirrels. Red squirrels are a distinct type of northern squirrels.
Feeders north of Lake Superior in Ontario are in someone's yard near lakes, wetlands and mixed deciduous and coniferous forests. Black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, blue jays and hairy woodpeckers come to those feeders. And there are other species of birds there that either I've never seen at feeders or usually don't come south for the winter. Some winter finches are there, including beautiful evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks, common redpolls and pine siskins. And a raven, ruffed grouse and a few gray jays also came to those feeders. Those feeders are far enough north to have birds we in Pennsylvania don't normally see at feeders, or at all this far south.
But my favorite wildlife feeder is a hopper full of corn in a deciduous woodlot outside Salem, Iowa. An interesting variety of birds and mammals visit that hopper day and night. We can see the night critters because of infrared lighting.
Sometimes 20 white-tailed deer at once feed from that open hopper of corn. The deer often are quarrelsome, lifting up on back legs and striking at each other with front legs, but without bloodshed. They are always alert and quick to flee at any slight disturbance. Some deer limp from leg injuries and might be eliminated by coyotes in the area. One viewer posted that three coyotes were chasing a deer.
Several each of gray squirrels and fox squirrels come to the corn to feed during the day. Fox squirrels are larger and chunkier that the grays, and, perhaps, a bit more stately.
Never in my life have I seen so many red-headed woodpeckers as at this corn feeder. We have them here in Pennsylvania, but not so many as outside Salem, Iowa. There may be as many as five or six beautiful red-heads at that feeder at once, and they are constantly coming and going. That striking kind of woodpecker must be doing well in the American mid-west where the species originated.
Several kinds of birds visit this hopper during the day, including red-bellied woodpeckers, wild turkeys, American crows, mourning doves, blue jays, northern cardinals, white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos. These pretty, active birds, and other kinds, no doubt, liven the corn hopper each day through winter.
A few kinds of mammals come to the corn hopper at night. Viewers can see them clearly, plus their eye shine of reflected light. Up to a dozen raccoons are the most interesting of these. They crawl into the hopper and eat corn kernels until they are full. The coons and deer don't seem to be afraid of each other. Sometimes a cottontail or an opossum also come to the feeder.
But what appears to be deer mice also come to the hopper to get kernels off the ground; one kernel at a time per mouse. I see the eye shine of the mice and then the little critters themselves as they scurry across the ground. The coons chase the mice, if they see them. But I don't know if the raccoons catch any mice to eat or not.
Though it's not usually necessary to feed wildlife, feeders are interesting to watch. I have enjoyed them in these far-flung lands. And we more easily learn what creatures are in any given area.
Monday, March 4, 2019
March Mega-Migrations
About 6:00 pm during many evenings in March, great waves of snow geese pour over the 400 acre lake at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, close to where I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. Having finished feeding on corn kernels in harvested corn fields and green blades of winter rye, many long, wavering skeins of snows advance across the sky, one after another, often as far back in the sky as the eye can see. Each fast-flying flock of geese comes to the lake like a wave sliding up a beach, with many geese honking shrilly at once, creating a clamor of voices. Snow goose hordes circle the lake a few times, honking loudly, then descend like thousands of feathered parachutes to the water, or ice, on that impoundment where they rest, preen their feathers and socialize until hungry again.
Snow geese, and sandhill cranes in the mid-west of the United States, engage in massive migrations in March, creating exciting, inspiring, near-spiritual events that are enjoyed by thousands of people every year. Hundreds of thousands of each species are heading north to raise young, the geese in the Arctic tundra where some of them, and their eggs and young, are preyed on by polar bears, Arctic foxes and Inuits. Most cranes go to open country in Alaska and western Canada.
A hundred-thousand snow geese, on average, have been stopping at Middle Creek's lake, and surrounding fields, from the middle of February to mid-March, in the last several years. They spend winter around the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay areas and coastal New Jersey where they feed in fields and on grasses in salt marshes. But in February and March their restless hormones push them to start their long migration north. Snow geese at Middle Creek develop a daily routine of leaving the impoundment, enmasse, at sunrise to feed in fields and coming back to the lake at sunset to rest for the night. This routine, however, is variable. But when their great masses are in the air at sunrise and at sunset, they are strikingly, wonderfully silhouetted!
Noted as the greatest spring migration in North America, thousands of snow geese, and up to 600,000 sandhill cranes that wintered in Texas, New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and Mexico, bottleneck a few weeks or more on the shallow strands and mud flats of the Platte River in the prairie of south-central Nebraska. The cranes stand resting overnight in the shallows and on the flats, and take off by the thousands, in many waves, one after another and another, for fields of corn kernels in harvested corn fields at sunrise.
Like the snow geese, those early-morning cranes filling the sky with their huge numbers and rolling, one-second trills are beautifully silhouetted before the sunrise. The many crane gatherings circle the feeding fields a few times. Eventually, each bird floats down like a feathered parachute, with long legs extended for impact, to the golden corn stubble. There the crane masses ingest corn kernels among the stubble for most of the day.
At sunset, wave after wave of silhouetted masses of sandhill cranes power back to the Platte to spend the night, again amid a clamor of crane voices that seems to shatter the air and our ear drums.
Each time each group passes over the Platte, some cranes drop out of it like huge, feathered rain drops and land in the shallow water or on a mud flat. After several low passes of the river, each great gathering of cranes is on the river for the night.
About eighty percent of north-bound sandhill cranes spend part of each spring in the Platte River area of southcentral Nebraska, particularly in March. They are striking birds, up to four feet tall with a wing span of six to seven feet. They have long legs, necks and beaks for getting food. They are mostly light-gray with red foreheads. And they must run a bit into the wind to take off in flight. In flight, their necks and legs stretch out from their bodies.
Cranes are "Lords of the Dance". Each courting crane lowers its long neck, then springs up or kicks its lengthy legs forward.
The great masses of beautiful and migrating snow geese and sandhill cranes in spring are more than enjoyment to many of us: They are a gift from God. At least wildlife always gives me enjoyment, excitement, inspiration, peace and hope for a bright future.
Snow geese, and sandhill cranes in the mid-west of the United States, engage in massive migrations in March, creating exciting, inspiring, near-spiritual events that are enjoyed by thousands of people every year. Hundreds of thousands of each species are heading north to raise young, the geese in the Arctic tundra where some of them, and their eggs and young, are preyed on by polar bears, Arctic foxes and Inuits. Most cranes go to open country in Alaska and western Canada.
A hundred-thousand snow geese, on average, have been stopping at Middle Creek's lake, and surrounding fields, from the middle of February to mid-March, in the last several years. They spend winter around the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay areas and coastal New Jersey where they feed in fields and on grasses in salt marshes. But in February and March their restless hormones push them to start their long migration north. Snow geese at Middle Creek develop a daily routine of leaving the impoundment, enmasse, at sunrise to feed in fields and coming back to the lake at sunset to rest for the night. This routine, however, is variable. But when their great masses are in the air at sunrise and at sunset, they are strikingly, wonderfully silhouetted!
Noted as the greatest spring migration in North America, thousands of snow geese, and up to 600,000 sandhill cranes that wintered in Texas, New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and Mexico, bottleneck a few weeks or more on the shallow strands and mud flats of the Platte River in the prairie of south-central Nebraska. The cranes stand resting overnight in the shallows and on the flats, and take off by the thousands, in many waves, one after another and another, for fields of corn kernels in harvested corn fields at sunrise.
Like the snow geese, those early-morning cranes filling the sky with their huge numbers and rolling, one-second trills are beautifully silhouetted before the sunrise. The many crane gatherings circle the feeding fields a few times. Eventually, each bird floats down like a feathered parachute, with long legs extended for impact, to the golden corn stubble. There the crane masses ingest corn kernels among the stubble for most of the day.
At sunset, wave after wave of silhouetted masses of sandhill cranes power back to the Platte to spend the night, again amid a clamor of crane voices that seems to shatter the air and our ear drums.
Each time each group passes over the Platte, some cranes drop out of it like huge, feathered rain drops and land in the shallow water or on a mud flat. After several low passes of the river, each great gathering of cranes is on the river for the night.
About eighty percent of north-bound sandhill cranes spend part of each spring in the Platte River area of southcentral Nebraska, particularly in March. They are striking birds, up to four feet tall with a wing span of six to seven feet. They have long legs, necks and beaks for getting food. They are mostly light-gray with red foreheads. And they must run a bit into the wind to take off in flight. In flight, their necks and legs stretch out from their bodies.
Cranes are "Lords of the Dance". Each courting crane lowers its long neck, then springs up or kicks its lengthy legs forward.
The great masses of beautiful and migrating snow geese and sandhill cranes in spring are more than enjoyment to many of us: They are a gift from God. At least wildlife always gives me enjoyment, excitement, inspiration, peace and hope for a bright future.
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