Wintering genuses of diving ducks use their webbed feet to swim underwater down to the bottoms of rivers, estuaries, oceans, and large, human-made impoundments across much of the southern half of the United States to get their various foods. But each genus of these diving ducks has a relative that winters in small flocks inland; on ponds and creeks, as well as on larger waters along seacoasts. Those sleek and attractive kinds of ducks are the petite buffleheads, which belong to the river duck family, the handsome ring-necked ducks, that are bay ducks, and the striking common mergansers, in the merganser family. By adapting to habitats that are different from those of their kin, these inland divers found ample food supplies, relatively free of competition, and founded new species.
Drakes of bufflehead, ring-necked and common merganser species are feathered mostly black above and white below, which disguises their shapes, allowing them to blend into the water better. And the distinctive, black and white, patterns of these handsome drakes allows them to impress lady ducks of each male's kind. Male buffleheads have a large, white patch on each side of the head that is quite visible. Male ring-necks have lovely, pale-gray flanks. And drake mergansers have blood-red beaks and iridescent, green heads.
Female diving ducks of each of these species, however, are dark brown or gray, depending on the kind of duck. Each of their species' benefits from the dull feather coloring on females because the mothers chaperone their equally camouflaged ducklings.
Diving ducks slip under water from the surface and swim with their webbed feet to the bottom, or close to it, to get food. Buffleheads dive after aquatic seeds, insects, snails, small fish and crustaceans, and other edibles. Ring-necked ducks swim under water after seeds mostly, plus insect larvae and snails. And mergansers catch small fish in their long, thin, serrated bills. Obviously, competition for food is reduced among these kinds of wintering diving ducks, which is why they all can winter together on the same bodies of water, at least at times.
Look for these attractive, inland diving ducks during winter. They help bring more beautiful life and interest to the waterways and impoundments they rest on and feed in.
Monday, January 27, 2020
Monday, January 20, 2020
Incoming Gulls
I arrived at Struble Lake, which is near Honeybrook, Chester County, Pennsylvania, around 3:30 PM on January 13 of this year to see if ring-billed gulls were still spending winter nights on that human-made impoundment. At first, I saw no gulls, but within 20 minutes I saw a great blue heron powering majestically and low across the lake, a belted kingfisher flying along that impoundment's shoreline and an adult bald eagle perched elegantly in a tree on shore. All those wintering birds are catchers of fish that are naturally drawn to that large lake for what they hope is an unending food supply.
Finally, just about 4:00 PM, many ring-billed gulls suddenly started returning to Struble Lake to spend the night. Streams of them from different directions poured high across the sky toward the lake, formed a circling, buoyant flock over the impoundment, then spiraled quickly and gracefully down to the middle of the lake. As more and more ring-bills streamed across the sky to Struble Lake and swirled down to it, I saw a growing "carpet" of gulls on the quiet, sky-reflecting water.
As I watched the ring-bills on the lake, through screens of bare crack willow trees, phragmites plumes, rose hips and dead goldenrod stalks, more and more of their kind kept coming across the sky, flock after inspiring flock, and sweeping down to the water, making that raft of densely-packed gulls grow larger and larger.
And still more sheets of ring-bills came from every direction, formed spinning, entertaining flocks high in the sky, and swooped to the lake, making the island of gulls on the water ever more spread out.
And, to my excitement, still more gulls flew and glided to the mirror-like impoundment, the birds now silhouetted beautifully against the sky as they spiraled to the water. Lesser numbers of ring-bills continued to arrive at the lake as I left to go home at 5:00 PM.
Ring-billed gulls are a joy to watch in flight. And in winter, these highly adaptable birds, that originally adapted to shoreline beaches and mud flats, add life to open, human-made habitats in the Middle Atlantic States, including large impoundments and parking lots, cultivated fields, golf courses and land-fills, where they get much of their daily food. Ring-bills adapted well to human habitats and activities, to their benefit and ours.
Finally, just about 4:00 PM, many ring-billed gulls suddenly started returning to Struble Lake to spend the night. Streams of them from different directions poured high across the sky toward the lake, formed a circling, buoyant flock over the impoundment, then spiraled quickly and gracefully down to the middle of the lake. As more and more ring-bills streamed across the sky to Struble Lake and swirled down to it, I saw a growing "carpet" of gulls on the quiet, sky-reflecting water.
As I watched the ring-bills on the lake, through screens of bare crack willow trees, phragmites plumes, rose hips and dead goldenrod stalks, more and more of their kind kept coming across the sky, flock after inspiring flock, and sweeping down to the water, making that raft of densely-packed gulls grow larger and larger.
And still more sheets of ring-bills came from every direction, formed spinning, entertaining flocks high in the sky, and swooped to the lake, making the island of gulls on the water ever more spread out.
And, to my excitement, still more gulls flew and glided to the mirror-like impoundment, the birds now silhouetted beautifully against the sky as they spiraled to the water. Lesser numbers of ring-bills continued to arrive at the lake as I left to go home at 5:00 PM.
Ring-billed gulls are a joy to watch in flight. And in winter, these highly adaptable birds, that originally adapted to shoreline beaches and mud flats, add life to open, human-made habitats in the Middle Atlantic States, including large impoundments and parking lots, cultivated fields, golf courses and land-fills, where they get much of their daily food. Ring-bills adapted well to human habitats and activities, to their benefit and ours.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Favorite Massive Trees
I am always inspired when I see one of four different kinds of massive, deciduous trees in southeastern Pennsylvania in winter when their shapes and bark are most evident. Those four species, including sycamores, shagbark hickories, American beeches and white oaks, to me, are handsome, and give me a sense of strength and permanence. Each kind of these magnificent, old trees has a unique beauty that sets it apart and identifies it. Each type has its own niche, and all these stately trees are riddled with cavities, which add to their rustic elegance and provide homes and nurseries for a variety of creatures.
Sycamore trees stand out because of their mottled bark and decorative seed balls on long stems drooping and swaying from the ends of twigs. Older bark on sycamores is darker than younger bark. When pieces of older bark fall off sycamores, the younger bark underneath becomes visible, making an attractive patchwork appearance on the trees' trunks and branches.
Sycamores grow wild on moist floodplains along creeks and rivers. Their mottled bark indicates the presence of water, even when that bark is seen from a distance. And some huge sycamores each has a hollow at the ground level that a bear or a couple of people could crawl into.
Barred owls seem to prefer nesting in the hollows of large sycamores. Raccoons live in bigger sycamore cavities. And Baltimore orioles build their woven, pouched nurseries from the ends of twigs on sycamore limbs that hang over waterways.
Shagbark hickory trees inhabit bottomland woods where the soil is generally moist at all times. This tree species has bark that peels off trunks and limbs in long strips, giving the trees an attractive, shaggy appaearance. Both ends of each sheet curl out from the tree, but the middle of each strip stays attached to the tree for a while, giving each hickory tree a rough, rustic appearance that is attractive.
Hickories have yellow leaves in October and hard nuts that have green husks in four parts. Only squirrels have teeth sharp enough and jaws strong enough to chew into the nuts' shells to consume the meat inside each nut.
American beeches are woodland trees that have pretty, smooth, gray bark that is unique and identifies them. Beeches have bronze foliage in October. Some of those leaves remain attached to the tree limbs all winter. In winter, those dead, dried leaves are pale-beige and curled, and identify beeches in the woods, even from a distance.
Beech nuts are eaten by a variety of woods creatures, including black bears, white-tailed deer, rodents, wild turkeys, blue jays and other species.
Beech trees have long, pointed leaf buds through winter. Those buds become even longer, and attractive, late in April when they grow and unfurl into new leaves.
Large, old white oaks are my favorite massive trees. They mostly live in bottomland woods, but many grow in cow pastures carved from woodlands. These ancient trees have very thick trunks and huge, gnarled limbs that are rustic and breath-taking.
White oaks have red and brown foliage in autumn, and acorns that are edible to people and a variety of critters, including bears, deer, rodents, foxes, wild turkeys and other kinds of wildlife in woods that fatten up on those nuts to get through the winter.
Some acorns are stored in tree hollows and holes in the soil in fall, to be eaten through winter. Blue jays and squirrels do most of the storing. And acorns not eaten have a chance to sprout the following spring.
These massive trees lend a feeling of strength and permanence. And they are elegantly handsome and benefit wildlife. They are awe-inspiring trees.
Sycamore trees stand out because of their mottled bark and decorative seed balls on long stems drooping and swaying from the ends of twigs. Older bark on sycamores is darker than younger bark. When pieces of older bark fall off sycamores, the younger bark underneath becomes visible, making an attractive patchwork appearance on the trees' trunks and branches.
Sycamores grow wild on moist floodplains along creeks and rivers. Their mottled bark indicates the presence of water, even when that bark is seen from a distance. And some huge sycamores each has a hollow at the ground level that a bear or a couple of people could crawl into.
Barred owls seem to prefer nesting in the hollows of large sycamores. Raccoons live in bigger sycamore cavities. And Baltimore orioles build their woven, pouched nurseries from the ends of twigs on sycamore limbs that hang over waterways.
Shagbark hickory trees inhabit bottomland woods where the soil is generally moist at all times. This tree species has bark that peels off trunks and limbs in long strips, giving the trees an attractive, shaggy appaearance. Both ends of each sheet curl out from the tree, but the middle of each strip stays attached to the tree for a while, giving each hickory tree a rough, rustic appearance that is attractive.
Hickories have yellow leaves in October and hard nuts that have green husks in four parts. Only squirrels have teeth sharp enough and jaws strong enough to chew into the nuts' shells to consume the meat inside each nut.
American beeches are woodland trees that have pretty, smooth, gray bark that is unique and identifies them. Beeches have bronze foliage in October. Some of those leaves remain attached to the tree limbs all winter. In winter, those dead, dried leaves are pale-beige and curled, and identify beeches in the woods, even from a distance.
Beech nuts are eaten by a variety of woods creatures, including black bears, white-tailed deer, rodents, wild turkeys, blue jays and other species.
Beech trees have long, pointed leaf buds through winter. Those buds become even longer, and attractive, late in April when they grow and unfurl into new leaves.
Large, old white oaks are my favorite massive trees. They mostly live in bottomland woods, but many grow in cow pastures carved from woodlands. These ancient trees have very thick trunks and huge, gnarled limbs that are rustic and breath-taking.
White oaks have red and brown foliage in autumn, and acorns that are edible to people and a variety of critters, including bears, deer, rodents, foxes, wild turkeys and other kinds of wildlife in woods that fatten up on those nuts to get through the winter.
Some acorns are stored in tree hollows and holes in the soil in fall, to be eaten through winter. Blue jays and squirrels do most of the storing. And acorns not eaten have a chance to sprout the following spring.
These massive trees lend a feeling of strength and permanence. And they are elegantly handsome and benefit wildlife. They are awe-inspiring trees.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Roadside Plants in Winter
Several kinds of adaptable wild plants enhance country roadsides in the mid-Atlantic States during winter. The beauties of these common plants make rides and walks in local farmland more interesting and enjoyable during that harshest of seasons. And that attractive vegetation benefits several species of wildlife through winter.
Patches of the familiar cattails and ten-foot-tall phragmites inhabit constantly moist spots along roadsides. And the decorative seed heads of each species adds beauty to many local roadsides. Phragmites have plume-like seed heads that are especially attractive when the low-lying, winter sunlight shines through them.
Wildlife hides among the stalks of cattails and phragmites, muskrats eat cattail roots and use the stalks to make homes in ponds. And certain kinds of small birds, particularly American goldfinches, use cattail fluff in their nests.
Broomgrass and foxtail grass are attractive along country roads. Broomgrass has pale-orange stems in winter that glow beautifully in sunlight. Foxtail grass's fuzzy seed heads are appealing when the sun shines through them. And field mice and sparrows consume the seeds of this type of grass.
Teasel and common mullein plants are attractive along rural roads in winter. Teasel seed heads are sculptured and spiky, and were once used in Europe to tease out wool.
The tall common mullien stalks look a bit like thin cacti, with a main stem and one or two stems protruding from the sides of the plants. During medieval times in Europe, mullien stalks were dipped in animal fat. That fat soaked into the empty seed chambers and were later lit as torches to be used at night.
Both teasel and mullien plants produce multitudes of tiny seeds that fall out of small pockets and drop to the ground. There they are eaten by a variety of sparrows and finches through winter.
Multitudes of tiny goldenrod and aster seeds have fluff which is most attractive when sunlight shines through it on winter days. Each bit of fluff carries its seed away on the wind, which is pretty to see in itself. Sparrows and finches ingest the seeds of goldenrods and asters.
Bittersweet vines produce multitudes of attractive, bright-orange berries and multiflora rose and tartarian honeysuckle bushes have striking and abundant red berries that help beautify rural roadsides in winter.
Bittersweet climbs trees and drapes over shrubbery. Those vines and the two bushes mentioned produce brightly colored berries so birds will find them to consume through winter.
Bittersweet and the two bushes mentioned here provide food and shelter for a variety of wildlife. Rodents and American robins, eastern bluebirds, cedar waxwings, starlings and other kinds of berry-eating birds consume the brightly colored berries of these roadside plants. The birds ingest the beautiful berries, digest their pulp, but pass the seeds in their droppings, thus spreading each kind of vegetation across the landscape.
Staghorn sumac trees and red juniper trees produce attractive fruits that are also eaten by rodents and the berry-eating birds listed above. Sumacs produce beautiful pyramid-shaped stacks of red, fuzzy berries while junipers grow lovely, pale-blue, berry-like cones. Again, the birds digest the pulp of each fruit, but pass the seeds as they travel about, spreading these plant species across the land.
When riding or walking along country roads in winter, watch for these plants. They, and the wildlife they attract to themselves, will lend much beauty and interest to the traveler.
Patches of the familiar cattails and ten-foot-tall phragmites inhabit constantly moist spots along roadsides. And the decorative seed heads of each species adds beauty to many local roadsides. Phragmites have plume-like seed heads that are especially attractive when the low-lying, winter sunlight shines through them.
Wildlife hides among the stalks of cattails and phragmites, muskrats eat cattail roots and use the stalks to make homes in ponds. And certain kinds of small birds, particularly American goldfinches, use cattail fluff in their nests.
Broomgrass and foxtail grass are attractive along country roads. Broomgrass has pale-orange stems in winter that glow beautifully in sunlight. Foxtail grass's fuzzy seed heads are appealing when the sun shines through them. And field mice and sparrows consume the seeds of this type of grass.
Teasel and common mullein plants are attractive along rural roads in winter. Teasel seed heads are sculptured and spiky, and were once used in Europe to tease out wool.
The tall common mullien stalks look a bit like thin cacti, with a main stem and one or two stems protruding from the sides of the plants. During medieval times in Europe, mullien stalks were dipped in animal fat. That fat soaked into the empty seed chambers and were later lit as torches to be used at night.
Both teasel and mullien plants produce multitudes of tiny seeds that fall out of small pockets and drop to the ground. There they are eaten by a variety of sparrows and finches through winter.
Multitudes of tiny goldenrod and aster seeds have fluff which is most attractive when sunlight shines through it on winter days. Each bit of fluff carries its seed away on the wind, which is pretty to see in itself. Sparrows and finches ingest the seeds of goldenrods and asters.
Bittersweet vines produce multitudes of attractive, bright-orange berries and multiflora rose and tartarian honeysuckle bushes have striking and abundant red berries that help beautify rural roadsides in winter.
Bittersweet climbs trees and drapes over shrubbery. Those vines and the two bushes mentioned produce brightly colored berries so birds will find them to consume through winter.
Bittersweet and the two bushes mentioned here provide food and shelter for a variety of wildlife. Rodents and American robins, eastern bluebirds, cedar waxwings, starlings and other kinds of berry-eating birds consume the brightly colored berries of these roadside plants. The birds ingest the beautiful berries, digest their pulp, but pass the seeds in their droppings, thus spreading each kind of vegetation across the landscape.
Staghorn sumac trees and red juniper trees produce attractive fruits that are also eaten by rodents and the berry-eating birds listed above. Sumacs produce beautiful pyramid-shaped stacks of red, fuzzy berries while junipers grow lovely, pale-blue, berry-like cones. Again, the birds digest the pulp of each fruit, but pass the seeds as they travel about, spreading these plant species across the land.
When riding or walking along country roads in winter, watch for these plants. They, and the wildlife they attract to themselves, will lend much beauty and interest to the traveler.
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