Red Maple at Dawn

A tall, spreading red maple stands at the edge of the

fields and wetlands, back lit by the morning sun.

At dawn each day a male cardinal perches near the top, soaking up the sun's first morning rays and singing over his domain. A pheasant crows from the grassy field and a killdeer calls out its own name from a freshly plowed field.

Later in the day, a red-tailed hawk sits in nearly the same spot in the red maple,

preening and looking out over the fields for a meal.

Red maple is the most common woodland tree on the farm, followed by black cherry and sugar maple. Last summer my dad used a chain saw to cut down some of the cherry, which my sister then used for stairs in her new house.

A smattering of white pine, red oak, shagbark hickory, hemlock, and white ash are mixed in with the maples and cherry. The forest is different today. Much of the sugar maple was cut many years ago and the elm and chestnut succumbed to disease. Several beautiful butternuts still grace the yard. These will be the story of another day.

The day started sunny and calm, although with a chill. By mid-morning a cold wind roared in and changed the feel of the day. This did nothing to dampen the Easter egg hunt for my two nieces in the backyard.

Winterberry Farm

I arrived here at Winterberry Farm, our family place in Amherst, Massachusetts, on Sunday. Gray skies, rain, and wind have dogged the area since my arrival. Patches of blue sky emerge now and then, and there is a hint that the weather is warming and improving in coming days.

Spring colors are emerging.
The woods are a red hue as red maple buds burst open in flower.

Splashes of color brighten the woodland understory.
Skunk cabbages are unfurling in the hillside seeps.

Tiny yellow spicebush buds cheer on the spring awakening.

Mom's favorite primrose is in full bloom in the perennial garden,

along with the lungwort.

I'll print this post for my mother so she can read it while in rehab after she cracked her femur in a fall last week. She now has some replacement parts in her hip and is on her way to recovery so she can come home to her flowers and old salt box at Winterberry Farm. Dad and I visit daily and are amazed at her progress. We hope to spring her soon!

Noteworthy News

My mother (one of my biggest blog fans and lover of shrews) broke her femur this week during a fall. She had surgery last night for 2 to 3 hours; the surgeon replaced the head of the femur on her right leg with an aritificial ball that is now hooked into her femur and pelvic bone. Soon after the surgery she was moved back to her room at 11:00 pm last night, still groggy, but my dad was able to see her and then head home for a good nights rest. I just spoke with her and the doctors already had her stand on her left (good) leg briefly and rotated her right leg a bit, which is in a cloth-like cast. While lying in bed now she is to focus on exercising her muscles -- rotating both ankles and moving her arms. For lunch she had milk, coffee, applesauce, pudding, and ice cream! She is in good spirits and doing darn well at 87. She will have lots of stories to tell about all the doctors, nurses, and the things that were done to her. Likely in a few days she will be moved to a rehab center closer to home.

........ So, in a few more days my natural wanderings and blog stories will shift to a new location for a while as I visit my mom and help out at home. There will be lots to see and write about on Winterberry Farm in western Massachusetts.

First phoebe! The first phoebe of the year appeared yesterday. It landed on the bird feeder post (sans sunflower seed feeders), bobbing its tail, and eyeing the deck, under which it builds a nest each year. Seems like a later arrival than usual.

First mourning cloak! As is tradition, the first adult butterfly of the year in our neighborhood is a mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) that I saw flitting about today under a warm April sun (nudging 60F!). These beautiful brownish-purple butterflies have a prominent light yellow band along the outer, ragged edge of the wings, and a row of iridescent blue spots just inside the yellow border. Mourning cloaks can live up to a year and overwinter as adults under tree bark, in cavities, and under eaves, just waiting for the first warm spring day to flex their wings again. Photo from University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.

A small plug for my website (ibiswildlife.com), which is now up and running (although a few tweaks still needed). Now I have to learn how to update it myself; seems a wee more complicated than using blogspot for this blog.

Take Down Your Feeder Day

Today is take down your bird feeder day here in New Hampshire. This is not April Fool's. Black bears are coming out of their dens by now and are hungry, having lost 25 to 40 % of their body weight while in their winter den. Sunflower seeds are so tasty for black bears, among other things that they might find in your yard - meat in compost piles, pet food, garbage left out overnight, scraps on a grill.

Seeing a black bear in your yard might be a cool thing, but if that bear gets into feeders and other people food it can become a nuisance bear. Nuisance bears do not live as long as other bears that stick to berries, beechnuts, grubs, ants, and other insects. But there is not much of the wild foods around this time of year so they go for the easy pickings. I heard that a bear once picked off some fresh blueberry pies from a cabin window. Some of their favorite spring food is fresh green growth -- skunk cabbage, jack in the pulpit, grasses and sedges. You can see why they might prefer a pie.

The population of black bears (our only bear) in New Hampshire is at 4,800 and stable. They've expanded statewide in the last few decades, along with other forest-dwelling animals, as forests continue to mature in the state. To keep the bears healthy and wild NH Fish and Game recommends the following:

• put feeders away by April 1
• clean up spilled birdseed
• avoid putting out garbage at night
• don't leave pet food outside at night
• avoid meat scraps in the compost pile
• clean and store grill after each use
• don't feed the bears
• don't have your picture taken with a bear (I added this one)

Oh, and don't forget to remove your ice fishing bobhouse from the ice today. If you haven't done it by now you are an April fool.

Our Wetland

The back boundary of our 1.7 acre property is in the midst of a forested wetland. Actually our backyard is a bit of a wet meadow that just gets more soggy as you walk back to the woods. Beyond our boundary the woods continue for another 30 feet or so until they meet dogwoods, blueberries, and alders growing along the shore of "our wetland."

Until a few years ago it seemed like we had this wetland to ourselves. We have near neighbors on either side, but no one else seems to venture back to the wetland. To our dismay a subdivision was built on the other side of the wetland a few years ago, a subdivision that is now called "Fox Hollow." You can't even make this stuff up.

The homeowner's association owns the wetland, although I am not sure the people living there know that. I tried to get my land conservation colleagues interested in conserving "Fox Hollow" before it was sold, but it didn't quite fit into anyone's plan at the time. Our subdivision was built in the speculative days of the 1980s and we've learned what that means over the years -- too close to wetlands, poor drainage, poor construction.

Yet, we've seen so much wildlife living here, and try to manage are proximity to the wetland with care. Blanding's, spotted, and painted turtles wander into our yard looking for nest sites, in the gardens or compost piles. Soon the spring peepers will be deafening. Barred owls call occasionally outside our window. The pileated woodpecker pair visits the tall, dead and dying pines. This week we find beaver chews left at the wetland edge.

"Our" beaver, with their lodge in the middle of the wetland, that we can visit in winter. Hoar frost visible in a few places, so we know they are alive and breathing.

Along with the beaver sign, the ducks are migrating through, stopping for a rest and to find their mates. Several pairs of hooded mergansers and a like number of ring-necked ducks are paddling around back there. The male hooded mergs with their dramatic black and white fan-shaped "hoods" up. A more regal duck you will not find than the ring-neck with its angular, iridescent dark head, golden eyes, a white ring near the black tip of a bluish bill (the chestnut-colored neck ring is much less visible), and its bold black and white body. They are elegant as they swim.

I walk back to the wetland at mid-day to watch the ducks, look for fresh beaver sign, and watch the wetland change with the seasons. It is quiet then. A peaceful time.

Subnivean Voles

Yesterday we saw the biggest meadow vole ever in our yard. It scurried from the region of our bird feeder, along our house foundation, then behind boards under the deck. Voles are busy throughout the year, and unlike moles and shrews are commonly seen above ground. During winter they are active in the subnivean zone -- the space in and under the snow. After snow melt in spring (right about now) their network of tunnels are clearly visible.

The meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) is mainly vegetation, favoring grasses, bulbs, tubers, and other plants. Like miniature lawnmowers they clip the vegetation to maintain their tunnels. In winter, moving about in their subnivean tunnels, they sometimes chew the the bark of trees; voles especially like fruit trees. Shrews and moles are insectivores, feeding on grubs and other insects, helping gardeners along the way. Voles are often looked upon more unfavorable since they are rodents and like to eat plants. Yet voles are the primary food for hawks, owls, foxes, and coyotes. When you see a fox pounce in a field or a red-tailed hawk swoop down from a tree, they are most likely catching an unwary vole.

Female voles are territorial and fierce in the defense of their nest. Voles will breed year-round, even in winter if the snow pack is deep. A few winters ago we were playing in the nearby Mitchell field up on Bald Hill Road with our dogs Fargo and Aria. Fargo was fond of pouncing on the ground -whether he actually heard or saw something we were never sure. One morning a small, brown, furry animal popped out of the snow, stood on its hind legs, bared its teeth, and disappeared just as suddenly (think Ewoks in the Return of the Jedi). We were all a bit stunned at this tiny vole defending its spot in the field from a 90-pound yellow lab.

Where the Woodcock Probe

If you walk along a streambank, or pond edge, or any wetland around here you will see the speckled alder (Alnus incana or rugosa). This multi-stemmed shrub is easy to spot this time of year with its "speckles" (white lenticels on the stem - tiny openings that allow gas exchange), buds, cones, and catkins. The coarse, toothed leaves will not emerge and close in the alder thicket for another month or more.

Alders are monoecious, that is the male and female flowers ("catkins") are distinct from each other, but occur on the same plant. The catkins form in the fall, then overwinter, ready to open or flower in spring (any day now).

I took these photos yesterday near our home.

The male catkin is slender, cylindrical, hanging in clusters of 3 to 5 from short leafless branches.

The female catkin is conelike, droops slightly, usually in clusters of threes.

The fruits look like tiny cones. They cast their seeds in the fall; the dried cones remain until spring.

Woodcock seem to be everywhere this year and they are quite fond of "alder swales." Their peenting and twittering is often heard in an opening that is close to the alder thickets. Woodcock probe the moist soils beneath alders for their favorite food -- earthworms, which make up 50 to 90% of their diet. Young alder provide the best cover and safe probing sites for woodcock.

As alder ages, approaching 20 to 30 years, the stems become thick and the clump leans over, opening the "canopy" to more sunlight. This creates less cover for the woodcock and the earthworms move deeper as the soil is warmed by the sun. Older alder swales can be cut back to the ground to allow a new generation of growth; over time it will provide good habitat again. It is best to cut only a portion at a time and in winter when the ground is frozen.

Beaver clip alder stems for use in their dams and lodges. Goldfinches, pine siskins, and redpolls glean seeds from the mature fruits (cones), and grouse like the buds and catkins. Look for the alder and woodcock also are probably close at hand.